E3 is over, time to dissect it. This E3 was a hell of a lot better than last year, it was back to being the mega show we all remembered. Lets start off with the conferences:
Microsoft - This conference set the stage for the overall show we were going to have, you can tell immediately that the surprises and major reveals were back. The show kicked off with Rock Band Beatles, I love the Beatles so I am excited for it but the segment went on for far too long. While it was a major deal having the Beatles on stage, Paul and Ringo looked totally out of place. Quickly it got into the games, well not before a weird Tony Hawk reveal with a terrible skateboard peripheral, who's going to use that. Once they got into their exclusives it was golden. Some truly stunning stage presentations like Splinter Cell, Modern Warfare 2, Halo: ODST, and my favorite new game Shadow Complex. They actually showed Alan Wake, it exists! It might not have been what I expected but it was there. Forza 3 was announced, Crackdown 2, L4D2 and a new Halo, so in terms of new game announcements they did not disappoint. Then came the moment we all expected, Metal Gear was coming to the 360 and we got a crappy teaser of the new Raiden game, I was actually surprised that MGS4 won't be ported. They also covered some new multimedia enhancements, like magic streaming HD movies, looks like MS went to the same magician those OnLive guys visited. Oh that's right, Facebook and Twitter support, yay...
Microsoft then revealed their new controller, Natal. It's impressive tech to be sure, I especially love the voice recognition but I cant see it being applied to the games we normally play like Halo. It looked like a giant mini game peripheral, I am not sure having nothing is better than having something in your hand. Then Peter Monlenuex (sp?) showed off his creepy boy simulation. The demo did blow me away but afterwards reality set in, how much of a real conversation can you have with AI, it's yet to be seen.I don't see any practical use for this stuff yet, they have a lot of work to do to show that this tech can work in actual games. Overall Grade: B
Nintendo -Easily the most improved conference compared to last year, well to be fair Miyamoto could have taken a dump on stage and it would have been improved from last year.Cammy was the first presenter so I already wanted to turn off my TV but she was more serious this time, almost too much. It was like someone replaced last years Cammy with an emotionless robot Cammy, still wondering which one I prefer, probably neither. Why did I spend two sentences on Cammy? (crap now three) Anyway they started by showing New Super Mario Bros. Wii which was better than all the games they showed put together from last year. Clasic 2D Mario with four players on a console, sweet! Next was the Wii motion plus segment showing off Wii Sports Resort, to be honest it wasn't that bad but still boring to watch. Then it all went to hell. I tried to erase the memories, all I recall is that there was some fashion game, women being murdered, and Iwata talking about a vitality censor.
The outcome was looking bleak, there is no way this conference can be saved. Out came Reggie, he has become a far cry from his ass kicking self from years past. Something was different though, Reggie was ready to kick ass and take names, that's when he announced Super Mario Galaxy 2!!!! What!?! There is an actual Galaxy 2! Reggie was not finished though, he then pulled a Team Ninja Metroid game out of his ass, no one saw this one coming! That's how you freaking end a show! If they had Zelda to show at that moment it would have been the perfect trifecta, it would have been legendary. Still two big game trailers is not enough to erase the crap that filled the middle of the conference. Overall Grade: C
Sony - Sony kind of did the same thing they did last year, have a solid conference but some how managed to make it boring. It went on forever, to much blabbering from the suits and the uninterested translator. If they just stuck to the games, of which IMO they had the best lineup of the three, it would have easily been the best conference of the show. The games were stellar, none better than the opening Uncharted 2 demonstration. They had gameplay of Assassin's Creed 2, MAG (boring), Modnation Racers, and ended it with another fantastic demo, GoW3. As with MS they had plenty of new game announcements like The Agent, the aforementioned Modnation Racers, the official unveiling of The Last Guardian and FFXIV which is online but still was a cool annoucement. Sony spent a lot of time on the PSP and for good reason, it has a great lineup. There was a true MGS trailer at this show, filled with Kojima flare and comedy. An announcement of a new Resident Evil for the PSP. Gran Turismo was well represented with the PSP reveal and a glorious new trailer for GT5.
Again like MS they showed off their new motion controller. It borrows heavily from the Wii, it's basically a wiimote with a light bulb on the top. No IR censors, instead it uses the eye toy to keep track of the movements. They showed 1 to 1 motion in a variety of tech demos, again nothing we haven't seen before as Nintendo has this tech coming out this week in stores, but I can see this being applied to actual games rather easily. Like Sony said you need buttons to play games, no amount of body control can ever substitute for buttons. So while the tech is boring, I can see actual games using this next year. Overall not as well put together as MS's conference but I feel a better lineup. Overall Score: B-
EA - This was a great show, they didn't waste any time, it was straight to the games. Great stage demos of Brutal Legend, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, and the best trailer ever in Star Wars The Old Republic. They had strong guests, great speakers (Peter Moore is a natural), great show. Overall Score: B
Ubisoft - Stop talking!!! OMG Stop! I swear they did not show an actual game until about 40 minutes in. They hired some dude from E! to host, he wasn't bad but he didn't help. James Cameron came on to talk about Avatar the movie and game, he went on for 20 minutes describing the entire movie, while I am very interested in the movie you don't spend that much time talking about it in a game conference. Lots of kid stuff like Imagine and Petz. They had the same stage demos of their games that the other conferences had. Bad. Overall Score: D
Konami - They had Kojima talk about MGS: PW, MGS: Rising, MGS the arcade and Castlevania, what?! Castlevania?! OMG!!!! There was more to the show after that but it was total trash. Overall Score: C-
The Games (this year I will rate the games on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being I want this game right now! and 1 being I wouldnt play it if it were free)
God of War 3 - Last year a dumb CG trailer, this year a freaking 30 minute demo! Boy it did not disappoint. The action looks similar but the sense of scale is bigger than ever. New gameplay elements were on display, like the riding of a cyclops to break the shields of the enemy. After the most gruesome death I have ever seen in a game, you gain Helios head which will be your light in dark areas. The demo ended with a fantastic flight segment up a wind tunnel. The demo had everything that makes GoW so special, its not just an action game like DMC or NG, its far more than that, the gameplay variety in that demo alone is more than those two games I mentioned. Score - 5
Assassin's Creed 2 - What a demo they had of Assassin's Creed 2. It showed off new stealth moves, better graphics, andbetter combat. The best part was when the producers stated that the mission structure is totally revamped and all of the boring crap from the first game is gone. This game will probably be one of the best games of the year. Score - 4
Modern Warfare 2 - You know what I learned from this game, climbing up mountains in real time is boring. But riding snowmobile's while shooting guys is awesome! It clearly has the same variety of locations and situations that the first game had. You know multiplayer will be excellent. A no brainer. Score - 4
Halo: ODST - I saw the stage demo of this on G4, its cool that its trying to be a more open world FPS. I am sure it will be interesting to play as someone that is no Master Chief and I bet the story will be great. Still it looked like Halo to me, which is not bad but not terribly exciting, I still need to play Halo 3 so maybe that's why I am not feeling it. Score - 3
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - OMG!!!! Its Super Mario Galxy 2!! Yoshi!!! More crazy wildly imaginative levels! New items like the drill top! The first one was the best 3D platformer of all time, this one will even be better. Score - 6 
Silent Hill Shattered Memories - They had a nice long demo on this one, strangely I am still wondering how it will all come together. It's one of those games you will just have to play to find out. Having a game where your choices change the outcome is hard to convey in an E3 demo. The action segments were a kind of meh to me. Also the game seemed very slow, the demo had Harry moving from store to store just looking at things, nothing too exciting. The start of SH1 was incredible, this not so much. We shall see, I am still very interested though. Score - 3
Shadow Complex - This is how you do an XBLA game! The geniuses at Epic decided that "hey we love metroid! Specifically 2D Metroid. We can't make Metroid, so lets makes something just like it!" Thank you! It seems to have the Metroid formula firmly intact while giving it a modern world take on it. This game I would buy in a heart beat. Score - 5
Gran Turismo 5 - Look, it's still in development, yay! Best visuals in a racing game by far. It seems to have a full rally racing license as well as Nascar, making it three full games in one. It will have damage, maybe only in those two modes but who knows. Of course it will have online. The trailer showed me all I needed to see, GT5is the one racing game I will need this gen. Score - 4
Metroid: Other M - Team Ninja and Nintendo making Metroid, HUH?! The game looks like its a 2D/3D hybrid, other than that I cant tell much from the trailer. I hope it keeps all the elements that make Metroid Metroid. Too many questions surround this title but I am sure I will get it when it hits. Score - 4
Brutal Legend - I'm not really a metal fan but I like the lore of something like Heavy Metal. This is basically a game based on that and it looks like a ton of fun. Open world action/adventure with an excellent cast and theme. Plus its Tim Schafer. Score - 4
Splinter Cell Conviction - Oh hell yes! No weird hobo Sam, its badass super spy Sam. They are doing cool things with the gunplay, making it very cinematic, almost like a spy movie. The environments seem more open, more ways to tackle a situation is always welcome. I was impressed. Score - 4
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Kojima is trying really hard to get the message across that this is the true sequel to the MGS franchise. Sadly its on the PSP. It looks like MGS3, which is awesome. He says it will play like an MGS game but with the limited controls of the PSP we shall see. There were four Big Bosses, so I assume there is some co-op and one hell of a screwed up story. Because its on PSP I cant care about it that much. Score - 3
Uncharted 2 - A building collapsed in real time as you are in the middle of a firefight, holy ****! That gameplay demo was as impressive as anything shown at the show. The trailer shows a more complex story in terms of the characters, which if you played the first you love. It's Uncharted 1 x 100, with multiplayer (which is awesome btw.) A big time GOTY contender. Score - 5
Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles - RE2 and CV, my two favorite old school RE games together in one game. UC was actually a really good game, very deep for a light gun game, but a tad bit sloppy. Impressions from this game say this one is even sloppier. Watching videos it seems even slower than the first. Not a good showing. Score - 3
Alan Wake - Actual Alan Wake gameplay?! Proof right there that this E3 was great. To be honest I was expecting something different, it was too standard 3rd person action game to me. Again it's just a demo, and there were cool things going on like a floating car, trees being knocked down in the background. I just hope there is a larger focus on puzzles, horror and exploration rather than shooting. Score - 3
Mass Effect 2 - Good lord this game looks amazing. Combat looks more fluid than the first. I heard the first had some issues; hopefully this game fixes that up. I am still dying to play the first and I want the second just as badly. Score - 5
New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 2D mario on consoles once again, sweet! I just hope its more SMB3 rather than SMB1 like NSMB was. Luckily the Koopa kids are back and there seems to be far better level design in this game than the DS version. The question still remains of how well a single player game it is. Score - 4
Scribblenauts - He ****ing traveled through time, grabbed a dinosaur to ride, brought him back to the future so that he can kill the ****ing robot zombies! A game where your imagination is the limit. It remains to be seen how good the puzzles will be but they say you can create and share levels so I expect great things from that. Score - 4
Bayonetta - The demo was crazy, guillotines, iron maidens, giant demon hair monsters being summoned in the middle of battle. Action that makes DMC well cry. There was this huge boss battle, the dude ripped out a bridge and used it as a weapon against you, insane stuff. Bye DMC and NG, a new champ is coming. Score - 5
Ratchet and Clank A Crack in Time - It's ratchet so I am sold already. The demo showed a large world to run around, a larger level than I have ever seen in a Ratchet game. Ratchet now has these boost rocket boots that allow you to zoom around the level. I hear Clank will have his own side to the game as well. I have no doubts that it will be better than the last one. Score - 4
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - A 3D Castlevania that looks good?! It seems like Konami finally put up the money, its visually stunning, has an all star voice cast, its got the polish all other 3D CV games did. The action looks like its heavily borrowed from GoW which is not a bad thing. Plus Kojima is helping. It might be Castlevania only in name though. I still need to see more than just a trailer but I am excited. Score - 4
Batman: Arkham Asylum - I have played the combat demo now I got to watch a demo about the stealth gameplay and I was floored. It's got a splinter cell like feel to it but in the air since Batman uses height to his advantage. There looks to be many ways to get around any one room. Best of all it is Batman, everything about it, especially the voice acting is Batman. Wow. Score - 5
Red Steel 2 - Wow, much improved from the first game, in fact it has nothing to do with the first game. Looks beautiful for a wii game, cell shading is the way to go. Combat looks fun you got the wii motion plus that should make sword fighting more dynamic. Good mix of gunplay with sword play. Looking good. Score - 4
Final Fantasy The Crystal Bearers - I have seen enough of this game to know I want it. Sadly the E3 demo wasn't that great. It showed off some cool scripted moments like flying an airship and riding a chocobo while shooting enemies. But it did not show the normal combat of the game, i wanted to see more of that. So as an E3 showing it wass not so great. Score - 3
Tekken 6 - Its got a full brawler mode, just like Tekken 3, sweet! I love Tekken cause of all the crazy extra stuff they throw into their game. It's a really good fighting engine as well but I am not a fan of their crazy insane dial a combos. But I loved Tekken 3, this looks to follow in that games footsteps, I am interested. Score - 3
Zelda : Spirit Tracks - I still see nothing that shows me that this won't be another stripped down Zelda title. Will I buy it yeah, will it be good yeah, will it be Zelda, no. It's an imposter.The artwork for the next Zeldais more exciting than this. Score - 2
Mafia 2 - I saw a stage demo of this showing an action sequence inside what I think was a winery. Looks like it had GTA4 like combat, slightly better in fact. The story seems to be a far more realistic gangster story. One producer said this game isn't really an open world game, there isn't much to do outside of missions, which is fine as long as those missions are excellent. That remains to be seen. Score - 3
Time for awards:
- Best graphics - Uncharted 2
- Biggest surprise - Metroid Other M
- Best new game announcement - Super Mario Galaxy 2
- Best game you probably missed - Scribblenauts
- Most Innovative - Scirbblenauts
- Most improved sequel - Red Steel 2
- Best new hardware - Project Natal
- Best trailer - Star Wars The Old Republic
- Most embarrassing moment - Women's Murder Club
- Best company showing - Sony (while Nintendo had trailers of their big games, Sony had gameplay. Their lineup interests me more than what MS themselves had)
- Best 360 exclusive game - Shadow Complex
- Best Wii exclusive game - Super Mario Galaxy 2
- Best PS3 exclusive game - Uncharted 2
Overall Game of the Show (had to have a demo) - Uncharted 2 (runner-up God of War 3)