Do you remember what it was like being a young child on Christmas Eve?
The restless night, the excitement, wondering what surprises were waiting for you the next morning. The joy of rushing to the tree and tearing into every wrapped package with a grin.
Those same feelings came to me last week as I had the opportunity to fly to Los Angeles and attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
E3 is the world’s largest video game convention where developers and publishers meet for a media frenzy of big reveals, empty promises and tons of booth babes.
After years of watching E3 on television, my dreams came true as I stood in the Los Angeles Convention Center for the three-day event.
It’s impossible to summarize up those three magnificent days in a mere 600 word column, but I will do my best to share my adventure.
Of the five massive publishing companies to hold media briefings — Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Sony and Nintendo — I was only able to attend two.
Kudos to you, Ubisoft and Nintendo.
I later watched the briefings I was unable to attend, but they didn’t seem to bring anything special to the table.
Microsoft announced far too many Kinect games that I have no interest in and forced Kinect elements into core franchises I’m already a fan of — including “Mass Effect” and “Forza Motorsport.”
EA premiered sports titles while allowing only a glimpse of games most are truly interested in — little was said of “Mass Effect 3” and “Star Wars: The Old Republic.”
None of Ubisoft’s games were interesting, except for the “Assassin’s Creed” series — I’m psyched for this fall’s release of “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.”
Sony spent most of their conference apologizing to the millions of users who had their personal information compromised and boring listeners with PlayStationMove titles and new handheld PlayStationVita. (Although I have to admit I’m pumped for “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.”)
Only Nintendo’s briefing that gave me that Christmas feeling.
Aside from announcing a lineup of titles for their 3DS console — including “Super Mario,” “Luigi’s Mansion 2,” “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D” and many others — the house that Mario built also unveiled their new home console, Wii U.
While Nintendo didn’t release many specs for the new console, Wii U will support high definition graphics (finally) and is reported to be more powerful than both Xbox 360 and PlayStation3.
Wii U also supports a unique controller. The new controller has a 6.2-inch touchscreen for interacting with games on the big screen and capable of displaying your game if someone were to change the channel on the television.
That’s right — one person can be playing a game while someone else uses the television for another purpose.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg on Wii U’s capabilities. I anticipate many other revolutionary developments.
However, I do remember feeling this excited about Wii when it was unveiled at E3 2006, only to be let down with cheap gimmicks and crappy games.
While the original Wii was successful financially, it put a bad taste in traditional gamers’ mouths.
Hopefully Nintendo can get things right with Wii U and steal my heart like it did in Los Angeles one week ago.
Adam Arinder is a 21-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]
Press X to Not Die: Nintendo steals the show, my heart at E3 gaming conference
June 15, 2011