a group of us commandeered some e3 badges from friends and headed out to the expo. before today, i haven't experienced this hyped-up spectacle, so i was pretty pumped. what especially intrigued me was nintendo's new controller for their next-gen system, the wii. i knew the line was going to be long, but it was about 3 hours, so we said screw it, no way. i've heard mixed reactions on the responsiveness and fun the new controller brings to gaming, which is kindof sad because i'm rooting for nintendo as an innovator in the market, rather than simply pushing the hardware specs. playstation 3's controller worked surprisingly well... before i had played it, it seemed like they quickly hacked together motion sensors as a response to nintendo's controller. although it worked well, the games still seemed boring. and i saw pixellation and dropped framerates, which to me is unacceptable considering it's 2006 and the ps3 is gonna be frickin' $600!

i didn't really see anything else impressive at the show... i was excited about spore (which promises to be a truly unique and creative title), but the line was also too long. we did see steven spielberg leaving one of the spore presentations. i guess that was kindof cool. well, not really. as i was walking around, i couldn't help but feel slightly jaded. everything just seemed like boring regurgitations of old concepts. graphics were impressive, but not that impressive, and gameplay was just par, and ideas were just disappointing. it feels like hollywood now, and you really need to dig to find the gems. it's also pretty much the worst atmosphere to really take in some of the games; everything is rushed and crowded. i guess i left feeling underwhelmed, but i still have high hopes for late 2006. i hope the wii-mote brings the fun back into gaming. the hype surrounding it is certainly a sign that people are ready and willing to accept something new.