Posts tagged E3 2009
Daily Recap: June 8, 2009
Jun 9th
Ubisoft's James Cameronstravaganza really was the most boring thing about E3 — but we promise to post the older (and much more interesting) info later this week
So that whole triple-E expo thing is over, right?
We still have our Nintendo and Sony conference impressions on-tap and ready to be served, but we’re simply terrible at sliding that frothy information down the counter to you, the frustrated consumer.
Look for those articles later this week with a comp for your first few Jägerbombs.
Yesterday’s news ran quite the gamut of topics: Sony’s trophy system isn’t happening on PSP, Satoru Iwata “scuttles” when it comes to new handhelds and playing a game might just help lower your car insurance rates. Read the rest of this entry »
The Backlog: Post-E3 Hangover edition
Jun 8th
Hey there, reader! Long time no see. How’s tricks?
Well, we’re all a little burned out here. I mean, you all saw the media deluge last week, didn’t you? The countless trailers, the hours of presentations, the Brütal Legend lawsuit . . . it’s just exhausting.
So, we failed to deliver on the E3 commentary we promised, and I wanted to personally apologize. We weren’t sure how we were going to discuss the event as it raced by, and thanks to each member of our bustling staff of three having something major come up, it just didn’t happen.
If you’re still with us, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding. All three of us have busy lives, and I know that it’s been a constant struggle for me at least to have a full-time job and keep up the quality and consistency in blogging that I aspire to.
We’ll be getting back on track shortly. In the meantime, excuse our flakiness.
Now, let’s talk about some games, shall we?
E3 2009: Day 1 Reflections
Jun 1st
Day 1 of E3 2009 — full of press conferences from Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and the big press event from Microsoft earlier this morning. Having spent the day taking in what each of these groups had to offer, we’ve got a little bit of judgment to pass now. Sure, it’s early, but here are some thoughts coming out of the first day…
Based purely on what’s been shown today, and assuming things go to plan:
The Sure-fire Big Winner: Xbox Live
Direct download capability for 1080p movies and Xbox 360 games; an expanded Netflix lineup; Facebook, Last.fm and Twitter tie-ins to come in the fall; and a whole host of exclusive downloads and DLC content for games coming this year. That $50 a year spent on an Xbox Live gold account keeps looking better and better, and regardless how the games turn out, what you’ll be able to do with the system grows and grows.
Most Important Announcement: Microsoft’s Project Natal
It's waggle, Jim, but not how we're used to: Microsoft's Project Natal could well be the biggest announcement at E3 2009.
We knew it was coming. It may even have been shown a year ago, before Microsoft acquired the company responsible for the technology. But actually seeing Project Natal — Microsoft’s code name for its controller-less motion control device — was very stunning. Sure, some of the tech demos displayed (a ball kicking/punching/heading game, motion to control the Xbox dashboard) were a bit hokey…but they showed a level of motion-recognition that was very tight and reactive. The big deal was Lionhead Studios (publishers of Fable 2, Black and White and many other games) and the tech demo they created where players could interact with a schoolboy named Milo. To say it encroached on the uncanny valley is an understatement; if it’s what the video demonstration billed it to be, it’s less a game and more interacting with a legitimate AI character. Absolutely stunning.
To say that Microsoft could capitalize on the market the Nintendo Wii has pioneered while also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible as an interactive activity with Project Natal is an understatement. The potential is there; whether it comes to fruition in the final form will be interesting to see.
E3 2009: Welcome!
Jun 1st
Today’s the big day, folks. The annual and mega-flashy Electronic Entertainment Expo starts in less than an hour, and Microsoft dutifully kicks this PR party into high gear with its press conference at 10:30 a.m.
Now let’s be honest: every other website has some kind of intimate E3 coverage planned for videogame fans and followers of the industry. You have your liveblogs, live video, exclusive interviews, previews, hands-ons and podcasts. We, a fresh and puerile (but not juvenile?) website without access to E3, can’t provide the coverage like bigger media entities can. However, what we can do is offer our analysis and summations of big E3 press bombs and try to cut the fat the best we can.
So stay with us throughout E3 and think of our content as the delicious Andes mint after a filling dinner — a complement to a main course of news from the hundreds of other videogame journalists doing the real work this week.
We’ll be posting our recaps of each big press conference and attempting a few interesting things this week in terms of feature articles. Next week you’ll see more thoughtful content, as post-E3 lends itself well to in-depth analysis and status reports of individual genres — even the consoles themselves.
I’ll leave you with the times and dates for the five major press conferences.
Enjoy E3…we’re besieged like this only once a year, or twice depending on how interesting the Tokyo Game Show will be come September.
Press conferences for Monday, June 1st:
- Microsoft: 10:30 a.m.
- Electronic Arts: 2 p.m.
- Ubisoft: 5 p.m.
Press conferences for Tuesday, June 2nd:
- Nintendo: 9 a.m.
- Sony: 11 a.m.
Daily Recap: May 27-28, 2009
May 28th
This was me, 24 hours ago. Please excuse the tardiness with the update.
Hoo boy. Medicine sure is a fun thing, isn’t it? After recovering from liberal applications of medication and sleep to combat a particularly nasty sinus infection, things have returned to normal – including posting the news. And news there is to be posted!
Xbox Live membership has risen to more than 20 million users as the Xbox 360 has moved past 30 million consoles sold worldwide.
Microsoft announced today that it has hit a pair of milestones with the Xbox 360 console: 30 million systems sold worldwide, and 20 million individual users on its Xbox Live service. In the release, Microsoft attributed some of the growth to the New Xbox Experience dashboard overhaul that was launched last fall, saying that new membership numbers have gone up 136 percent since its debut in November. That led Microsoft to earn more than $14 billion on console sales, in addition to almost a billion pieces of content (both paid and free) downloaded via Xbox Live.
Daily Recap: May 12, 2009
May 12th
In a bit of site-related news, today was our most active day ever in terms of unique page views. We can attribute such a solid boost in numbers to Nick’s wonderful review of Peggle for the iPhone (apparently one of the first online, even before the big-name blogs and sites), as it was our top story for the day.
"Awesome!" indeed
So, we want to extend a ginormous gracias to those of you who read Silicon Sasquatch daily and continue to direct your comrades to our corner of the web. We promise to keep bringing you things of a decidedly awesome and videogame-related nature.
Now, it’s time for the real news: Atari gets cold feet, the telenovela that is Midway’s financial woes gets juicier, we get to know Modern Warfare 2 a bit better and Valve’s Team Fortress 2 team takes a “bow.” (You’ll get the pun in a bit.)
Daily Recap: May 5, 2009
May 5th
The millions of Rock Band fans worldwide helped make Harmonix's game the top money earner for Electronic Arts last year, the publishing giant announced today in its financial earnings statement.
We here at the Sasquatch (well, specifically myself and Nick) are very big fans of Harmonix’s Rock Band series. There are a myriad of reasons why, but it boils down to being quite a bit of fun, especially when like-minded individuals coalesce into a full band to rock out.
Well, it turns out we’re not alone in our affections–far from it. Electronic Arts announced its 4th quarter and fiscal year 2009 financial results, and included in the information-rich release is how Rock Band 2 was Electronic Arts’ biggest money-maker for the fiscal year. In fact, Rock Band 1 and 2 were two of 31 properties to sell over a million units last year; FIFA 09, Madden NFL 09, and Need for Speed Underground each sold more than 5 million units worldwide. Even Spore sold 2 million and saw more than 100 million creatures created.