DIGITALLIFE 2007: DAY TWO

As you may have well noticed, there aren’t any stories from DigitalLife ’07 up on the site yet. Rest assured, they are coming, but I was on the show floor all day thursday and will be spending a good deal of today there as well. It just didn’t leave a lot of time for writing things up properly yesterday.

One thing I will say going into day two is that I was a little disappointed with the general lack of new games on the floor. While there were some upcoming titles such as Crysis, The Eye of Judgment, Gears of War (PC), Guitar Hero III and the like, those kiosks were few and far between.

Perhaps the biggest letdown was when I found my way to the console gaming area to find that some of the games weren’t just already released, they were released a long time ago. Imagine seeing a row of Xbox 360’s and finding that they were set up to play Oblivion, Fight Night: Round 3, Rainbow Six: Vegas and Madden NFL’08. Don’t get too smarmy yet Sony fans – the story was much the same at the kiosks set up with the PlayStation 3.

Still, there was plenty to see and plenty of companies to talk with, and over the next few days, I’ll be bringing the information learned in those sessions to you, because that’s just the kind of guy I am. So stay tuned as we now return you to your game news broadcast… already in progress.

• DigitalLife 2007 – Official website

DIGITALLIFE 2007 OPENS TODAY

DigitalLife, New York’s only public consumer electronics and gaming show opens today, and I’ll be there to take a look at what we can expect to see coming to retail over the next few months. The show, which runs from today through Sunday, September 30th is a hands-on affair where attendees will not only get to try out a wide variety of gadgets and games, but can participate in the DigitalLife Pro Am Gaming Tournament.

"DigitalLife 2007 will once again host the largest gathering of professional and amateur video gamers in the United States. As well as the 3rd Annual DigitalLife Pro-Am Gaming Tournament, produced by the Global Gaming League (GGL), the show will also feature individual tournaments for Halo 2, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and American Idol by Konami.
                           
The $100,000 DigitalLife Pro Am Gaming Tournament sponsored by Dell, Alienware and Headplay covers over 10,000 feet of floor space. Qualifier events will be held In August and September and will continue at the show with opportunities to qualify onsite. Eventually over 300 of the country’s best professional and amateur gamers will compete for over $100K in cash and prizes" – DigitalLife

With so few opportunities for people on the East Coast to get into a show, gamers should be sure not to miss this one if at all possible. As for me, I’ve got a few meetings with companies lined up during the show, so in addition to the normal coverage, we should have some detailed information on several of the products gamers can expect to see in the near future. Tune in over the next few days to see what all the fuss is about!

• DigitalLife 2007 – Official website

SLOW POST-E3 WEEK? – NOT A CHANCE

While it’s sure to be a somewhat quiet “official” news week with E3 having just ended, it’s the perfect time to play catch up. During the coming week, we’ll bring you information on what we outsiders got to see of the show, what we thought of what we saw and where we think it’s going to lead. We’ll also bring you the best news we find as everyone else sorts through all their E3 experiences. Finally, we’ll also be trying to find out more on the rumors regarding the lower end Playstation 3 and wireless controller support, so stay tuned.

The Road to E3 2006

Yes, it’s that time of year again. E3 is right around the corner and everyone is lining up to show you what they’ll be bringing you later this year. During E3, we’ll be presenting you with daily updates on all the goings on. Before you ask, nope – I don’t have tickets to E3, so I’ll be getting my news the same way as everyone else.

Sony should have some big news about the Playstation 3 to report as well as the PS2 and PSP. Head on over to Sony’s E3 2006 page to get an early look at how they’ll be running things.

While Microsoft won’t have a new console to present, they do plan on going all out during E3. To start off, for the entire week of E3, May 8th through the 14th, Live Gold service will be completely free. Also check out the interview with MS Corporate VP Peter Moore where he lets us in on some of the other goodies we can expect during E3. Most exciting of all, he states that the marketplace will be keeping up with E3 and that many of the demos playable on the floor will be presented on Live for download. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a dream come true. Would it be asking too much to hope that Gears of War turns out to be one of those playable demos? Head on over to Microsoft’s E3 2006 page for more!

No specific page from Nintendo yet, but there’s sure to be one soon as the Revolution should be making it’s public debut at E3 as well.

You know, with all this coverage and the ability to play the demos that are on the floor, it’s like having a little slice of E3 in your living room. Now I just have to go out and hire some booth babes!
———————————————————-

Now I don’t know about you, but I love E3 week – and I’ve never even gone in person. It’s that one week where you can check gaming news and constantly see something new about cool game or item that’s just around the corner. More importantly, it’s that one time of year when all the companies are dying to get information out about their products. Sure, they keep a tight lip on things for most of the year, but during E3 it’s a whole different game. All the games that have been under wraps suddenly appear like Cinderella at the ball and try to capture our hearts (and wallets).

The news about how Microsoft plans on using Live to try and bring the E3 experience home by way of demos and trailers has got to be one of the bext Live marketing ideas I’ve heard in a long time. Add in the giveaways and contests that will be going on during the free weekend, and it’s certainly going to be a good time to be a 360 owner.

Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not all about Microsoft though – E3 is going to be our first real look at both the Playstation 3 (hopefully) and the Revolution – and if you’re not excited about either of them, then you’re either a fanboy or lying.

So here we go, the road to E3 is now open, let’s all hop on and enjoy the ride!