Sunday Housekeeping: Pre-E3 Edition

It’s E3 week! Can you feel the love tonight?!? (Lion King lines Raymond? Seriously?!?) I’m off to my first E3 party in a few hours, but wanted to give you a heads up on my plans for the week. It’ll be so much fun talking about the show with you guys and dolls.

– I’m going to be sorta kinda live blogging the three major press conferences (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony). The first one kicks off tomorrow and I’ll be using Cover It Live. Hopefully it will work for most of you.

– The reason I said that I’m “sorta kinda” live blogging the pressers is that I’ll have to take a few chunks of time out of each one to write stories for Shack News. That’s right, Brian Leahy and I will be reunited for one week only! My excellent friend Garnett Lee will be steering the ship for Shack. I’m looking forward to working with these cats. If you have time, please register so you can comment on my Shack News stories (using a variation of “RPadtv” in your username would be nice, free advertising!).

– Since I’ll be busy with stories for Shack throughout the week, I’m not going to be able to post too many stories here. I am going to link to everything I write for Shack and will post lots of pictures for discussion. I’ll have my Evo 4G and laptop with me, so I’ll be commenting as much as I can.

– The site’s Alexa ranking is on the verge of cracking the top 100,000. Thanks for all your support!!! I you haven’t downloaded the Alexa toolbar, please do. Every visit helps. Thanks to you, I’m beating or competing with loads of established sites. Considering that the site hasn’t been up for a year and I’m just one guy, the results are incredible. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

First Project Natal Games Detailed by LA Times

The sexy Alex Pham of The LA Times has details on a handful of Project Natal launch games that will be show at E3 2010. Here’s a brief synopsis:

River Rush: Steering a virtual raft past waterfalls, rocks and other obstacles requires lots of jumping and leaning.

Ricochet: Players use their arms, legs, feet and head to block a frantic barrage of soccer-sized balls.

Living Statue: This game lets players record their avatars dancing and singing karaoke-style, then e-mail the video masterpiece to their friends.

Obstacle Course: Players pull, dodge and jump their way through a series of levels resembling what you would find at summer camp, sans the mosquitoes.

Pham has much more information on these games, so be sure to check out her article if you’re remotely interested in Microsoft’s motion-control titles for Xbox 360. Additionally, she wrote that there will be “about a dozen” more Natal games shown by Microsoft next week.

I know that most of you guys and dolls are motion control haters, but I still want to hear what you think of these games. Anything on the list sound fun to you?

Source

Rock Band 3 Peripheral Pics: Keytar, MIDI Box, and More!

MTV Games, Harmonix, Fender, and Mad Catz have teamed up for some truly excellent Rock Band 3 controllers. A lot of you have been having keytar dreams since that feature was revealed…and now you can check it out! I’ll stop blabbing and let you look at these fine photos of the Rock Band 3 peripherals.

Coffee Talk #160: Five Games I Can’t Wait to See at E3 2010

I’m so, so, so psyched for E3 2010!!! Like Phil Collins, I can feel it coming in the air tonight. With the show just around the corner, I get these random bouts of excited energy (I’m pretty sure this is what “Hulking up” is like). The energy has caused me to think about the five known games I’m looking forward to at this year’s show. Here they are!

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, your World Cup predictions, Intelligentsia’s Edelweiss Finagro Estate Tanzania (my official coffee of E3 2010), or Angelina Jolie as Cleopatra, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I’m so, so, so psyched for E3 2010!!! Like Phil Collins, I can feel it coming in the air tonight. With the show just around the corner, I keep getting these random bouts of excited energy (I’m pretty sure this is what “Hulking up” is like). The energy has caused me to think about the five (known) games I’m looking forward to at this year’s show. Here they are!

  1. The Last Guardian: I already covered this earlier in the week. Team Ico is awesome!
  2. Dragon Age 2: Duh!!! Considering how many times I’ve played Dragon Age and its expansion, I am so ready to hop back into this world. I heart BioWare.
  3. Epic Mickey: I expect this game to dazzle me. Mickey Mouse is iconic. Warren Spector is an amazing talent. I’m confident that this will be one of the best and most successful third-party games for the Wii.
  4. The Legend of Zelda: A new Zelda is always a good thing.
  5. Portal 2: I’m bummed that this got pushed to 2011, but I can’t wait to see it. The original was refreshing and original. I’m sure the team has plenty of new tricks up its sleeves.
Let me know what you think of my list. If you have the time, make up one of your own. I can’t wait to see your picks! E3 baby!!!

What Are You Playing This Weekend?

I’ll be playing Green Day: Rock Band for a good chunk of the weekend. I’m reviewing the game for Machinima…but honestly, I rather not be playing anything. I want to rest my eyes. I want to rest me ears. Next week my senses are going to be blitzed by E3 2010! I’m excited for the show, as always. I can’t wait to see the new games, catch up with some of my favorite developers, and punch Cliffy B in the neck. While I need to spend some time rocking out with Green Day to help pay the bills, I rather be in a sensory-deprivation tank until the first pre-E3 party on Sunday.

How about you guys and gals? What’s on your weekend playlist?

New PlayStation 3 Models Tested by the FCC: What Are They?!?

The FCC has tested a couple of new PlayStation 3 consoles a few days before Sony’s E3 2010 press conference. What could these new PS3s be? I’m guessing that they’ll use the PS3 Slim housing with updated CPUs and GPUs that run cooler and are cheaper to make — die shrinks are good like that.

Considering that PS3s have been difficult to find for the last few months, I hope the latest die process allows Sony to finally meet demand in 2010. Will the new models be accompanied by a price cut? I sincerely doubt it considering that Sony just slashed prices last August and price cuts are usually not announced at this time of the year.

Now it’s your turn to speculate! What are these new PS3s?!?

Source via Engadget

Tomonobu Itagaki’s New Game Revealed Today: What Will It Be?!?

Earlier in the week, Tomonobu Itagaki — the man behind Tecmo’s Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden games — revealed that his next project will be shown at E3 2010. Valhalla Game Studios — the company Itagaki started after leaving Tecmo — has updated its site and revealed that the first wave of info will hit today! The game will be shown tonight on Spike TV’s pre-E3 special at 8:30PM Pacific Time.

I’m really looking forward to Itagaki’s new game…which is kind of weird because I’m pretty sure I find him more interesting than his games. Don’t get me wrong, I think Ninja Gaiden is fantastic and I’ve enjoyed lots of DOA Xtreme over the years. As a verbal entertainer, I enjoy Itagaki’s brash and bold personality (it’s easy to get interesting quotes from him). Plus, there was this one time in band camp Japan where we made this rookie journalist wait outside the interview room while we smoked and chatted about nothing — good times.

Anyway, let me know if you’re interested in Itagaki’s big reveal. What are you expecting? Will it have ninjas? Is it a fighting game? Will it feature buxom wenches playing volleyball? Or is it going to be something unexpected? Whatever it is, I’m sure it will look stunning. I can’t wait!

StarCraft II Commercial Airs During NBA Finals

Did you miss the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty commercial that played during the NBA finals? If so, you can watch it above. If you did catch it then watch it again. When you’re done, let’s talk about the spot. The commercial is pretty cool…though probably not as cool as watching the Lakers lose. I bet Kobe sucks at StarCraft.

Turn Your Used Games Into Charitable Donations with Glyde

Glyde has an interesting take on used games. The service allows you to sell your old games (CDs and movies too!) and give the proceeds to the charity of your choices. The process is straightforward and requires minimal effort. You list your game, it sells, Glyde sends you a mailer, you put the game in the mailer, drop it in the mail, and you’re done. It’s altruism made easy!

If you have any used games and want to use them for a good cause, give Glyde a shot. I’m going to make an effort to dig through old games and movies after E3. Anyone want to joint me (in donating, not at E3)?

Totally Psyched for Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light

Check out this trailer for Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light. Anyone else psyched for this game, or is it just me? It has a job system and cute graphics! Director Takashi Tokita and character designer Akihiko Yoshida are working on it! I love RPGs with job systems. The 4 Heroes of Light reminds me of a Zelda-ish game with a job system. I want it now!!!