Santa Monica: The world’s biggest video games convention may have been scaled down this year and transferred to this seaside suburb of Los Angeles, but it is still no end-of-the-pier show.
The industry’s leading executives are all here at the E3 Media and Business Summit, including Robbie Bach, head of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices division, Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment and Satoru Iwata, president and chief executive of Nintendo.
Interviews coming up with all three over the next few days on Techblog. In the meantime, Microsoft held a stats and game-heavy press conference on the eve of E3 this evening.
Staged in a high-school amphitheatre with a backdrop of the setting sun, Microsoft emphasised the level of game development now possible on the Xbox 360, with its year’s headstart over the Sony and Nintendo consoles.
Electronic Arts’ sports titles later this year will play twice as fast and smooth as before. The Xbox 360 will be the only platform to have the triple play of Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV and the Madden NFL game later this year, due to its exclusive rights to Halo.
Peter Moore, head of interactive entertainment at Microsoft, modestly described it as "the greatest holiday line-up in video game history". All three are sequels and the gamer audience at the press conference did not seem overwhelmed by the trailers shown for Grand Theft Auto and Halo, but they will undoubtedly sell well.
Mr Moore said this year there will be a crossover point where consumers will spend more on games than they do on music.
He pointed out that since the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii were launched in November:
- Microsoft sold 2.7m consoles to 2.8m Wiis and 1.4m PS3s in the US.
- It sold more games than the other two combined.
- Microsoft’s total next-gen revenues were $2.4bn, compared to $1.3bn for the Wii and and $1.1bn for the PS3.
Nintendo and Sony will be sure to put their own spin on the figures in successive conferences on Wednesday.
