E3 2009 Preview Video

E3 2009 Preview Video Transcript

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>> Brian Tong: What's up, guys? Brian Tong here with CNET TV, and today we're going to be talking about all things E3 2009. Here in the studio, I have editor and chief of Gamespot.com, Ricardo Torres. Thanks for coming in as well as CNET News Senior Writer Daniel Terdiman. First thing off the bat, E3, they've really started to scale this thing back up. I just want to get your thoughts on, you guys think this is a good thing or bad thing or, what, what do you feel about that?

>> Daniel Terdiman: I kind of wonder if this is the right time for them to be scaling back up. I mean, you know, we're sort of mid, mid way through the generations. You know, as far as I can tell, there aren't, you know, that many huge games this year, and, and, and they'll be some, you know, big news at the, from the Big Three at the press conferences that they have, but it's, it's certainly not like it was, you know, three, four years ago when everybody was talking about, you know, the, the big new consoles. I would be surprised if there's going to be any announcements about new consoles. So, you know, scaling back up, I, I wonder if it's the right thing to do.

>> Brian Tong: Now part of this, though, was to kind of entice the gaming community to be excited about E3, a kind of an event to look forward to. What do you think about the whole scaling up?

>> Ricardo Torres: I mean, I think, I'm biased, right?

>> Brian Tong: Yeah. Yeah. [laughter]

>> Ricardo Torres: So, I, I actually think we need it because the industry's actually been growing and its been flourishing, but you haven't quite gotten the sense because we haven't had, like, our big CES. We haven't had our big -

>> Brian Tong: Super Bowl for gaming.

>> Ricardo Torres: Yeah, our big statement that said, hey, we're doing great. Things are awesome. And honestly, I think this generation needs a kick in the pants anyway. I mean, to Daniel's point, it's been kind of slow. I mean, between the different hardware, the pricing, and everything else, it's been hard for it to find its groove, and I think this is a great chance for people to remind folks there's consoles, there's good games, let's just buy them.

>> Brian Tong: So as the show has been getting closer, we've seen tons of leaks. A lot of, I don't know, news or not news for information about what the new Big Three are releasing. What have you heard?

>> Ricardo Torres: I mean, it's been, been kind of like a sieve the past couple of weeks because I mean, you've seen rumors about company's entire lineups like so and so's going to get this game. It was exclusive to this console. You know, there's been all this crazy talk about "Metal Gear" on the 360, and then, of course, there's the impact of the Wii on the market, and how everybody wants a piece of that. So, like, everybody's going to announce the motion control at E3. It's, it's nuts.

>> Brian Tong: And, are there any other specifics. Like, let's say Sony. We've heard a lot about a PSP, the next PSP coming, which is fact, fiction?

>> Ricardo Torres: It's been really crazy because, you know, you started hearing rumors of that earlier in the year, and then there was, like, this whole media bumper, you know, flow out of like concept photos and potential functionality of it, and, you know, and a situation like that all the hardware manufacturer could do is like, "No comment", and then, you know.

>> Brian Tong: But if we asked you what do you think is really going to come out. Like, if we gave you the crystal ball and said, Ricardo, what do you think we'll see?

>> Ricardo Torres: I think you'd imagine there's going to be some kind of PSP refresh because, I mean, they've done it just about on a pretty regular basis. So, alright. You know. Configure that, and somebody's going to have a motion controller. It could be both. It could be just the one. But somebody's going to have something related to motion because that's apparently the new hotness for the causal folks. So they're -

>> Daniel Terdiman: Yeah, yeah.

>> Ricardo Torres: Going to try to get in on that.

>> Brian Tong: Now, another thing is we have these big announcements, but with the position of the companies where they are, do you guys feel like someone has the most to gain or the most to lose at this E3? Because, for example, like, the Nintendo Wii has been outsold in Japan by the PS3 consistently now, and I know my friends no longer really play their Wii as much as they have before. It's kind of just sitting in the corner. Do you guys feel like any of these Big Three really have the most to gain or the most to lose from this show?

>> Daniel Terdiman: I sort of feel like they all have the most to gain and the most to lose. I mean, each, each company is, is, you know, in a position where, you know, there's a lot of upside. I think Microsoft ahs, you know, with the Xbox has, has been doing, you know, really well for, for awhile, and Nintendo, as you say, has been kind of losing a little bit of momentum, and, and Sony has, you know, consistently been, you know, all about potential, and not, not quite broken out. You know, I think then what we saw from Nintendo last year at E3 and this year at Game Developer's Conference was really kind of underwhelming. I think there's pressure on them to, to really kick some butt, and I, I actually expect the most from Microsoft just from the past history.

>> Brian Tong: What about you, Car?

>> Ricardo Torres: It feels like everybody has to deliver on some things, and I think, because E3 really is about gamers more, more than anything, and so Nintendo's having this kind of identity crisis right now because are they for the gamers, or are they for the causal folks? They've seen the causal folks will really help them pay the bills because they have moved more Wii's than ever.

>> Daniel Terdiman: Yeah, you can ever image, right.

>> Ricardo Torres: Yeah. And so that's great, but what they're also seeing is the, you know, to get all [inaudible] which is the amount of games that people have with their consoles is really low. And they need to, they need to get the gamers excited because they used to have the highest. Because they used to have all the stuff that we all wanted to play.

>> Brian Tong: All the accessories, all the little controllers, all the Mario and Nintendo franchise-type games. Now that those have kind of disappeared, so people aren't really, like, buying more and more stuff for their Wii's.

>> Ricardo Torres: Yeah. So basically they need to deliver on some of that stuff of what people want. Like Microsoft, they just need that next step. They have a really strong base. They have really great features on Xbox. They have some really strong titles, but their software lineup seems a little thin right now. So it's like what you got for the rest of this year and next year. So they have to kind of deliver on that, and Sony, man. It's like, cut the price.

>> Brian Tong: Yeah, yeah. That's what everyone wants, right?

>> Ricardo Torres: It's like there's great games for it. There's really, really good games. They're going to have "God of War". They're going to have -

>> Brian Tong: Oh yeah.

>> Ricardo Torres: You know, "Little Big Planet" for PSP, and a bunch of other stuff on the shelves. So there's great stuff there, and they're going to announce some new stuff. So, like, the stars are just waiting for like that last thing to align so they can, you know, start to get in their groove, but oh my God, cut the price.

>> Brian Tong: Yeah. Without a doubt. Get it down for us consumers. Alright, Daniel, Ricardo. Thanks so much for coming in, and chopping up a little about E3. Now, remember that E3 will be going on from June 2nd through 4th. You can find all your coverage at cnettv.com. As well as Gamespot. They're going to do a lot more drilling, a lot more of the detailed games, accessories. So you can go there to find out more, but thanks, guys, for coming out, and we'll see you at E3.

>> Ricardo Torres: Thank you. [ Music ]