A lovely sunny day.  Sitting with a beer, checking out GB on the new laptop. 
 
Just realised that I didn't write up my other E3 conference thoughts, but in all honestly who reads them, and who gives a fuck about what I think.  Apart from myself that is:) 
 
One thing for sure the GB guys delivered the goods again.  I enjoyed the video podcasts, and their opinions are always interesting.  Jeff usually  seems to follow the same train of thought as I do regarding games so a quick doff of the hat to you sir. 
 
Thsanks for the E3 coverage guys:)

Overall a pretty poor show for Microsoft this year.   Little exclusive content apart from the three big guns already known, and a lacklustre showing for Kinect. 
 
My Thoughts broken down.  Feel free to agree or disagree. 
 
The Good 
 
MGS:Rising - A good game to have at the conference, albeit non exclusive, still nice to see some brief game play for it.  Not sure how the sword mechanic will work in the heat of battle. 
Halo Reach - Massive Halo fan, and I thought the demo looked great.  Nice to see part of the campaign at last, and managed to convey the game without spoilers. 
Gears 3 - Nice to see some of the 4 player co-op at it looked fun.  Unfortunately the game doesn't release until next year, but overall I thought the game demoed well. 
 Fable 3 - Didn't like the original, but loved the sequel.  One of the highlights for me gaming wise this year. 
 
The Bad 
 
COD:Back Ops - The demo was awful, and made zero sense.  The trench game play was slow, tedious and boring.  The approach to attacking the hind crew took ages.  Was he trying to pretend that a more tactical approach was needed?  And the flying section looked unconvincing.  I'm not convinced he was actually flying the bloody thing.  Something didn't look right.  To cap it all off the demo ends mid battle?  WTF!  Compare the demo to Reach, and Gears.  Well paced combat with a conclusion. 
Kinect  
This does nothing for me, and I am pretty open minded about motion control.  No compelling offerings and the titles demoed at the show didn't look particuarly great game play wise even when you take the POV of a more casual family orientated player.   I can't even remember the titles of the games which shows the level of impact made. 
 
animal game - Eye Pet no? 
Sports game - Wii Sports/Wii Sports resort no?  But less fun by the looks of things. 
Adventures - for a minute I thought it was going to be some RPG, but no it is a fucking ridiculous looking adventure theme park ride.   
Dance Game - looks kinda cool, but not for me.  I can see how it will appeal to little girls who dad's have xbox360 but no Wii for Just Dance.  
Forza 3 - Pointless additions to the game.  A driving mode where you just steer left and right, and the ability to wander around a car.  /rubs chin
 
The Ugly 
 
The presentation was poor.  Unconvincing diologue, false cheering and back slapping, false enthusiasm, poor joked [esp the gamertag one] and poor pacing really brought the conference down for me.  The product pacing for E3 felt wrong too.  The Ubi fitness game got more stage time than Gears and Halo combined.  While I appreciate the fitness market is an important one to tap into this product is no different from the You Shape Ubi launched on the Wii last year, and E3 is hardly the platform to dedicate so much to such a product.   The crowd in that theatre are like me.  Mostly blokes who would like to be healthier than they are, but not really interested in such games. 
 
Not as bad as Sony's infamous Giant Crab, but the content for me a fan of games and a xbox 360 since day one was flat.  Looking forward to The Big N, and Sony's shows tomorrow.  I will post my thoughts after them also,  not sure if anyone will read them mind you.  heh.

That time of the year again. 
 
Where I look forward to seeing the new shit, but my bank account cries. 
 
Bring the ViTALITY SENSOR  Nintendo. This years must have gaming tool.

and I have done bugger all in my blog page.  
 
Sometimes I sit and think fuck it I am going to update my GB page, and make more of a contribution to the website that I visit every day.  Then I end up either logging into WOW, or either my PS3 or 360 and it is as Hudson said " That's it man, game over man, game over!" 
 
Maybe tomorrow I will do something.

Quick thoughts on the press conferences

Microsoft
Where are the 2009 games? and THANK YOU for no sales analysis.
Slightly concerned that the only MGS release for the 360 this year is Forza 3.  Halo ODST looked interesting, albeit the demo was bland, and I am keen to find out more details on Halo Reach.  I'm presuming that it will be a prequel of sorts to Halo going by the lore of the franchise.  However I wonder if it is going to be a MP focused game rather than SP.  Perhaps a Battlefield clone.

The Natal camera tech was impressive, but the lifestyle video showing me how "fun" it will be left me slightly cold.  BAM! The ability to see an avatar's foot was cool though!

EA
Dante's left me feeling a bit empty inside, and I don't particuarly like the design and feel of the Dante character.
Fully ignored the EA Girls branding segment.  Honestly who gives a fuck?  Except 12yr old girls and the groomers out there.
As much as I like Peter Moore I find it extremely hard to become engaged over sport games.  I like sports such as football, but not in a videogame form.  I liked the online expansion of the Madden franchise and increasing the flexibility for gamers to manage their team, but I will never play Madden let alone buy it.
For me the real interesting segment was the EA Partners time slot.  EA have developed relationships with some great designers and at this stage it looked more interesting than their internal developments.  Highlights are

1.  APB.  Like what I see, want to know more.
2. KOTOR.  Massive SW geek, and I always enjoy Jedi Fools being brought down a peg or two.
3. Crysis 2.  OK the actual announcement/presentation was unsubstantial but I enjoyed the game on my PC.
4. Brutal Legend.  Great presentaion and the game looks great.

however where was Teh Carmack and Rage?  Where were Valve?

Ubisoft
One word - disaster.  I stayed up till 1am (Im a brit) to watch this shit for 2 hours.  Not even a sight of Jade Raymond let alone a Janet Jackson style boob slip.  Watching the two french dudes ramble on about movies for god knows how long, then James Cameron coming on and boring the life out of me in regards to his movie was horrifying.  Finally after nearly 40mins we saw gameplay footage of Red Steel 2 which doesn't look as shit as the first game.  Not exactly a complement but a step in the right direction.

Finally we got to see the Assassin's Creed 2 demo after having to endure the same Splinter Cell demo from MS, Pele's demo not working and his concerning love for "children", an annoying Sales Suit, and an irksome Rabbids demo.

looking forward to Nintendo and Sony.  Microsoft's conference was decent but if either of those two are on their game then it should be easy to eclipse.

Never a fan of movie games, but I have a soft spot for two things.

1. Terminator
2. Easy Achievements

So I picked this up on Friday from Game and cost me £40.

4 hours later and the game is  completed on hard and I have the Plat trophy.  While the Plat is great news the overall experience of the game is completely unbalanced, and ranges from poor to average.  I can understand why the gameplay basically is a re-skinned Wanted (also by Grim) as I guess Warner didn't invest too much capital into the development.  However this doesn't explain the unbalanced nature of the level lengths.

For example the final level took me 10 minutes to complete, as did the 2nd last level.  However stage 7 took over 40 minutes (albeit I died a couple of times).  Why on earth would a game designer go down this road.  The end result is a complete anti-climax.

I'm not going to say anymore on the matter as the coverage of the game is fairly widespread on The Internets however if you want a quick 1000points or Plat Trophy then hook up with it.  If not then ignore this game.

Hey

Back from the dead.

Sizu has returned.  Not that anyone will actually read this, or notice my return to posting on GB. 

Its not as if I have been away from the site as I have been reading, watching and listening to the content.  Just not posting.