E3 is uniquely spectacular in that it is an entire week dedicated to the hobby of gaming.  It’s kind of like sneaking into your living room the week before Christmas, and stealing a quick glimpse of all your presents – you get to look, but there is still that tantalizing feeling that you won’t be able to use the presents for another week.  Only, in this case, it’s another five or six months before you get to open them.  The great thing about those five or six months though, is that it gives you an excuse to talk and speculate about video games.  

This year’s E3 more than delivered in that aspect, as it provided tons of stuff to talk about.  Sure, it’s terrible that all of the great stuff showed off is a ways away, but I trust that the lead-up to November is going to be a lot of fun. 

Microsoft and Sony battled it out for the hearts of gamers across the world, and more than anything else, it reminded us of why competition is so great.  For our purposes, it’s not hard to believe that both next-generation consoles will do a lot to amplify sports gaming, and drive the genre forward. 

The Consoles

It’s no secret that Microsoft and Sony were fighting to the death during E3, and consequently, that provided a lot of excitement for the gaming audience.  The big question was whether or not Microsoft could establish trust with their potential consumers, and whether or not Sony would have the guts to kick Microsoft while they were down. 

Both consoles did a terrific job in establishing their respected line-up of games, but the biggest blow of the conference came when Sony established that they wouldn’t prevent used games from being sold and purchased, and that there would be no online requirement for the console – as opposed to the Xbox One.  

Since that time, Microsoft has done an about face on that policy to come more in line with what Sony is offering.

Aside from the general gaming aspect of the two consoles, one of the questions for me became: what can these two consoles do to improve sports gaming, and which one will improve it more? 

The answer to the question was an unsurprisingly vague conference by Electronic Arts that went a long way in creating more questions than answers.  One thing we do know is that EA is prioritizing sports gaming in a way they did not, leading up to this current generation.  Among the things EA mentioned were player movement (something that struggled on all of EA Sport’s products, outside of FIFA and NHL), living stadiums, and CPU intelligence – both of the former being non-existent in just about every sports game this generation.  

Unfortunately, actual gameplay snippets were few and far between, as the public only got to see small clips and a tech-demo for NBA Live.  Given that the next consoles are so far away, I don’t think anyone really was expecting much else.  So for now, the impact of next-gen sports gaming is a little bit of a question mark. 

Other things like the U-Stream device on the PS4 – which will allow gamers to immediately upload clips of gameplay onto the web – should go a long way in propelling the social and competitive experience of sports gaming.  

The cloud services that will be introduced on both consoles (Microsoft has been a little more specific than Sony in this regard) should allow for much more expansive online modes.  Maybe we’ll finally see an actual Online MLB Franchise mode?  Or perhaps an Online Association Mode for NBA 2K?  It’s not hard to believe that these are distinct possibilities on new consoles, which makes the wait that much more difficult to endure. 

The Games

On the sports front, this was an extremely disappointing part of the show.  Outside of maybe the newly announced Trials: Fusion, there weren’t many surprises at the show.  Unfortunately, it looks like those of us who have waited for a new MLB IP, or a college basketball game are going to have to wait a while longer for any potential announcements.  It is nice to see that NBA Live is pretty far along in development, as competition for 2K is extremely important heading into the new generation.  

The games that were shown – NBA Live, Madden, FIFA, UFC, and NBA 2K – all look pretty promising from what little was shown. 

It will be interesting to see if the hierarchy of games – in terms of both public opinion and from a critical standpoint – remains the same, or if we’ll see a shakeup.  Is it possible a game like NBA Live could come out and surprise a lot of people?  Can FIFA carry its momentum into the new generation?  

Questions like these are exactly what made E3 so exciting and frustrating at the same time.  Sports gaming is headed for a new era of big change, and now that we’ve gotten that sneak peak of the future, we have to wait another five months until we get to hold it in our hands. 

What was your biggest takeaway from E3 now that we've had some time to fully digest it?