FFXIOnline.com 2006 E3 SquareEnix news report

[KamuroIshigami]

This is the official discussion thread in regards to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Flamming is less tolorated here, please discuss nicely.

For those that do not know what E3 is, please visit this site: http://www.e3expo.com/
and for some brief information, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E3

Any moderators or administrators making a report in regards to E3 should post it at the sticky thread at: http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/gen...ws.report.html
Any other threads made elsewhere should also be merged with this one, if not closed and redirected.

All others should make discussion here, after E3, this thread and the sticky thread will be merged.

Thank you,
AKosygin
FFXIOnline.com Administration and Moderation Team

[Pai Pai Master]

The Next-Gen War Continues! (Next-Gen/E3 News? Post it here!)

A little over a year ago, I began a thread dedicated to one of the most exciting events in videogame history.

Since then, that thread has become filled with information, some exciting and some completely false (bullshot!), so I have decided not to revive it, but to create a brand new thread in its honour.

The 2006 Electronics Entertainment Expo is nearly upon us. As of this writing, there are 22 days until Sony Computer Entertainment kicks off the event with its E3 2006 Press Conference, with Microsoft and Nintendo following suite.

What does this mean for us, now? It means some of the most tantalizingly teasing tidbits, tidings, and tip-offs are trickling in. Sorry, dunno what came over me with that last sentence.

Surprisingly, the most frustratingly silent company has been the most outspoken in the days, weeks and months leading up to the biggest gaming event of the year. Yes, Sony Computer Entertainment surpisingly announced some of the most important information regarding the Playstation 3 at its Playstation Business Briefing 2006 on March 15th. Although we were all left quite satisfied and happy with what Ken Kutaragi revealed to hundreds of millions of rabid fans around the world after that night, there's still a lot to look forward to, most importantly the price, the lineup, the network service, and the exact worldwide launch date. Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Hideo Kojima himself will actually play Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots in front of a live audience. In addition, Tetsuya Nomura has announced that he and SQUARE ENIX have a huge announcement to make. FINAL FANTASY XIII, anyone?

I'm sure some of you are wondering why I consider Sony to be the most "frustratingly silent" of the three, when Nintendo's said nearly nothing about the still-codenamed Revolution, and the company didn't even reveal their first launch title themselves, and only a week ago. Well, we all know why. Everybody expected Nintendo to act this way. They're always quiet about new consoles, and it sucks. But hey, the tradeoff is that it makes the big announcements all the more satisfying. Nintendo confirmed early on that Game Informer's revealing of Red Steel was indeed accurate: the game is launching on the Revolution, and is being developed by Ubi Soft. In addition, Nintendo stated that they plan on revealing at least one more title before E3. After that, we'll have the expo itself to bask in the glory of all things Revolution. Metroid Prime 3 will even be fully-playable, and I'm sure we're all excited to get the first viewings of anticipated titles like Super Mario 128, FINAL FANTASY Crystal Chronicles II, and Super Smash Bros. 3. According to George Harrison, the Revolution is going to launch with about 20 titles, about six of which will be first-party Nintendo games. There's a lot to look forward to at E3 this year for Nintendo fans.

Last, but certainly not least, Microsoft plans on holding a huge E3 showcase, and will need to if they don't want to be overshadowed by coverage of two major consoles which have yet to launch. Microsoft definitely won't be, because developers are working hard on all the big, highly anticipated second-generation Xbox 360 titles, such as Gears of War, Blue Dragon, Dead or Alive Extreme 2, and...well, Halo 3. (You know it's going to be there.) I'm certain Microsoft will also be showing off some of the big addons for the 360 which are due out later in the year, such as the video camera, the HD-DVD drive, and more than likely, higher-capacity HDD addons. Expect to see a few big surprises (a Microsoft handheld, or some big exclusive titles?), and tons of playable demos.

And don't forget, there are plenty of huge PC and handheld titles coming our way, and they'll all be there at E3. Expect to see extensive coverage on titles like Unreal Tournament 2007, SPORE, Half Life 2: Episode One, CRYsis, Huxley, Crisis Core: FINAL FANTASY VII, NEW Super Mario Bros., World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: Phantom Hourglass, Tekken: Dark Resurrection, Monster Hunter: Freedom and more.


As I said before, there's still a lot more to come (at least from Nintendo) in the few weeks we have left before E3 2006. I'll be updating as soon as breaking news comes about, and please feel free to discuss anything on the matter that you'd like.

Pai Pai Master out, keeping my fingers crossed for LUNAR 3! (I know, it'll never happen. But I can dream!)



EDIT: Here are the floor plans for this year's E3 show.

Microsoft Corporation, SQUARE ENIX, SEGA of America, Capcom, etc.

Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo Entertainment, Media, etc.

Meeting Rooms

[TheGrandMom]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Expect to see a few big surprises (a Microsoft handheld, or some big exclusive titles?), and tons of playable demos.

Cats out of the bag on the MS handheld already. It's a huge PDA basically. You can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB7HIPKF1OY

[Caspian]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Holy crap its freakin' huge. Lots of connectivity though. I thought the GPS feature was pretty cool, but I already have one of those, only cell phone size. Seem to be downplaying the video game part of it for the mini laptop part. That thing's gonna be so ungodly expensive. Thanks for the link TGM. And looking forward to seeing whats next for Nintendo and Sony. Got a 360, but for the most part I've been pretty unimpressed. Guess I'm really just waiting on Halo 3 now.
New Zelda for Revolution? I'm still waiting on the next one for GC. Though Zelda anything tends to get me pretty excited. What are the dates for E3 pai?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

I think I read that the price point is between 500 and 800 for the Origami but that seems low. I just spent 600 for a PDA thats 1/10 the size of that! LOL I really love all the new upcoming tech but for some reason this isn't impressing me very much.

I'm loving my 360! Sorry to hear you're not Caspian. ; ; Oblivion is blowing my mind right now! If they would make a MMO equal to that, I would SO be gone from FFXI!

[kuu]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

I think I read that the price point is between 500 and 800 for the Origami but that seems low. I just spent 600 for a PDA thats 1/10 the size of that! LOL I really love all the new upcoming tech but for some reason this isn't impressing me very much.

I'm loving my 360! Sorry to hear you're not Caspian. ; ; Oblivion is blowing my mind right now! If they would make a MMO equal to that, I would SO be gone from FFXI!

No seems like it's going to be more.

Samsung is making the european model which is going to be equiviant of $1,200

So something like US $1k, since they always shaft the eurpeans...

Specs are a CeleronM 900mhz, intel intergrated graphics with 512 ram.

Except for the touch screen tablet...almost anyone will want to get a laptop instead. For a fourth of the power it doesn't look tempting just to write crapply on the screen.

Size is 9 x5.5 x 1....consider something like an apple ibook with 11x9x2(or the rumored macbook)...it's not that much smaller.

edit: Did I mention 3hrs of battery life or 1.4hr of DVD playback(with no DVD drive??)...ouch

It definitelly has a POS smell to it.

[Tirrock]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Pai Pai Master out, keeping my fingers crossed for LUNAR 3! (I know, it'll never happen. But I can dream!)

Didn't Working Designs already close their doors? I seem to remember a farewell note from them. And there is another Lunar out there! Only...it's for gameboy advance...and it's a crime against all that's Lunar.

I'm just happy with my boxing Ghaleon. D:

[kuu]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Didn't Working Designs already close their doors? I seem to remember a farewell note from them. And there is another Lunar out there! Only...it's for gameboy advance...and it's a crime against all that's Lunar.

I'm just happy with my boxing Ghaleon. D:

WD is a publishing company. Game arts is the one you're looking for.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Working Designs did unforutunately shut down, but they don't make LUNAR. That honor belongs to GAMEarts, who have hinted in the past at a true update to the LUNAR series (although the last time they did so extensively was around the time Eternal Blue: Complete was released). Both LUNAR Legend (GBA) and LUNAR: Dragon Song (DS) were localized by Ubi Soft.

The Origami was revealed a little while ago, and while it does have an impressive amount of features, Microsoft does not consider it to be a handheld gaming device of any sort. Earlier rumours of it being able to play games like Halo have yet to be confirmed by Microsoft, and the latest rumours circulating are that J. Allard himself moved away from the Xbox 360 division after its launch to focus on the development of an Xbox handheld system. Still rumours, but there is a chance we may hear something about it at E3.

[Tirrock]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

You know...part of me knew that Working Designs was just a publisher, but I forgot. Still, they made some great localizations. Honestly, I don't think I would have liked lunar I and/or II if it wasn't for it's translation being so well-written. (I laugh every time that little boy tells me he needs to eat his Wheaties.)

I can't think of any other company that stuffed as many extras into a box. Preorder Lunar 2 and get a boxing Ghaleon! Get Lunar 2 and get a medalion, some cardboard portraits, the sound track... Get a cloth map with Lunar I, a making of disc, the sound track... And a kick ass variation of pong. The instruction books on both were a lot better than the normal black/white/grey instruction manuals you get with games, and even the boxes were nice to look at.

[kuu]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Working Designs did unforutunately shut down, but they don't make LUNAR. That honor belongs to GAMEarts, who have hinted in the past at a true update to the LUNAR series (although the last time they did so extensively was around the time Eternal Blue: Complete was released). Both LUNAR Legend (GBA) and LUNAR: Dragon Song (DS) were localized by Ubi Soft.

The Origami was revealed a little while ago, and while it does have an impressive amount of features, Microsoft does not consider it to be a handheld gaming device of any sort. Earlier rumours of it being able to play games like Halo have yet to be confirmed by Microsoft, and the latest rumours circulating are that J. Allard himself moved away from the Xbox 360 division after its launch to focus on the development of an Xbox handheld system. Still rumours, but there is a chance we may hear something about it at E3.

Considering that halo works on an xbox which is a PIII 800mhz, and origami is suppose to be a CeleronM 900mhz well it's cutting it close.

Would take a good amount of optimization, not your normal PC game will run well.

[Nodachi]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Of all the years they decided to dissalow gamestore employees to not attend E3, they had to choose this year lmao. Last two years were o-k. But they both had tech demos mainly of all the next-gen stuff to come. This year, they're actually gona have more playable stuff :/ It's a huge year for E3 and gaming alike. Infact, I'd say 2006 will hold more great games per capita, and more changes in the game industry than any other year yet.

[Joester]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

I hope Nintendo has some huge 3rd party announcements.

If they can just grab Final Fantasy XIII exclusivtivity then it will be the beginning of the end for the PS2.

Anyway I am overly anxious for anything Revolution and I will definetly be on the net once their press conference starts.

[Nodachi]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

I think Revolution is gona turn some heads this year personally. I too look forward to what they show :D

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: The Next-Gen War Continues!

Er...I don't think FFXIII will be Revolution-exclusive. Square already confirmed last year that they were developing "the next FINAL FANTASY" for PS3...they just didn't confirm that it was FFXIII.

FINAL FANTASY Crystal Chronicles 2 will definitely be a success. The first one was an extremely fun and well-made game, and its only obstacle to glory was its dependance on the GBA-connectivity for multiplayer. Losing that and gaining support for Nintendo WiFi Connection will mean great things for the sequel.