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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.

The internet is so interwoven into everyday life for so many people on a personal level that it's hard to imagine a world without it. Throw in entertainment and the internet probably touches most of what you like to do for fun as well. For video game players the internet has become integral to their hobby. Whether it's Sony's PlayStation Network, Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, or Nintendo's Wi-Fi online support someone with any of the big three machines has something to connect up with others.

PlayStation Universe has issued a wake-up call to gamers of all stripes about network neutrality. While I'm certainly glad that one of the bigger gaming blogs "gets it", I'd like to welcome PSU to 2006. They've got a couple of years of catching up to do and while I hope they keep a close eye on the network neutrality debate and report on it further, if you'd like to keep an eye on things yourself I highly suggest following BroadbandReports.com. Not only does it cover network neutrality when there are movements on that issue, it also covers other bigger internet service and industry related issues that could affect all of us -- gamers and online addicts alike.

If you'd like to see my own posts on the smoldering network neutrality debate, you can check out this thread.

For PSU's editorial, click here.

Okay okay, I made up his comment about the internet being a fad but it seemed to fit well here. In a recent interview with CNET, Miyamoto was unsure about how successful Wii Fit would be in the United States due to how parents in America are routinely absent from their children's lives...

While I do believe it's possible more Americans are divorced than Japanese, I don't know how this would have an effect on their sales of Wii Fit. I'd like to see these "averages," that Miyamoto is talking about and if his statements (if he made them at all) are based on any hard data. I'd also like to see the average number of Japanese parents that buy smelly underpants from vending machines who also own Xbox 360's. That might be Microsoft's key to success there....Miyamoto might be onto something.

Or he might be full of crap, just like this post.

Via MEGATONik tipped by Kotaku