E3 is old news by now, but I just got finished watching all the G4 coverage on my DVR. Actually, I watched it last week, but have been wrapped up with draft 2 and haven’t had the time to give my impressions. Let’s just say I truly hope you guys go out and buy 4-5 copies of Skinners each because daddy will need to buy some games! Splinter Cell Conviction, Assassin’s Creed 2, new Gears 2 expansion, ROCK BAND BEATLES, the list of new games goes on and on. The big one I’m pumped for is Brutal Legend. That, like damn near every other awesome game, will come out in October. That month will be tough on the ol’ purse strings.
Microsoft had an awesome showing, with their new motion sensor / body sensing control system. As cool as that looked, I’d have to say Sony’s offering in that department looked a little more interesting. After seeing the Project Natal thing from MS, I was talking with Megan about how it would be so much better gaming-wise if there was just SOMEthing with buttons to hold. Mainly, I was still thinking about the lightsaber game that I, along with just about every other Wii owner, is aching to play. With the Natal scanning capability, how cool would it be to actually make your own lightsaber grip, hold it up to be scanned and then see it IN THE GAME?? The game could come with a grip, but the ability to make your own is cool. Then I saw the Sony event where they unveiled their own motion sensing thing which seemed like an advanced hybrid of Natal and the Wiimote. AND IT LOOKED LIKE A LIGHTSABER!! Very cool. Also, God of War 3 and Uncharted 2 looked beyond great. From the moment I started playing God of War 2, I swore that if part 3 was a PS3 exclusive, that would push me over into buying that system. Turns out that PS3 is coming up with quite a few good exclusives already. Like I said, quite the strain on a poor writer’s wallet.
I almost skipped discussing the Nintendo conference because they pretty much tanked it in my opinion. Sure, there’s the Metroid game being developed by Team Ninja and that should be great. New Mario is always great, but their big new innovation was a Vitality Sensor. For those of you who didn’t see it, the Vitality thing clips onto your finger and measures your heart rate. Yeah. That’s really what it does. Have you ever stuck your arm into one of those blood pressure sleeves at Walgreen’s and thought, “Hot DAMN!!! Why isn’t this a video game!!????!!??” If so, this new gadget is for you. I’m not knocking the Wii. I own one and I love it. I think Mad World is one of the best, most visceral gaming experiences you can have. There’s just something about shoving your controller toward the screen to push some dude into a set of grinding blades that feels sooooo good. Hey, I even think that new Indiana Jones game is fun! At least it’s better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. As far as E3 conferences go, compared to MS, Sony and even EA, Nintendo tanked it. No big news there.
Tomorrow, the new Ghostbusters game comes out and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m a huge Ghostbusters fan and this game is supposed to be like the next movie. Most of the actors are even doing the voices. Should be great.
