This week is E3, the largest video game convention of the year. Lot’s of new announcements will be made this week, and most of the biggest have already been made. On Monday, Microsoft held it’s press conference, and on Tuesday, Sony and Nintendo held each of theirs. Lots of new game announcements, footage for games and hardware announcements. I won’t go into full details on everything that was said – there are plenty of sites doing that (I follow kotaku). I consider myself a fanboy of none of the big three (I own PS3 and Xbox 360, and used to have a Wii until I gave it to my grandparents after a long drought of games that appealed to me), so I ‘d like to think I can be fairly objective.

On Monday, Microsoft held their press conference, announcing Metal Gear Solid: Rising, and showing some new footage of Forza Motorsport 3, Mass Effect 2, and unveiled Project Natal – their answer to the Wii’s motion sensing capabilities. Forza 3 and Mass Effect 2 both definitely interest me. I loved Forza (missed Forza 2, however) and really enjoyed Mass Effect. The visuals on Forza 3 look fantastic, and I’m really excited to see that come out. I’m a fan of sim racers and high speed racers, the arcadey racers (like Need for Speed and Burnout) don’t interest me at all.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising looks great. It appears to follow Raiden, probably between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4, and give the story of when he got his cyborg ninja-esque suit. It will probably be more hack and slash than previous Metal Gear games, but that does fit Raiden better.

The highlight of Microsoft’s press conference was Project Natal – an Xbox 360 peripheral that reads motion and translates that into the game. Unlike the Wii remote, it is a sensor bar that doesn’t need to be held while using it. The tubes seems to be jizzing its pants over this, but I’m thoroughly unimpressed. It reminds me of those old arcade fighters, where you stood in a certain location and it read your movements. I’ll never forget playing that with my brother and growing increasingly frustrated as it misread my movements and did the wrong move. I can’t imagine Natal doing a whole lot better. Of course, Peter Molyneaux and Steven Spielberg were on hand to hype this new toy… but Peter Molyneaux is the lord of overhype (ignore everything he says about his games, it’ll all be stripped out before release) and Steven Spielberg has no connection to gaming that I’ve ever heard. So in essence, why do I care what these two are saying? On top of that, how can this sensor detect the fine movements that let you spin the ball in Wii Sports – Bowling, or make the detailed cuts that made Trauma Center so much fun? Personally, I don’t care what the tubes say – I’m calling this a failure on par with Eye Toy.

Nintendo held the next press conference, and it impressed me more than I thought it would. I camped out for 7 hours to reserve my Wii, and it is the only system I’ve gotten on launch, and I don’t regret that at all. The opening salvo was amazing – Metroid Prime 3, Twilight Princess, ExciteTruck, Trauma Center, WarioWare, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl and even as late as Mario Kart Wii. However, I lost interest around the time the second generation of games came out. I’m not a fan of minigame collections, and I prefer my games to have a distinct progression. I pick it up and play for 3 hours, and afterwards, I am farther along than before. I don’t like the concept that you can do everything from the start and never unlock or advance. It’s just not my thing. So I ended up giving my Wii to my grandparents about 7 months ago… but now I wish I hadn’t.

Nintendo unveiled New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Metroid: Other M and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Metroid and Galaxy are must haves for me. The trailer for Other M floored me – especially the subtle reference to Adam when that officer (who is probably Adam) says to Samus “Any objections, lady?”. I will get a Wii again for those two games. New Super Mario Bros. Wii has potential, but it needs to be more like Little Big Planet and less like Four Swords – where it is a 16 hour game that friends can jump in and out, and you can go back to previous levels at will, rather than a 90 minute game that you run from start to finish in one sitting.

Nintendo also showed off Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. The Mario & Luigi games are so well made, and I’m really looking forward to dusting off my DS (or just getting a DSi) and playing this. I rarely play my DS due to a general lack of interest in handhelds (the PSP is the only system released this decade that I never bought, although that will soon change).

Nintendo dropped one last thing – Wii Vitality. What the fuck is this?  It’s a pulse sensor, and from the description, it sounded like it is a game to reduce your pulse as much as possible. I can almost taste my lack of interest.

Sony was the last of the big three press conferences – showing off Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, their new motion controls, The Last Guardian and Mod Nation Racers.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will be the reason I buy a PSP. Unlike Ac!d or Portable Ops, it is a solo sneaking mission. It is a true MGS, on a handheld, and I love the Metal Gear series way too much to pass that up.

Mod Nation Racers is a new racing game that caught my eye. It looks like a blend of Little Big Planet, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and Mario Kart. The cutesy, highly customizable style of Little Big Planet, the customizable vehicles of Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, and the racing combat action of Mario Kart. I’m not sold on it yet, but it’s on my radar and it has my attention for now.

The Last Guardian is the next game from the team that did Ico and Shadow of the Colossus – the first of which I despised and the second was decent. Ico felt like a 16 hour lighting / animation tech demo to me. There was no story, the environments all felt the same, and it really was just about great lighting and great animation, but I can’t do that for 16 hours. With some enhancements, it could be a great game, and hopefully The Last Guardian is that game.

Last, Sony unveiled their motion controls. It really looks like another iteration of the EyeToy, and just like Project Natal, I’m calling it a failure. They already have the SixAxis that nobody uses, and this peripheral can’t incorporate itself into more traditional games. Unlike the Wii remote, which straddles that line between traditional game capabilities (Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3, Super Mario Galaxy) and total motion sensing interaction (ExciteTruck, WarioWare, Trauma Center), Project Natal and Sony’s motion control are solidly on the motion side of the line. Few games could use this system and remain traditional, so it really only captures the non-traditional marketshare, but couldn’t capture fine movements well enough to pull off something like Wii Sports.

Even though I gave away my Wii, I know Nintendo pulled off motion control perfectly – I just didn’t like the library after about 18 months. Everything that I wanted to play, I had already played.

In conclusion, E3 this year was better than last – Microsoft showed little new that interests me, Nintendo impressed me and Sony was decent. I’ll keep up with trailers as they come out and see what is coming that I like – I found Valkyria Chronicles that way last year, and that is a hell of a game.

A few things were missing from the show, however – Beyond Good & Evil 2 and LA Noire. BG&E2 is something I’m hyped about, but little has been revealed thus far. LA Noire is crossing the threshold into vaporware territory, but I still have some hope for this 1940s LA Noire sandbox title.