Who are you, and what have you done with Jack Tretton?
Sony’s E3 press conference Monday night was striking for a lot of reasons, but the greatest contrast of all wasn’t between Sony and Microsoft. It was between Sony and itself.
Here we go again!
What? Another special edition of Nerds Without Pants? You lucky ducks! This time, Angelo joins Julian for a look at what Nintendo had to show off, as well as a bunch of other stuff that you'll want to hear.
Wii U and 3DS owners have a lot to be happy about.
Nintendo has always been a company that dances to the beat of its own drum. While Sony and Microsoft have been duking it out since 2001, Nintendo has been content to stay the course, remaining profitable while leveraging their wildly successful franchises. It shouldn’t have been surprising, then, when the company announced that they would not be doing a traditional E3 press conference this year, but instead would be issuing one of their very popular Nintendo Direct streams. What was shown was light on surprises, but pure Nintendo, through and through.
The PS4's opening salvo for the console wars is a lethal one.
The legacy of the PlayStation brand is an interesting one. Back in 1995, Sony was the scrappy underdog, and fought tooth and claw to ascend to the top of the video game heap, crippling Sega and putting Nintendo on shaky ground for the first time ever. The PlayStation 2 cemented their dominance over the market, with tons of instant classics released for the console. But by 2005, Sony had gotten soft, comfortable at the top. Their hubris was easy to see, and even the biggest PlayStation fans have to agree that they made some bone-headed moves at the beginning of the PS3’s life cycle. If one thing was made abundantly clear at Sony’s E3 press conference, it’s that they’ve come to reclaim their fans, as well as win over a whole new host of them.
Winner by a knockout: PlayStation 4!
Hello there! The Pantsless Ones simply couldn't stay silent after the Sony press conference. Here is an hour of unfiltered, unedited NWP, with the guys high off of video game announcements.
Xbox One has the software, but it still has a lot of issues that weren't addressed.
After a lackluster reveal of the Xbox One and plenty of reason for consumers to be concerned about the new console, Microsoft needed to do something big to counteract that first impression. At their E3 press conference, the company came out swinging hard with games, with a focus on exclusives. However, something was missing, namely any discussion to tell people what benefits—if any—could be expected from an always connected console that requires a camera to be hooked up in order to operate.
The embattled publisher brought some serious game to E3.
It seems like the emerging theme from this E3 is redemption. There are quite a few companies this year that have to do a lot to gain back the trust and support of consumers. EA is certainly at the top of that list, although Microsoft just may have beat them to the punch in the past few weeks. Electronic Arts came on strong at their press conference, showing off new games, as well as some surprising sequels.
The power of hope.
E3 is on the horizon, and as usual, we are buzzing. This year in particular should be huge. With two brand new consoles on the way and the promise of rescue titles for the Wii U, there’s a lot to be excited about. That said, history proves that things could easily go awry. Despite this, part of what makes E3 so great is the hope that comes along with speculation leading up to the show. I for one am pretty optimistic for this E3. Here are some of my hopes for E3 2013:
I'm starting to think the next gen might be "ungood."
Microsoft seems to have a real knack for bad timing. While gamers everywhere are trying their best to reserve judgment about the upcoming Xbox One until E3 is underway, seemingly unrelated revelations come tumbling out of Washington that the NSA is performing extensive data mining on US citizens and many of their activities. As it turns out, all of this snooping requires the full cooperation of companies we rely on to maintain a modern, connected lifestyle. The first company put on the well-behaved corporate list of the observation program known as PRISM is none other than Microsoft – the same company who wants to place a set top box in your home with a required microphone and camera.
Pure moods.
JD takes the helm for Sound and Action this week. Let his soothing voice and mellow soundtrack selections calm and relax you after a long day of blasting space pirates and traversing desert landscapes.
