E3 2009

[DanielSefton]

Another year, another E3. But wow, what a day. Here's some of the big things announced so far:

- Project Natal - Microsoft's answer to the Wii controller... Without the controller.
- Wii motion plus - an attachment for the current controller
- PS3 motion controller - Similar to the Wii controller
- PSP Go
- Zero Gear! (kidding, kidding)
- Halo: Reach
- Gran Turismo 5

Too much to list! Lots of controllers. Obviously it will open new doors for console developers...

Anything Ogre-wise going on at E3?

[xavier]

E3 is not GDC -- it's a completely different audience and focus. E3 is more like a ComDex or CES than something (that GDC at least used to be) about the art and science of making games*. As such, you are not likely ever to see Ogre-related anything at E3 unless someone makes a big-budget AAA title with it (which itself is not likely, since "big-budget" also means "we can afford to use <insert current name engine here>").

*qualifier added because with the shrinkage of E3 a lot of the marketing glitz, hype and money that used to flow into E3, moved to GDC the past few years

[DanielSefton]

Just thought I'd ask, you never know.

But nevertheless, it's still a major event affecting gamers and developers alike - it can't go unnoticed.

[betajaen]

Don't forget the remake of Monkey Island, and the episodes by TellTale games.

It's like all my wishes have come true!

[spookyboo]

such, you are not likely ever to see Ogre-related anything at E3

Not true, Runic Games with Torchlight are there.

[DanielSefton]

Not true, Runic Games with Torchlight are there.

Yes! That crossed my mind, but I wasn't sure.

An Ogre game in all it's glory @ E3:

[xavier]

such, you are not likely ever to see Ogre-related anything at E3

Not true, Runic Games with Torchlight are there.

Who with what?

Then I stand corrected already.

[jacmoe]

A bunch of former Diablo developers, using Ogre and CEGUI:
http://www.ogre3d.org/forums/viewtopic. ... torchlight

[jacmoe]

Then I stand corrected already.

What is amazing is that they could/can easily afford GameBryo, whatever, but chose Ogre and CEGUI.
That's totally cool.

[xavier]

I'm not so sure about that -- it sounds like a group of the devs got together and started a new studio (as happens from time to time); it doesn't say anywhere that they were well-funded.

Still cool (though not surprising ) that they chose Ogre.

[johnhpus]

I thought this was interesting:

Also, in a move that mirrors what's happening with games for the iPhone, Nintendo announced systems to let players create their own games and characters using Nintendo hardware.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/06/02/e3.n ... index.html

I don't know what that jumbled sentence is actually supposed to mean, but it sounds like an App Store for DS.

I really hope that's what they're saying.

[Kojack]

I've spent ages wanting flight sim rudder pedals to go with my Saitek HOTAS joystick setup. Last friday I finally bought a set of saitek pedals, because I knew that no company has released new pedals for years, nobody was ever going to release new ones (realistic flight sim is a dying genre), and I might as well grab them from the only store I could find them in while they still existed.
So of course today I read that at E3 Logitech have shown the new G940 force feedback joystick set:

Grrr. I could have waited a few months and gotten that instead. Black Shark really needs a force feedback joystick for correct trim control.


I can't wait to start hacking the Wii motion plus into my input library.

The PS3 motion controller could be harder to get working on pc, since it uses a camera to track the top of the wand in addition to internal sensors.

Project Natal (colour and depth cameras) looks too good to be true. It would probably be extremely hard to get on a pc, perhaps. It really depends on how much of the software runs on the 360. Natal is a stand alone computer with software to do all the motion capture. The wiimote's infrared camera would have been pretty tricky to use if the wiimote itself didn't contain a cpu which does all the ir hotspot tracking and give the results in a really simple and small data packet. If the PS3 controller and Natal do the main processing external to the console then just feed in simple data like the wiimote does, then reverse engineering would be simpler.

Imagine using Natal on a pc to write documents or emails by making the shape of letters with your body! Gymnastic typing.

[Brocan]

E3 disappoints me year after year, since it has become a console show with 0.1% pc presence.

- MS conference was like tvshopping, a few games and a lot of happy families dancing with a camera. Facebook, twitter, radio, tv... hell, this is a game console!
- Nintendo conference was like a some kind of horror show, vitality sensor , no comments. And an extremely few games, mario galaxy 1.5, metroid, redstell... My thoughts during the conference were WTF (and i have both, DS and Wii... )
- Sony conference was the best, at least they show us games.

I only save the new sensors and their use with pc libraries.

[VictorMoran]

Wow I am really impressed with that Microsoft project Natal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oACt9R9z37U

If it is as good as it looks in the demos, I believe this has the potential to make video games consoles transcend games and become a real house hold appliance.
This could be a real winner for Microsoft.

I hope it is affordable and that it is available for PC as well.

[DanielSefton]

and that it is available for PC as well.

Knowing Microsoft I doubt they will do that officially, at least not for a long time to come. They'll want to up Xbox 360 sales - if it was available on the PC, it would take away the reason to buy an Xbox. I hope to goodness I'm wrong.

But yeah, it's incredible. Imagine playing an MMORPG using this system - exploring, sword fighting, spell casting, real player interaction, facial expressions. *drool* Microsoft are in fact looking into MMO support, apparently with capacity for 300,000 simultaneous players. (Forget any other console, I'm getting me an Xbox license! )

Another video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HluWsMlfj68

[Kojack]

But yeah, it's incredible. Imagine playing an MMORPG using this system - exploring, sword fighting, spell casting, real player interaction, facial expressions. *drool*

It sounds fun, until gamers start dying from heart attacks while grinding levels.


MS did release the 360 controller for pc, so they do have some history of wanting the same controls on both platforms.

[Klaim]

If you can sit and only use your portrait for animation of the avatar, it can be compatible with a lot of games.