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Before I give my thoughts on the three press conferences that have been put on over the past day and a half I'll just remind the audience that I currently own a Sony PS3 and PSP and don't own any other gaming platforms, namely those produced by Microsoft or Nintendo. I've also based my impressions not on the conferences themselves -- that would take too long -- but Joystiq's very good liveblogging along with a little reading online afterwords. As for my thoughts on Nintendo and Microsoft, I'm generally neutral on Nintendo even though I'm as shocked as anyone else at their runaway success this generation and I'm generally hostile towards Microsoft mostly because of their long history of underhanded and anticompetitive activities in the PC space.

The Common Theme
Across all three conferences I noticed what I think is the operative theme: pleasing your established base. To be sure some feints were made into markets that aren't the primary one for each of the big three, but almost everything announced for each system caters to the crowd currently owning and using that console. Now if you're trying to steal gamers away from a console in the same space this isn't so bad, but if you're trying to grow your console's appeal this isn't how to do it.

Microsoft: We're Hardcore and Casual At The Same Time, Honest
The big announcements from the Redmond software giant are Final Fantasy XIII coming to the Xbox 360 alongside the PS3 version in the United States one or more years from now and Netflix streaming service coming in Fall 2008 to Xbox Live Gold members. I have to say I'm very jealous of the Netflix support and I consider it the biggest deal of their show. I don't care much for Final Fantasy, sorry folks, so I don't mind them getting a port of the PS3 version. I do mind that it'll actually hold up localization of the PS3 version of the game since they're going to wait to release them both alongside each other. This makes most people think we're looking at a game coming in 2010 or even later. Twenty-ten people!

Here's the rest:
+ UI redesign coming, the second in two years. Is Sony's XMB upsetting them?
+ Avatars coming. Another Microsoft product co-opting a generic industry noun for their own use. See also: Word, Windows, Project, SQL Server.
+ New Banjo Kazooie game. A gadgety platformer? Sony will have two Ratchet & Clank games by then. Not original
+ Lips Karaoke game. Entering the singing space alongside Rock Band 1, Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero 4/World Tour. Unoriginal.
+ Portal remake for the Xbox 360. The Orange Box wasn't good enough? Unoriginal.
+ Exclusive Fallout 3 DLC. Remember, this is the very company that invented horse armor in their previous product.
+ New Uno: How different can a card game sequel be? Unoriginal.
+ New psychedelic Galaga: I could get behind this.
+ Viva Pinata 2. VP1 was marketed incorrectly as a kids game but was in kids game clothing, but was still very good for many. Is this one really family friendly fare?
+ The slide showing them "outselling PS3 and Wii combined" actually meant third-party revenues only. Nice twist of facts there.

Overall not a bad showing for Microsoft, but too much of it is me-too from them. Avatars to fight Home and Miis. Lips to muscle in on SingStar and the music games' success. The biggest thing I didn't see but expected to? A Metal Gear Solid 4 coming to Xbox 360. Could it be? A major Sony franchise might stay with Sony systems?

Nintendo: We're Still Winning. And Here's Animal Crossing City Folk
Any mention of sales numbers just illustrates the wholesale stomping they're doing of their competitors. Microsoft and Sony are so far behind Nintendo at this point in terms of momentum, and frankly only Microsoft has wised up and stopped talking about Nintendo entirely, instead focusing on their own strengths. Nintendo is shipping insane numbers of DS's and Wii's and this show had a whole lot of games aimed at the kiddie crowd, period.

If I had to choose the surprises, it would be getting GTA Chinatown Wars on DS in 2009, and the Wii Speak microphone shipping at the same time as Animal Crossing City Folk. The ACCF feature of a shared city and integrating voice chat are surprises as well, but the game itself was a given and I'm sure will sell obscene numbers of copies to everyone, especially if they stick in any kind of DS connectivity. Will Nintendo make the mic support more generic to allow other USB mics to work? I very much doubt it. Standards support is Sony's thing.

What else did Nintendo talk about?
+ Shaun White Snowboarding. The GamersWithJobs interview with the EA guy about Skate's use of the board was much more interesting.
+ Wii Sports Resort. Making this use the new MotionPlus is a no-brainer since almost everyone bought the Wii for Sports first and...what later?
+ Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades. Is GH:OT that good? I guess so.
+ Wii Music. This shows a lot of potential for little kids, and that's about it, unless we see some recording and online sharing features.
+ Spore on DS, which everyone knew about. Will Wright is great at what he does, but is he close to this one to make it great or is it just an EA cash-in?

I had absolutely no pretense of any game-changing hardware but really I was surprised by the MotionPlus. We'll have to see what it adds to motion sensitivity. Nintendo doesn't really have to do anything to succeed either image-wise or business-wise. Their software lineup might be looking a little thin, but there's enough there and their install base is still attracting major third party development -- something that faltered on the GameCube.

Sony: Thanks For Waiting, Now Here's The Good Stuff
The big surprise to me for Sony was the immediate availability of their Movie and TV download service and the slate of studios they signed up for it. Yes, Microsoft announced NBC Universal and their much-coveted Battlestar Galactica series and movies, but having the movie service work on the PC Store, PS3 Store, and allow video transfer to both the PS3 and PSP is a big launch. Will it work well? Also in the surprise department is the Resistance: Retribution game for PSP coming in 2009. A third surprise is that Life With PlayStation will be out this month.

Use of LittleBigPlanet to do the business presentation is ingenious and echoes a recent Playstation The Official Magazine article about the game's potential. Everyone seems to love that game, myself included, so it's a win-win for keeping the attention of the press. October can't come soon enough for that one.

What else did Sony talk about?
+ New PSP bundle coming with Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. I didn't like the game so 'm not impressed.
+ Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty PSN gamefor $15 this summer. I'll buy this one.
+ Gran Turismo TV coming August 1st with free and pay-per-view content, but why would you make it available only within GT5 Prologue? Why reduce your potential user base that way? I don't care about cars or GT, so no big deal to me.
+ Google partnership with search has led to allowing Google Video uploads of instant replays from within the next iteration of the well-regarded MLB The Show. Sounds like a nice feature and makes me think that's a dev kit upgrade others might build into their games in the future.
+ The 40GB PS3 gets a space bump to 80GB, leaving open the question about what will happen to backwards compatibility altogether. I'm not liking this as it cuts off the enthusiast market for older games, but I understand Sony's focus is on PS3.
+ DC Universe Online is alive and kicking. George at Aeropause reminded me via Twitter that the last licensed property SOE made was none other than Star Wars Galaxies. Eep.
+ Resistance 2 is looking very impressive. The squad-based combat is very interesting to me, but I'll play it primarily for the story and 8-player co-op.
+ Infamous in Spring 09. I like Sucker Punch's chances on this one, and the press does too.
+ God of War 3 someday. Take your time. Oh wait, if you cut out PS2 backwards compatibility completely in Fall 08 people won't be able to play 1 or 2 in the series. How embarassing would that be?
+ MAG from Zipper, former SOCOM developer. Looks like a massive shooter, but it's too far away to judge it. I doubt I'd jump on this one based on just what I know. I have too many unplayed online-heavy shooters right now.

Sony's nod to family programming is obviously LittleBigPlanet, but they didn't harp on it aside from the sales presentation. Frankly I think that game has more potential to put the platform ahead of its chief competitor than anything else, but the hardcore shooters aren't going to hurt either.

What should Sony have done? The "should list" for Sony is huge for me, but I'll keep it to something that they could have done to really press an advantage against their chief rival Microsoft. They could roll out tight PSN integration for the PSP and web, specifically putting trophies into PSP games would be great for them. This is a space Microsoft isn't in. Yet.

The key thing in the year ahead will be whether Sony and their partners can execute on their promises in a timely fashion. This has been a very big problem for them in the past.

What Do You Think?
So, what do you think of the big three press conferences?