Is this years E3 more important that we think?

It's only a month till E3 rolls around but this year its more important than ever at least to me. Recently I've been thinking a lot about the next generation of consoles and the future of gaming as a whole. Every year there seem to be fewer and fewer original titles and more and more entries into existing franchises many of which go down in quality over time.

The other worrying move seems to be that of making consoles more than what they are. I started buying consoles to buy games and now its becoming more and more like a second virgin box in my room. Is the next generation going to replace my tv box completely. If they wire in a tv decoder it could easily be done.

I am genuinely concerned in the direction of console gaming. This year I can count the number of games I'm actually looking forward to on one hand. AC3, Dishonoured, Halo 4 and Bioshock Infinite (which has actually now be moved to next year). Of all of them only one is an original title.

And then I look over and think of Steam. PC's are slowly becoming more and more attractive to me. Not only are there just as many games on there as console, but there is a large number of indie titles too which are flourishing in the market, harking back to the days of the spectrum and bedroom programmers. Even the control system can easily be adjusted as wired Xbox controllers canbe used in pcs to play games. With improved graphics and more customisation due to the active mod community, I honestly think I may well spend the money for a new Xbox 720 on a decent gaming rig instead.

This is why E3 is so important to me this year. I need to see something which will give me hope that consoles can be reclaimed as gaming machines. If Sony and Microsoft have another conference with little games and more info on how its going to become a media outlet I may just give up hope. The only thing which grabbed me about MS was the gamerscore system and now I've reached 100k even that doesn't seem as important anymore.

Outside of the console manufacturers I also want to see loads of new titles which aren't modern shooters or family fun games. I want to see innovative new games which can tell an intelligent mature story and treat gamers like the adults we all are, something which the PC has had for years.

I don't want to see new tech, we need games and lots of them. If not this E3 may well be the beginning of the end of my console playing days!

I have heard from a good source that Sony's next console will be announced at E3. It is apparently technically underwhelming and will only play brand new games. They are concentrating on ensuring second hand games will not work on the machine at all. I'm not sure how they would enforce this long term though. They want to get it out soon after the wii U supposedly.

Technical power is obviously not a priority for them if the information is correct, so god knows what market they are aiming at. I can't see there being much room in the market for a new machine in the next few years, unless it's full of grunt.

Of course, this info could prove to be fiddlesticks but there's no reason for my source to tell porkies as far as I know.

It seems to me, like Tenners said, that Steam could well be the future for "Proper" gaming. I can see myself playing on my retro machines more and more in the future. Although, having said that, I have enough 360 games untouched, to keep me going for another 15 years!

I will continue to buy every new console for ever more!

I can't resist and I am looking forward too the Wii U very much with a good friends list and online and 360 style graphics!

Dynasty warriors is better on consoles too

I'm looking forward to e3 but have a feeling that I'm gonna be disappointed I just want a console to be a gaming system the other stuff is a nice bonus but one that I don't personally use hopefully they will concentrate on getting the core gaming element sorted and then everything else will come second I'm excited about the next generation though Pcs are getting interesting now though with pc versions of console games with better graphics being more common and alienWare releasing the x51 pc which is about the same size as the current consoles and would quite happily sit in your front room

Ba5sett wrote:I'm looking forward to e3 but have a feeling that I'm gonna be disappointed I just want a console to be a gaming system the other stuff is a nice bonus but one that I don't personally use hopefully they will concentrate on getting the core gaming element sorted and then everything else will come second I'm excited about the next generation though Pcs are getting interesting now though with pc versions of console games with better graphics being more common and alienWare releasing the x51 pc which is about the same size as the current consoles and would quite happily sit in your front room

That X51 is very sleeky looking and at about £650+ actually more affordable than I thought. Hmm may be able to convice the missus to allow me this one, which also means I'll be able to post away on here all the time without havign to share the laptop like I do now!

The X51 is a cool looking machine its very expensive for what it is though, if you aren't concerned about the small form factor you can get a much better gaming machine for the money

I still prefer a console for gaming, as i really can't be bothered with all the hardware upgrades etc needed to stay on top of PC gaming, not to mention the expense. I know guys who spend hundreds of pounds a year upgrading memory and video cards etc, just so they can play the latest releases.

I always look forward to hearing something unexpected at E3, like when they announced the slim 360. Hopefully microsoft have got something good to tell us about either new IPs or new tech.

I agree about PC gaming not to mention the comfort of sitting on the sofa gaming on a big screen; I think that I'm just getting a bit jealous as the current gen consoles are getting on now and although they are still capable of impressive graphics they aren't a patch on PC's I played battlefield 3 with full graphics at a mates house on his brand new gaming PC and it was a huge difference from the Xbox version