So I have been following E3 as best as I can with my hectic schedule, mainly by watching the recently encoded conferences for both Microsoft and Nintendo (Still waiting for GS to up the Sony one). As many people know by now, it seems to be a overall lackluster experience, and I am sure that many of us are GLAD we aren't able to attend... Save for not getting a free 360 or touching the 3DS in prototype form).

I was rather excited by MS's conference with the announcement of the new 360 and Kinect, but wasn't too surprised or blown away with the footage of Halo:Reach, Gears 3, or Fable 3... however I did enjoy MGS Rising immensly! That said, I was almost bored to tears with Nintendo's conference thanks to Regie Fils Ami's almost Ben Stein-like, unenthusiastic voice. Sure, I get goosebumps when I see Mario, Link, Samus, or DK because it's like seeing an old friend from long ago... but there was nothing really riveting to me about this conference, except for the 3DS.

Even though I have not yet seen Sony's press conference, I have read enough on EnGadget and here to expect more of the same as MS and Nintendo's in the way of continuation of already-established IP's and a new peripheral or product that has been previously mentioned this time last year. But from what I gather, the main theme of "The Big 3" seems to be all enveloped around this "casual" gaming phenomenon (which I think is funny to consider it that much of a clique).

So MS has Kinect, and Sony has Move. Both offer NEW experiences to their existing loyalists, assuming said people don't own a Wii. The goal here, as far as I am concerned, is solely with expansion from both names into a market that both have never been familiar with (exception goes to Sony for the EyeToy and PS Eye, and MS for the Vision Cam). I believe the focus on tapping the casual market is being viewed as a plus if it happens to ANY extent, but not as the CORE interest. I believe MS is taking their approach further than Sony by means of extended Kinect to the Windows LIVE platform for PC's as well as making Kinect a new way to interface with their existing hardware.

Here is another point I'd like to make. Back when XBox 360 and PS3 were getting their hype fired up before either released, the two companies were boasting how each other's product was aiming to blow away the previous 5-year life cycle of their earlier iterations. Sony forcasted that the PS3 will see a 10 year life cycle and MS claimed that their XBox 360 would "go far beyond" the 5-year cycle. In my eyes, this is the answer to those who questioned both with "How can this be done?". True, both companies are now implementing a new brand of technology that is similar to Nintendo's Wii in MANY ways, but each are also VERY different from the Wii's approach. Bearing in mind that the Wii's controller interface is made up almost completely of pre-programmed function that is triggered by estimated movement, pre-motion plus, Nintendo was the FIRST out of the THREE to successfully achieve a total motion-controlled game library in which motion was the primary mode of control (try saying that 5 times fast).

Lest we not forget those who prefer gaming on the PC (Mac, Linux and Windows alike) who also laughed at the above claims based on fixed-hardware bases for all three consoles. In my years as a gamer, I have upgraded my PC with graphics cards, power supplies, motherboards, processors and memory sticks to either get an edge on PC gaming with quicker response time or cleaner graphics. Not only did I do this willingly to have the "full experience" that each game offered, but I spent WAY more time maintaining a pc gaming solution only to find that my brand new PC won't play my games from 10 years back without some form of manipulation (be it through DOSBOX, or VMWare) than it took me to put my old games in the platform they were designed for with maybe 10 minutes time in finding said old hardware and hookups. The feud between PC Gaming and Console gaming is pointless, because it's like comparing a dog to a cat, or a chevy to a dodge or ford.

Getting back on point with The Big Three... Kinect offers a wonderful experience, as does Move and the Wii. I will be buying both new technologies for myself and my family to enjoy. I am equally excited with the implementation of Wireless N and aftermarket-swappable hard drives for the new 360 which I will also be getting, because I love this freedom with my PS3. Sure, there are the haters out there who talk about how MS is all about money because the Current/Previous 360 had to have add-ons for Wireless Networking, but chew on this tidbit for a moment if you will... When the XBox 360 was released back in 2005, wireless networking with consoles was still infantile in it's usefulness. Wireless G technology was finicky as it would work great so long as there were no barriers between the router broadcasting the signal and the reciever. MS tried wireless with the original XBox towards the end of it's life, and it didn't sell too well. So personally I think it was very wise of them to NOT implement the technology into the 360 especially given the problems with the RRoD that were ever present. Not everyone had faith in wireless and many consumers still preferred WIRED networking because 100mbps was way more attractive than a fluctuating 54mbps. Even though gigabit wired connections exist, not too many people have a gigabit router in their home, let alone a dual-band wireless, so Wireless N makes perfect sense to be implemented in the new console. I believe I have also heard rumors that Sony is releasing an updated PS3 with Wireless N as well as higher capacity hard drives.

I am still waiting on the Sony conference to be uploaded for viewing so that I can get more info on the Move, beings has I haven't written much about it in this post. From what I understand, you need the PS3 Eye in order to use the Move, which makes (correct me if I am wrong) 3 peripherals that one would need to get the Move experience. It certainly seems to promise a more responsive control scheme than that of the Wii's beings as it relies on not just moving handheld-controllers but interprets feedback from the camera. This will make for a very impressive experience in many ways, so long as the Eye can also translate movement from the rest of the user's body. From the demonstration video's I HAVE seen, it looks great.

Last, I will bring up briefly the 3DS... I said to my wife tonight that "it's a good thing we didn't invest in the DSi or DSiXL" because this might be a logical upgrade from our 1st gen DS's, in which she seemed to agree. I think that the inclusion of the gyroscope and accelerometer give it back the edge it needs to compete with the iProducts as far as gaming is concerned. The added 3D video as well as Camera features make this purchase a no brainer in terms of "next cool gadget". Not that I think that Apple was trying to enter or even compete in the gaming market directly with the iPod touch, iPhone or iPad... You can't really compare those products to a gaming device, other than the fact that the two big mobile gaming devices ALSO do video, music, and more without the focus on an enormous multi-function app market.

In closing, I feel that there is a certain lack of energy on Nintendo's part during the conference. I can excuse the "interference" issues with the new Zelda demo that was WAY too long (MS OS conference plus BSOD anyone?) but the game announcements, save for Metroid: Other M and Kirby didn't thrill me. I was excited with the MS conference during the latter half rather than the former save for MGS Rising. Either way, I feel that it is still going to be an exciting remainder of the year from The Big Three for the people who REALLY make it all possible... Us, the gamers.