E3 2006 - The Lowdown

Maybe it's because all of the new consoles were revealed last year, but this years E3 didn't seem quite as exciting as 2005. Don't get me wrong - still a good time though.

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Highlights:

The Nintendo Wii - I must confess that I didn't wait in the 3+ hour line to try it, but I still can't wait to get one. It will be nice to have an alternate to straight 3rd party ports. An exclusive Tony Hawk downhill racing game on Wii vs. PS3 and XB360 Tony Hawk Project 8 is a good example of that. Most importantly... the price is right!

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Xbox 360 Live Arcade – This really is the killer app everyone’s been looking for. Some great reworked classics as well as some new camera enabled games are just around the corner. I was able to try the Totem balls demo, but the real gem was a pinball bonus round where you use your hands to control the flippers – very cool! Best of all Lumines and Uno!

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Halo 3 and Gear of War - What more is there to say? Awesome!

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Costurmes!

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What's up with the PS3??? I was really looking for something to blow me away - like a playable Killzone or MGS4 but no such luck. Larger case + no boomarang controller + no rumble + no online service demo + $600 + forced to adopt Blu-Ray when I'm never going to re-buy my DVD collection = stop talking so much smack Ken! What a letdown!

It wasn't a total blowout though, Virtua Tennis was hot and controlling WarHawk with the Gyroscope controller was much better than I thought it would be. Sony needs to find a direction though. Nice alpha kits.

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The guys over at Xbox seem to have a very clear vision of the future. I can buy a HD-DVD add-on IF I WANT. The wireless accessories on my Xbox 360 can be used on my PC! And there was a nice wireless headset and driving wheel.

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NGage is trying again... new models.

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