Game Space columnist hits biggest gaming event.

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

Speak Up

Day 1

1 of 2

E3 shows year’s best games to come.

E3 reveals the best in upcoming games.

I head over to the Los Angeles Convention Center to get registered. Man, there's a lot of video game media here. First video game media personality/celebrity I see: Jessica Chobot, the infamous "PSP licker" who now writes for IGN.

My first appointment is the Sony media conference over at the Shrine Theatre. We get to the Shrine and Sony has a pretty sweet spread set up for us outside the theatre. Food and drink are a plenty and there's no better way to please the media than to give them free stuff.

I talked to a few other journalists from websites/publications I've never heard of. Then again, I'm not exactly a household name either -- until I win Deal or No Deal by picking case one and then eliminate every other case in numerical sequence.

Dozen and dozens of LCDs make up the backdrop onstage with three insanely huge LCD monitors showing footage of Metal Gear Solid 4, SOCOM: Confrontation, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Jack Trenton takes the stage and we're off!. Things kick off with a Resistance 2 demo that has you shooting rockets into the face of a giant enemy when he has you in the palm of his hand -- some pretty big scale stuff. Some tidbits are announced for the game like eight-player online co-op. They then show off a new Resistance 2 trailer with more gameplay footage and a new level - Idaho.

The next Greatest Hits lineup is announced, which will consist of Warhawk, MotorStorm, Resistance, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night, Need for Speed, Assassin's Creed, Rainbow 6: Vegas, Elder Scrolls, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

The PS2

Games coming out this fall/winter are: NCAA 09, Tiger Woods 09, Star Wars, Singstar Pop Volume 2, Yakuza 2, Madden XX, Mercenaries 2, and Warriors Orochi. Buzz (a quiz show game) is also coming to the PSP and Playstation 3. They're also announcing a new PS2 bundle which will include Lego Batman and the Justice League: The New Frontier DVD for $149 U.S.

The Playstation Network: Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty will be a PSN download for $14.99. Dubbed a quasi-sequel to Tools of Destruction. Not as big as a disc-based game and will be available only through the Playstation Store as a download. Other upcoming PSN games include: Crash Commando, Fat Princess, Eden: Pixel Junk, Pain Amusement Park, flower, Siren: Blood Curse, Ragdoll King Fu: Fists of Plastic. Next is Gran Turismo TV, which will be a "channel" on the PSN that shows various racing events in HD, racing shows, and other TV specials. You will need Gran Turismo Prologue to access this and it will be available this fall.

Resistance: Retribution is announced for the PSP. It's an original game but will be third person instead of first person.

Sony will be selling a 80 GB system for the same price as the 40 GB. However, this particular version of the 80 GB will have the same features as the 40 GB (less USB slots, no backward compatibility). It will be out this fall. No word yet on the fate of the current 80GB model.

Finally God of War III (!!!) is announced and MAG (Massive Action Game). MAG boasts that 256 players can be online at once, consisting of eight-man squads. Stupid name aside, the idea sounds intriguing.

Ubisoft

After getting back to the LACC, it was time for the Ubisoft Media Conference. I end up chatting with a woman from a market research company -- it kind of boggles the mind the variety of professionals that attend E3 as well as how global it is. I saw media from Italy, Greece, Brazil, and Japan just to name a few.

A lot of cool announcements, including a very nice Far Cry 2 demo and an absolutely stunning Prince of Persia demo. I really want to play it now!

Konami

I check out Castlevania: Judgment for the Wii (the very first Castlevania fighting game), Rock Revolution (Guitar Hero/Rock Band-type rhythm game with a horrible top-down chart layout and seven-piece drum set that's crap to play (the drums are at various angles while the chart reads left to right -- very counter-intuitive).

Capcom

I was pretty stoked as I'm sure they'd be showing off Resident Evil 5, Bionic Commando, Street Fighter IV. What did we get? A half-hour late start and the announcement of Lost Planet: The Movie. WTF?!

Day 2

First meeting of the day is with Majesco and I get to try out some kid-oriented Wii titles like Cooking Mama: World Kitchen and Major Minor's Majestic March. Major Minor is interesting as you get to be a marching band conductor and use the WiiMote as a conducting wand. You set your own rhythm by moving the WiiMote up and down but half way through the first stage my arm is getting tired. How sad.

Sony Computer Entertainment

They have a pretty sweet demo room with a bar and food in the middle of it. A lot of the games shown during the media conference were on display here: Resistance 2, Home, Little Big Planet, etc... It's busy but I manage to play some Little Big Planet and some Siren: Blood Curse.

Warner Brothers

After SCEA I'm off to Warner Brothers. I had the chance to play some Lego Batman and I never realized how terribly cute all the characters look. It's basically a side-scrolling beat-em up that came off a little repetitive. You can change "suits" in the game which can give you more powers so here's hoping there's large variety for every character. A cool thing I didn't know going in was that you get to control some villains as well.

I got to play Project: Origin for the 360. A sequel to F.E.A.R., the game featured some pretty dynamic A.I. that opened up car doors to block gunfire. The slow-motion power is also back, which can result in some pretty cool kills. My slo-mo killing spree comes to an end thanks to a snipers bullet.

Konami's media conference was next and the first thing you notice on the stage is a real drum kit, guitars, and an amp. Someone's playing a song! Of course, off to the stage left, there was also the Rock Revolution drum kit and a Guitar Hero guitar. Hmmm...me thinks they're going to compare the two.

Sure enough, a Konami rep first plays bass on Blitzkrieg Pop with a Ramones tribute band. She then tries to play the song on Rock Revolution with a "drummer" and dies halfway into the song. EPIC FAIL!!! Now the session is over. What a note to end on.

See next week's [here] Magazine for part two of Nelson Hum's E3 diary.