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Created on: September 12, 2010
Every year, E3 comes along and shows the world glimpses of the future. Nintendo dropped a bombshell with the 3DS, not to mention a raft of games for the new handheld that must have had their opposition crying into their cornflakes the next day. And the return of iD, and Castlevania, and Twisted Metal - many, many things happen at E3.
Of course, for every winner there must be a loser - and when you are at a fiercely competative electronics and games expo., you need to be prepared to come in last. So, in order, here were this years top losers of E3. Honorable mentions at the end, of course.
5. The No-Shows.
Pikmin 3, Pokemon Black and White, The Wii Vitality Sensor, Mass Effect 3, Beyond Good & Evil 2, Saints Row 3, Aliens: Colonial Marines, The Last Guardian, The Elder Scrolls V and Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 - where were they all? Promised beforehand, titles people really wanted to get their hands on, and they weren't there! There are way more games to fill this category, but let's just say there were far fewer games on display than usual - is this a sign that developers are trying to up the quality of their work before showing it off? Or just that the technology is taking more pride of place and shutting out the games? Who knows. But no-shows make people sad, and that's never a good thing.
4. Microsoft and KINECT.
Whilst the future may be moving beyond the traditional medium of controllers, the KINECT is a curiously old-school approach to the problem. Motion sensing technology has been around for some considerable time, much like Nintendo's approach to the Wii remote having been the means for light-guns to be used for shooters for over a decade. We've seen it, the Game Boy Camera and the EyeToy have explored the concept beforehand.
So it's both curious and disturbing that a multi-billion dollar corporation like Microsoft can get it so, so wrong. The demonstrations were about as convincing as Paris Hilton in an acting role, the technology was antiquated and the interface lag was beyond appalling. And let us not forget that in the time between E3 and this article, Microsoft have been playing down their initial impressive technical specifications to avoid disappointment. It's not that KINECT can't work, or shouldn't work in theory, but in practice it is yet to work for people. And for the price of a Nintendo Wii, this gadget is going up against a recognisable brand that does things considerably better. Is this really wise?
And that every demonstration was
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