Half Year Analysis

Summer is hear and like always gaming news dries up, Game news companies recycle old news putting a new spin on it and I review all those games that I never got round to. For example Civ4. But firstly let me analyze the 1st half of 2006, the next gen year.

The biggest thing as always is E3, with both Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft wheeling out big guns. Nintendo and Sony both talked about their upcoming consoles and Microsoft managed to trump them by showing a prerendered movie showing no cool fights, just a battered master chief, some epic sounding music and Halo 3. The world is in unfair. Microsoft only have to publish a picture of their office and some fanatic will say he can see a halo 3 picture and then everyone will make up some rubbish about how from that picture they can figure out that Halo 3 will feature a revolutionary Co-Op mode or something. Nintendo put up the best show, with a highly impressive demonstration of the Wii. Sony's conference was made up a lot of stats that made no sense, the graphics that the PS3 has, were poorly demonstrated on a pixelated screen.

In the hand held market, both Nintendo and Sony have re-released their handhelds, Nintendo's was the only one that changed more than its colour. Microsoft have also said they will be making a handheld console, speculations that it will be massive.

Console Update:
Xbox 360:
Not much news hear, Xbox Live Arcade is taking off, and looks set to continue with more subscribers Evey day.

PS3:
The controller has been reverted to the Dual Shock except with slight modifications, so the controller battle is left wide open. The major difference is that it detects movement but only tilting - this shall be interesting as will still lure in people for a standard game whilst adding interesting interactivity; however it could be considered as neither here nor there, we shall see. PS3 is still pushing ahead with the blu-ray. Their Real HD argument might come crashing down as it is rumored that they will be releasing one on a lower spec for less. This will be hypocritical as they criticized Microsoft for having two launch types.

Wii:
Expected to launch this November at around £130. Legend of Zelda, Mario and a cool tennis game confirmed for launch amongst others.

Game of the Half:
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Game to Watch:
Splinter Cell 4: Double Agent