Player’s Club: Loafing at E3

So I’m at this thing called E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where most of the major video game publishers and developers show off upcoming titles to press, retail, and each other. It’s a massive trade show that fills up both halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center with an overwhelming assortment of video games and video game peripherals. Some might remember when E3 was held in Atlanta back in ’97 and ’98. It’s basically fun and business mingling awkwardly for three or four days out of the year, with a steady soundtrack of explosions, upbeat dance rock, and whatever music game happens to be nearby. And there’s always a music game nearby.

The biggest news of E3 thus far has probably been the new Wii-esque motion control systems from Sony and Microsoft. Sony’s motion control wand operates much like the Wii remote, interfacing with the Sony Eyetoy to bring one-to-one motion sensing to the PS3.

Microsoft’s Project Natal is something different, though. Natal is a camera that attaches to the Xbox 360 and that reads motions without need of a controller. To kick a ball, you swing your leg. To strike with a sword, swing your arm. You can even scroll through menu screens with a wave of your hand, and select options by pushing an invisible button. With a testimonial from Steven Spielberg, Project Natal made a huge debut.

Microsoft also impressed with a video demo of Lionhead Studios’ Milo project. Milo is a computer generated boy who reacts with you through the Natal camera. In the video Milo recognized a Lionhead employee and carried on a surprisingly realistic conversation. Of course demos exist to make products look amazing; it’s too early to assume Milo works as well as this video showed.

Sony officially announced the new PSP Go, coming this fall for $249.99. That’s a steep price to pay for a minor revision of a 5-year-old handheld. The most notable thing about the Go is its lack of a UMD drive. Gaming on the Go will be download only.

Other than those announcements, E3’s memorable moments have been mostly software related. More on those later.