adam reeve » E3

PS3 Reduced to $499

adam — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:34:42 +0000

So we now all know what we already knew, the PS3 has been officially cut in price by $100 to $499 for the 60GB model. Taking up the slack in the upper atmosphere is the new 80GB model (as previously seen in Korea) for the original bargain price of $599. If $100 seems like a large difference for just 20GB, Sony seem to agree so they’re also throwing in a copy of Motorstorm. Still seems a little bit of a stretch to me – I think I’ll wait until the heavily rumored rumble controllers come out. Oh and, you know, some decent games to actually play on the thing.

E3 2006 : Our Awards

adam — Sat, 13 May 2006 05:44:37 +0000

We decided to come up with our own awards for the best (and worst) of E3 for this year, some are serious and some less so. Without further ado, I proudly present the E3 Golden Blister Awards 2006!

Best Stand

Playstation : Lots to see and do, and cool extras like the PSP downloads

Most Ridiculous Stand

Scotland : Several countries were represented at E3, including Korea and the UK. But why did Scotland feel the need for it’s own booth? There wasn’t even anything in it.

Best Presentation

Haze (Ubisoft) : It may be because we saw them fresh on the first day, but the little bit of tounge-in-cheek acting in this demo of a bog-standard FPS was pretty fun.

Most Cringe Inducing Presentation

Namco Bandai : The MC girl was loud, brash, probably high, and orange didn’t suit her. Painful to watch.

Stupidest Celebrity Appearance

Paris Hilton (Gameloft) : She was on a tiny booth up against the wall in the corner of the hall, promoting her very own cellphone game. Sad.

Biggest Surprise

Gears of War (360) : Where was it? I was expecting it to be playable, but it wasn’t anywhere to be seen at the Xbox booth, except if you lined up to watch the trailer. There was a lot of advertising outside but no game.

Least Surprising Revalation

Killzone (PS3) : Not playable? Not quite like last year’s E3 video? Well there’s a surprise.

Biggest Disappointment

PS3 : Just meh. And $600 is a lot for meh.

Best Booth Babes

Tecmo : The blonde one in particular (says Morgan). Runner up goes to the girls at SiN.

Noisiest Booth Babes

Namco Bandai : Congrats to NB for their second Golden Blister!

Most Ridiculous Costumes

Everquest : Girls in big purple Medusa suits? Not cute.

Coolest Headgear

Namco Pacman Helmets : I wanted one soooo badly.

Most Ridiculous Headgear

The Halo Guy : Walking around with a plastic Master Chief helmet in your bag says something about a guy. It says he’s a winner!

Longest Queue

Nintendo Wii : No contest. 4 hours of solid boredom.

Shortest Queue

PS3 : Just over the way from Nintendo, but another world of lines. The wait for the “special” PS3 area was rarely over 30 minutes.

Best Use for a PS3 Controller

Replacement for a missing PS2 controller : They are that similar.

Best Swag

PSP Memory Stick : Loaded with trailers and other virtual swag, and useful afterwards. Thanks Sony! Special mention goes to Joystiq for the T-Shirts!

Most Ridiculous Swag

Webzen Inflatable Boogie Boards : Because the halls aren’t crowded enough already, let’s give everyone a surfboard to carry around.

Crappiest Swag

Microsoft Fake Moustache Kit : Errrmmmmm…well…no. Sorry, no idea what those were all about.

The Official “Who The Hell Are They?” Award

Webzen : They had a huge booth, lights, dancing girls, swag. But no one had ever heard of them. Turns out they’re the guys behind Huxley, a much anticipated FPS coming out this year – I’d heard of Huxley but not Webzen.

Best Of Show

Nintendo Wii : Without a doubt the most buzzworthy item at the show this year. Everyone wanted a go, and everyone liked it (but not all loved it). Runner up goes to Microsoft’s rather interesting Live Anywhere service. But we’ll need to see some actual games before deciding on that one.

More Photos

adam — Sat, 13 May 2006 04:56:15 +0000

E3 Day 3 photos are now available. Not many shots today (I had battery issues) but some good Wii footage.

E3 Day 3

adam — Sat, 13 May 2006 01:25:27 +0000

A quick post this time, as we only spent a brief time at the show this morning. First order of business was Nintendo, we managed to blag our way past the 4 hour line and got into the closed area to try out the Wii games. Had a go on a couple including Wii Sports : Tennis which was a lot of fun. The Wiimote fits in the hand just like a tennis racquet handle and driving the ball feels pretty accurate. The new Mario Universe also looks interesting – although more like Mario Sunshine than the classics, hopefully it will be a little better than that was! There’s no doubt though – Nintendo’s booth was the place to be this E3.

After a quick stop at the Namco booth for Pacman swag and the E3 store for (paid-for) t-shirts it was bye bye E3 2006, it’s been great!

Web Browser on Wii

adam — Fri, 12 May 2006 06:28:32 +0000

I just noticed this, looks like I’m a little slow off the bat! Nintendo have announced that the Wii will be the first of the new consoles to ship with a web browser built in – made by Opera no less. Lots of people have been asking for this on the 360, will we ever see it? Personally I’m not sure I want to. The PSP browser showed me just how awful it is to try and do anything on the web without a keyboard.