E3 2010 Trailer: Rayman Origins

Another new Rayman game from Ubisoft but this one looks into the origin story of Rayman. This game has the wonderful brand of Rayman and Rabbids humour though.

E3 2010 Trailer: Raving Rabbids Travel in Time

Another Rabbids game and this time they are messing up history by traveling back in time. I love the parody of Back to the Future.
DAHHHHHHH!!

Things I Got Excited About: Nintendo Conference Edition

Video Games | Zelda: Skyward Sword | E3 2010: Debut Trailer (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So this morning it was Nintendo's turn to bring the fire to the stage and boy, were we surprised. I'm honestly started to think that Nintendo is playing a game of cat and mouse with their competition. "Okay, now that everyone's on board with casual games and motion control, we bring back core games!!!" BOO YAH BITCHES!

Nintendo opened the show with a brand new Legend of Zelda game, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which feature wii motion plus controls. The demo on stage was awful and full of problems but they swore it was connectivity problems and not the game. Hands-on previews from the show floor will hopefully tell a better story. The game looks like an awesome combination of Twilight Princess and Windwaker.

Then they got into the casual stuff with games like Mario Sports Mix which is chalked full of mini sporting events and Wii Party which is another mini game party game. Just Dance 2 was also announced ... okay, boring stuff aside now. On to the good stuff!

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn was mentioned again for the Nintendo DS and this time we got to see some gameplay. They showed off Metroid: Other M as well. Stuff we all knew was coming but they didn't bring up Pikmin 3 which would have been nice.

Video Games | Epic Mickey | E3 2010: Debut Live Demo (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii was brought out for demo play and it looked amazing. The game included 3D open levels as well as side-scrolling levels. Many of your favorite well known Disney characters will be in the game from Mickey cartoons to Peter Pan to a few forgotten characters.

Nintendo has brought back a few familiar franchise this year with Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Nintendo Wii, Golden Eye for the Wii (Remake), Kirby: Epic Yarn for the Wii, and finally Kid Icarus for the Nintendo 3DS. Yes, they love their core gamers again.

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | E3 2010: Live Demo Part I (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

At the end of the show, they revealed the Nintendo 3DS which is the new 3D handheld gaming system. While I am not overly excited for this device, I must admit it sounds pretty cool. The system is 3D without the use of glasses. It can play 3D movies and games plus take 3D pictures. They redesigned the interface to include a new analog stick instead of d-pad.

Video Games | Nintendo 3DS | E3 2010: Live Demo Part II (Stream)

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Time will only tell if this thing will redefine gaming - hell, Nintendo tricked everyone else into creating motion controllers, so why not 3D gaming?

Stuff I Got Excited About: Microsoft Xbox Conference Edition

Video Games | Xbox 360 | E3 2010: The New Xbox 360 Featurette

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Okay, so yesterday we had the first of the big 3 game conference starting with Microsoft and all their Xbox news. Honestly if you didn't know any better you would have thought you were watching a Nintendo conference from a couple of years ago. Kinect Sports = Wii Sports? Kinectimals = Nintendogs? Kinect Joy Ride = Mario Kart Wii? I think so.


Basically both Microsoft and Sony are now jumping on the casual and motion controller train to grab their bag o' money and its kind of sad in a way. I like to sit on my ass to play videogames and so do the rest of the real gamers in this world. Kinect will be just another gadget people will turn on once and while but will basically collect dust once the novelty wears off. I only keep my Wii around for Nintendo's core line-up of games and that's it.

Video Games | Fable III | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

So besides the dumb Kinect stuff they showed off, Microsoft did managed to bring a few "A" game items like Fable 3 *drools* and Metal Gear Solid Rising which will feature Raiden in the main role this time. He will have new precision sword control.

Video Games | Metal Gear Solid: Rising | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

They also showed off a teaser trailer for a new game called Codename: Kingdoms. Not much was shown in the preview but it looked promising. Overall most of it was Kinect games and demo time with the new device. They also showed off Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gears of War 3, Forza 4 and a little known game called Halo Reach.

But again, most of it focused on Kinect games like Dance Central, a new full motion dance moves game or Your Shape: Fitness Evolved which will also take full advantage of the Kinect system. The only cool game they talked about here was the possible Kinect Star Wars game but until I get a lightsaber with a game, I am still not jumping for joy here.

They also talked about new features coming to Xbox Live like ESPN and the games on demand feature but more than likely this will not come to Canada, so moving along.

Video Games | Dance Central | E3 2010: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Beside Halo Reach, Fable 3 and Metal Gear Solid Rising, there was much here to jump for joy over. Even their announcement of a brand new Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi didn't have me jumping out of my seat. I personally don't have the money to buy a new one even though my old Xbox is chugging along a horrible rate right now. Maybe if I got a freebie like the other journalists there in studio, I could jump for joy.

Note: this new Xbox still will chew your game disc to hell if you move the system mid-play. Video via Destructoid

If you are hard up for a new Xbox though, these babies are shipping out right now and should be in stores as of next week. Considering the hard drive space, built-in Wi-Fi and the fact they are the same price as the old console, I would go for it. RRoD and disc chewing aside, the new models are still better in the long run for the price.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded and Other E3 Square Enix Games

Got the official list of E3 games from Square Enix today and low and behold there's a new Kingdom Hearts game listed on there - Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded. Now its for the Nintendo DS, so this cannot be the official sequel to Kingdom Hearts 2 but the description of the game does suggest that the game plot does continue after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, so at least we have progress here. Still the game is not called Kingdom Hearts 3, so its not the official sequel.

Kingdom Hearts: Re:coded Official Description:

"Sora’s journey in KINGDOM HEARTS II has drawn to a close, and now a new tale is set to begin. Jiminy Cricket is looking over the journal he used to document his first adventure with Sora when he discovers a mysterious message. He didn’t write it – so how on earth did it get there? King Mickey is determined to find out, so he and his friends decide to digitize the journal and delve into its deepest secrets. Inside this “datascape” dwells a second Sora who is about to embark on a grand adventure of his very own."

Again, this doesn't sound like an official sequel as it doesn't have anything to do with the secret ending found at the end of KH2.

Also on the list of E3 games was games like The 3rd Birthday, Dungeon Siege 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, Front Mission Evolved,  Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and 2 Tales of Bearsworth Manor titles.

I'm looking forward to the new Dungeon Siege 3, Kingdom Hearts titles, Tomb Raider and anything Final Fantasy. Hopefully Square Enix will deliver some good titles this year.