The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, better known as the U.S.'s big videogame tradeshow, gets under way in earnest today, but early rumblings began last night, when Microsoft held their annual press conference. But apart from Microsoft's Peter Moore comparing the Halo trilogy to Star Wars (note to Peter, know your audience and don't pee on their Koran) it was relatively uneventful.
A couple of game release dates were announced, a special edition (and surprisingly boring-looking) Halo 3-themed Xbox 360 was revealed, Microsoft rolled out some well-spun figures to illustrate their market dominance, a new Halo trailer was shown (spoiler: the game will feature both aliens and explosions). Don't take this as slagging off Microsoft's fall lineup in any way—they have a remarkably strong string of games on the way—it's just we've come to expect big announcements from these events, and Microsoft's pronouncements of how they're going to incinerate the competition, while possibly accurate, aren't exactly earth-shattering.
What was shattering, however, was the exclusive first look I got afterwards at Sony's Killzone 2, for PS3. The live demo of one of Killzone's levels was one of the most realistic and visceral depictions of war I've seen. It didn't really come across as revolutionary in terms of gameplay, but the visuals indicate a clear move into another realm of the technology of virtual destruction. With the PS3 now priced at $500, this one's going to sell a lot of systems, and could provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the wounded Goliath of the games industry.
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It's not a Koran, Scott. It's more like a Mad Lib.