E3 2011: Nintendo highlights

This morning Nintendo held its highly anticipated press conference. Everyone assumed the company would be announcing a new console, however, it shocked viewers by debuting its new controller, Wii U.

The controller looks like a small tablet with controls on the ends and a small screen in the middle. It works as an accompaniment to the Wii and offers backwards compatibility to other Nintendo hardware.


As a Wii owner I'm cautiously curious about how useful and simple the device will actually be.

Tags: GameTrailers.com, Wii U - E3 2011: Controller Debut Trailer (Stream), PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

The company also announced the celebration of the 25th anniversary of "The Legend of Zelda" with new game "Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword."

Wii Games - E3 2011 - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Tim and I discussed how old we feel if "Zelda" is 25 years old. It was the first game that had saveable content and is the predecessor to modern role playing games. They had a orchestra on stage playing the soundtrack as images from the game were shown. It was a nice treat for long time fans.

And because it wouldn't be Nintendo without Mario, the company also debuted a 3-D version of "Mario Kart" for the 3DS.

3DS Games - E3 2011 - Mario Kart 3DS

E3 2011: Microsoft highlights

The first day of E3 press conferences started with Microsoft making major annoucements about their most popular titles.

"Madden '12"-Ray Lewis, Peyton Ellis and Clay Matthews (with the Lombardi trophy) appeared on stage in full gear following the trailer. I'm wondering if this is cool, considering current NFL labor situation. I don't get the excitement about "Madden" as it seems like the game stays the same, it just updates players.

"Dance Central 2"-As the most popular game on Kinect, it's no surprise that Harmonix made a sequel. It'll be interesting to see how multplayer element works, plus what songs will be added.

"Kinect Star Wars"-This is one of the games I'm most excited about. The game uses the Kinect system to turn players into actual Jedis. Gamers can use their bodies to fight in light saber battles and use force powers to move objects. The game takes place in the prequel trilogy timeline, beginning right after "The Phantom Menace" and ending with the events of "Revenge of the Sith."

Tags: GameTrailers.com, Kinect Star Wars - E3 2011: Trailer, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

"Kinect Disneyland Adventures"-The game takes players on various adventures throughout the theme park. It looks like a lame Wii game, but my love of all things Disneyland has me curious.

Tags: GameTrailers.com, Kinect Disneyland Adventures - E3 2011: Debut Trailer (Stream), PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

E3 leftovers

As promised, here is Stephanie trying out the new Kinect game "Dance Central."



And so she's not along in embarrassment, here is me with the Nintendorks singing "The Power of Love."

E3: Day 2-The Kinect isn't for clumsy people

One of the big stories from this year's E3 is Microsoft's new Kinect for the XBOX. After a demo at the Microsoft press conference, I wasn't impressed. Well today I got to play it myself and guess what, I'm still not impressed.

I played a dance game that made me feel woefully uncoordinated and a downhill racing game that defied the laws of gravity.

One of the main problems I found is that if you're a little clumsy or balanced challenged like me, then the Kinect will be extremely difficult to master.

During the dance game I transformed from someone who loves dancing and does it all the time into my mother who has two left feet and no semblance of rhythm.

I also tried out "Dance Central" on the Kinect, with the same results. I know what you're thinking. I'm clearly the problem, not the system. However, I'm awesome at "Dance Dance Revolution," so it's obviously not me.

Anyway, back to the Kinect. Next I tried out a racing game that required a lot of leaning and jumping. And I mean a lot of leaning. The system did not measure small movements, so I had to really lean into the game to register a change.

While I did feel like I'd had a good workout, the experience wasn't fun and isn't that supposed to be the whole point of video games.

So, while it may be the future of gaming, the Kinect is not for the uncoordinated or clumsy.

E3: Day 2-I'm a rock star

As a really bad gamer, the only games I have any ability at are music games like "Rock Band." Harmonix and MTV Games have come to my rescue with "Rock Band 3," the latest in its blockbuster franchise.

The big news for this new edition is that it features keyboards, which is something that no music game has tackled yet. They have also updated it to include a pro element, so that all the time spent playing "Rock Band" can result in learning a musical instrument.

Other new elements include, individual players being able to drop out or join in, three part harmony and the ability to make a setlist on your computer and send it to your game console.

Players also have the ability to play bass on the keyboard or vice versa.

Playing the actual game didn't feel much different than it did before, but the song choices were broader with the added keyboards. "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen has been a popular choice. Other songs include, "Break on Through to the Other Side" by The Doors and "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure.

There was also a demo of "Green Day: Rock Band," which features a lot of their newer songs, and while fun, wasn't different from playing a regular "Rock Band" game.

MTV Games also introduced its new dance game, "Dance Central" for the Kinect. In this game the player mimics the dance moves on the screen, which are set to popular hits like "Poker Face" and "Funkytown."

Of all the dancing games previewed this week, "Dance Central" was definitely the most fun. However, using the Kinect will require a little practice and a certain amount of coordination.

The MTV games booth has so far provided the most fun and featured games that I would actually want to play at home.

E3: Day 1 Photos

This is the "Karaoke Revolution: Glee" booth, where I joined New Directions and sang "Gold Digger." If you're a fan of the show the game will be a lot of fun.


Microsoft has several demos set up of the Kinect. Here an attendee enjoys bowling on Kinect sports.

This is the chaos that took place when the doors opened.

E3: Day 1 in the South Hall

Since Tim is a far more proficient gamer than myself, I can't really demo difficult games like "Assassin's Creed" or "Metal Gear Solid." However, what I will do is preview games that are family-oriented and easy to pick up.

Walking into the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center was like walking into a 12 year old boy's dream. Everywhere you turn there are all manner of games to play.

You may recall that I wasn't impressed with the demo from yesterday's press conference. Upon watching people experience it live, my opinion hasn't changed. The sports game featured someone bowling and if I hadn't known better I would assume they were playing a Wii.

"Dance Central," from the makers of "Rock Band," could be fun but you really have to have a little rhythm to start with. Those with two left feet will find this game challenging at any level.

Finding the Kinect area too crowded I headed over to "Def Jam Rapstar" which had me showing off my mad rhymin' skills as I posted a very good score on Snoop and Dre's classic "Nothin' but a G Thang."

This game is scheduled for release on Oct. 5 on all platforms and will be $69 for XBOX and Playstation and $59 for Wii. While it has all the usual elements you would expect from a karaoke style game, "Rapstar" does offer a few differences.

For example, players can rap as a duet, in battle mode or for the really adventurous they can try freestyle mode, where players use their own lyrics over instrumental versions of the playlist.

This game is made for a party, it provides all the fun of "Rock Band," but with a hip-hop appeal. There is also the added element that players can make a video of themselves and upload it to the Def Jam site. "Rapstar" was a lot of fun and I definitely need to go back and rock some Notorious B.I.G.

Next door to "Rapstar" was "Karaoke Revolution: Glee" for the Wii. It is basically a karaoke game that uses the best numbers from season one of the hit FOX show. While fun for fans of the show, if you're not familiar with the show's arrangement of a song it can be difficult to follow along, as the "Glee" cheerleader singing with me found out.

Finally, I hit up the Disney booth and played a racing game based on the "Cars" shorts featuring Mater. It took me a minute to get the hang of playing on a Wii, but once I did I could see how kids would really love racing along as their favorite "Cars" character or creating their own.

So Day 1 is almost over for me, I'm exhausted and haven't even hit up the West Hall yet. Who knew video games were so grueling?

Tomorrow "Rock Band 3."

E3: Microsoft

Earlier this morning, Microsoft held its E3 press conference. The studio responsible for the XBOX previewed several new games including, "Halo: Reach," "Gears of War 3" and "Metal Gear Solid: Rising."

However, a majority of the event focused on the new Kinect, which was formerly known as Project Natal. Kinect is a system that enables players to let go of the controller and use their entire bodies during gameplay. Demos featured track and field on a sports game, a racing game and a animal game where a little girl played with a tiger, like it was her pet.

Unfortunately, once you get past the bells and whistles, nothing about Kinect seemed especially impressive. Of course, watching a demo and playing are completely different experiences, so once there is a playable demo, I may feel differently.

However, right now, I'm unimpressed with Kinect and its games. It just looked like a Wii, but not quite as fun. Kinect is set to be released on Nov. 4.

Probably, the biggest announcement came when the new XBOX was unveiled. The new version will have a 250GB hard drive, be Wi-fi ready and is slimmer than previous consoles. The new XBOX ships today and will be available later this week for the same price of $299.

E3 2009: Hands-on 'Super Mario Bros.' Wii

At this year's E3, Nintendo unveiled its latest console Mario effort -- "Super Mario Bros. Wii." The latest Mario outing comes in the form of a four-player co-op experience, not unlike Media Molecule's 2008 hit, "LittleBigPlanet."

At E3, I had the chance to play a couple of the game's levels. I wasn't blown away, but I did walk away looking forward to getting my hands on the full game.

"Super Mario Bros. Wii," as its title implies, is a 2D sidescroller for the Wii. However, considering that up to four can play together simultaneously, this installment plays a little differently than past Mario Bros. games. The best way to describe the game is that it feels very similar to "LittleBigPlanet" -- only it's a Mario game.

On hand at E3 were 10 different stages. Not all of them employed significant co-op elements, but some did. For instance, in one stage, some players traverse an underwater cave while one player uses a search light to illuminate the area. The level is infested with enemies, so without the light, players won't last long. Obviously, the level requires that players work together to complete it.

However, in other levels, very little co-operative play is required to progress. In these stages, "Super Mario Bros. Wii" feels just like any other Mario Bros. game -- only there are four characters running around. Both in levels where playing cooperatively and levels where there's very little cooperation required, it's often more fun to work against your team mates. While the game is oriented around working together, it definitely has a competitive component to it. After all, the player with the most points at the end of the stage is declared the winner.

As a result, "Super Mario Bros. Wii" features a chaotic but fun combination of cooperative and competitive gameplay. For instance, at one point during my hands-on time with the game, I helped one of my team mates respawn by freeing them from a bubble, only to have that player immediately betray me. While I was jumping over a chasm, he jumped on my head, sending me straight into the pit. Why did he do that? No particular reason, other than it was funny (for him).
While Nintendo's latest Mario Bros. game is admittedly a fun four-player experience, at least some of the Mario Bros. experience doesn't translate to multiplayer. For me, at least part of what made past Mario Bros. games so much fun was trying to speed through levels as quickly as possible. However, that's not something you can really do in "Super Mario Bros. Wii." The Wii version is fundamentally slower, thanks to the addition of other players.

From my playtime with the game, "Super Mario Bros. Wii" seems to be an enjoyable and considerably unique addition to the Mario Bros. series. Essentially, it's a "LittleBigPlanet-style" refresh to the series, and while it's not really a very impressive game, it's hard not to have fun playing the game. I definitely look forward to playing more when it hits store shelves this fall.

Day 3 of E3

Hey this is Adrian again here for the last and hardest day of E3. It was mostly hard due to the fact all the games Tim wanted me to check out were over an hour wait to play, with lines that wrapped around the back. So the games I really wanted to check out like "Rock Band: Beatles" were out of my reach. Although it speaks volumes about a game when you've got people waiting over an hour in front of a facade of the "Abbey Road" recording studio where the Beatles use to make their record hits. I tried to hit up as many booths as possible, trying to take in as much as I could while playing as much as I could, but in the end there was simply too much see, and way too much to do.

Anyway, moving on, I really got to let loose on the games at the booths today. A few games in particular struck my interests, "R.U.S.E" by Ubisoft was one of those games.

"R.U.S.E." is a real time strategy (RTS) game that is World War II based. I don't know if this is true of the actual game, but during the demo the demonstrator was using a 40 in. plasma screen placed on a table, the game was played on a touch screen like the way a commander would see the battlefield. You would think this would make the game more difficult to play, but what if it was played with a touch screen and moved your units like you were able to move chess pieces giving the meaning of real time strategy a whole new meaning. If you find that impressive, then the fact that in "R.U.S.E." you have over 1 billion polygons to make each map will just be a drop in the bucket for you. "R.U.S.E" uses a series of tatics called 'ruses' in order to help find out or hide from your enemy in order to give you the upper hand. This game will include a multi player mode, where you can, hopefully, use your 'ruse' tatics to outsmart your opponent.

While on the subject of RTS games, one that I found highly impressive was "Order of War" by, of all people, Square Enix. The people that brought you "Final Fantasy" now bring you a World War II based game, but more historically accurate than any game of this kind that I've ever seen. When the game was made developers went to WWII history to brush up on their history so as not miss a detail. They got everything, leaving nothing to chance, they even put down the weight of the bullet cartridges. Gamers get the privledge of playing historically accurate missions that let you see their battles like movies. In "cinema mode" you are able watch as you send exchange blows with German soldiers. At times it can get a little confusing because of how the map is set up, but other than that, a solid game. I swear that watching a man blow up, has never looked so good, because even after your men die, their remains still occupy the battlefield.

A first person shooter to look for to this year is "Mag" for the PS3. A massive Multi-Player online otherwise known as MMO (i.e. World of Warcraft). The twist is that you're allowed to fight in almost city sized maps in deathmatches with players from all over the country.

A game I thought was fun for the whole family was "Super Mario Bros." for the Wii. It has a 4 player mode and (from what I saw in the demo) 10 playable levels. Although the game doesn't give you all the classic "Mario Bros." characters, like the Princess or toad, it makes up for in game play. You are allowed to play in a co-op/competition type mode where you are allowed to mess with your friends by using them as weapons and throwing them at your enemies, but if you want to, you can always play nice.

And finally the game I thought was one of the best of E3 was a title by Sega called "Bayonetta." "Bayonetta" is about a witch who has lost her memories in the witch hunts 500 years ago, but it was 20 years after present time that she sets out to recover them. The game is extremely action packed and filled with plenty of "Devil may Cry" type action. You fight off hoards of enemies using plenty of combinations of your sword and bullets, using controls that are easy to use and easy to understand after a few minutes of game play. Hack, slash, and (on many occasions) shoot your way through demonic/angelic beings that are sent to stand in your way. This is definitely a game for hardcore action fan gamers.

There are so many games to look forward to this year, that if I kept blogging I would need another hour to write it all. The games of this year look extremely impressive, for those of you who don't own an X-BOX 360 or a PS3 you need to invest in one immediately.

This concludes the last day of E3. Bye for now!!!1