The Fallout from E3

Traditionally E3 was seen as a great chance for people to find out the “latest, most interesting news” in gaming. This has now been changed for style over substance as the big three battle it out for our cash. So after this years particularly uneventful E3 who came out on top and where should we be spending our money over the coming years? Below Ultimate Electronics have a look at the highs and lows of E3:

Microsoft - Xbox 360

* Trailers shown for Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Resident Evil 5 and Fallout 3.
* Planned changes to the Xbox dashboard, modern social features added to keep up with online.
* An interesting partnership with Netflix enabling a film downloading service.
* News that Final Fantasy XIII will be arriving on Xbox 360.
* Portal: Still Alive to be made available via download.

Sony - Playstation 3

* Discussion on the success of GT: Prologue and Metal Gear Solid IV.
* A non to discreet reminder that the PS1 and PS2’s better titles didn’t arrive until quite a while after release.
* Announcement of Gods of War III, inFAMOUS and MAG: Massive Action Game.
* Jack Tretton basically begging the audience to be patient and that the best stuff is really going to be coming soon…
* An on demand video service which includes a buy to own service.

Nintendo - Wii/DS

* Snowboarder Shaun White shows off his latest game on the Wii’s balance board.
* Future releases include Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii and GTA on the DS.
* Announcement on the Wii Speak microphone.
* Heads of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime both tell the audience how much money Nintendo are making and that they are basically great :-)
* People on stage are dancing (generally making fools out of themselves) to promote the new Wii Music game.

The general feeling from us at The Ultimate Electronics is that Nintendo are doing rather well for themselves the success of the Wii and the DS cannot be understated and they basically control the market for the casual user. Whereas on the otherhand Microsoft are the ones who have the hardcore angle covered. Where does Sony fit in? They appear to be treading water, scared about what Microsoft might do next. Who is the console aimed at? We’re not 100% sure and we’re not sure Sony is either.