So what did everyone think of E3?

• Elite Beat Agents! (Ouendan was my #1 game of 2005, so to see it not only coming to America, but to be coming with new music/story/etc - it's even better! It's not so much a localization as it is a sequel! w00t!!)
• Super Paper Mario! (Gamecube games at E3 fell completely off of everyone's radar, but this is one of the real gems of the show - a classic 2D Mario platformer set in the world of Paper Mario! Again - w00t!!)

• Everything Wii! Nintendo came out as the clear winner of this show, hands down. I've been a big supporter of the Wii since it was first unveiled way back when, and to see it in action along with countless unexpected surprises (The Zapper, the VC controller, SSBB, Mario Galaxy, the list goes on and on) was an absolute treat. This is exactly what Nintendo needed to do to get back on top. If they can produce enough, they'll be under every tree this Christmas. And despite what Reggie said about not announcing pricing, it's already in the upcoming issue of EGM - $249 boys and girls!! (Let's hope this is right, I'd hate for EGM to make me a liar..)
• Microsoft Holds Their Own! With a solid lineup of upcoming games, both expected and announced (Gears of War, Halo 3, Alan Wake, Fable 2, GTA IV, Bioshock, Blue Dragon -- this list too, goes on and on) the 360 is standing on solid ground. There was nothing really earthshattering coming from the Microsoft camp, but there didn't need to be. All they had to do was wait and react to...
• Sony Digs It's Own Grave! $500 for the CHEAP version?? The one without HDMI ports (thereby rendering Blu-Ray DVD's useless)?? Yipes.. And a last minute tilt sensitive controller (which, contrary to internet chatter, is NOTHING like the wiimote)?? Oh, and did I mention that unlike last year's hype, the game's don't look any better than the game's on the 360? Hope you enjoyed the decade on top. Time to go back to making Walkman's.

• “Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3? People are going to buy two (machines.) They’re going to buy an Xbox and they’re going to buy a Wii … for the price of one PS3.” - Peter Moore, a Microsoft vice president

I have a million things to say about it, but to make a long story short: I was disappointed and disgusted at Sony's showing. It was pompous and arrogant, and it showed no games I was interested in. Their decisions were just confusing to me (Gran Turismo HD and Ridge Racer were very odd choices to show). Microsoft did well and is progressing nicely toward gaining ground on Sony in the console war. I think GTA was a big coup for them. I was most impressed with Nintendo, and I'm genuinely excited about most of their announcements, but they weren't without their mistakes. GameCube wasn't there and the GBA is basically dead. I'm not sure about the two SKUs for Zelda, but the Smash Bros. trailer was awesome.

Anyway, that summary was kind of all over the place. I'm hoping to put together a few blog entries on each of the big 3.

By far though, my favorite moment from all three conferences was when Reggie came out and thanked both people who gave them positive feedback about the name change. You gotta love Nintendo's ability to laugh at itself.

I thought E3 was pretty exciting, being a Nintendo fan & all, I do have some thoughts on each console maker though...

Sony- All I have to say is WHAT THE HELL?!? Let's see how many mistakes the made... 1) Boring conference, 2) a new "innovative" controller that reports ave come out to show was just slapped together last minute, 3) High price points, 4) lower price point is a system with no 1080p (lack of HDMI), bad back compatability (no memory slots), and 5) obvious rip-off of XBL. Sony is taking themselves down this gen

Nintendo- Well done Nintendo, they have shown off just all that their new console & gave us a few shocks along the way. It was nice to see the graphics upgrade from GCN to Wii in the video for SSBB. It's also really good to see how all of their big franchises & some new ones should all have their game out within a year of the system's release. Nintendo is really learning from their past mistakes on how to take advantage of all the things they have at their disposal.

Microsoft- For a company with a system already out there, MS did a great job holding their own, showingoff some really great series & even stealing some thunder that PS3 would have had coming, by taking time exclusivity of GTA from Sony, placing the two big series of games on their console.

I'm a console gamer through and through (outside of a few title I just can't stand PC gaming) but the thing I was looking forward to most out of this years E3 and consequently the thing that made me happiest to see was Spore. I'm sorry, but when a guy like Will Wright says he's going to create a game based on evolutionary theory, you kinda have to pay attention.

Other than that, I had a good laugh at sony's floundering around to try and save something from the one-two punch of microsoft's new games and nintendo's new console. Granted, I'll still buy a PS3 just because you never know what gem's might pop up on it, but I won't wait in any lines to get it on release day.

Speaking of microsoft's new games, how about that GTA? Did anyone see that coming? And how about those video's for "Too Human"? And how about... ah hell, MS was good all around.

As for the big N, I was way more interested to hear that they plan to have over a hundred new titles for the DS by years end. Surely out of that many games at least one has to be amazing...right?

Over all, I'd say the conference ended with a satisfied feeling. Microsoft seems to be learning and improving, and nintendo is still having fun...and sony is imploding. Praise the lord!

E3 was really interesting this year.  I was really impressed by Nintendo's showing.  I think they did an excellent job of taking a concept that no one really understood and making us understand it.  I liked how their press conference was fun and to the point.  Their booth was saturated with people and they gave off tons of impressions, overall people who try it, like it, and I'm pretty sure they're exaggerating their movements on impulse alone.  They showed off lots of games, I'm excited for Zelda: TP, Metroid Prime 3, and Wario Ware - all in all it just looks really fun.  On the DS, Phoenix Wright 2 and Yoshi's Island were pleasent surprises, as was Super Paper Mario for the Cube.  Of course, the downside of the short press conference was that you had to hunt down the dirt all at your own pace -  news was trickling in from everywhere but Nintendo's own mouth.  Case in point, online will be dependent on the individual game....translation: they're probably gonna keep the same friend code system...really??? *sighs*

Sony's showing....well coming into E3, I really expected to like what they were going to offer, but as their press conference went on, it was becoming painfully obvious that I just was not impressed.  Their strategy was all over the place, their conference was boring, they showed too many games to the point where none stood out, their online content is questionable, and then the killers were the price(s) and the rumble-less tilt sensor controller (wow was I mad at that one, so much so that I had to blog to vent).

And Microsoft...admittedly I'm not a fan of the Xbox, they don't have the games I like, but I think they did a good job overall, yeah, tons better than Sony. Still, they hit on the biggest things and pretty much reassured everyone that they will make people happy, showed good games, announced Halo 3, stole GTA (I laughed at that...really hard), are actually trying to diversify their games more, and are doing good things to Live.

Yeah, I guess that makes Sony the loser in this year's E3.  Still everyone is bitter and upset with them now, but they'll probably do really well, people after all change their minds about things and as time passes your original anger starts to fade.  This E3 has been so crazy that I don't even want to make predictions.

So, this is a good topic to keep on the board, But now we are on the down hill side of E3 2011. It is cool to look back at what was being discussed five years ago and seeing what was presented then and comparing it to what it actually becames. Games such as Assassins Creed, Halo 3, etc, etc. I hope to see more on this thread about what you got out of E3 2011.

Me, I am looking very forward to:

1. Battlefield 3
2. Mass Effect 3
3. Resistance 3
4. Halo CE Anniversary in HD
5. Uncharted 3
6. Elder Scrolls V; Skyrim
7. Assassins Creed Revlations
8. Batman, Arkham City
9. Tomb Raider (revised Lara Croft)
10. BioShock Infinite
11. Gears of War 3

Etc, Etc.