Xbox 360’s Critical E3 Analysis
Tagged E3 2007All of the best and all of the worst is shown during E3… but mostly the worst. It is as though everything rides on this one event, as it has been assumed in the past by gamers with an ego. Between the bickering of gamers and a major downsize, we got nothing out of it this year - this one is for the media… finally. Don’t get me wrong, I used to think E3 was great. I’m an Xbox 360 fanboy who also enjoys the other consoles (as much as I enjoy seeing them look bad… I do enjoy games). Let’s not talk about the other consoles right now, though. I would rather talk about the Xbox 360 since that is what this is all about.
The Xbox 360 show was mediocre. I didn’t fall asleep like I did during Sony’s and Nintendo’s, but it was mediocre to the point that I wanted to change the channel. Maybe I am online too much, but nothing was a surprise. You probably shared the same feeling - I guess if you are actually reading this, you are probably more “in touch” with everything. I have another problem with E3 - There hasn’t been a good preview or game released in the past month and a half. Thanks, E3!
So E3 downsized, the presentation hype was downsized, and we still get the same, great long-lasting taste of a stale May/June/July! Was it worth it? No. It was worth it for Sony because now they can actually consider themselves in the next-gen race… like they could have done months ago without E3.
Watching the live conference of Microsoft was painful. I mean, they told us everything we needed to know, but the sources that filmed it must have been fresh out of Underwater Basket Weaving School for the Blind. What? You didn’t watch what I was watching? I will call out two sources of particularly poor film-making skills during the Microsoft E3 Awesome Show Spectacular Conference (name drop alert! :siren:):
Gamertag Radio: I can’t stand these guys. Never hold a camera or a microphone ever again. You all yell into the mic, you say “we’re live” every other sentence, and you constantly talk about people you know in real life that we could care less about. This criticism doesn’t cover the camera work during Microsoft’s presentation. They used an Xbox Live Vision Camera and a laptop. An Xbox Live Vision Camera (a bit redundant, isn’t it…) - but that wasn’t the funniest part. Just before the beginning of the conference, they said “if this suddenly cuts out, it means we ran out of batteries.” I guess the pre-show gaming party with the intense Viva Pinata footage really dealt some damage on that battery of yours. Constantly yelling next to the microphone was an added bonus on top of the wonderful 0.5 megapixel quality.
G4TV.com and G4TV: There is a reason G4 ranked the 56th channel out of 64 on basic cable. The lack of skill shown by the cameramen was annoying and pathetic. The only way the camera work could get worse is if they cut in the middle of the Halo 3 trailer for commercials - oh, wait… they did. I guess they could have figured out their mistake and cut back in shortly afterwards. No, instead they clearly say “you enjoying this? (quietly adding) Oh crap! The trailer is still going, what are you doing?!” Not a direct quote, but it went something like that. They discovered there was a problem and cut to commercials in the middle of the trailer! Thanks for that. The only other complaint I have for G4 and G4TV.com is the constant panning. The viewers don’t want to see trailers from a distance. Enough said.
To add the slightest bit of utility to this post, let’s talk about some cool stuff we did see. Well, no, screw it - just go to IGN.
Forum Watch Time!
Yes, it is that time of the month! Gamers get their period and idiots bicker all over the boards about “which console won.”
My first stop is to the forum on which I frequently post: Teamxbox.com
Poll Results:
Microsoft - 86
Nintendo - 4
Sony - 92
None, they were all disappointing - 76
Where is the logic of asking a bunch of fanboys “who won?” on an Xbox 360 forum? Where is the logic of asking “who won?” in the first place? We all lost. Your console has collected dust since March… high five.
Okay, this is boring, I am ending it here.
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