Gamertell

When comparing the press conferences of the Big Three - Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft - it’s a bit like comparing Apples to Windows, er, apples to oranges. Each has its own flavor and style yet you can peal them back to a few key elements to determine which you like better. Toss in Ubisoft, EA and a countless barrage of announcements by other companies and you’re essentially adding a jar of flavorful crunchy bits to your comparison fruit salad.

Every company claims their is the biggest, most important and whatevertheheck else announcements but one a few can be our favorites. Here’s a look at some of the Gamertell staff’s favorite announcements from this year’s E3 (more will be added as our writers recuperate). Give it a read and then let us know what below which were your favorite announcements from E3 2009 (also check out our favorite announcements from E3 2008)

Jenni Lada, Assistant Editorm was so excited about Golden Sun DS that she even uploaded a Photo Gallery:

My favorite E3 2009 announcement was undoubtedly Golden Sun DS. I adored the original GBA Golden Sun games and it is great to see Nintendo hasn’t forgotten the series. Runner-ups include Persona (PSP), WarioWare DIY (DS) and Style Savvy (DS).

Jeremy Hill, Staff Writer, especially appreciated Project Natal with a hint of Sony’s wand controller:

At the risk of sounding cliche’ I’ll say my favorite announcement was Microsoft’s Project Natal. While I also got very excited for Sony’s wand controller prototype, Natal just seemed to have more future implications that could influence where gaming is headed years from now. On the surface Natal just seems like an Eye Toy with enhanced features such as voice recognition, voice recognition and 1-to-1 movement but Microsoft is focusing on a no controller concept that other game companies haven’t touched too much on. This concept even goes beyond playing games by allowing you to control the dashboard and select movies to watch just by moving your hands and speaking. Microsoft now understands to be successful these days they must reach out to non gamers in new and exciting ways. The sight of a Xbox 360 controller is enough to scare some people away and Natal finds a way around that. It also doesn’t hurt to have Steven Spielberg backing the project either.

Outside of the motion controls I was really happy to see Microsoft’s Milo concept [Editor’s Note: That was the talking boy demo by Lionhead]. I personally think we are years away from something like that to be mass marketed in homes but it shows Microsoft is aiming to the future. During the press conference Don Mattrick said something along the lines of how Project Natal would replace the need to bring out another console. It may not be too wise to create a whole new console in this economy and like the Wii, Microsoft is preparing to win over consumers in ways other than showing off console horsepower.

PJ Hruschak, Editor, once again plays it a bit safe, picking more than one favorite:

The two newer motion control announcements were the most exciting, especially Sony’s tech demo at its press conference. If Project Natal can come through with everything the fancy video promises, it’ll be something amazing. Even so, seeing a giant sword in your hand, manipulating virtual 3D objects and taking down zombie warriors with archery-like movements looks pretty dern cool. The WiiMotionPlus also looks pretty cool but we had heard of that before. Likewise, the PSPgo was also pretty exciting to see in someone’s hand but, again, the internet rumor mill kinda killed a good portion of the overall excitement there. Although there was that lilac PSP…

The retro gamer in me really likes the idea of a current-gen version of the classics, especially the games I played a lot with friends. The New Super Mario Bros. Wii made my inner teenager (or some impossible combination of the two ages when I played Super Mario. Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 the most) all shades of happy.

Otherwise, there were so many great looking games that I reserve judgment - and suppress excitement - until I get see more screen shots and get my hands on the games. Things always look nicer when on a giant, HD monitor running from a development kit preempted with slick, pre-rendered promotional footage than out of the box and playing on my cruddy ol’ home TV.

Read [Gamertell] Site [Gamertell: E3 2009] Photo Gallery [Gamertell]

Check out the gallery: Electronics Entertainment Expo 2009