New member in the club here, and I shall recap everyone on the biggest news happening in the technology world every month. Yes we all know about the resignation of AMD CEO Hector Ruiz, and the bad side of iphone 3G at launch. This month, however, the focus will be on E3, which took place earlier on.

So did E3 this year met everyone expectations?

Final Fantasy XIII

I believe it’s easier to just watch than having someone to write out the situation back then. Click on the image to continue.

Red Alert 3

Ever since EA leaked news on the new sequel to Red Alert, most of the attention are being focused on the new playable side. Exactly what kind of units can we expect? Information recently released on their official website shows that eye lasers robot, rice farmers and even school girls can be weapons under your disposal. It looks like anything you watch or read, as long as it is related to Japan, will have a chance to be a unit under The Empire of The Rising Sun. How about the style of game play? Reports from E3 reveal quite a lot of things, especially on the unique style of play. Taking a back seat this time round include units with can only do a specific task, and the all too familiar style of construction which Command and Conquer series is known for. We can look forward to units with primary and secondary abilities, and buildings deployable at anywhere possible, sea included. Another first for the CnC series would be to complete campaigns along with your friends in the cooperative mode.

At the rate EA is going, loyal fans of Command and Conquer series can expect a new game, or an expansion, every single year. Whether or not this will impress or disappoint, it looks like we may need to wait till the beta rolls out.

Crysis: Warhead

There is only a reason why this FPS stands out from all other first person shooters in E3: you no longer need to invest in a very high end computer to play it this time round. Quite a number of people distance themselves from the original Crysis fearing that the game will look bad when played on their computer. Quoting from IGN: “I was told that Crytek has been hard at work at optimizing the incredible CryEngine 2.0. The goal this time around is to keep the same level of graphical fidelity while still optimizing framerates for up to 10 to 20-percent faster speeds.”

If Crysis looks shit on your computer, and you are dying for more Crysis, make a note to check out if your computer can still support it coming this fall.

360 Dashboard Update

A complete makeover for the 360 Dashboard is unveiled at E3. What comes with it is the ability to create your own avatars, see the avatars of your fellow friends, and believed-to-be easier to navigate graphical interface. Coming along with this update is the ability to rent movies right from your xbox360. I believe DVD rentals via xbox360, a partnership between Microsoft and Netflix, would only be available in America. I don’t own any console, so I won’t know for sure how this new dashboard change will affect all xbox360 users. Anyone else who owns one care to update more on this when the update kicks in this fall?

Wii MotionPlus

Most called this the only thing worth mentioning throughout this year Nintendo press conference. Reactions were mixed on this one. Some hail it as “the greatest add-on yet” for the Wiimote, others criticized it for not being there 2 years ago when Wii is just launched. Wii users would know that a slight move on your wrist would be enough to play the tennis game in Wii Sports. You can call this cheating, or just lazy gamers reluctant to move; the fact remains that game realism is not exactly re-created physically. The Wii MotionPlus looks to solve all these problems, and takes gameplay to a higher level as demonstrated in the upcoming Wii Sports Resort. Use a little too much force, and your Frisbee will fly off the wrong direction making the in-game puppy unable to catch it. Not striking your target hard enough, and you may left yourself vulnerable to your enemy in the sword fight.

Sound too real to be true? We could only test it when Wii Sports Resort releases in spring next year. Don’t forget to hook on the Wii MotionPlus which will come along with it.

Last Modified : July 30th, 2008 / Kamio Misuzu Filed under : News and Information Navigate : Previous post / Next post