For those of you who don't know, E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It's where all the big gaming companies show off their bestest and newest stuff and it's also happening this week! Being a big gaming nerd, I am basically the proverbial pig rolling around in slop as I sit and watch what I'll be spending my cash on over the next year or two.
Yesterday, Microsoft trotted out the big guns. Among the announcements was Crackdown 2. When I saw this, I literally pumped my fist and shouted as if Cleveland had actually played to their potential against Orlando and moved on to take out the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Crackdown was thought of as "that game that comes with the Halo 3 beta", but I played the living hell out of it and never touched the beta. When I heard talk that there were no plans for a sequel, I was as sad as I was while watching the Cavaliers tank in...ok you get the point. Not only is Crackdown 2 coming, but also Left 4 Dead 2!!! When we saw this, my wife actually got all giddy, which made me fall in love with her a little more.
And then there's The Beatles Rock Band. I'm a huge Rock Band fan and I was raised on The Beatles' music so this is a no brainer for me. Looks freaking great and it shows the lads in all their different stages from the mop top days to their psychedelic hippieness. And all the albums will be available for download?? Yes please.
And then there was Project Natal. It's some new system that allows you to play games without a controller. Megan was very pumped about this one, but I was a little skeptical. Sure, it looks cool, but how can I play Gears of War with that? There was a demo of some game where someone jumped around swatting at virtual balls while their Avatar did the same motions (more or less) on screen. While this unlocks a whole new world of teabagging, it also involved getting up and that's something I normally don't want to do while playing. Then Microsoft made one hell of a great move and showed real developers working with it. That got me thinking. Perhaps there could be sections of "real" games involving motion control. Maybe there would be certain characters that could interact with you using the format. Since it can be implemented without buying a new console, I don't see a reason why I wouldn't give this a try. At the very least, it's something with the potential to be truly revolutionary.
There was also Modern Warfare 2, Metal Gear coming to XBox (Which I don't really care about. I lost interest in Metal Gear after Sons of Liberty), more stuff added to the dashboard like Twitter and Facebook, the list goes on. Plus, there's still the Nintendo and Sony presentations to see. Just watching them try and follow Microsoft will be a show in itself.
I'm a breathless gaming nerd right now. Viva E3!!
