Shadid wrote:In here you can discuss Microsoft's E3 Press Conference that will occur on June 6th at 18:30 British Summer Time.
Firstly, to save confusion, Microsoft's E3 Press Conference is on at 17.30 (5.30pm) UK time/BST. The timings are as follows:
- 9.30am PT
- 12.30pm ET
- 5.30pm UK
- 6.30pm CET
mtwinny wrote:Is it me, or is Microsoft`s the underdog in this year`s convention?
I think that's a very interesting question, but I guess it depends on what you mean by underdog. Is the Microsoft conference potentially the least interesting of the three? Probably yes. Both Nintendo and Sony will both have new hardware to show off, whereas Microsoft probably will not, and, as people interested in stuff that's new and shiny, of course that will make us more interested in those two conferences.
However, I think things are different when you look at the big picture. The Nintendo Wii is in desperate need for a refresh. Sales have gone through the floor and Nintendo need new hardware to stimulate sales. Sony have their next generation PSP to show off, but the first one didn't really do so well outside of Japan and it'll be interesting to see how if the new console can be a real success worldwide.
The real current success stories are the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Boring, consistent, but successful. Hardware sales are strong, software sales are strong and there is absolutely no need to move to new hardware for those two platforms, especially with PlayStation Move and Kinect for Xbox 360 both adding new functionality without the need for a new generation of hardware.
So the PlayStation 3 part of the Sony conference probably won't be massively interesting, and neither will the Microsoft conference as I doubt there will be much to really change the game on those two platforms. And you know what - I'm sure Sony and Microsoft will be fine with that. Let's just hope, for our sakes, that there are some cool new games to be announced.
Personally, this will probably be the first year in a while that I haven't watched the Microsoft keynote, but that's only because Apple have their WWDC keynote scheduled annoyingly for the same time, and as Steve Jobs will be talking about real potential game changers in the mobile space, I'll be watching that instead. However, I will be keeping an eye on the Microsoft keynote and hopefully they'll not only reveal some cool new stuff, but stuff we can actually use in the UK! (god forbid)