With a new 3-D gadget, motion controllers and a buffet of never-before-seen gaming goodness, last week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo was a feast for the eyes — and hands — of 45,600 folks from the video game industry. Here are the trends that emerged from the 2010 show.
Poetry in Motion
By the end of the year, every major console is slated to have some from of gesture recognition. The PlayStation Move system, which employs a wand-shaped controller and camera to precisely detect players’ movements, will give the PlayStation 3 the ability to be more like Nintendo’s Wii — except with high-definition graphics and a more mature library of games.
Microsoft is further pushing (and bending, twisting and jumping over) the envelope with the Xbox 360’s controller-free Kinect system. The gizmo detects gamers’ bodies, including their skeletal systems, to do such things as teach choreography in “Dance Central,” administer workouts in “Your Shape: Fitness Evolved” and deploy adorable virtual pets in “Kinectimals.”
Going Forward
The future is here, judging by the plethora of hereafter-set first-and-third-person shooters showcased at E3. “Fallout: New Vegas” and “Rage” took decidedly post-apocalyptic routes while “Red Faction: Armageddon” and “Dead Space 2” shot for interstellar territories. “Homefront,” however, imagines a not-too-distant future in which North Korea invades the U.S.
Whatever the future may hold, apparently everyone will be invisible. “Crysis 2,” “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” and “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier” all featured the ability not to be seen in some fashion. In one of the show’s most surprising moments, space combat was introduced for intergalactic prequel “Halo: Reach,” which also includes invisibility.
Old Is New Again
Several beloved franchises were awakened from a deep slumber at E3. Sony’s press conference reached a climax when a creepy ice cream truck driven by freaky clowns ominously drove onto the stage at the Shrine Auditorium to…