electronicentertainmentexpoHey andPOPpers, Josh here again and today, I think I’ll rant about the big news of the month, E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest North American video game trade show came and went, and with it, a slew of previews we all expected to see as well as a few big surprises came our way. While I was unable to attend this year, I watched from the comfort of my couch and desk as the news rolled in, and while I got excited for what’s coming our way I couldn’t help but get a little disappointed that while the people there had to deal with crowds, line-ups and costs, they would ultimately be the ones to say they played these games a year or even more before they came out.

So for the past week I’ve been watching the live E3 press releases of the big three: Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft; and I must say, for the most part I was surprisingly impressed with what was announced and shown at these press conferences.

To start off, let’s take a look at Microsoft. They not only snaked away Final Fantasy 13 as an exclusive from Sony, but to my surprise, they also have the new Metal Gear Solid Rising coming out for Xbox 360 as well as PS3 and PC! Rockband Beatles, Tony Hawk Ride (with skateboard controller) and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was also all announced as Microsoft held the first press conference, but all these titles were also to be debuting on other systems as well. So what did Microsoft have to show that would make me proud to be an Xbox owner? The announcement of Crackdown 2 perhaps? Left 4 Dead 2?!!! Already? I had no idea! Forza 3 (of course Microsoft needed something to combat GT5), and not only a preview of Halo: ODST but the brand new announcement of an entirely new Halo game altogether called Halo: Reach. Now, as of writing this blog up, we do not know what Reach is, or even what kind of game it will be, but my assumption is that if it is being announced along side ODST, it will not be a first person shooter, but I could be entirely wrong. **EDIT: it IS a first person shooter!** Aside from Alan Wake (we all knew it was coming), that wrapped up what Microsoft had in store with regards to their software, now what about hardware? The introduction of Last.FM for Xbox Live gold members, Sky (like NetFlix) for UK gamers, and oh ya, 1080P NetFlix in 18 countries! Other expansions to Xbox Live include connectivity with Facebook, and what’s this? Project NATAL? Full body motion control? No need for a controller or wand or anything? Voice recognition, facial recognition? This is all too much to handle… or is it? Dun dun dunnnnn.

Moving onto Nintendo, we were shown a lot of the DSi and Wii Motion Plus yada yada yada, they keep talking about what we already know, does Nintendo have nothing new to show this year? They do. And by golly was it a surprise to me at least! Cammie Dunaway first blows my mind with statistics; video games sell more than music and box office movies combined? A few kids games are shown, girl games and BAM we’re whacked in the face with a brand new FOUR player simultaneously Wii Super Mario game! We’re shown Mario, Luigi, and two Toads (Toadaie?) competing for mushrooms and coins. Red Steel 2, Tiger Woods 10, Wii Sports Resort, Mario and Luigi RPG 3 announced… nothing really new for a while during their press conference until bam (again), Final Fantasy: Crystal Bearers for the Wii, Sin and Punishment 2, and Kingdom Hearts for the DS. More ho hum games announced, Mario vs. Donkey Kong and Wario for the DSi with user created content… not my favourite, if I wanted to make my own game, I may just do that. I feel Nintendo is trying to jump on the user created content bandwagon too little too late. Here’s where it gets good, Super Mario Galaxy 2! Sure it looks exactly like the original Galaxy, but this time, you can ride Yoshi, and besides, any new Galaxy game is good enough for me! The big announcement that totally caught me off guard however, Metroid: Other M! a new Metroid title that looks deeper into Samus Aran’s past!!! Oh ya, and a finger sensor for the Wii to check your pulse… what?

Finally Sony’s press conference was coming up. We heard rumors and saw pictures of the new slim PS3 and PSP Go, would they make an appearance? Well, the PSP Go did, and the CEO of Sony kept making jokes about all their secrets being leaked… way to throw us off Mr. CEO! To start off they talk about Uncharted 2, of course, the only real PS3 exclusive anyone has seen more than a few minutes of, let’s just hope Sony didn’t put all their eggs into one basket (or two if you include God of War 3). What’s this? They still think 256 players can play simultaneously in MAG? They must be MAD!!! (see what I did there?) . They go on to talk about PSP titles, Dissidia (the Final Fantasy fighter), Castlevania: Bloodlines, Hannah Montana, and what’s this? Gran Tourismo PSP (with 800 cars), Resident Evil Portable, and what what what? Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker! A PSP MGS title that has Big Boss and what looks like 3 other snakes (Solid, Liquid, and Solidus perhaps?) playing in a true metal gear solid portable sequel taking place 10 years after MGS3. Will it be a four player co-op game? I sure hope so! LittleBigPlanet and Jak and Daxter also coming out on the PSP. They then go on to talk about Final Fantasy 13 and show a new trailer for it followed by… what? An announcement for Final Fantasy 14?!!!? Another MMORPG it seems, but since I just quit FF11 three days ago, I eagerly await more news! Sony goes on to talk about more user created content along the lines of LBP, a new game called Mod Nation Racers, and it’s exactly what you would guess, you create the racer, you create your car, you even create the track you race on, it’s a pretty kart racer, other than creating your own content, nothing really special. The third and final game from the creators of ICO, The Last Guardian has a chicken puppy working with a child to do god knows what, but it is pretty and fairly artistic, what we expected. Following this game preview we were given a glimpse of Gran Tourismo 5. Nothing special here. And finally, a 5 minute demo of God of War 3; now, while we all saw trailers for GOW3 and were expecting something big, right when the demo was getting good, they cut it off and from what I saw, it wasn’t anything revolutionary or special, just more of the same fun God of War gore. Good enough for me, but for how much longer. So, Sony, whom I thought would be the weakest of the three this year came out with a bunch of surprises even after the leak of the PSP Go, but wait, they had one more little thing to show me. What I thought to be the biggest showing so far, Playstation motion control! Using a colour changing wand with buttons, players are given 1:1 tracking along with the Playstation eye which lets your magical wand become anything you want, a golf club, gun, sword, you can even achieve first person views with it! Take two wands and enjoy if you like! All very exciting stuff.

So there you go, the big guns of the big three, I apologize if my writing is very sporadic but I wrote this as I was watching the press conferences, so any hiccups you see can be translated into excitement for myself! I cannot wait to see how these games and features expand and grow and I full heartedly look forward to the next two years of gaming, they’re going to be magical! What I always enjoyed most about E3 was never really the games themselves, the trailers or demos for the games, but rather the excitement of the press releases. Only in these meetings do you get to see old stuffy CEOs in business suits get overly excited about content I find interesting as well. I also greatly enjoy the surprises they throw at us year after year whether it be a great kept secret, or surprise guests, watching these press releases might very well be the most exciting aspect of the video game industry. Yes, I realize this is not really game rant, but hey, my blog, I talk about what I want!

So what were your biggest surprises and letdowns of E3 this year? Leave a comment; let us know what you thought of the revitalized gaming expo?






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