Marcus says: When trying to sell a new hardware-specific product, getting the product into the hands of consumers is often the best way to convince them of its merits. From the comfort of my home, miles away from the E3 show, Morpheus is as far away from my hands as Dallas is from LA (yes, a literal distance. no need for metaphor here).
Without getting hands-on with Morpheus, I have to rely on the testimony from show goers and Sony PR. To my surprise, Sony didn’t attempt to sell the spectacle of the coming VR revolution. Instead, in trailer after trailer, I saw typical footage of typical games in typical gameplay scenarios. The only difference in the trailer for the VR games is that they feature first-person surveying; a not so subtle indication that, yes, a virtual head moving could be controlled by your literal head moving once you step into the realm of VR. The Kinect-like hovering prompts might also tip you off to the fact that these are indeed trailers for VR games.
Richard says: Nintendo is known for game presentations that focus on charm, creativity, and most of all gameplay. They typically don’t present footage without images of gameplay or content that is representative of the final product. Nintendo usually encourages their audience at E3 to go to the show floor and gets hands-on impressions. They even used the phrase “playing is believing” when they launched the Wii controller at E3 2006. I know the gaming industry has rapidly changed over the last 15 years, but I’d like to think actually playing games is the best and only way to understand what they are. Is it any different with Sony and Morpheus?
