PSP World

After Weak Microsoft Conference, E3 is Sony's to Lose

Yesterday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, attendees were treated to a lackluster E3 performance from Microsoft. The company had hoped to showcase a library of hit games and build hype for its new camera-based controller called Kinect. Despite some clear high points, which included an exhilarating demonstration of the upcoming Metal Gear Rising game, the remainder of the keynote address was borderline embarrassing.

An inordinate amount of time was spent re-hashing the functionality of the new Kinect controller. Despite including an interesting but potentially gimmicky voice recognition feature, Kinect appears to share much in common with existing technology like the Eye Toy. Worse still, many of the games on offer were little more than casual demonstrations or minigames that will have little appeal for Microsoft's core audience of hardcore gamers and FPS fans. One game called Kinectimals features cuddly animals that players can interact with through the Kinect camera. It was interesting from a technical point of view, but the subject matter is likely to appeal only to very young gamers.

Perhaps the weakest moment in the conference came when a nerdy engineer was brought on stage to demonstrate the upcoming Dance Central from Harmonix. The terribly uncreative name, coupled with a poor explanation of the core gameplay mechanics, made this a real stinker. Nearly as bad was news of a new shovelware fitness game from Ubisoft called Your Shape, which was accompanied by a similarly long-winded and uninspiring presentation.

For the first time in several years, Sony does not have to deliver much to convince gamers that they are the company to watch in the coming year. We expect the Japanese company to unveil a new PSP device, some surprise game titles and a paid PSN service with added bonus content for subscribers. Those things alone should be enough to allow sony to steal the show at E3 2010. Their keynote is scheduled to kick off at 11:30 AM PST later on today.