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State of video games

May 23rd, 2006

The , or E3, was held a couple of weeks ago. What was presented this year shows how serious the gaming industry has become.

The media coverage itself was pretty impressive. websites had extensive content. The cable channel turned into all E3 channel all week long with correspondents everywhere on the show floor. And Bloggers, as always were on top of things, many going as far as providing their own videos through sites like YouTube.

What was particularly interesting is that Microsoft had its own , taking advantage of the system’s feature. During the week of E3, all Xbox previews from the show were released free for download along with additional content celebrating the event. It even had free premium membership for the week along with gaming contests.

Sony Playstation 3

With the release of pushed back from March to November, a lot was expected from Sony’s keynote. The high expectations may be why it seemed to fall short for a lot of people. Sony did announce pricing and technical specs, but didn’t say too much about its online capabilities. Considering how much Microsoft talked about their system’s online experience at last year’s E3, it’s unsure what specifically Sony has planned in that arena.

Microsoft Xbox 360

In some ways Microsoft stood out above Sony with it’s long list of upcoming game titles. Bill Gates made a suprise visit during the keynote to announce Windows Live Anywhere, allowing Xbox 360 and PC cross-platform gaming and use of the Xbox’s GamerTag ID system.

Nintendo Wii

The most buzz however, came from console. While the Xbox 360 and the PS3 were showing off their fancy next-generation graphics, the Wii was showing off what really makes a gaming system, gameplay. Its two-piece joystick allows gamers to move more than just their fingers, in some cases requiring one to stand up and move their entire bodies. Add this to the creative line of games and you’ve got a real gaming system.

Games

Generally speaking this year’s games ranged from a few original titles () to sequels (), to remakes of older films (), which basically sounds like what the movie industry is doing now-a-days.

Spore

Of all the games, the game that really stood out was for the PC. From Will Wright, the creator of , the game was also a hit at last year’s E3 when it was first shown in action. This time around there was even more to show and its overall concept was fully realized. The game is about the evolution of a species. You start out at a microscopic level, go from water to land, create a civilization and eventually fly off into space where you explore other worlds and even further to other galaxies. The way the idea has been put into gameplay is pretty impressive. Everything affects everything and the player basically controls the creation and building of everything, almost creating their own gaming experience.

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