Nintendo DSi and Nintendo DSi XL handhelds are getting price cuts!

Starting September 12, 2010, the Nintendo DSi will be $149.99 ($30 off) and the Nintendo DSi XL will be $169.99 ($30 off).

So hold off on those DSi purchases and wait a couple of weeks for these new prices to come into effect.

I’d like to give kudos to Youtube & IGN for their youtube.com/e3 channel. Every press conference (except Konami’s) was streamed live for all to see. It was smooth, the quality was great and it was convenient.

Now that the show is over, here are some thoughts on the big three’s press conferences and some personal highlight games of the show.

Microsoft

Presentation: D-
Content: C+

This was a very disappointing press conference. Black Ops, Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3 and Metal Gear Solid: Rising were the high points and then it went all downhill from there. Kinect did not excite me whatsoever. In fact,  it was incredibly awkward and difficult to stomach with all the pseudo enthusiasm and forced banter.

Revealing the new hardware revision was nice, but giving away free hardware at the end of the show after all that Kinect mumbo jumbo was just lame.

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Short of watching the press conference for yourself (I missed it), I highly recommend visiting Nintendo’s excellent E3 site. All the details and media for most of Nintendo’s announced titles could be found there.

I wish all console manufacturers did it as easy as Nintendo’s site.

For the lazy, I’ve listed the gist of things. It’s not the prettiest list, but it gets the job done.

Nintendo 3DS Announced – No release date

• 3.53 inch glasses-free 3D top screen
• 3.02 inch bottom touch screen
• 1 inner camera
• 2 outer cameras for 3D pictures
• Motion sensor & gyro sensor
• Analog nub aka “Slide Pad”

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After announcing a release date and giving the press some hands-on time, Nintendo finally gives the public a good look at some gameplay footage.
Enjoy! I certainly did.

I love how they spent the first few shots reminding us that Samus is a woman. The Metroid series went from:

“Oh, by the way, Samus is a woman.”

to

“DUDE, CHECK IT OUT! SAMUS IS A WOMAN! BOOBS!”

Metroid: Other M debuts June 27, 2010 exclusively for the Wii

Everyone was expecting the next Nintendo handheld to be announced at E3 2010 in June. I don’t think anyone expected Nintendo to put out a press release (for investors) announcing their intentions.

So what do we know about the Nintendo 3DS?

• It’ll come out between April 2010 and March 2011
• It can “enjoyed with 3D effects without the need for any special glasses”
• Full backwards compatibility with previous Nintendo DS products
• The two screens will likely be using parallax barrier Sharp LCD technology
  • Screens will likely be no larger than 4 inches
• The handheld will likely use NVIDIA’s Tegra or Tegra 2 GPU
• Will feature improved battery life and Wi-fi capabilities
• May also support a 3D joystick and force feedback

I’ve got to admit, I am excited for this. I’d love to experience some Mario in 3D – especially without glasses! I’m sure we’ll see more at E3 2010!

Welcome to the QSF5.com ‘Exclusives Watch 2009′ Revision 1.0!

Here it is: the final update of 2009 and probably the final Exclusives Watch for me.

As always this feature will answer these two questions:

Who has the most exclusives?
Who has the most quality exclusives?

With the new year, I’ve made a few predictions:

1. The number of third party disc based retail exclusives will dwindle between the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
2. The number of third party Wii exclusives will drop a bit, but the quality will improve overall.
3. Sony’s PlayStation 3 will continue maintain the quality over quantity mantra for its exclusives.
4. Number of downloadable exclusive titles will rise for all platforms.

Let’s see how I did.

1. Fewer and fewer exclusives from third parties. The most notable exclusive comes from an exclusive deal forged back in the early days of this console generation with the GTAIV expansions episodes.
2. I was wrong about this one. So many more third party exclusives were delivered this year.
3. I was right with the PlayStation 3 quality of exclusives.
4. I was right about this, but only for Nintendo’s WiiWare.

With that, I hope you find this article to be both useful and enlightening. If you notice any missing/incorrect info, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

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Hardware

1. Nintendo DS – 1, 700, 000
2. Wii – 1, 260, 000
3. Xbox 360 – 819, 500
4. PlayStation 3 – 710, 400
5. PSP – 293, 900
6. PlayStation 2 – 203, 100

Software

1. 360 – CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 – 4, 200, 000
2. PS3 – CALL OF DUTY: MODERN WARFARE 2 – 1, 870, 000
3. Wii -NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII – 1, 390, 000
4. 360 – ASSASSIN’S CREED II – 794, 700
5. 360 – LEFT 4 DEAD 2 – 744, 000
6. WII SPORTS RESORT – 720, 200
7. WII FIT PLUS – 679, 000
8. PS3 – ASSASSIN’S CREED II – 448, 400
9. 360 – DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS – 362, 100
10. Wii – MARIO KART W/ WHEEL – 315, 000

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