I’ve finally had time to sit down and actually write something while at E3. It’s been crazy. The big three had their conferences and all of them blew me away. I can’t pick a clear winner, though as far as how they presented the content, Microsoft had an edge. As my friend, Mr.Burlington, pointed out to me earlier, Microsoft’s no nonsense approach was really a breath of fresh air. Instead of boring us with stats and charts, they just came right out with the games. Half an hour in and they made the statement “everything from here on out is exclusive.” I was impressed. That said, the only title they mentioned that I am extremely excited about is Alan Wake.

Nintendo came out strong with a number of announcements, most surprising of which, in my opinion, was Team Ninja’s involvement with the upcoming Metroid game. We were half expecting to see another Zelda or Mario, and while I was kind of hoping they’d let Metroid sit on the shelf for a bit, I can’t say I’m disappointed. They did, however, announce a Mario Galaxy which I’m sure a lot of people will be looking forward to. From what I was told, Nintendo has also been showing art from the next Zelda title to select journalists behind closed doors. I wasn’t fortunate enough to see the art myself, but I’m told it’s impressive as well.

Sony came to the plate with a number of big titles, including a CG movie of Final Fantasy XIV, which they claimed was going to be a PS3 exclusive. Square has made a point, however, to let everyone know that the MMORPG game is also being released on PC, in addition to the PS3, and that the exclusivity is still in the air since they are considering bringing the game to multiple consoles. Perhaps the bigger announcement–though it had been leaked months beforehand–would be the PSP Go, which I had previously touched on. Several reports of hands-on impressions from other journalists seem generally positive.

[Image Source: e3insider.com]