Another E3 in the books, and it was monitored by me from the sidelines over 3000 miles away.  Three days of games, peripherals, motion controls, and various insanity.  There are always titles for every system that catch my eye, but the constraints of economics keeps me from enjoying many titles, from PS2 to NintendoDS to PS3 to Wii.  Epic Mickey, Killzone 3, Modnation Racers, Mario Galaxy 2, the Virtual Console and the PlayStation Network.  I'm a gamer, I want it all, but I can't afford it all.  Not many people can, and they have their loyalties.  I have no loyalties, if you make a good videogame, and it's good, I will probably like it.  Anyhow, here is a look at what stood out from the glow of the computer screen at the Home Arcade in Fragville Junction, New York.

 

Electronics Entertainment Expo

June 15-17 2010
 

 

June 20 2010

 

Home

 

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Token Store

 

Video Roasts

 

XBLA Titles

 

The Shmups

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four Tokens Media

2007-2010

Konami

The first stuff that popped up, which was more of a reminder as this stuff was in the news recently, was a great stable of titles from Konami.  Contra and Castlevania are my favorite series in games, they brought me back my love of videogames that was tested with the late Atari 2600 titles.  Thankfully, Konami is bringing out a bunch: Castlevania- Harmony of Despair for the 360 and Contra Hard Corp: Uprising to the XBLAand PSN; Castlevania- Lord of Shadow to the PS3 and 360; Castlevania Puzzle- Encore of the Night for mobile phones.  They are also breathing some life into Rush'N Attack with Rush'N Attack Ex-Patriot.  Let's just hope it's as good as some of the remakes or re-imaginings that are out there now, like Pac-Man, 1942 and Commando.

 

Castlevania: Lord of Shadow

 

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (above) Hard Corp: Uprising (below)

 

They are also bringing out a wildcard to the XBLA, a bullet-hell shmup called Otomedius Excellent.  A quick snip from the press release says:  

Beautiful women and classic shoot-em-up style gameplay", together at last.   As the sequel to the 2008 Japanese hit Otomedius Gorgeous, Otomedius Excellent boasts a significant visual and gameplay update since its predecessor, Accompanied by brilliant graphics and an excellent soundtrack, Otomedius Excellent will engage fans with the Gradius franchise to a whole new level."

 

Otomedius Excellent (below)

 

Music to our ears, of course with the full understanding that "beautiful" is used loosely when it comes to videogames.  The mere mention of Gradius gives me hope that the Gradius series may eventually show up on the XBox 360.

 

The last game that grabs me is Silent Hill 8.  The moody horror survival game that scared the piss out of me so long ago is already up to #8, it's hard to believe it's been around so long, but it's also good that it is.  Neverdead is  Konami's new horror game coming to the 360 and PS3.  Your character is "never dead", but not a zombie, who has the ability to regenerate his body to avoid that final step into infinity winks.

 

 

Neverdead (above) Silent Hill (below)

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capcom

Dead Rising 2.  What else is there to say about Dead Rising that hasn't been said?  The first was an awesome title with so much to do in a limited time, hundreds upon hundreds of zombies to chop apart and dozens of survivors to save, and.... the bad: Otis, the janitor, the save points being so spread out, and the load screens.  The picture taking in-game for experience points has been replaced by experience points for building weapons out of objects in a faux-Vegas city.  That's not to say the picture snapping wasn't good, it just got tedious and troublesome in big zombie battles or boss battles.  Playboy magazine recently announced that they will be integrated in the game, through  magazines, posters, etc., taking "Mature" to a whole new level of silliness.

Sega

Sticking with the everything that's old is new again, but in a literal sense, Sega announced that they will have titles from Dreamcast coming out under the Dreamcast Returns label for the XBLA and the PSN.  First up, Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi.  Definitely a couple of titles to get us jonesing for the old white box.  Does this mean that the underappreciated Daytona Championship 2 will come back to us, and a few oddball titles like Zombie Revenge and Die Hard Arcade are coming?  I can only hope! 

 

They are also bringing out Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode 1 for the XBLA/PSN/Wii/iPhone combo of hardware, let's hope they're not diluting the brand by bringing it to multiple platforms.  The past few Sonic games have, well, been lacking in some way or another, to be polite.  The light that does shine for Sonic 4, it's going back to 2-D, the way we remember Sonic from the days of the Genesis. 

 

The Nintendo Wii is getting an interesting addition with Gunblade NY / LA Machineguns.  These lightgun shooters boil down to a game of Virtua Cop, but mounted on helicopters and with a serious dose of adrenaline and insanity.  Hopefully they will also come to the other systems, although the lack of a light gun peripheral may hinder play on the 360 and the PS3.

Microsoft

Still trying to get me back into the fold of Gears of War, Microsoft is releasing Gears of War III, with the addition of female characters, falling in line with Epic's awesome Unreal Tournament series and their women.  I cannot say this enough: I am tired of seeing a rear-view of a dude when playing 3rd person games of any kind, throw me some women.  They did, I just wonder if that will be a good drawing card for me?

 

Chicks with Chainsaws?

 

Crackdown 2 is coming soon, July 2010 actually, but was apparently absent from E3, I haven't found info about it on any E3 write-ups.  Fable III is coming this Christmas season, and it looks to build on a solid series and solid sales of the previous two titles.  Monday Night Combat is taking the Team Fortress 2 route with a team-based shooter on the XBLA, which could very well turn out to be a highlight on the 360 arcade this summer.  Also on the DLC zone, there was nothing new to announce about the GameRoom 360/PC, but rest assured Microsoft and Krome still have over 900 titles in the pipeline for the service.  Please, guys, don't give up on GameRoom yet, I've still got lots of spots for arcade cabinets!

 

Crackdown 2

 

Project Natal, the motion-sensor game add-on has been renamed Kinect, but living in an apartment with access to little space, this one will remain on the shelf for the time being.  It looks awesome, but I've neither the space or money to take advantage of it.  There are high hopes on both Kinect and the PlayStation Move to capture the magic of the Nintendo Wii and motion gaming, I just hope it's not a double dose of Sega 32X disappointment.  For now, though, we must reserve judgment and wait and see.

Various Titles

The rest of the titles that caught my eye, but not as much as the stuff above, include:

 

Epic Mickey  Wii

Killzone 3  PS3

Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars  PS3/360

Mortal Kombat 9  PS3/360

Space Invaders Infinity PSN/XBLA

Splatterhouse  PS3/360

Twisted Metal  PS3

WRC: World Rally Championship  PC/PS3/360

 

This could turn out to be an expensive year to be a gamer.