"The world premiere of Kinect was complete with Cirque du Soleil performers", CIARA O'BRIENpreviews the state of the industry at the annual E3 Expo
THERE was a moment when I looked around the packed room last week and wondered what the hell was going on.
A caged zombie was getting dangerously close to a very large bear. Soldiers marched through the stands. Outside, two storm-troopers were standing guard. A man sported a green light over his head.
Welcome to E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. E3 is where games developers and console makers make their big announcements. It's the main indicator of what we can expect this year from the games industry. In other words, serious business.
At PlayStation's press conference, we were surrounded on all sides by serious enthusiasts who greeted every announcement with a cheer louder than the last. By the time the final game was announced ( Twisted Metal, complete with the creepiest clown you've ever seen), the noise was deafening.
Microsoft had held its events the day before, unveiling Kinectto E3 attendees, although the official world premiere was earlier, complete with Cirque du Soleil performers and the odd famous face.
Glamour and glitz aside, what was clear from this year's exhibition is that gaming is changing, improving in leaps and bounds. While games have become more realistic every year, E3 2010 showed just how much they've improved.
Sony and Nintendo both showed off 3D gaming. Nintendo added an extra dimension to its handheld DS and Sony showed off stereoscopic gaming on the PS. Some 35 million PS3s are now enabled for 3D, according to Sony.
For Microsoft, the focus was on Kinect, which essentially makes you the controller through a series of cameras and microphones. Sony opted to retain some sort of controller for users with its PlayStation Move device. The wireless device is motion sensitive, and uses the Playstation's Eye camera to help track movement.
Which device will prove more popular remains to be seen. What they all do, however, is open up gaming to users who have previously avoided it. Nintendo, especially, has excelled at this in the past couple of years. It has essentially made gaming a family activity, and with Microsoft and Sony busy battling it out to win over gamers, it left the console maker free to mop up the casual players.
So it will be an interesting year for the industry. How will they top it in 2011?
