E3 2012 and more

Hey, guys.  I know it's been a while since my last blog.  I seem to always forget I have one even though I have so much on my mind about the industry.  Since January, I finished up my Associate's degree (was technically done in December but needed a math class and 2 extra credits to graduate, so I did an internship) and now I'm starting on my Bachelor’s in the fall at the University of Baltimore.  With that said, I'm also still gaming.  I've been out of school since early May and I been catching up on my massive backlog of games, movies, and anime.  In February, I did get a Playstation Vita and I also have obtained many other 3DS/Vita games since then as well.

First off:

1. The Playstation Vita had a terrible launch and will likely end the year in misery. 

This honestly isn't much of a shocker.  The Vita is a powerful portable, but it had the same two problems that plagued the 3DS at launch as well: A lack of good games and a high price point.  At this time, I have five Vita games, and I just picked up Gravity Rush (great game) and Mortal Kombat (great port for the most part). 

Yeah, about that...

None of my friends I know own one yet and I personally think if the upcoming Call of Duty game for the system doesn't sell a ton, the Vita is sadly done for.  I can't think of any killer app for the Vita as of this point, and while Uncharted was great, it really doesn't keep you coming back after you've beaten it.

2. People are finally buying the 3DS because it now has good games and a lower price.

Just as I said above, the 3DS's second year has so far been great.

Looks like we're getting a bonus this year, woo hoo!

A lot of big games are hitting in the fall, and I feel 3DS sales will without a doubt blow the Vita out of the water this holiday season.  I also wish I wanted a year to buy one, but hey, I like new shiny things when they come out, but oh well.

And now for the main part of the article:

E3 2012 was terrible because the "Big 3" is holding out on their new consoles new year

Everyone should have known this before the show, but E3 was a total crapfest this year.  A lot of good games got some nice trailers (The Last of Us, Resident Evil 6, Halo 4, the God of War prequel sequel whatever game, etc.) but every conference was pretty boring.  Sony really had nothing new to offer, and Microsoft is basically ripping off the Wii U controller with its new Smartglass, go figure.

Nintendo even failed at trying to sell the Wii U to gamers.  It sure did better than last year (most people thought the Wii U was a new controller for the Wii since they never showed the system), so Nintendo finally acknowledged that "yes, we got a new console on the way!" but the games were for the most part were either on other consoles, or they weren't that great.  Everyone would agree that Nintendo is FINALLY getting on the ball for making this console for the "hardcore" gamer, but the problem is, we already have hardcore game consoles, therefore, I and many other gamers don't care about it.  

Come back tomorrow... we'll show you "more", we swear!

They had several conferences at E3 (compared to just one) and most of it was just fluff and apologizing to us that they had "no time".  Their main presentation was all Wii U and constantly told us to come back tomorrow for more stuff, and the 3DS was put on the backburner despite the system only being one year old.  Ouch.  The 3DS conference the next night was even worse and barely showed us anything that we didn't already know about.  It was just a massive waste of everyone's time for something that could have been done in 15 minutes at the main conference.  The kicker was that they held back announcements even after everything was over, and the Wii U still has no price or release date.  For that Nintendo, you made your E3 suck. 

Next year, I know E3 will be obviously be better.  But Nintendo is going to be in trouble selling the Wii U in general.  Since it's a year ahead of the upcoming Playstation and Xbox consoles, it best sell itself now before people are wowed but the "real" next generation of game consoles.  

The Nintendo 3DS: When is it coming?

For those of you that have lived under a rock for the past couple of months, Nintendo announced their next generation of portable hardware known of the Nintendo 3DS.  Like every Nintendo portable that came out before this, these consoles are usually one generation behind the current generation of home consoles.  The 3DS is really no exception, since it is more or less a portable Gamecube.  The irony behind this is that the Wii decided to go with the generation lag (as I call it) and the 3DS is probably nearly as powerful as the Wii. That aside, let's talk about the Nintendo 3DS.

First and foremost, the Nintendo 3DS is obviously a 3D gaming console.  But wait, consoles aren't just 3D anymore, they are also 3D.  This means it not only has 3D graphics, but also 3D effects that make the image appear that it's popping out of the screen.  I'm sure you're all familiar of the recent craze (or gimmick) of movies being 3D.  It's just as stupid as the movies that were popular two decades ago when people thought the old red & blue glasses were cool.  The biggest gimmick about the 3DS this time around is the new 3D screen.  It does not require glasses, which is a overall plus because watching Avatar in 3D for two hours gave me a headache.  If the 3D image still bothers you, Nintendo added a 3D slider so that you adjust it's... um.. 3D-ness.  You can even play a game with no 3D at all if you please.

The 3DS's design is almost the same as the current Nintendo DSi with some tweaks here and there.  The most obvious addition is the top screen is now a 16x9 wide screen, which is also the screen that will be generating the 3D images.  The 2nd biggest addition is the joy stick, or as Nintendo calls it: "The Slider".  A lot of people are already generating negative comments about this because the Playstation Portable (PSP) had the same "slider" or as Sony called it, the analog nub, because there is only one stick as opposed to the usual two sticks that people have grown so used to with home consoles.  Lastly, the 3rd addition is the new "3D" cameras on the back (as opposed to the former one camera) that will be able to take 3D pictures.

The design out of the way, the current list of games to be released sound pretty promising.  Remakes of Starfox 64 & Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time are expected to be out at or around launch, along with the long awaited return of Kid Icarus, plus a new Mario Kart is expected to come for the system soon as well  3rd party games have also been shown to the public such as Metal Gear Solid 3 & Dead or Alive.  Nintendo also claims that even older games will be re-released with 3D effects, but will be not be updated graphically like Starfox & Zelda will be.

So the release date?  Nobody knows yet!  This is actually what made me revive my old blog here is because Nintendo is being really tight lipped about the release of the 3DS in not only America, but also in Japan & Europe.  At the beginning of the month, Nintendo of America (or NOA) recently made a universal price drop on both the Nintendo DSi & Nintendo DSi XL systems.  A few sources are claiming the release date will be from November of this year to the Spring of 2011. 

In 2004, Nintendo released the first Nintendo DS in America in November, and then released it worldwide two weeks later.  Let's just hope that we can all get out hands on this exciting new console before 2011 and I'll be a happy man. Nintendo will be having a press conference on Wednesday which will finally put all of these rumors to rest, so until Wednesday, have a good one!