“The games that were announced were exciting but the majority of the titles were either some kind of sequel or a reboot of a series.” – Batman333

The smoke has cleared and down goes another E3. The Big “3” showcased their latest wares leaving some disappointed while others applauded with nerdgasmic joy. Without a doubt, this year’s announcements didn’t go unnoticed.

Okay so let’s take a look at the Big “3” Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. I think overall everyone had a good amount of things to talk about, but there were some announcements I personally could not get excited about.  I felt out of the three presentations, Microsoft fell completely flat. The majority of the presenters fumbled through the teleprompter, they didn’t seem enthusiastic about their product, or just flat out looked ridiculous! (Yes I’m pointing at you Kinect Dance Central… well sans the cute Asian chick dancing). They announced that Project Natal was officially named “Kinect”. This seemed to be the centerpiece of their presentation, and quite honestly the audience didn’t seem too thrilled.

Nintendo surprisingly started out lukewarm by announcing a new Zelda game. During Miyamoto-San’s demonstration, he seemed to have a few technical difficulties with the Wii controls. He candidly joked about Apple’s recent hiccup at WWDC by telling the audience to disable any wireless devices. But towards the middle part of the presentation Nintendo’s head honcho Reggie Fils-Aime, brought out the big guns by unveiling the Nintendo 3DS. The audience even had the pleasure of trying it out during the press conference.

Sony came out of the box this year with really good momentum. Out of The Big “3” I felt Sony had the most solid presentation. And like Microsoft, Sony’s announcements centered on their nerd sweat device “Playstation Move”. In addition to the new peripheral they announced that 3-D games are now here, although I don’t think that the general audience is ready for it just yet. Jack Tretton surprised the audience by introducing the PS3 campaign celebrity Kevin Butler. Man he was such a great idea for their TV commercials.

What would an E3 be without game announcements? And on that note there were plenty. Infinity Ward showed off a little of Call of Duty Black Ops. I must say it’s Call of Duty which is not necessarily a bad thing; I just didn’t see anything that pushes the envelope for that series. Now in complete contrast, big Cliffy B showed off Gears of War 3 and that game looked totally insane. It sports a 4 player Co-Op through the story which makes the game look even more engaging. I think Nintendo dropped the ball when showing off The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The presentation itself was lackluster and in my eyes the game graphics are starting to look dated as with most Wii games.

I was a little excited to see that they finally made a Kid Icarus game Kid Icarus Uprising. It looks to be a platform/bullet hell shooter?? Not much was given outside of the trailer. Sony had a few big surprises by showing off the amazing Little Big Planet 2. This game has blown wide open in terms of creativity. Players are now able to design their own stories as well as create genres of games like a shooter, rpg, action/platformer, etc. And it was a definite surprise to see the announcement of a new Twisted Metal. This game was an anticipated title since the PS3 launch. The game modes seemed to showcase a large multiplayer mode, players are now able to join a faction (Sweet tooth’s clowns for example) as well as a sub character to do extra attacks. Finally a release date was anounced for Gran Turismo 5… (the game can’t be perfect).

Overall I can say that I wasn’t as excited after watching all of the presentations. It’s mostly because none of the big 3 had any new gaming systems aside from a new slim Xbox 360 and the Nintendo 3DS. The games that were announced were exciting but the majority of the titles were either some kind of sequel or a reboot of a series. I can say that I am anticipating DJ Hero 2, Rock Band 3, Twisted Metal, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Gran Turismo 5 (yes it finally has a date of Nov. 2010) I think this will be the year of the “motion game” because everyone is on Nintendo’s band wagon.     Some of the technology looks impressive, while other s looked to be very lackluster (Yes I’m looking at you Kinect!)