Tag Archives: Electronics Entertainment Expo

E3 2012: the year of the lackluster blockbuster

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E3 2012 the year of the lackluster blockbuster

The Electronics Entertainment Expo is no place for the easily distracted, every inch of convention center carpet devoted to capturing the attentions of calloused video game journalists. In spite of the customary flash however, it's hard to come away from this year's festivals without a creeping sense of disappointment, that for all the showmanship, we didn't actually see all that much at E3 2012 -- an in-between year that seemed lackluster even by those standards.

It's diminishing to break such a show up into clearly delineated binaries like "winners" and "losers" certainly, but if impact can be measured by lasting buzz, Epic's certainly sitting pretty at the close of the event. It's telling, really, that Unreal Engine 4 generated some of the most excitement around the show. In a year when Sony and Microsoft are no doubt focused on churning out next generation consoles, one of the show's highlights came in the form of a gaming engine -- a backend on which the next generation titles will be built.

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E3 2012: the year of the lackluster blockbuster originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft SmartGlass hands-on

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Microsoft SmartGlass impressions

Sure today's Microsoft E3 keynote was jam-packed full of high octane explosions, but the biggest excitement from the hardware-free event was arguably SmartGlass, a new technology from Redmond that promises to help to bring together users' diverse array of screens. When it was initially leaked ahead of the event, SmartGlass looked to largely be a somewhat straightforward AirPlay competitor. Judging by Microsoft's flashy demo video, however, the company is clearly looking to build it into its own beast all together. Thankfully, we got to play with it a bit -- albeit for a very short amount of time, given the fairly early state of the technology.

Let's start thing off by clarifying a big question surrounding the somewhat enigmatic demo that we saw at today's event: yes, SmartGlass gives developers the potential to turn smartphones and tablets into a controller for the Xbox 360. As suspected, it will likely be integrated into more casual games -- after all, we shudder at the thought of controlling, say, Halo 4 using just a touchscreen. As is the nature of the product, the company isn't letting the details flow too freely here, but in a demo we saw of the technology tonight, a Microsoft rep name-dropped a title called Home Run Stars -- a baseball game, as you've likely already gathered from the fairly straightforward name.

We didn't get to see the game in action, but the rep mentioned a gameplay scenario in which one player uses the Kinect to bat and the other pitches with the touchscreen -- again, not too dissimilar from the kind of dual-screen gaming we've seen with the Wii U thus far. And you can also invert that game play, if you so choose, pitching on the Kinect and batting with a tablet or smartphone. Thing is, Microsoft is looking to make this whole process open for developers. As the rep put it, "what we've done is create a platform." In other words, Redmond is putting forward the tools here and letting the content developers play around, to come up with their own functionality based on SmartGlass.

Gallery: Microsoft SmartGlass impressions

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Microsoft SmartGlass hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 01:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xbox SmartGlass: did Microsoft just render the Wii U controller obsolete?

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Xbox SmartGlass

One surefire way to make sure your company gets out in front of the E3 buzz? Launch a pre-pre-E3 press conference, of course. Nintendo was already set up to kick off the show on Tuesday, getting the party started according to tradition with an early morning press conference ahead of show floor opening. As it has in the past, the gaming giant was scheduled to be the third of the big three, unveiling its wares a day after Sony and Microsoft had their moments to shine. For 2012, the company made an unorthodox play, opting for a small broadcast event the Sunday afternoon ahead of the show, with Nintendo president Satoru Iwata standing alone in an unassuming wood-paneled room, giving yet another sneak peak into the world of the Wii U.

Popular opinion has positioned E3 2012 as a make-or-break proposition for the company. Nintendo's had an unprecedentedly rough year, with a continually eroding sense of excitement around its aging Wii console and a lukewarm reception greeting the 3DS. And with mobile competition nabbing pretty sizable chunks from the company's casual offerings, Nintendo needs to remind people what the console can bring that handsets can't. In earnest, Iwata offered up a smattering of additional details on the Wii U, with a finalized layout for the system's tablet-esque controller, the introduction of Miiverse social functionality and the promise of a bit of mobile device compatibility.

Continue reading Xbox SmartGlass: did Microsoft just render the Wii U controller obsolete?

Xbox SmartGlass: did Microsoft just render the Wii U controller obsolete? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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