E3 Day one, oh and one more thing!
Tuesday, July 15 at 09:04 AM | Posted by: Joe, Sam's Club
Category: Gaming

 Well, day one already starts off with some news. By now you may have seen word that Microsoft, the folks that bring you Xbox 360 gaming goodness, had some news to make yesterday. Here is a brief summary:

1) Special color Xbox 360 controllers. I kinda like the green, it seems more "xboxy" to me. Red, meh. nice article here at Kotaku. Good job Luke.

2) Photo sharing across the Xbox Live network. 

3)An increased focus on casual gaming. No surprise here. The PeeCee gamers went that way for some time. I am not sure if this is the right strategy for a company so intently focused on being hardcore. Will this alienate their audience? Will it expand the universe to include more people as gamers? 

4) Mii like (okay, they did not call it that) avatars. Neat concept here. 

 

The real shocker for me was id's, the geniuses who make the Quake series, announcement that they would no longer reside in the house of Blizza-vision (Activision and Blizzard/Vivendi). Nope, they changed sides and are now with, Electronic Arts. I have always been a fan of John Carmack and enjoyed most iterations of Doom and Quake. Quake Wars, enemy territory though, not as much as some others. Hey, even Albert Einstein made a mistake or two during his life. We forgive you John. Let's bring the franchises back to their greatness though.

 

So, right now day 2 and Sony and Nintendo are going to make some news this week as well. 

 

Oh, and one more thing (all respect to Steve Jobs). I have to add that the App Store at Apple is amazing. If you have not upgraded to a 3G iPhone or at LEAST upgraded to the new software, get on the train and join us here in the 21st Century. This stuff is unreal. Already Super Monkey Ball (Sega) on the iPhone has been a joy. Stuff like Mobile News, Pandora, Where and Loopt have me marveling at what potential exists for the iPhone. What really freaks me out is a little program called Shazam. It is eerie. It really is an amazing piece of software. Have not found too many songs that it does not identify. "Banana Phone" by Raffi did throw it a curve ball, but it did get some older Monty Python tunes. 

 

So, that is it for day 1. Stay tuned!
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3 Comments
 
 

Joe,

I actually have to thank you for not dragging me to E3 this year - looks like a pretty big letdown from the big three.

I'm not sure why you're bragging about Shazam though - I've been able to do the exact same thing with my Verizon LG VX9900 EnV for about two years using the FREE (data charges may apply) VCast Song ID Feature.  As with the newer Shazam software, I can purchase songs identified (assuming they're in the vast VCast catalogue that Verizon Wireless offers) - but I can purchase them from anywhere that Verizon offers their 3G (EVDO) coverage - which greatly surpasses the mediocre coverage of AT&T's 3G network.  No waiting for a WiFi Connection.

 
J. Richard Cook, Jr. on 7/15/2008 at 8:17 PM
 
 
 
 

 Do not know what you mean by a let down. Loading some assets into the site right now (slow internet connection at the hotel). Today had some major announcements, at least in my mind.

 

As for Verizon, I would not know. I do not have one of their phones and have not seen their software. If you read the above post, I was not bragging about it. Just thought it was cool and I had not seen the technology before. Shazam IS cool, regardless of whatever else is out there. Sounds like Verizon's is also cool. There can be more than one cool thing out there. BTW, it too is a free application. I am glad that you are happy with their service and the LG phone. The great thing is that we have choices. I have always admired Apple's design and ease of use. Their products that have features that appeal to me and what I do. That does not mean that it is right for everyone, and that is okay too.

If I read correctly, Apple sold 1 MILLION iPhone 3G units on the 1st day and had over 10 MILLION downloads already. Sounds like some folks may be happy with AT&T and Apple as well.

Competition is a great thing. It will push AT&T, Verizon, Apple, LG and others to keep making better stuff for us all to enjoy.

 
Joseph Muha on 7/15/2008 at 10:59 PM
 
 
 
 

I was just disapointed this E3...  There was no major announcements this year that really got me excited.

It was mostly re-hashing stuff I already knew and the major announcements weren't even that exciting?  NetFlix on XBox?  Blah, I can do that on my PC, have the choice of which service to use (NetFlix, Apple, etc...) and not have to worry about my PC overheating.  Wii Motion Plus?  Nice, but show me how it's going to be used in a game I care about - Where the "core" games you promised us Reggie?

E3 just isn't the beast it used to be, I guess...

 
J. Richard Cook, Jr. on 7/16/2008 at 8:50 AM
 
 
 
 
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