E3 Dispatches: Microsoft's announcements

Seattle Times technology reporter Kim Peterson is reporting this week from the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo, known as E3, in Los Angeles. Retailers will get a sneak preview of the hottest games of the year at the industry-only conference for the video-game business.

Peterson will be online Friday from noon to 1 p.m. to discuss developments from this year's show. Submit a question in advance.

Below are her dispatches from E3.

POSTED 10:10 AM Thursday
E3: Now taking your questions

Got a burning question about video games? Or just want to vent about where the industry is headed? I'll be answering your questions live tomorrow at noon from the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Click here to send in a question ahead of time. The best question wins, uh, my grudging respect.

POSTED 7:29 AM Thursday
E3: PS3 high-def called into question

The lower-priced, $499 version of Sony's PlayStation 3 lacks support for HDMI, which has led to questions about whether that version will be able to play true high-definition, Blu-ray movies. HDMI is basically the high-definition connection between an audio or video source and a monitor or television.

In an interview with BBC News, Sony executive Phil Harrison said that the "technical method of extracting audio and video" from the devices is slightly different.

Justin Finnegan, a Sony spokesman, explained it to me this way yesterday: The $599 version of the PS3 will have one cord that handles audio and video and connects the machine to a television. The lower-priced version will have separate cords for audio and video. Both machines will be able to play high-definition video in the Blu-ray format.

POSTED 7:00 AM Thursday
E3: "Booth babe" report

A silly side issue has been playing out at the E3 conference. This year, the show's organizers have asked that the models hired by companies — the so-called "booth babes" — tone down the skimpy outfits. In previous years, some companies have gone so far as to re-create a bikini beach volleyball game in front of the appreciative and mostly male crowd.

The models are showing less skin this year, for sure, but the clothes are just as tight. And companies are getting creative: bikinis have been replaced by nurses' outfits, for example. One company even hired some girls to stage a fake protest to the new rule outside the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Here are some photos of the models on the Myspace page of a guy who seems to have done nothing else yesterday except get his picture taken with them.

POSTED 8:49 AM Wednesday
E3: Nintendo Wii hands-on

I got an advance look at Nintendo's next-generation Wii console on Monday, and got to play several games slated to be released in the Wii's launch window. Most of my time was spent just getting used to the new controller, which is a complete departure from the past and unprecedented in its innovation.

You aren't hearing much about this, but the Wii requires that you attach a sensor bar to your television. Nintendo hasn't quite figured out how to attach the bar, which is thin and several inches long, to the TV yet. Adhesive seems messy, but I can't think of a better alternative.

Anyway, once the bar is attached, it works very well with the accelerometers in the Wii's remote controllers. There are two parts to the "nunchuck" controller, connected with a wire. You can just use one part for certain games, like "Wii Sports: Tennis" and it looks pretty much like a wireless remote control. It has a speaker embedded in it -- a very cool feature. The second part can be attached for more complex games, such as "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess."

The controller is very sensitive to motion. You just need to flick your wrist and it will respond, though the first impulse is to wildly swing it around. It will take some time for gamers to get used to just how different the controller is, but the design could lead to new kinds of games not possible on consoles before.

POSTED 8:28 AM Wednesday
E3: Microsoft's kidney punch to Sony

I think one of the most significant announcements to come out of E3 was that Sony has lost its exclusive lock on Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto" series.

Since the game's original debut in 1998, GTA has been synonymous with the PlayStation and the PlayStation 2. The game didn't hit blockbuster status until "Grand Theft Auto 3" in 2001, which was much improved over its predecessors with an open-ended, non-linear playing structure. It generated instant controversy for its high levels of violence and became a cult hit. That game, and its several sequels, were released first on the PlayStation 2 and only came to the Xbox several months later. A version for Sony's PlayStation Portable came out last year, and did so well that Sony will release the same game for the PS2 this year.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced that it will have a seat at the table next to Sony for "Grand Theft Auto 4," due to be released in October 2007. The game will come out for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 on the same day. To celebrate the announcement, Xbox head Peter Moore sported a fake "Grand Theft Auto IV" tattoo on his left bicep.

Just as an aside, the influence of "Grand Theft Auto" is evidenced by this skit that appeared on Dave Chappelle's show on the Comedy Central network. It's instantly recognizable to anyone who has played the game.

POSTED 3:40 PM Tuesday
E3: Microsoft's announcements

Four main pieces of news from Microsoft's E3 briefing today.

1. Microsoft is unveiling a "Live Anywhere" platform with the launch of Vista that will integrate Xbox Live with the Windows and Windows Mobile operating systems.

2. The company is aiming to sell 10 million Xbox 360 consoles before the first new system from Sony or Nintendo hits store shelves.

3. There will be 160 Xbox 360 games out by the end of this year

4. There are currently 3 million Xbox Live members, and that number is projected to double by this time next year

Best you're-not-getting-any-news-today line: "Our purpose this week is not to fill your left brain with information but to fill your right brain with inspiration." — Reggie Fils-Aime, executive vice president for sales and marketing at Nintendo of America.

And that's how the Nintendo press briefing began. There was a small amount of news: the company's next-generation console, named the Wii, will be out sometime in the fourth quarter. But there were no specifics on launch date or pricing.

Nintendo executives spent much of the briefing demonstrating how to use the Wii's novel controller in different types of game settings. In an upcoming tennis game, for example, a player would treat the controller like a tennis racket -- swinging a forehand or backhand to hit a virtual ball. For many in the audience, it was a first look at the new controller and the decision to make most of the briefing a giant demonstration was a smart one.

Fils-Aime also poked some fun at the largely negative reaction to the choice of "Wii" as a name for the console, which was code-named "Revolution."

"We want to thank everyone who wrote good things about it the first time you heard it," he said. "Both of you."

POSTED 8:20 AM Tuesday
E3: Reactions to Sony's news

Sony said it will begin selling the PlayStation 3 in the U.S. on Nov. 17 at two price levels. A system with a 20-gigabyte hard-drive will cost $499, and a 60-gigabyte version will cost $100 more. See this story for more from the company's E3 press briefing yesterday.

Reaction to the high price has been predictably harsh. Here are some other opinions on the news:

Several blogs are pointing to a chart in the PlayStation 3 press release that suggests the lower-priced, $499 model will not have built-in Wi-Fi or SDMI and memory-card support.

With the PS3's graphical prowess on display at E3 looking sadly analogous to the 360's rendering abilities and the Wii likely to price at less than half of what a jacked PS3 costs, not to mention that there will only be a million consoles available worldwide in November, it certainly appears that Sony is doing absolutely everything to foul up this launch. — Kotaku

Joystiq wonders about the loud rumbling at Sony's briefing after it announced a motion-sensitive controller:

The source of the noise was undoubtedly the countless gamers rolling their eyes in unison at a new '"innovation" that, if you're at all interestied in gaming, is unlikely to have struck you as very innovative at all.

Gamespot's E3 blog:

I can only imagine what Microsoft and Nintendo are thinking at this moment. I just can't believe anyone could think that was a slam dunk for Sony. Compared to the sheer excitement from last year's conference, the reaction this time around was a lot more subdued.

POSTED 3:44 PM Monday
E3: Buildup to Sony's announcements

CULVER CITY, Calif. — There's a large crowd here at the reception before Sony's press briefing begins at the Sony Pictures campus. There are tables with mini hamburgers, cheese sticks, fried ravioli, nachos and corn dogs. Bartenders are serving child-size cups of soda or full-size bottles of beer, and from the looks of it the beer is the more popular offering.

There are also tables with ice cream, popcorn and giant packs of KitKat, M&Ms and other candies. Sony told all attendees to bring their PSP handheld players, and so lots of people are sitting on sofas playing them. Press briefing starts at 4 pm.

POSTED 11:33 AM Monday
E3: L.A. without the traffic

LOS ANGELES — The streets here are eerily empty this morning. I've never seen such light traffic here. Two taxicab drivers I spoke with said it's because of high gas prices. Commuters are being forced to look for other means of transportation. Taxis no longer cruise the streets downtown, looking for customers, said one. Now, they just wait at hotels so they can save gas.

L.A. without traffic? Are pigs going to fly here next? And, if so, can commuters hitch a ride?

Here are some E3-related links to kick off the week:

Predictions from Wired's gaming blog:

Microsoft will take advantage of the fact that people have piled into their conference to hear about "Halo 3" by spending 45 minutes talking about Windows Vista. We're all basically doomed -- we know that Vista is a major focus of Microsoft's conference, and I am assuming that I will have to do something to keep myself awake.

Kotaku: Sony's E3 ad campaign hits the streets.

Next Generation: The 50 games you need to see at E3.

An L.A. Convention Center security guard gives sage advice to the writers of Joystiq: "Watch out for nerds."