Organized Chaos

E3, gaming’s biggest annual week, kicked off on Monday in California. The annual event is where MicroSoft, Nintendo and Sony show off what’s coming over the next year.

It wasn’t difficult to find real-time information on the event. Popular sites such as IGN and Kotaku had live blogs at each press conference. This was where you found out the big news and also where you found the fanboys, who loved to take the opportunity to flame the competition.

There’s really no need for me to get into the fanboys’ reactions. Fanboys are fanboys. They are annoying and they will go to their death feeling their favorite gaming system or company is better than all others and there’s nothing you can do, even with hard facts, to change their minds.

MicroSoft opened with news about a revamping of the Xbox Live interface, as well as the addition of avatars, which are like Nintendo’s Miis but with greater detail. The “huge news” according to some was that Final Fantasy no longer is a Sony exclusive.

This isn’t so much news as the continuation of a trend. Exclusive titles are becoming a thing of the past and Sony still has much to offer.

Nintendo came on Tuesday and introduced Wii Motion, a peripheral that hooks into the Wiimote to give real 1 to 1 motion sensitivity. Fanboys laughed at the new device, saying the Wiimote was supposed to work well at the start. Well, what this does is enhances the Wiimote and will open a new realm of possibilities.

Sony was last and if you ask any MicroSoft fanboy, they’d say it was the end for the company. Sony introduced downloadable movies and television shows, in  high definition and standard definition, to be released at the PlayStation Store Tuesday night. This was a smart step to try and gain some footing, as MicroSoft had a firm hold in that department.

There also was news of a shorter Ratchet and Clank game available for download sometime this summer for $14.99. Plus there were other games on display as usual.

Fanboys have a way of seeing the gold in everything their fave does, but if you ask me none of the companies made any earthshaking announcements. All three had decent conferences and all three will provide gamers with nice options this year and into early 2009.

My buddy John and I agree that this is the golden age of gaming. There’s something for everyone and the choices we have now are amazing when compared to even five years ago. Even a fanboy could agree on that.

For more on E3, click here.

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