Videogame Industry
Video game industry readies for biggest conference
Auteur : Anthony Perez
Du : 08/05/2006
Monday marks the start of the biggest conference in the video game industry, the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Better known as E3, the conference is attended by nearly 70,000 members of the retail and press industries every year.
It's also the standard setter for the year of games, where most of the biggest announcements are made and new hardware is unveiled.
Last year marked the announcements of the next-generation video game consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. The only platform with a real presence on last year's show floor was the Xbox 360, but this year will be a much larger spectacle. With playable demos of games for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, formerly known as the Revolution, as well as the second generation of Xbox 360 games, it's going to be an absolute war for attendee preference at this year's show.
Sony revealed its PlayStation 3 last year, and stole the thunder from its competitors with amazingly detailed “real-time” videos. Real-time videos are defined as possible in-game graphics since the camera can and other elements can be manually controlled at instances. They are also the benchmark for graphical critique since they are less easy to doctor.
Nintendo shocked some with its announced strategy to let Sony and Microsoft take each other out while they took the low-budget and innovative gameplay route. The strategy has worked in the past since Nintendo is the only company to post profits from their game division over the years, though Sony and Microsoft tend to recoup their losses through software sales. The Nintendo Wii should have some playable games to take advantage of its unique controller.
Microsoft is coming around toward the six month anniversary of the Xbox 360's launch, which means that the second wave of quality games should be hitting. Microsoft won't be selling anyone on hardware this year, so it has to deliver great software and games like "Gears of War," "Mass Effect," "Lost Planet," "Viva Pinata" and "Prey."
Some other unconfirmed titles are also expected to show up in some form, such as "Lost Odyssey" and "Halo 3."
E3 is one of the toughest trade shows to predict, since last year's press conferences delivered more surprises than one could imagine.
Better known as E3, the conference is attended by nearly 70,000 members of the retail and press industries every year.
It's also the standard setter for the year of games, where most of the biggest announcements are made and new hardware is unveiled.
Last year marked the announcements of the next-generation video game consoles from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. The only platform with a real presence on last year's show floor was the Xbox 360, but this year will be a much larger spectacle. With playable demos of games for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii, formerly known as the Revolution, as well as the second generation of Xbox 360 games, it's going to be an absolute war for attendee preference at this year's show.
Sony revealed its PlayStation 3 last year, and stole the thunder from its competitors with amazingly detailed “real-time” videos. Real-time videos are defined as possible in-game graphics since the camera can and other elements can be manually controlled at instances. They are also the benchmark for graphical critique since they are less easy to doctor.
Nintendo shocked some with its announced strategy to let Sony and Microsoft take each other out while they took the low-budget and innovative gameplay route. The strategy has worked in the past since Nintendo is the only company to post profits from their game division over the years, though Sony and Microsoft tend to recoup their losses through software sales. The Nintendo Wii should have some playable games to take advantage of its unique controller.
Microsoft is coming around toward the six month anniversary of the Xbox 360's launch, which means that the second wave of quality games should be hitting. Microsoft won't be selling anyone on hardware this year, so it has to deliver great software and games like "Gears of War," "Mass Effect," "Lost Planet," "Viva Pinata" and "Prey."
Some other unconfirmed titles are also expected to show up in some form, such as "Lost Odyssey" and "Halo 3."
E3 is one of the toughest trade shows to predict, since last year's press conferences delivered more surprises than one could imagine.