Day 2 E3 wrapup: Thursday May 11th

E3 Rolls on like an unstoppable tank. Many of the big announcements are made, so today and tomorrow will focus primarily on 3rd parties showing off all the games they’ve been whipping their development teams to get demo ready for the last month and a half. So today is the chance for the press to play the games, try to get a few more questions answered, and meet Adam West.

An amazing thing has happened to Mario. While Galaxy grabbed the glory in the press conference and initial reports, fans are rallying around Super Paper Mario on GameCube. It looks to be as much a classic throwback as New SMB on the DS. One fan I heard even called it the Yoshi’s Island of the Cube: A game on a near defunct system that pushes the limits technically and creatively. Luckily, Cube games will still play on the Wii, so I have no doubt if this turns into a great game it will find its audience.

Since its quiter clear we all love Wii now, WiiGamer has nabbed some screens of the Virtual Console. You get box art and a screen that maps out your controller before getting into your classic game. If you still don’t believe, then theres lots of people who do. The line to play Wii is 3+ Hours. Thats longer than any line as Six Flags, folks.
Most impressive thing I’ve seen today is Sonic for PS3 and 360. I thought the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 7 years ago looked
pretty spiffy, but its amazing what a little more horsepower can do. I’m willing to forgive the less pleasurable elements of the last few Sonic games if this one can deliver.

In somewhat disheartening news, Nintendo may be finally laying down the Game Boy. N-boss Iwata says the DS is such a success they’re in no position to develop another portable to succeed the GBA.

Peter Moore rather succinctly summed up my opinion of the PS3 price: “Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3. People are going to buy two (machines.) They’re going to buy an Xbox and they’re going to buy a Wii… for the price of one PS3.” Kaz Hirai insists gamers are getting a deal, and that fans will stay loyal to the PlayStation. For your sake I hope that works out, Kaz. People ain’t flocking to the PSP.

Optimus Prime also showed up at E3. Why? Heh, no idea. Haven’t heard word one about Activision’s Transformer game.

Scouring the internets, I had a hard time finding anything else that was actually “news.” Its all just impressions and previews now, which is fine and good by them, but I see no reason to link 3rd party conjecture when I can’t offer my own.