Last week was the E3 Media and Business Summit, formerly known as Electronic Entertainment Expo also known as E3. I thought I’d post my take on the show this year and give an overview of the major announcements.

MS definitely won E3 this year. Hands down. First they announces a refresh for the Xbox 360 dashboard interface. The new look is similar to that of Vista’s Flip3d and the new Media Center. I can’t wait to play with the interface when it is released. Along with they new interface they’re also allowing 8 person voice chat and the ability to copy game discs to the HD to speed up load times. Microsoft is also adding avatars, which are basically Miis for the 360, and along with them a casual games section for XBL called Primetime. Not extremely exciting but kind of neat. Two other things that don’t really interest me are Lips and Netflix. Lips is a karaoke game and Netflix is partnering with MS to allow movie downloads. The big reveal for MS was Final Fantasy 13 was going to be available for the 360 (everywhere but Japan). That’s a pretty big blow for Sony since the Final Fantasy series has always been a huge exclusive for Sony.

Harmonix also announced the entire set list for Rock Band 2 and it is chock full of awesome. One of the coolest parts of the announcement was that for $5 you can unlock get most of the RB1 content as DLC for RB2 which will go nicely with the ability to use any RB1 DLC in RB2. Activision also annouced that the Rock Band guitars and drum set will work with Guitar Hero 4 which means there is actually a chance of me buying GH4 now, depending on the set list.

The Nintendo conference was just weak. Wii Music was announced and looks pretty useless, basically it amounts to a video game version of the toy instrument they make for kids. Other than a generic statement about more Mario and Zelda coming they didn’t really say anything about any games I actually care about. They did announce Animal Crossing: City folk and eventually Pikmin 3. Neither of which I’ve play or have much interest in right now (although I did order Animal Crossing: Wild World for the DS). I was hoping for a new Kirby, Kid Icarus, or a new IP. Of course they did announce two new periperals for the Wii, WiiSpeak and the Wiimotion+. Wiimotion plus comes bundles with WiiSport: Resort looks and interesting but it would have been nice if it was built in to the Wiimotes to begin with. Apparently WiiSpeak, which comes with Animal Crossing, works pretty well but I think I’d just prefer a headset.

OK, So there was some good news for Nintendo on the DS side. Chrono Trigger (aka the best RPG ever) and Kirby Superstar are being remade for the DS.

As for Sony, they didn’t have much that interested me. probably since I don’t own a PS3. They some new PSN games and a video download service. They also showed a trailer for a game called MAG which is supposed to feature 256 players at once.

Some other stuff worth mentioning:

• PC/360: Left 4 Dead
• PC/360/PS3: Return to Castle Wolfenstein 2
• 360: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
• 360: No Bungie announcement
• Wii: Dead Rising is coming to the Wii
• Wii: Mad World
• Wii/360/PS3: MegaMan 9
• DS: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
• DS: Puzzle Quest: Galactrix

In the end, I think this sums it up the entire conference pretty well.

Tagged with Animal Crossing, Banjo Kazooie, Bungie, Chrono Trigger, Dead Rising, E3-2008, Final Fantasy, GTA, Guitar Hero 4, Kirby, Left 4 Dead, Lips, Mad World, MAG, Pikmin, Puzzle Quest, Rock Band, RTCW, Wii Music, Wiimotion plus, WiiSpeak, WiiSports .
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