Pre-alpha

Sometimes a build known as pre-alpha is issued, before the release of an alpha or beta. In contrast to alpha and beta versions, the pre-alpha is not "feature complete". When it is used, it refers to all activities performed during the software project prior to software testing. These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development and unit testing.

Pre-Alpha simply means it has yet to be submitted for Software Testing. Has nothing to do with how nice the texture look or anything. ts merely a stage of development and its probably ture since this is the first time we have ever seen the game. 

I agree... Hideo Kojima said it was in-game and not prerendered before the demo began so I thought maybe it was going to look incredible and people would have wondered if it was prerendered had he not said something, but after the demo began I was surprised at how plain it looked compared to some of the other trailers, especially the look of the vehicles and other characters in the game.  It's almost like it's looking dated now considering the stuff we're seeing in Call of Duty 4 and other games.

LET THE BATTLE OF PRE-ALPHA, ALPHA and BETA SEMANTICS BEGIN!!!

I am still very one the edge about giving this one to Sony because the more that I think about it the more I realize that Sony only gave us what we expected and what we already have seen. Nintendo could have and probably should have spent more of the time that they did showing people talking about the Wii and using it demoing Smash and Mario Galaxy and all the other games just like Sony did. Would that have been an A then? Instead they showed off two extremely promising gaming peripherals. Revealed a new game which will in all likelihood outsell MGS4, FF13, and Killzone 2 combined. The presentation was great, they revealed a new exclusive first party title.

Sony - more of the same, more of the same, acquisition of NCsoft, 2 new exclusives, TERRIBLE performance.

I am starting to go for a tie between Sony and Nintendo.

Heheh, exactly. Go ahead Steve, it's a pre-alpha. I really don't care enough to argue about it. There are plenty of other things to discuss. 

The wii surprised ME!!!!!! i mean WiiFIT looks to suck more causal people into gaming....Nintendo did it again...there more right now aiming to a totally different market right now....just by Miyamoto saying he's more focused on seeing WiiFit than anything else they present....i gonna buy a ps3 but only when they can hit that $400 sweet spot...no games out now and in the future...can make me play with my wallet to just fork out $500 now....but i congratluate nintendo...and sony u did good also...that psp is a sweet looking piece of hardware and i want a white one bad!!

Same here. The vehicles, buildings, and backgrounds were what did it for me. I saw the footage and immediately thought "well, other than Snake himself, this looks EXACTLY LIKE GRAW (the first one, not the second)". The textures were very bland.

I'll still buy the game and I eagerly await to see how the series ends but I really expected more out of the PS3 and Kojima, especially with how much that guy was talking how it could never be done on anything other than PS3.

Yeah, really. After all we're just talking about a device that as a shot at outselling... oh I don't know - the PS3 (*). Maybe, then, you should have a little respect for the entirely subjective opinion of those who actually liked it. Notice how before you came along everybody was giving they're own subjective opinions on the matter, without fealling the need to bash anyone else's. I respect your opinion, man, I seriously do - for those of you who like action packed games, Sony's conference was without a doubt the best. That's not the entire audience, though.

(*) If you think that's crazy, take a moment to consider that: a) Wii Fit is Wii Sports/Play material, Wii Play being at PS3 levels in the US right now; b) the game may very well get bundled like Wii Sports in the future; c) the Balance Board will be available separately, and it seemed open to other games, probably 3rd party too; d) Wii owners already assume they'll have to buy extra remotes and stuff; and e) multiplayer with at least 2 devices per console was already demoed at the show. Yes, maybe it's an off chance, but I definitely wouldn't write it off as impossible.

I wasn't particularly impressed by anything that any of the press conferences had on display; in particular, I didn't see any one annoucement that 'rocked' E3 ...

With that said, I think Sony delivered a conference which gave current PS3 owners (and people who intend to buy a PS3) a lot to be excited about ...

I could be wrong but, I expect Nintendo's annoucement of Wii Fit can not be under estimated; their  annoucement of Brain Training was not well recieved in 2005 but it is/was one of the most important videogames released in recent years.

 Casuals don't look at E3, but they look at the WSJ, google news, Cable News, etc.  And Wiifit will be on all of those, in fact it already is, Duh