Well, where do we being?
Sony: Their press event covered some new services for the PS3. Starting now, users will be able to purchase and rent standard def and high def movies via the PSN network. Sounds a lot like one of my favorite devices, Apple TV, will be a feature on my beloved PS3. It seemed like it should have been there all along, but it is becoming a reality. There is more, a hint of God of War 3 was shown, strap in, this will be a great one. They also showed a great new game, title unknown, with 256 player action. This is unreal. It sure felt a lot like a new version of SOCOM. That was not stated, just a feeling. September should bring an 80G PS3 unit as well. Whew, lots of stuff coming from Sony. They are on it!
Nintendo: Here too, lots of great news. Here is a picture of an add on to the Wii Mote that allows for even MORE motion to be added.
Very cool. It is called Motion Plus. Some new titles were shown, Animal Crossing looks like fun, Wii Sports Resort (try the jet ski) and Wii Music were shown. The drums will be my favorite. I know I will never be the back-up for Rush, but I can dream. It allows us to play instruments with no peripherals other than our standard Wii controllers. Wii speak will allow us to chat on new titles on line. As I understand it, this will not work on older titles, but on new ones. Pretty cool though! It is a room wide microphone, so think of it as a boardroom conference call in the house while gaming. Nintendo is also on it!
Games:
Bionic Commando from Capcom is updated. Remember the old 2D scroller? Well forget what you think you know. He is back and in high def. The vertical nature of this one was impressive. Check out the Bionic Arm! I think I could do some damage with it, but judgement prevailed.
Rock Revolution from Konami was shown. Yes, think of Rock Band and Guitar hero, but check out the drums.
They are going a different direction with this. The drums are really solid and in a different configuration. The stick holder is also unique as they slide into the kit. This feels like a very durable kit that Konami worked hard on. Ok, here is me with it.
Fallout 3, the post apocalyptic shooter also looks like fun. The trailer they showed had a real 1950's "Leave it to Beaver" feel. This is a highly anticipated game and based on what we have seen so far, it appears well worth it. Here I am with the big guy himself.
Rayman from Ubisoft. Here is where we heard the term "precision butt action". Now I have been playing games for a long time, so this was new to me. Let me explain. You all heard of Rayman and the fun mini games from Ubi's Paris studio. Well, here is Antoine Henry from Ubisoft and Calyber from the Frag Dolls.
Calyber has a cool job. Let the envy begin. She is a professional gamer. How cool is that? She and the Frag Doll team make their living playing videogames. Antoine is one of the programmers for the new Rayman. In one of Rayman's mini games, you ride cows on the snow. If you have a Wii Fit Board, break it out. You "steer" (bad pun) the cow while sitting. Calyber called it, "precision butt action" and who am I to argue? We all played the dance mini game, and this will be a good game at parties.
Midway showed us This is Vegas.
It is an open world sandbox version of Vegas. Some of the familiar landmarks are renamed, but you can figure it out. There are three mechanics in the game, gambling, partying and fighting. In gambling, you can try to cheat to gain an advantage. It was fun, but even with the cheat enabled, wins were not a guarantee. Fighting was pretty straight forward button mashing. The partying was fun as it incorporated a rhythm concept to get your groove on. It was fun. Hopefully, what happened in Vegas, STAYS in Vegas. (OK, lame slug line).
No game play of Blitz, the league 2, but a very cool trailer. This anti-NFL football, M-rated title is coming along well.
More Ubi - Heard of Shaun White? If not, you will. The new snowboarding game looked very realistic on the 360. On the Wii, you will be able to break out the Wii Fit board as well. Shaun was there and sure seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He is a great athlete and a super talented snow board professional. With the marketing campaign Ubisoft has planned, everyone will know who Shaun is.
Even more Ubi. They also showed End War, a new Tom Clancy RTS. What makes this different was voice control. Yes, it recognized my voice. I said "Unit 1 attack hostile 2" and on the screen my helicopter team focused on the enemy tanks and completed the mission. It felt like being a general commanding a vast army. This is a new dimension that should be incredibly cool. Even with my Pittsburgh accent, the troops were moving with precision.
All in all, we met a lot of programmers and marketing folks. You really have to appreciate the programmers. These folks work really hard to bring our hobby to life and with a few exceptions, most are not known to us by name. These are the unsung heroes and heroines of our industry. When we can see what they bring to life, we are in awe. Unlike movie directors and producers, the limelight is not on them in our industry as it is in others. Hats off to you all, keep bringing us great stuff. We appreciate you. Really, none of us would be working in this industry were it not for the combined efforts of you and your talented teams.
Finally, we closed the evening with Jeff Rubenstein from the Playstation blog. These folks were celebrating their one year anniversary at King Taco here in LA. As you can see, gamers brought their PSP units and competition heated up with some Hot Shots golf.
There were also drawings. One person won a 40G Steel Grey PS3, very nice.
Hey, is that Jeremy Kizzar an Associate from Sam's Club 4824 in Valencia, CA 2nd from the left and Jeff Rubenstein on the far right? You bet. LA is the place where the stars come out! Great job and the carne asada tacos were amazing! A good time was had by all and it was great to speak with the gamers. Some were already Members and hopefully, some more will be as well. Many did not know that we offer prices below traditional retail at Sam's Club. I may have sold a few potential membership as well.
Time for some shut eye!