E3: Fulfilling Expectations

Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all live up to their reputations at E3 2010

Last week, I went to E3 and the differences between the three major console manufacturers could not have been more clear.  Eager to experience the Kinect, I headed to the Microsoft area first thing on Thursday.  I was disappointed to find that the official Kinect booths were suffering from technical difficulties.  Typical Microsoft.  Hopefully, they’ll get those bugs out before the Kinect launches in the fall.

Nintendo:  First Attempt

Next, I headed for Nintendo, hoping to get my hands on the 3DS, or maybe even check out the demo for Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword or Metroid: Other M.  Again, I was disappointed.  No technical difficulties here, though…Nintendo had simply stolen the show on Wednesday and EVERYONE at E3 was in line to see if Nintendo’s games and hardware lived up to the hype.  I decided to check back in on Nintendo later, hoping that the mile-long line would eventually die down.

Sony

I made my way to Sony’s “booth” to take the Move for a test-drive.  RELIEF.  The line was only about ten people long.  I allowed myself to get excited.  Maybe the Move would be a game changer!  Maybe the Move technology would make Wii MotionPlus seem like, well…Wii MotionPlus.  Maybe motion-controls coupled with HD graphics and the PS3’s insane processing power would put Sony back on top in the console wars!

Then my excitement came crashing down to earth as an overweight Sony security guard who could obviously care less about videogames strolled by the line and demanded all eleven of us get in a single-file line or else we would not be permitted to test out the Move.  Dear reader, I assure you that all eleven of us were in a single-and-a-half-file line at worst.  Even if there had been ANY traffic near Sony’s Move demo area (which there wasn’t), we would not have obstructed the traffic in any way.  Did Sony really need to threaten us?  Of course not.  In fact, Sony probably should have thanked us for actually being mildly interested in their product.

After shifting over a half-step to my right and waiting in the newly single-file line for another five minutes, I was led into a room where a well-trained — but not particularly enthusiastic — Sony rep led me through two levels of The Shoot, an on-rails, family-friendly FPS that took place on a movie studio lot, allowing for shootouts with a diverse selection of baddies, from cowboys to aliens to robots.

My impression of the Move?  Fairly underwhelming.  Perhaps it was a little more sensitive than the Wii MotionPlus, but the gameplay of The Shoot was less immediately intuitive than any Wii game I’ve played.  And sure, the HD graphics were nice, but The Shoot struck me as essentially providing a nearly identical experience to that of an on-rails arcade shooter from the 1990’s.  I left with a resounding, “Meh.”

Nintendo

When I returned to Nintendo later in the afternoon, the line had died down considerably.  I took my place in a stanchion-guarded line (eliminating the need for surly security guards) and was surprised to find a number of Nintendo reps walking around with 3DS-es strapped to their belts, letting everyone in line actually see the technology while waiting in line to see the technology!  Sure, the images on the 3DS-es amounted to nothing more than a slide-show, but I had seen the 3DS’s capabilities after waiting in line for only five minutes.  It only made me more eager to see what was at the end of the line…

But while I waited in line, I looked around and saw people testing out the new Kirby game, the new Zelda game and the new Mario basketball game.  Nintendo didn’t simply stick people in a line, they used the line as an opportunity to expose fans to other Nintendo products.  And towards the end of the line, I ended up chatting with a very friendly representative who told me he’d been a repair technician with Nintendo since the GameBoy days!  So I nerded out about GameBoy for five minutes, making my wait just a little more entertaining than if the representatives had ALL been booth babes.

After about 40 minutes,the Nintendo reps began thanking everyone for waiting, then blocked off traffic and funneled us eager fanboys & girls to an upstairs area FILLED with 3DS-es.  They informed us that we had 20 minutes to try out the 3DS and as many demos as we liked.  I first made my way to a Paper Mario demo.  Then a Metal Gear demo.  Then a submarine sim demo.  Then Kid Icarus.  Then Nintendogs.  I felt like a kid on Christmas, each present leaving me more excited for the next one.  By the time my 20 minutes was up, I had had my fill.  My mind was blown.  I was ready to go.

Customer Service Is More than Window Dressing

After getting to try out the Kinect through a third-party publisher’s game, I never made it back to Microsoft’s official demo area.  It seemed well-laid out, with friendly, athletic representatives, but I had other things to see, other games to play.

Which led me to muse a bit on how important customer service is, especially at an event like E3 where people will be writing about products and — hopefully — generating buzz for upcoming product releases.  The customer service I experienced from the three hardware developers made me think that Nintendo will continue to dominate the console wars this generation…and probably through the next generation of hardware, too.  It’s more than just pretty girls with 3DS belts.  It’s the fact that Nintendo very obviously cared about crafting a positive user experience with their products.  This kind of care started when I got in line, continued as I waited in line and carried on as I was given freedom to experience the 3DS as I wanted to, with multiple game demos.  And if this much care and thought is put into simply DEMO-ing the hardware, I can’t even imagine how much effort is put into designing and testing the games and systems with a positive user experience in mind.  It’s more evidence that the Wii and DS are not mere “gimmicks,” but rather the products of an extraordinarily purpose-driven development strategy.

Meanwhile, Sony was arrogant and disappointing while Microsoft’s much-hyped product was hampered by malfunctioning equipment.  Just sitting here and typing this out, it’s difficult for me to believe that these three companies lived up to their stereotypes so perfectly, but that’s the simple truth.