E3 Day 0 and 1: Press Conferences

Good evening, all, and welcome to the beginning of my special couch-bound coverage this year's E3 convention.

No, sadly I'm not attending the proceedings in Los Angeles this week (neither are the rest of our crew, Chris "The Gamerologist" and Nick "The Walls"), though we'll have to rectify that in the future. But, thanks to the power of the interwebs, all of the big events and presentations are available by live-stream on any number of websites, from G4 to GameTrailers to IGN and of course the respective sites of the companies themselves.

Being a workin' man, I couldn't rightly sit and watch the early press conferences at my desk (unfortunately). But I did follow the live blogging of a number of sites, and at least three dozen Twitter feeds that posted the same thing one after the other. It was quite an interesting day, and surely a testament to the role of social media in the gaming space.

But, let's get to the conferences:

Editorial: 2011 - Year of the PlayStation (Part 3?)

Numbers don't lie. Well, they can. Ask a mathematician why 1+1=3 and have your mind BLOWN. But most of the time, numbers don't lie. In four years of competition, the Nintendo Wii has dominated worldwide console sales, and it hasn't even been close. Even with a year's headstart, the Xbox 360 has only managed a about 60% of the sales of Nintendo's motion gaming juggernaut.

And lingering in a (comparably) distant third place is the console you know by now is dear to my heart, the PlayStation 3.

(A quick aside: if you're not altogether excited for my views on the PS3, or think I'm being biased in my overall game coverage, go back and read my formal introduction, then go read some of the Gamerologist's other pieces. I'm probably not going to be your cup of tea.)

Editorial: The Exclusive is dead... Long live the exclusive!

Back in August, I composed my eulogy for first-party exclusive content (I also wanted your thoughts on it... *crickets*)--the upcoming multiplatform efforts from Bungie, Epic and Insomniac are just another sign that the days of single-console development are waning. The Exclusive, as we knew it, is dead.

It is my pleasure to report, however, that the Third-Party Exclusive is alive, kicking, and ready to reignite the Console Wars.

There can only be one...

Editorial: Death of the Exclusive

NOTE: As we move forward into the future of SuperGamerology, expect a few changes in my content. Firstly, my Reviews and Wayback Flashbacks will be considerably more succinct--though longer versions will be available for viewing at another venue, these will still be full reviews. Also, look for video reviews in the future as well. With my Editorial posts, I will be examining the gaming industry from an outsider's perspective, and one with little knowledge of the inner-workings of game companies, game design, and the like; and actually, I consider these less "editorials" and more "collaborations." So please, bear with me and see these as an opportunity for discussion and debate.

The Death of the Exclusive

In the 1980's, Mario was the symbol of Nintendo's rising dominance in the video game industry. SEGA gave us Sonic the Hedgehog in the late 80's and 90's. PlayStation introduced Crash Bandicoot. And Xbox brought us Master Chief. These were, and most still are, the symbols of exclusivity: iconic characters available only on these particular consoles.

Exclusivity is a trait not uncommon in the world of media. Superman and Batman are the property of DC Comics, Mickey Mouse is the creation of Walt Disney and still the signature of its company, and surely Skywalker Ranch speaks for itself. But nothing sells a video game like an exclusive. My PS3 plays this, your Xbox plays that, his Wii has these games, her PC can do that one. Fanboys squabble all the time about who has the better lineup, and it has surely raged since the days of Atari and Commodore.

But the days of the exclusive seem to be coming to an end. There will always be first-party developers, for I don't believe we'll ever see Samus and Master Chief going toe-to-toe against the Helghast. But this generation of gaming has seen many first-party developers move to a multi-platform approach. Just this year, the announcements of major studios Bungie (Xbox) and Insomniac (PlayStation) beginning to develop for publishers other than Microsoft and Sony was a huge shakeup in the gaming world (even more so with Bungie's deal with Activision coming on the heels of a contentious situation between Activision and in-house studio Infinity Ward). And seeing other powerhouses like Bioware purchased by Electronic Arts seems to be the start of a whole new world where every gamer will be able to play whatever they want on whatever console they choose.

The questions becomes, is this good for the gaming industry? Or more importantly to us, is it good for the gamer? What does the lack of exclusive content mean for the end of this generation, and what will it mean when we see the eventual next generation?

Can Xbox survive without Gears of War? PlayStation without Uncharted? Nintendo without Zelda? Is this something that the industry needs, or will this ultimately damage both hardware and software sales?

Discuss in the comments below, and come back in a few weeks for a follow-up.