Analysts give high marks to E3 2009

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Jun 4, 2009 1:27 pm PT

E3 2009: Industry prognosticators weigh in on motion-sensing cameras, big hits (and misses), and a return to form for the expo.

LOS ANGELES--While the last day of the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo has yet to wrap, a handful of analysts have already weighed in on the big event from top to bottom. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich and Wedbush Morgan Securities' Michael Pachter answered GameSpot's questions on the show. As expected, the big three press conferences were a particular point of interest.

"I don't think any one of them can be declared a winner," Divnich said. "Each conference had its own highlights and some disappointments. In terms of games, I have to give it to Sony with God of War, MAG, Uncharted... I think MAG is going to be huge."

While Divnich was positive across the board on the big three conferences, Pachter expressed some reservations. He called Nintendo's presentation disappointing, particularly because the company chose to save news of a new Zelda game on the Wii for Shigeru Miyamoto's Tuesday-night roundtable. As for Microsoft, Pachter thought the Project Natal motion-sensing camera demo was cool, but he expects its real value to extend beyond gaming.

"The ultimate vision is that the camera will allow a user to interact with the XBL dashboard, sorting and selecting Netflix movies, accessing Facebook, and so on," Pachter said. "It has limited potential as a controller, because most games won't work well with motion control. However, in order to get everyone to buy one, Microsoft has to get enough games made to justify the purchase. I think that they are being very deliberate about this, and don't expect a launch until there are 30 or so such games available. Ask me then what I think, as I'm sure that my opinion will change."

Divnich agreed that Natal was interesting, much like the new PlayStation 3 motion-sensing controller, but he said both Sony and Microsoft may have tipped their hands too early.

"I don't expect [Natal] until Christmas 2010, so why tease the gamer now," Divnich asked. "We have to wait a year and a half to see this thing in action. I think it was a mistake on MS's part. Announce it or something, but now core gamers are excited about it and want to see more, but we won't."

Did we meet Milo too soon?

As for the digital-distribution-only PSP Go, Pachter called it "the future," saying it should do wonders to combat handheld piracy. Divnich also thought of the system as emblematic of the future, so much so that he said its success in the present could be irrelevant.

"Whether or not the PSP Go is going to be successful really doesn't matter," Divnich said. "It's just the fact that they're bringing that technology here. What they're doing is acting as permission givers for others to do the same."

On the third-party front, both Pachter and Divnich singled out Ubisoft and Avatar as particularly buzz-worthy. The former analyst labeled the French publisher as the "biggest winner relative to its size," noting a lineup stocked with Splinter Cell: Conviction, Assassin's Creed 2, and James Cameron's Avatar. Divnich was also taken with that last title.

"You have to see Avatar," Divnich said. "You go in with a preconceived notion and it blows you away. It completely blows you away."

Finally, the two analysts were in agreement again in regard to E3 2009 itself. When asked if the organizing Entertainment Software Association finally got it right with the E3 format tweaks, Pachter said they got it "more than right" (emphasis his), and he lauded the "brilliant job" ESA head Michael Gallagher is doing.

"In all honesty, I think this is the perfect E3," Divnich said. "You have the right amount of people, the right amount of vendors, the right amount of energy."

238 Comments

  • ultralesus

    Posted Jun 11, 2009 5:52 pm PT

    E3 was jawdropping this year, and it helped that GS had such good coverage. From the live conferences, to the live show's and stage demo's... It was great to watch the news as it happened.

    Shame we have a whole year to wait now for the next E3..

  • CamiKitten

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 6:06 am PT

    Glad I got to enjoy E3 this year!

  • RKBUD

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 5:39 am PT

    E3 is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I
    Its been quite awhile since e3 was worth watching and having big news that most people dont know about(although some news was already known for example-PSP GO) Microsoft, Sony did a great job however i felt nintendo lacked compared to Microsoft and Sony.

  • kavadias1981

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 4:15 am PT

    In 1st place for technology is Microsoft with it's amazing Natal demonstration. The potential for that piece of kit is excellent. They also take the top spot for online with a whole host of incredible new features for its XBL service. It's line up of exclusive games was a little weak though with only a small offering.

    Sony definitely took the top spot for games with a seemingly endless amount of exclusives headed for the PS3 and PSP. However I wish there had been more improvements announced for the PSN which is still lagging far behind XBL. We in the UK still can't buy or rent movies like in the USA. The motion controller demonstration was also very weak and seemed to have been hastily put together at the last minute. It did seem like a promising device though and lays somewhere between the Wii Motion+ and Natal in terms of capability.

    Nintendo once again showed off a lot of new games for the non-gamer but I do not hold this against them. It is a business strategy thathas seen them crush the opposition with its profits and sales figures. The majority of their presentation seemed to have been recycled from the previous year though, with the majority of the games having already been announced in 2008. However they have been listening to us gamers and are giving us a couple of new Mario games, an excellent looking Metroid and as Miyamoto announced in an interview, a new Zelda too.

    So a pretty good year then.

  • chupamelpo

    Posted Jun 10, 2009 12:47 am PT

    i love crack

  • AlexTT_spb

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 10:45 am PT

    Yep, this E3 was simply stunning. So many cool games, so much new hardware (natal, vitality sensor, sony motion controllers)
    Nintendo disappointed me a little (no live demos except 4 new smb for wii, but in my opinion LittleBigPlanet is pretty much the same in terms of gameplay and it is way better than SMB promises to be. Sorry, Nintendo fans), but GOSH! Microsoft and Sony just blew me away. M$ conference was the best e3 conference EVER, it's how it should be done: game after game after game, no unnecessary talking and in the end a presentation of useful piece of hardware. Way to go, MS! Sony had an excellent first-party games lineup. At last PS3 is gonna have some really awesome exclusives
    Hope next year it will be even better

  • ZombieKingX

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 10:24 am PT

    My biggest problem with SMG was the limited number of power ups and the short amount of time that they lasted. Why in the world would the fireballs go away after awhile? They didn't do that in any other Mario game I've ever played.

  • ThAdEa82

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 9:46 am PT

    Yeah great high marks...but after all this info on new games...how are we to cope with the withdrawal?

  • beardrewz

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 6:19 am PT

    The new sony psp looks ok but you know.....i would much prefer a whole new gpu..the graphics are just standard...why get one. Better off getting a ipod touch/iphone. same visuals almost.

  • beardrewz

    Posted Jun 9, 2009 6:17 am PT

    Microsoft had working demos for the natal camera in colour and people could have a go....now the ps3 motion sensor device was hard for the guy to use and it was not really working for a demo to show.....i can see natal out next year but the ps3 motion sensors???come on guys lol. Microsoft had the best E3 show, there better at there presentation and the games they showed were much more better...so how was sonys e3 better..what it was good hearing about the sale stats? the presenter should be fired.

  • gameking5000

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 11:05 pm PT

    @striggy

    Like there is any new news?

  • HappyBB

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 10:04 pm PT

    Can someone help me get in the next E3? Can gamespot take me alone to the show for next year?

  • stziggy posted Jun 8, 2009 6:49 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    stziggy

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 6:49 pm PT (hide)

    It's June 8th and there's no new news on Gamespot's news section. How lazy is that? Imagine of CNN did that? How do you expect we the readers to take you guys seriously when you can't even cover the news 24/7?

    Gamespot is pathetic. Way to slack off guys!

  • wh1te_m4trix

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 3:02 pm PT

    Microsoft's press conference amazed me, they had so much in store for the gamer and they always manage to make their conferences very entertaining. Sony's one was also great, loved the look of MAG and Uncharted. The least I liked was Nintendo, it was better than last year's conference but it still fell short this year.

  • MarkkelleherUK

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 2:09 pm PT

    Microsoft showed the best things at this years E3! sony psp go was great though too!

  • aquaturtle007

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 1:29 pm PT

    whatever happened to OnLive. Looks like its a long ways off or they stopped the project

  • aquaturtle007

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 1:26 pm PT

    It think SOny was forced to show their motion sensing because Microsoft did (or they thought microsoft would)

  • ParisSun

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 12:56 pm PT

    Natal will have more use outside of gaming. I agree with that. I don't really care for motion controllers and I like using my controller. But it will be nice to surf the web and type on my computer using hand motions. It's going to be like Minority Report very soon.

  • rasterror

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 12:40 pm PT

    As an owner of all three home consoles and biased towards the 360 I have to say that this was a great E3 for all consoles, even the Wii for the most part. There are so many games to look forward that the only major problems that a person will have are money and time. I can't wait to play the great games and give the show an all around B+. I'd give it an A if they let me have those games for......beta testing.

  • Half-LifeFan

    Posted Jun 8, 2009 12:25 pm PT

    Is it just me or did they leave a lot out? I mean no one can say this E3 wasn't awesome, but a couple things were even said to be at the next E3.

    Fallout New Vegas
    OnLive
    Legend of Zelda (Not promised but man, at least some artwork would be nice)

    Any of these ring a bell developers?

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