Level Up – Episode 2: Holiday Gift Guide

With the holidays creeping up on us, we figured it’d be a good time to go over some of our top picks for presents to request, give, or steal from your local electronics store.

Just kidding, don’t actually steal stuff (if you do, though, we’d love it if you threw some love our way). While you’re not breaking the law, though, you should listen to episode 2 of Level Up, or download it to listen later:

Fighting:

• Street Fighter IV
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger

Platformer:

• Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• LittleBigPlanet (PSP)

Shooter:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Killzone 2
• Dead Space: Extraction
• The Conduit

Action / Adventure:

• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
• Assassin’s Creed II
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
• Resident Evil 5
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Puzzle / Strategy:

• Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
• Halo Wars

Racing:

• Need for Speed: Shift
• DiRT 2
• Forza Motorsport 3

Rhythm:

• The Beatles: Rock Band
• DJ Hero
• Rhythm Heaven

RPG:

• Dragon Age: Origins
• Demon’s Souls
• Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

Sports:

• FIFA Soccer 10
• NHL 10
• MLB 09: The Show

Downloadables:

• Shadow Complex
• Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony
• Fat Princess
• Flower

The site that Britton mentioned for those free iPhone games is Appvent Calendar, which is actually a pretty clever and fitting name. Blacksmith Games, the people behind this freebie treasure trove, is handing out a new free iPhone game each day until Christmas, so get them while they last!

And just for the record, I do play a lot of sports games when I get the chance; find me back in 2006, and you’ll rarely see me not playing a 2K sports game. I just don’t own a lot of them because given a choice between a barely revised annual iteration of Madden or an epic cinematic experience like Uncharted 2, I’ll choose Uncharted 2.

Also, just to clarify, I was talking about playing with multiple people on the same team with sports games in the podcast. 4 players with FIFA or NHL = fun, 4 players with NBA = trouble, and, just for completeness, 4 players with a football game = boring for everyone except the quarterback.

God of War Collection Review

The God of War series has always been held as somewhat of a standard in frenetic hack ‘n slash action games. They have impeccably responsive controls, an uncanny ability to take camera control away from the player without making them mad, and disgustingly epic set pieces. Effectively, God of War games are another step towards discovering the Holy Grail of game design.

This is why rereleasing God of War and God of War II in a collection for the PS3 is an amazing idea. The first GoW sold admirably in retail, but the second one got unfairly shafted due to its late release in regards to the PS2 lifecycle. Putting those two games, which many hold as some of the greatest ever made, is pretty much the best advertising possible for the impending God of War III since those that never played a GoW game before will realize what they’ve been missing out on, and old fans will remember how great those oldies were.

Of course, a straight port wouldn’t be the God of War MO. No, there are actually some pleasant surprises to be had with the collection. First off are the graphics. In various interviews and press statements, it’s been revealed that all of the game’s textures have been redone and sharpened up, the frame rate has been locked into a silky smooth 60 frames per second, and the resolution has been cranked up from the PS2’s 512 x 448 to a deliciously HD 720p. This all may not sound like much on paper, especially for four year old games, but it makes a world of difference in practice. GoW II actually looks so good that it could easily pass for a current gen release. Never has ripping people in half been so beautiful.

In an awesome fever of fan service, Bluepoint Games also saw fit to include Santa Monica Studio’s original behind the scenes videos with the collection. It’s odd that you have to fire these extras up from the Video section of the XMB, but that slight inconvenience is easily negated by how awesome the featurettes are.

There’s also the mild annoyance regarding switching between the two releases while in game: you can’t. It’s unlikely you’ll find yourself needing to go in and out of the two games that this will become a real problem, but it’s unfortunate nonetheless.

Of course, being that nothing else has changed in these games, there’s also nothing else you can read here than reviews back in the day haven’t covered. Kratos’ storylines are always amazing, fighting feels intense without being overwhelming, and the controls make everything you do feel immensely satisfying. With the right stick dedicated to evasive maneuvers, the camera is completely controlled by the game, but it is handled so masterfully you won’t care at all. Best of all, though, these two games are so unapologetically brutal. Metalocalypse fans will definitely be pleased.

There’s also a nice little surprise to be had that’s completely unrelated to GoW I or II, and that’s a code to download the E3 demo of God of War III. This demo alone makes this collection worth it. All those things stated for the full games goes double for the download, and that’s saying a lot given that it’s just a demo of an unfinished game. It looks super sharp and provides a greater thrill through combat than before, especially since the game somehow got even bloodier.

For $40, you just can’t go wrong with this collection. You’re getting two full, universally praised games, a smorgasbord of video featurettes, and one of the most hyped demos to come out of E3. All of that will easily provide you at least 50 hours of fun, which is undoubtedly the best value you’re going to find in just about any medium. Happy revenging!

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time Review

Let’s say seven years ago you found an amazingly delicious type of candy, as in it looked and tasted like the best thing on Earth ever. Eating it was like dipping your tongue into liquid concentrate of awesome. However, as the years wore on, the sensation became less special, which isn’t a slight on the treat itself because it definitely wasn’t a bad candy, but it just wasn’t special anymore. That’s kind of how it feels to play Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time.

If you’ve played any other Ratchet & Clank game, then you already know what to expect from A Crack in Time, and you’ll definitely already know if you like that sort of game. Almost nothing has changed except the weapon selection, the graphics, and the story, which can be said about every sequel since Going Commando.

The R&C series has always been known for its off-the-wall weapons, with each game packing in 20 or more new, zany creations for the player to use during their quest for intergalactic justice. Knowing that, it was a really big disappointment to find out that A Crack in Time only has five or so fresh weapons to offer, and even those aren’t all that original. Those five are still definitely fun to use, but half the fun of R&C games is discovering how best to use your ever expanding arsenal. Now that A Crack in Time has largely taken that away from the player, the fun side of things falls to other facets of the game.

The gameplay is pretty much unchanged from previous installments of the series. In fact, once you get Clank back (spoiler alert? Maybe?), series veterans will be pulling off old moves like the long jump sans prompting. Though this sounds like a bad thing, you should consider how well the game handled before and how much fun the core gameplay is on its own. There was really nothing much for Insomniac Games to do except tighten it all up, and tightened it up they definitely did.

After playing the other six non-handheld iterations, it’s clear that A Crack in Time is the best handling one of the bunch. The differences are minute, but just know that experienced or not in the series, you’ll definitely notice how fun it is to simply move about in the world. Shooting, jumping, and wrenching all feel excellently refined and streamlined for faster action, especially the tweaked wrench throw and the hoverboots.

In addition to feeling the best, A Crack in Time also looks the best. Tools of Destruction blew people away back in 2007, and somehow this game looks even better. At certain points during the cutscenes, it’s hard not to think that Pixar had a hand in this. Clank looks especially impressive with his brushed metal texturing and lack of discernable aliasing.

The cutscenes may look great but don’t convey much story-wise. No R&C game’s story has thus far held up to the one from Going Commando, but A Crack in Time’s somehow seems especially lackluster. The ending is cheesy and predictable, overused action tropes are strewn about like literary sprinkles, and the impetus for Ratchet’s side of the game just feels so bland, despite how much it really means to him. You’ve gone so long being the only Lombax in the universe and felt fine, and now you’re expected to flip everything and believe that getting your parents back is paramount to everything else? No dice. Finding Clank, though, really made going through the entire story worthwhile and ties up Tools of Destruction quite nicely. It’s also pretty fun to watch the story unfold through the game’s dialogue, despite the extremely hit-or-miss nature of the humor.

The game’s style also feels a little stagnant, like week old bagels left out on the counter. The game is about as linear as it gets, the difficulty is definitely on the easy side even on Hard mode, and smashing boxes for ammo and health just feels so uninspired. In an admirable attempt to remedy the linearity, though, the game turns space into an open world where you can land on various planets to find Zoni, gold bolts, and weapon mods. There are only six or seven of these little planets per sector, which is disappointing since they also offer the only platforming and combat sequences that even approach becoming a challenge. However, since the game is constantly rewarding you with experience, bolts, and upgrades for going out of your way to gather these collectibles, it becomes rather addicting trying to fetch all of these goodies and actually gives reason to use your ship.

Flying through space, unfortunately, is a somewhat sad affair. Space travel is limited to a flat plane, which makes dog fights and exploration much more manageable but also a lot less fun. It ultimately leaves an extremely strong desire to play some Star Fox.

If the space fighting mechanics had been more fleshed out, they could have easily been turned into a nice little online multiplayer distraction. In fact, after Up Your Arsenal’s fantastic multiplayer component, it’s always been disappointing to find out the PS3 R&C iterations never include some sort of competitive or cooperative mode.

However, some unexpectedly awesome fun can be had as Clank in the Great Clock. During these segments, Clank must solve puzzles that involve cloning himself through time pads to press the corresponding buttons needed to open a door. This mechanic (best described as single player co-op) is nothing new for Flash game addicts (Google “Cursor* 10” or “Chronotron”), but it’s fun nonetheless. Unfortunately, as with the rest of the game, there just needs to be more of it, preferably with some increased difficulty as even later puzzles can be solved on your first attempt.

A Crack in Time is definitely a good game. It handles well, looks absolutely stunning, and can offer up plenty of fun. If you’re looking for some new legs on the R&C horse, then you’re out of luck because this is just more of the same. If you’re looking for about 12 hours (more if you’re into maxing out your gear) of high quality Insomniac design, then you’ve come to the right place.

Level Up – Episode 1: Spike Video Game Awards Preview

Here is the premiere episode of our new podcast Level Up! You’ll hear us discuss the Spike Video Game Awards and highlight a few of the categories such as Game of the Year, Best Voice, and Most Anticipated Game and plenty more.

We’d love to hear some feedback, but keep in mind this is our maiden voyage into the podcasting sea, so be gentle. Listen here or download from the Daily Toreador page.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Review

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is an intense game. It is so intense, in fact, that it took the campus mail system an entire extra week to deliver the game after FedEx got the game here from Activision, which explains the delayed write-up. This is not a difficult game to review; it’s short, it’s fun, and it’s absolutely epic.

Modern Warfare 2 is pretty much a direct sequel of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. You’ll see some familiar faces such as “Soap” MacTavish and follow through the consequences of his actions from the end of the original, which is actually a pretty novel aspect since Call of Duty games traditionally have nothing in common except historical truth (or untruth, as is the case with World at War’s Nazi zombies). However, it should be noted that it is definitely not required to have played CoD4 to understand this game’s story, but you probably will miss out on shout-outs to the original, such as the mission entitled “Just Like Old Times.”

The story overall, though, seems only to exist to deliver deliciously epic moments to the player, and these are definitely only brief moments, not prolonged experiences. The astoundingly short single-player campaign will offer up about four to five hours of intense warfare that has plenty of little “I can’t believe that just happened!” cherries atop the shooter sundae. However, these little gems generally only stand out after some reflection because this game may actually be too intense. It’s almost as if it is at a constant, deafening roar. Even the exceptionally captivating stealth bits of the Task Force 141 segments end way too soon and stick you in a frantic shootout after a few minutes. This overall lack of story dynamics (think of a rollercoaster that only went down… for five hours) makes the plot seem as if every individual chapter was an incomplete thought on the game’s storyboard but was left in because of its “moment-ish” merit.

Speaking of moments, let’s discuss the “No Russian” mission. You find yourself playing as Joseph Allen who is undercover as Alexei Borodin for the CIA, infiltrating a group of Russian nationalists headed by Vladimir Makarov, the game’s primary antagonist. The mission boils down to you maintaining your secret identity by following through with Makarov’s plan to massacre an entire airport full of civilians. You are given the choice to skip the entire mission without consequence, which probably didn’t quell the most diehard of critics behind this mission’s controversy, but truthfully, this option isn’t entirely necessary. If you’ve ever played a Grand Theft Auto game, you’ve almost definitely done worse than mow down a couple dozen people with a machine gun. In fact, the police show up at the end anyways, so it actually does feel more like GTA than you’d expect in this regard.

The game actually borrows some elements from some other games and movies. The mission where you rescue a certain someone from a Russian Gulag has you fighting through a shower room and sewers in a very Nicolas Cage in The Rock-esque moment. This isn’t a bad thing, but it is something to note.

The gameplay, however, is more than refined enough to make up for the odd, slightly sprawling story and sometimes comical voice acting, especially when it comes to Shepherd. It’s pretty much the same game you played back with CoD4, just powered by an upgraded IW 4.0 engine, which delivers some pretty stellar graphics. Saying this is the same game, however, is not a bad thing. The first Modern Warfare was so polished and exciting to play that to simply match that quality of game is more than almost any developer can handle.

The infinitely spawning enemies found in CoD4 are long gone, but the “dynamic AI” which purportedly places enemies in new places each time you play through a level was not found. At best, you’ll find guy behind a door or window that surprises you with a face full of lead that wasn’t there before, which is a very frustrating experience on Veteran difficulty.

Modern Warfare 2 still showcases one of the most troublesome issues with these games: NPCs can do so much more than you can. You’ll see characters sliding into and sticking to cover, showing off some advanced melee moves, and overall just exemplifying how lame you are behind the controller. Wandering around the base at the beginning of the game shows a vibrant community of soldiers bustling around in their daily lives, but you can’t interact with any of them. The well fleshed-out world that you are placed in is much appreciated, but it feels a bit disappointing when you’re stuck watching rather than doing.

All of these, however, are minute complaints. The single-player campaign alone is well worth the price and has some of the most memorable moments ever to be had in a game, but let’s face it; the multiplayer is where the big bucks are made.

Imagine the CoD4 multiplayer, but better. Yes, that is possible, and yes, Infinity Ward did it. The added killstreak and deathstreak tweaks make online play incredibly compelling. The game is constantly rewarding you with challenges and accolades you didn’t even know you could accomplish. Even dying is rewarded, offering up a somewhat sick badge of pride. This constant “carrot on a stick” element of multiplayer games makes it incredibly addicting. You may never stop playing.

There is also a cooperative mode called Special Ops where you get to play through standalone missions with a buddy, though solo play is also allowed. These missions take place in locations from the campaign but are not actually campaign missions and sometimes include missions heavily inspired from the first Modern Warfare. You will find yourself sometimes using an AC-130 to protect your grounded cohort and other times you’ll be Army of Two-ing it up in some intense firefights. This mode may not have the same addictive appeal of the competitive multiplayer mode or the refined experience offered with single-player, but if you enjoyed the “Mile High Club” epilogue of CoD4 then you will also find a lot to like with Special Ops.

In the end, Modern Warfare 2 is exactly what you expected from Infinity Ward: polish, excellent gameplay, and a constant adrenaline rush. To expect anything less would have been a mistake, so if you’re not already playing this game, then you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.

Xbox Live Reward Program Starting Now

Awhile back, many Xbox Live members were sent e-mails inviting them to sign up for the opportunity to test a new rewards system.

I was one of those people, and today, I relieved confirmation that I had been accepted into the program. I will also receive 100 MS Points just for being lucky, I guess.

There was a lot of speculation as to what, exactly, the program would consist of. Understandably, the most common theories supposed that users would be rewarded for things such as completing surveys. Judging from the image below, which I captured from the Reward Central website, these theories were more or less spot on.

Other ways to earn points include signing up or renewing your Xbox Live Gold account, which is handy, since mine is about to expire and I’m going to buy another full year. Therefore, I will get a whole 200 points! That’s a whole $2.50! And all I had to do was spend $50! Woohoo! A similar deal exists for subscribing to Netflix.

But what’s interesting is the idea that you can earn 100 MSP for “making your first purchase on Xbox Live” (I wonder if that means your first purchase ever, or your first purchase since joining the program), and 100 MSP for completing surveys.

Considering there are a ton of great Xbox Live Arcade games for 400-800 MSP, this program could actually allow for a sweet free game or two, provided that enough surveys are provided and, potentially, if they’re not all extremely long.

The welcome e-mail also says, “Every month, we’ll send you an email with an update on how you’re doing and the cool gear you can get with your rewards, so make sure you read it!” That leads me to believe that Microsoft would like to offer more than just digital rewards in the future.

In a lot of ways this seems to be similar to Club Nintendo, which gives out points and freebies to Nintendo users simply for registering hardware, games and competing surveys. I’ll be extremely interested in seeing how the two services compare overall.

This test of Reward Central is set to last for six months. We’ll see how it goes.

Save Point Final Fantasy VII Marathon

I’m sure a ton of you are familiar with charity gaming marathons that have been popular lately, the most prominent of which being the Mario Marathon that has raised thousands of dollars for Child’s Play the past couple of years. They basically run a live stream of themselves playing through every Mario game, hours and hours on end, and take charity donations.

Well, some friends and I are doing the same thing with Final Fantasy VII. We know it’s not original or anything, but hey… We’re doing it for a good cause… And fun, I suppose.

The organization is Save Point, and the stream is live RIGHT NOW, HERE!

I’ll only here here until Friday afternoon (central time) but still… It’s for a good cause.

Tune in, donate if you want, whatever… It’s just a fun experiment that we’re trying.

Save Point Charity

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

If I had to sum up X-Men Origins: Wolverine in one word, I’d choose a Nathan Explosion favorite and reduce the entire 8-10 hour jungle/industrial odyssey to this: brutal. Not just that, but I would say it’s f-ing brutal. In some sort of misplaced rage for modern technology, one sequence involves Logan boarding a helicopter mid-flight and hoisting the pilot headfirst into the rotor blades. Unfortunately, you don’t get to “wreck shop” with the whirlybird; instead, Wolverine is just such a hardass that he doesn’t want anyone else to have the chopper. If you don’t play the full game, you should still download the demo and experience this fleshy debauchery at least once, if not more.

Quite frankly, I really enjoyed this sort of experience. Call me a sadist, but the more brutal a hack ‘n slash game is, the more fun it is. Somehow this correlation has eluded quite a few game developers despite the clear success of the God of War franchise. GoW has you ripping off Medusa’s head and stabbing cyclopses right in their singular peeper while Wolverine has you literally tearing soldiers in half and both games are undeniably fun. Do you see the correspondence between the two factors yet? This is what I largely hold to be the problem with the Wolverine movie, as sometimes you just need to forgo the extra sales and take it up to the R rating to do a truly brutal character or story justice. I mean, the man is pure walking death, how can you properly represent that fact in a PG-13 movie? Anyways, back to the game.

What I’m trying to say is this game makes you feel like Wolverine / Logan / Weapon X / James Howlett. You slice and dice everything in sight and you are clearly rewarded for it. You don’t get extra points or some sort of super slick vehicle by killing your enemies in a progressively more violent fashion, but you are rewarded with the feeling of being the ultimate badass. The character’s jubilation in tearing his foes new holes to breathe from is directly transferred to you in this game, and I say that’s a good thing. Well done, Raven, well done.

However, there are moments you just feel like you are being punished in this game. Despite having an entire stick dedicated to the action, the game still takes control of the camera at some points. What the hell for? Did the level designers not design the other half of this room or something? It just doesn’t make sense to put limitations on a control scheme that don’t belong there, or, worse yet, are misplaced. When I say “misplaced,” though, I really do mean “severely broken.” It’s a regular occurrence for the camera to go into Logan’s head and just stay there, letting you soak in the essence of what an inverted face might look like and provide a whole new set of issues for your psychiatrist.

Speaking of issues, how about them boss battles? I’ll tell you about them; they blow. Hard. Though fighting the endless waves of regular and spicy grunts is actually entertaining, fighting bosses get monotonous after roughly 10 seconds. The first time a magma thing pops out, you’ll probably think “aww yeah, it’s on!” Mere moments later, however, you’ll discover it is indeed not “on.” On the contrary, you’ll only find pleasure here if you like mindless repetition: dodge, lunge, slice, dodge, lunge slice, dodge, lunge, sli—you get the idea.

In what should have easily been the most exciting and totally epic moment of the game when you are brought face-to-face with a Sentinel, you are in reality brought face-to-foot; all you get to do is attack the thing’s feet until it flies away with you attached and then you get to dodge debris until all the brutality is done for you when you land. Lame. Disgustingly lame. Shame on you, Raven, shame on you.

Also, possible spoiler, but when you fight Deadpool on top of the factory, don’t jump. Ever.

Ever.

The reason I’m being so incredibly hard on these few points is because the rest of the game is so much fun. Though the game may be a bit on the easy side (I never once was concerned about dying, just how can I ruin the next guy’s day with these freakin’ sweet claws of mine), there’s so much good going for it. Like how the Spider-Man 2 video game made you feel like Spidey flinging around everywhere, this game makes you feel like Wolverine, using your claws to do everything—besides open doors, evidently—from pulling crates to cutting off legs. The unlockable costumes inexplicably make the game worth a second playthrough and the mutagens and leveling-up mechanic make me feel like I actually have some control over what sort of killer I want my Wolverine to be.

The game also gets one thing absolutely right that needs to carried over to every other game from here on out: stat tracking. Just like how Steam will track your quantifiable achievements, this game will also tell you how many enemies left you have to dismember or set on fire. Knowing I only have 200 more enemies to kill to get my trophy actually makes me want to play more, as opposed to feeling like I might have 200-300 more so that I might hit 2000 kills, which kind of just makes me want to quit forever.

All in all, I’d say I really enjoyed X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Even with the extra development time garnered from the film’s delay, though, there are still bugs, gameplay issues, slowdowns, and quirks, like how streaming textures sometimes load, disappear, and never come back. And in spite of how the (cheesy and poorly woven) story jumps back and forth between different time periods, your stats still steadily progress. However, I feel like it is more than okay to overlook these issues and still find some time to invest in the game. I haven’t had such hack ‘n slash fun since God of War II and maybe if Raven had just a few more months of development, this game might have reached that level of polish and pure epicness, but instead, it’s just a good promise of might have been and what (hopefully) will be.

New Last Guardian Media

Though I think Penny Arcade has it right, I still can’t wait for The Last Guardian. Team ICO has sucked so many hours—nay, accumulated days of my life away from the real world and into their disturbing yet beautiful world that no matter what happens with their so-called “Project Trico,” I will play it and I will love it. If you didn’t cry during Shadow of the Colossus, then, well, up yours.

Despite my obvious bias towards the game, I still have to say that these screenshots are just stupefyingly gorgeous. Whatever that gryphon/bird/cat/new best friend actually is, it looks amazing and I want to play with it more than Up’s Kevin or Dug, which is saying a lot. Anyway, get a load of these newly released shots and, if need be, watch the E3 trailer as many times as necessary to quell your thirst for The Last Guardian.

Also, look forward to an extremely late review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That’s what you get when you trust the TTU campus mail system to get things done.

After realizing how incredibly huge these screenshots are and how incredibly small our available bandwidth and space for such superfluous media is, I’m just gonna link you to a Flickr set that has all 12 of the delectable high-res images.

E3 ‘09: Sony

Jack Tretton said “2008 is the year of the PlayStation 3.”

To be honest, it wasn’t. Sure, we had Metal Gear Solid 4 and LittleBigPlanet, but neither were the top sellers they probably should have been. And with Final Fantasy XIII and the next title in the Metal Gear franchise, “Metal Gear Solid: Rising” both coming to the Xbox 360, what’s Sony’s move?

It’s rumored that a new PSP model was going to be one of their biggest announcements, but the internet got the best of them, and the PSP Go! is known almost in its entirety already, and has been for the past week.

Sony started off their year with the bang that was Killzone 2. Down the pipe we know they have the likes of God of War 3 and Uncharted 2. But will it be enough? Does the former gaming juggernaut have any earthshattering surprises up their sleeves? Will they try to jump onto the motion control bandwagon like Microsoft has with Project Natal?

It’s time to find out.

12:50 – Waiting for the Sony conference, something has occured to me. I’ve been told more than once that I look vaguely like G4’s Adam Sessler. The thought terrifies me. What do you think?

1:12 – We’re starting at last. Montage of some upcoming games. Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank, God of War 3, LittleBigPlanet, Heavy Rain… Some pretty big games on their way. Video is set to the musical stylings of Queen.

1:14 – Jack Tretton is on-stage, thanking God that the press showed up. Joking about press leaks and how he was worried there’d be no reason to come (referencing the afforementioned PSP Go! stuff), much to the pleasure of those in attendence. Classy.

1:17 – Claims that Sony is the only company with 3 successful systems on-sale at once, referring to the PS2, PS3 and PSP. Thing is, I think Nintendo did the same thing for at least a short while with Wii, DS and GameBoy Advance.

1:18 – Talking about the PlayStation 2. How long is it going to take until Sony finally stops talking about it? Oh, right. This is PS2 year 9, and they’re going for the whole 10-year life cycle thing.

1:19 – Over 100 new titles for the PS2 this year? Crazy.

1:20 – Talking numbers. Standard affair, but it reminds me why Microsoft’s conference was so great. It didn’t have any of this stuff. Jack is currently talking about how great inFamous is, which, sure. It’s pretty rad.

1:22 – Someone from Naughty Dog is out to talk about Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Multiplayer beta starts tonight at midnight. Going to show single-player here, now.

1:23 – The crowd is cheering as Nathan Drake scales a building. Game looks impressive graphically and seems to have some nice dialogue during gameplay. Oh look, a nice helicopter…

1:24 – Action has camped up. Gunplay is being shown. Looks standard but well done, and mixed with all this Lara Croft-like acrobatics could make for some cool situations.

1:26 – Game looks intense and pretty cinematic. Keep an eye on this one, PS3 owners.

1:27 – We’re finally going to see gameplay of MAG – Massive Action Game. 256 players simultaneously fighting a battle.

1:28 – They’ve got 256 actual players about to play this demo. Impressive.

1:29 – Looks like a pretty involved multiplayer FPS, with every player assigned to a squad (across two large teams), and a squad leader capable of giving commands to his squad. Seems to be objective-based gameplay.

1:31 – XP system a la Call of Duty 4 confirmed. Dude just got +5 EXP for killing another dude.

1:32 – Spawn points, a la Battlefield, have to be secured for attacking players to push forward toward their goal. Players (or at least squad commanders) can call airstrikes. Seems to take a lot of tactical strategy. Hopefully that won’t be an issue with so many idiots playing online. MAG will be playable on the show floor, and should be out this fall.

1:33 – Time to move to the PSP.

1:35 – The crowd is actually cheering at a pink PSP Hannah Montana bundle. They’re either jokesters or paid. Or both.

1:36 – Kaz Hirai is making his way to the stage.

1:37 – He pulled a PSP Go out of his pocket. Says it has a couple of names, the first being “Worst kept secret of E3.” Glad to see they’re light about the subject and acknowledging it.

1:38 – PSP Go has no UMD drive, and all of its games and software are download-only, somewhat like the iPhone. 50% smaller than the regular PSP. Controls slide out, like a Sidekick Slide cellphone.

1:39 – Media Go announced, which replaces the Media Manager of before. It’s a PC application that is used to transfer media to your PSP.

1:40 – Now he’s talking about some weird sounding program called “Sense Me” that analyses your music library and chooses songs for you based on the mood you select… Or something. He glossed over it really fast. Comic in Fall.

1:42 – PSP Go will be $249.99. PSP 3000 will still be $169.99. Anyone sold on Go? I’m not, personally.

1:44 – The father of Grand Turismo is coming onto the stage.

1:45 – Grand Turismo PSP announced at long last. He has it running on a PSP Go right now. The device does indeed look small, which could be nice. Says that even though the device is small, the game is a full-scale Grand Turismo experience.

1:46 – The translator seems to be reading notes the whole time, which is kind of weird.

1:47 – Tons of cars (800+) and tracks, plus content sharing. You can trade cars with friends in an attempt to “catch them all.”

1:50 – Playing a trailer of the game now. It looks like a Grand Turismo game. SURPRISE! Apparently it’s coming October 1, 2009.

1:51 – Something Metal Gear is coming. Hideo Kojima is showing up. I wonder if it feels like coming home to your family after announcing that you’re sleeping with their enemy.

1:52 – He’s not here to talk about Metal Gear Solid: Rising, though. He’s talking about a PSP game called Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalker. Set 10 years after MGS3. We had heard a bit about this yesterday, so not a huge shock, but still nice.

1:53 – Kojima is writing and producing. Says it’s a true MGS sequel, not a spin-off or sidestory. So much for MGS4 being Kojima’s last Metal Gear game!

1:55 – Here’s a trailer. Kicks off with some live-action stock footage and some voice-over. Looks like the continuing adventures of Big Boss in the lead-up to Outer Heaven.

1:56 – Graphics look really sharp for a portable title. Lot’s of sneaking, so hey, it’s a Metal Gear game.

1:57 – There’s… 4 Snakes/Big Bosses/Clones on screen right now. Say what? They’re facing a Metal Gear, looks like. And the trailer ends with the infamous cardboard box antics. Coming in 2010. My interest is piqued.

2:00 – Jack is back on stage talking about… Resident Evil on PSP? Brand new, exclusive game sounds like, but… That’s all we got.

2:00 – Hannah Montana was name dropped again, and the crowd cheered again.

2:02 – Montage of upcoming PSP titles. Final Fantasy Dissidia, Monster Hunter, LittleBigPlanet, Soul Calibur and others are in the lineup.

2:05 – Time to talk PlayStation Newtork games.

2:06 – Adding over 50 PS1 classics to the service this year, starting today with Final Fantasy VII. Fanboys everywhere can rejoice.

2:07 – Talking about PlayStation Home and where it’s come since launch 6 months ago. As one of the millions that was pretty disappointed by Home, I’m not sure many in attendence care too much.

2:10 – PS3 video now. There’s Uncharted 2 again. inFamous, Madden, Final Fantasy XIII… The usual suspects. Batman: Arkham Assylum, White Knight Story and Ninja Gaiden and there too, with many more. Seems to be a solid lineup.

2:15 – Got to say, this is a long montage with tons and tons of games being shown. Not all of them are exclusive, by any means, but PS3 owners should be happy with what’s available.

2:16 – Announcing Agent, a Rockstar game that’s exclusive to the PS3. Nice move, Sony. That could be a smart move after the blunder of losing GTA.

2:17 – Ubisoft folks are on-stage to show Assassin’s Creed II. Wasn’t Ubisoft’s press conference yesterday?

2:18 – Now, I was a big fan of the original Assassin’s Creed, so I may be biased, but this sequel looks fantastic. I’m liking the new setting a lot.

2:18 – Leonardo DaVinci is one of Ezio’s “friends” that helps him become an assassin. He sounds like Bond’s “M”, providing Ezio with gadgets and weapons.

2:20 – Ezio is deadlier than Altair, the hero in the first game. And he looks it. The crowd seems impressed with deal-blade assassination.

2:21 – Italian dude was just OWNED. Assassination complete. Time to get the hell out of dodge.

2:22 – The crowd cheers as the demo ends. I’m impressed. The game launches this holiday season, along with an original PSP Assassin’s Creed title.

2:24 – A video is playing of Final Fantasy XIII. I’m a big Final Fantasy fan, but I’m kind of sick of seeing this one and just want to play it already. Still, I like the English voices being displayed here.

2:27 – Dude, WHAT? Jack just announce Final Fantasy 14?!?!?!? 13 isn’t even out yet!!!! Bir us XIII Versus. He also makes sure to say that the PS3 will be the only console it will be available on.

2:28 – Wait… This trailer is reminding me of Final Fantasy XI. The online game.

2:29 – AHA! Called it. Final Fantasy XIV: Online. Extremely less excited now. Unexcited to the point that I barely care. Interesting that it’s PS3-only, though.

2:30 – Now Sony is showing off a new motion controller. Everyone is jumping on the Wii train!

2:31 – Ok, I’ve just gotta say it… This motion controller – in its current form, which they stress will change – looks like a dildo.

2:32 – Looks like it interacts with the PlayStation Eye in order to replace the dildo device with a racket, golf club, stop sign… Maybe even a real dildo?

2:32 – Dude running the demo just said, “It’s still hard.” That’s way funnier to me than it should be.

2:34 – The technology looks cool, I’ve gotta say, but what’s gonna happen in the new war between the Wiimote, this thing, and Natal?

2:36 – “Sub-millimeter accuracy.” Accurate enough to write and draw with the little wand-dildo.

2:37 – Looks way too similar to the Wii Remote for me to be super stoked, but it does look like better technology than the Wii uses. I may have to write up my thoughts on all this motion stuff in a seperate blog.

2:39 – Fighting monsters with swords and throwing stars. Looks fun enough. Oh, bows too. It’s an archery kinda day between this and Wii Sports Resort. This one may be impressing me more.

2:41 – “PlayStation Motion Controller” coming Spring 2010. I wonder if Nintendo will launch a new Wii next year, too, to combat this and Natal.

2:42 – Talking LittleBigPlanet costumes. Disney themed. Awwww, cute little Jack Sparrow Sackboy!

2:43 – Just announced ModNation Racers. Another “Play. Create. Share.” title like LittleBigPlanet. I’m guessing you can design tracks and whatnot.

2:44 – Yeah, the character creation looks similar to LittleBigPlanet, though it’s a slightly different style. You can also customize cars, looks like.

2:46 – Real-time physics, drifting… Looks like a standard kart racer. Looks nice graphically, though, and customization could be a big draw I suppose. It’ll have to top the creation tools of TrackMania, though.

2:47 – Tracks are rendered and playable in seconds, so that’s kind of cool. The creation stuff does indeed look pretty easy and cool. You can add mountains!

2:49 – A friend just mentioned that this is basically Mario Kart meets LittleBigPlanet, and that’s pretty darn accurate. So if that sounds awesome to you, then maybe you should be excited.

2:51 – Jack is back.

2:53 – Third title in the “Ico” trilogy is known as “The Last Guardian.” Looks like the “Project Trico” footage that actually leaked awhile back, but that’s not exactly a bad thing. A lot of people have been anxiously awaiting this team’s newest title.

2:54 – For those not in the know, this game is from the people who made “Ico” and “Shadow of the Colossous” for the PS2. Very artsy (and good) games. This new game follows in the same vein in a lot of ways, with a weird furry/feathery creature and a small boy.

2:56 – Yeah, aside from the title “The Last Guardian” and maybe some touchups and new footage, this is the exact same trailer that leaked before. Oh well, it looks outstanding and very stylized in HD.

2:57 – Short tease of Grand Turismo 5 for the PS3 now. Seems like some people have been waiting for this one forever, but realistic car racing isn’t really my thing.

2:59 – GT5 looks good graphically, if this stuff is in-engine. But that’s all I can really say.

3:00 – Time for God of War 3!

3:02 – This totally looks like a God of War game, which, hey, is a good thing. They say it’s the last part of a trilogy. Really, now?

3:02 – Harpy riding!

3:03 – Did Kratos just sprout wings for a second? Other than that, it looks like pretty standard GoW gameplay. Looks very, very epic, though, and gorgeous graphically. Should easily please fans of the series.

3:05 – Confirmed: Quick-time events are back. They look better, though.

3:06 – Those interested in God of War should definitely track down a video of this gameplay demonstration when all this is done. I can’t really describe it. But it’s brutal in all the right ways.

3:07 – Coming out March 2010.

3:08 – That’s a wrap.

Pretty impressive, I’ve gotta say. Sony didn’t let leaks or Microsoft’s guns get to them. The conference went really well. We’ll have more in terms of coverage and comparisons later.