TGS: News more meaningful than the UN summit.

 While not completely true, if you're a gamer, you may have only noticed one story and a couple of "Obama said..." headlines. You've since forgotten about those and are still dwelling on the TGS. Normally, I would be as well, but this year didn't provide much in the way of badass announcements. It was a show of how each company is adapting to the direction their companies are going on, and Microsoft's major involvement in trying to breach Japan was definitely on display.

 First off, the price drop gave Sony the biggest boost in the console game. Around one million consoles just flew off shelves the second it was implemented, going around twice as fast as 360's were. As I said, this is a major jolt of energy to get back into the game, and with the holiday season on the way and a slew of A+ titles that appease the vast majority of gamers (CoD: MW2, Batman, Demon's Souls, Uncharted, and FFXIII, to name a few), you're going to see that number jump. Granted, Microsoft shares or will be sharing several of those titles, but when the price drop came out it was clear that if possible, gamers would prefer the PS3.

 The PSP is a completely different beast. The PSP Go is not being received all that well, mainly because they are taking a chance on a UMD-less device. The step is bold, and I commend Sony for taking it, but there are many things wrong with this. First, there is no UMD-to-memory transfer, so gamers who have a PSP with a good variety of games can't exactly trade-up.

 Second, the price is outrageous. At $250, I don't care what specs Sony is carrying in that thing This is a huge mistake. They are contending in the handheld market, I will give them that. 2 DS's for every PSP might sound like a right ass-kicking, and it is, but that number was never supposed to be close. They got it close, and I understand that the Go is a premiere product that is supposed to meet a certain image, but a PSP is a PSP. a redesign is nice, some extras would be nice, and the feeling of a steal of a product would have been nicer. That is $50 away from a PS3, $50 more than a PSP+game+movie+memory card bundle, and $50 more than an iPhone. This is after they got slammed for the PS3's price tag for years, and added to their middle finger to companies like GameStop that sell their products (granted, they do have it coming, but still), this isn't adding up well. Sony actually gets a following on their handheld, and they release the Go. It's like wetting the bed after trying to convince your girlfriend that you're a mature man.

 Then there's Project Natal. Oh Project Natal, do you have problems. Not in the way that it works, because everyone seems to agree that it is the real deal. It's the buzz. The buzz is bad. Peter Molyneux is propping up the project more and more everyday, which is a VERY bad sign. Second, this little tidbit from IGN about the No More Heroes franchise tells me that there are companies out there completely unconvinced that the motion control phase will become a legitimate scheme fr anyone but Nintendo. Sony's own "magic wand" is getting more into the game, but its release list is lacking in punch, and the majority of good titles are remakes with waggle, which is a mixed blessing. It worked for Nintendo, but it was also a blatant gimmick. Overall, Project Natal is still poised to make a splash, but there's a distinct lack of real announced support for the concept. If the guy who just said that the Wii is reaching its limit for his franchise isn't at least considering Natal during interviews, then either Nintendo is lining more pockets than we'd like to admit, or Microsoft isn't getting the third parties on-board in the right way.

 My personal belief is that despite what the signs point to as far as third party support, the project is legit and that despite Natal-patching for older games being unfeasible, the year-plus that developers will have to get games going will get shown off next year at E3, Blizzcon, and TGS.

 More on the potential of Project Natal later, both the good and the scary.

 Next up is the Gears of War 3 announcement, or lack of, and it doesn't bother me. You should be thankful, too. The graphics heavy shooter made a big splash, jumping right in with the FPS big-shots, but I like the decision to wait a bit for something a little better to come along. What, you actually wanted the series to get overexposed, under-upgraded, and repetitive in the span of a few years?

 Finally, the lack of anything except for a Wii price drop lately is just scary for Nintendo fans.

 Overall, the good games were put on a shiny pedestal and everything else was sort of blurry. Everything that was supposed to be good in the first place stepped up and flaunted it well, but except for the PSP offerings, the TGS didn't offer up anything new.

 Now, onto Natal, and you better read, because this is a huge culture changer. Digg It Stumble it ! Reddit