![]() ![]() Sony introduced the PSP Go, a smaller variant of the PSP (it does away with the UMD drive, for instance) which will sell alongside the current model. Sony had a bit of a problem with this year’s E3, as the company’s biggest announcement had already been widely leaked across the internet. Let’s hope Team Ninja doesn’t mess it up. Metroid is by definition cool, but I must say that the trailer looked surprisingly un-Metroid to me. Still, the biggest news, game-wise, is probably that Nintendo has teamed up with Team Ninja for a new Metroid game, The Other M. The DS also gets some interesting titles, such as Kingdom Hearts, C.O.P. Nintendo also unveiled Wii Fit Plus, the sequel to what is probably the best selling game in the world right now Plus will come with six new strength and yoga activities.Īll fun and well, but what about real games? Nintendo had a bunch of those lined up as well, and apart from the usual Mario regurgitation, there were some interesting items in there, such as the open-world Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers and Red Steel 2. The MotionPlus controller, which should finally make the Wii-mote controllers much more precise, was shown off a couple of times in conjunction with Wii Sports Resort and an archery game. Nintendo seems to be content with further milking the various golden cash cows it has with the Wii and the DS, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing: the company sells bazillions of machines this way, and it’s the only company actually making a profit out of their hardware (as opposed to Sony and Microsoft losing money with every console sold). Another intriguing exclusive is Alan Wake, slated for release early 2010. Then again, I never understood the appeal of smashing on plastic instruments while pretending to actually be able to make music, so I guess I’m not the right person to gauge the significance. Dead Rising will also see a sequel, and The Beatles: Rock Band will be an XBox 360 exclusive, leaving Playstation 3 owners out in the cold. The weirdly successful Crackdown, one of the earliest XBox 360 games, will finally get a sequel in Crackdown 2. Yesterday, while I was paying Left 4 Dead online over XBox Live, every player was abuzz about L4D2. There’s a gameplay video, and an official trailer. The game will feature new survivors, a new setting (looks like New Orleans to me), and new special infected. So, what about the stuff that really matters? You know, games? Well, Microsoft had some pretty serious surprises up its sleeves, the biggest of which is most certainly the announcement that the follow-up to the massively successful PC/XBox 360 exclusive Left 4 Dead, imaginatively called Left 4 Dead 2, will arrive November 17 for the PC and XBox 360. Lastly, Microsoft will also introduce a game download service – not just for small games or old XBox games, but for full 360 games as well. In addition, a full HD (1080p) video download/streaming service will also come to the device. Microsoft is clearly trying to put the XBox into the centre of your home, and will add support for Last.FM, Twitter, and Facebook to the 360. This wasn’t the only announcement coming out of Microsoft. The following video will give you a good idea of what Natal is capable of. It also comes with voice recognition to really free you from your controller, and facial recognition so the XBox 360 will know who’s playing. Natal allows for some very cool stuff in games, and the Dashboard itself will gain Minority Report-style controls: use your hands to flip between dashboard items, and move stuff around. It does away with the controller altogether, as your only input method is your body, which is a few steps beyond the Wii. As said, it’s called Natal and it’s a camera for your XBox 360 that keeps tracks of the movement of your body – your entire body. ![]() However, while obviously inspired by Nintendo’s insanely successful console, it does take the whole motion sensing thing a few steps further. The biggest news from Microsoft is the company’s move towards a Wii-like controller system, Natal. ![]() Microsoft probably had the most interesting news to give us, Nintendo suffers from a severe case of milking the cow (and who would blame them), and Sony repackaged the PSP, announced a few games, and gave the promise it would come with motion sensing technology at some point in the future too. The E3 is underway, and with OSNews having a renewed casual interest in gaming, I figured I’d summarise the news around the big three console players, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. ![]()
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