I just wanted to say I did it. Some days ago I had the weird urge to go back to 007 Everything or Nothing and play that game again. When I first "beat" it (can't say I had beat the game before since I hadn't finished the last mission) I thought it was the best 007 game since Goldeneye, and now that I've replayed it I can confirm that. This time I took it more seriously. I have a weird precedence of enjoying a game much more on my second playthrough, with exceptions of course. Mainly because at first I try to make the game last longer, and sometimes I just focus too much on that and forget to enjoy the experience just because I'm afraid of it ending too soon.

I quickly found I had to play on highest difficulty this time, the platinum objectives, which turn a simple and straight forward game into, sometimes, living hell. Of course I didn't take it so serious at first, I was just going back to the good old GameCube fun, because I didn't have much else to do. I started playing and beating each mission, one after the other, and I found out I could actually make it, not because I couldn't do it, more because I thought I wouldn't be interested to go ahead and beat the whole game.

So I did, even the last mission which is one of the cheapest, most horrendous, nerve-wracking experiences I've had. What a torment, I thought I would never finish that beast, It's not only hard, it also heavily dependent on luck, sometimes the guards act according to what you've planned, sometimes they just don't. How many times one of them snuck behind my back only to drop my near perfect health bar to shreds. Tough moments.

I'm happy I could beat the last mission -- and the other previous missions as well -- on platinum. Now I can say I've finished 007 Everything or Nothing 100%. As I have previously stated, I had recently started a somewhat unpleasant habit, which is stopping every game I start on the last mission or boss or whatever. I stopped Mission Impossible for the Nintendo 64 a while back on the very last mission of the impossible difficulty. I also did that on Bomberman 64, which I stopped playing on the very last boss battle! It wasn't just a matter of finishing a hard game, it was a matter of breaking the chain of failures.

If you haven't, I think you should give this game a go, as far as James Bond games go, this is the best of them. Not counting Goldeneye (original, not those crappy remakes) which is and will always be number one.

The semi-final match between Serena Williams (USA) and Caroline Wosniacki (Denmark) ended like 3 hours ago and I can't help it but to manifest what I thought of it. I eagerly anticipated this and was aware of both play-styles, so I knew what to expect more or less. I surely was expecting a defensive Wosniacki (like always), cold, solid and waiting to take advantage of the adversary's error. As well as a Serena Williams going for it, attacking, being aggressive and incisive. Though I was expecting a great game and that's what I always hope for in a grand slam.

Sure, but that's not what I saw there, at least not on both sides of the court. I did see Serena attacking and scoring some pretty incredible points, performing some outstanding plays, but Caroline was underwhelming. Caroline's st.yle is boring and ugly, she plays defensively, okay, but she takes that to a whole other level. It's pathetic to watch the number 1 tennis player in the world have 0 winners in the first set, that's right, zero! Serena had 15.

I know, I know, the world rank is all about the points, and she does that pretty good, cold all-around games, but when things get ugly she disappears, she vanishes going always back. I think a great player is composed of much more than just regularity. A great player is also made of genius moments, moments that make you jump off your chair in awe, and Caroline does not provide us with that. Don't take me wrong, I adore Caroline, I really do, but her play-sty.le is the exact opposite of her, she one of the most beautiful girls on the planet, while her play-sty.le is horrendous.

Especially with Football I happened to grow very judgmental about ugly play-sty.le, so my kudos to Serena who played a wondrous match, seeking victory at all times and being offensive, and if all goes well she'll probably win it, and my opinion is that she'll deserve it. Wozniacki can be the most solid player on the planet, but she needs more than that to win a tournament like this, maybe that's exactly because she hasn't won a grand slam yet.

Two days ago I received this by mail.



Now I'm one Resident Evil away from having all of them for the GameCube. Only Code Veronica is left, and it's by far the hardest to find and most expensive of the 6. Capcom seems to have been made to screw me over, why not a larger scale release? Is that too much to ask for a popular game series like Resident Evil? I payed 39.99 dollars for it, plus the 8 dollar shipping; it was sealed. I played a little and it's as memorable as back in the day, impressive in every sense.

We've certainly seen something new at this E3, the companies are after different thing, each after what they don't have at the moment. Sony and Microsoft are desperately looking for some casuals, they'll do anything for them. While Nintendo is up to win back their hardcore games. As for Nintendo, they've taken big steps onto it, but it's not quite the result I was waiting for. It seems Nintendo will stop living in an island apart from everything else gaming-wise and join in with the latest best-selling third party franchises, like Assassin's Creed and Batman Arkham City. Though Nintendo still has to offer some of their best titles, something they failed to do up to this point when it comes to the Wii, and surprisingly the Nintendo DS as well.

I was expecting for some F-Zero, maybe some Wave Race or 1080. A new Pikmin perhaps? The Star Fox shown is just a Nintendo 64 remake. The best moment of Nintendo's E3 pres conference was when they presented Luigi's Mansion 2. Why did they take this long to realize Luigi's Mansion was awesome and needed a new installment? Hell, it's even better than Super Mario Sunshine. Now it seems the new Wii U will have a more powerful hardware, which is about time, we can expect High Definition and new technologies like Blu-Ray. The graphics looked weird though, very simplistic.

It's not safe to make assumptions on whether this new controller will be a commercial success or a hardcore gamer success. It hardly can be both, though Nintendo is doing their best for that. Finding this balance is hard, but can be reached. As for the new controller, I'm not impressed, it felt more of a Nintendo 3DS connectivity issue than a whole new controller, but anything right now is just blind assumptions, though I'm not excited nor should I, or anyone, be.

All in all, Nintendo tried desperately to reach out to the mass of hardcore gamers they lost after these 5 years of dark times. It's just too little for a real compensation, though they better work hard. It's also hard to tell if the hardcore gamers will elect the Wii U as their system of choice when playing games like ghost Recon, and get out of the hardcoreness of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360? Abandon PC gaming? Seems unlikely. Looks like it's bound to last place just like the Wii is. Though some games could work out, if the right extra content is given. this is the era of exclusive content, not exclusive games.

* Ok, 5 minutes late, it seems it started. Zelda Music playing on by a live orchestra.
* Previous Zelda games on screen, a good feeling of good old times strike me.
* I thought it would be for Skyward Sword, but it seems to be for Ocarina of Times for the 3DS.
* It's for Zelda's 25th anniversary.
* Shigeru Miyamoto on stage. And speaking English, strange.
* No, he just said a few words, he has a translator now. Seems the same as always.
* Technical problems on the part of Gamespot, I'm dying of surprise.
* Zelda music demonstration, like opening chests or melodies. Live from the orchestra.
* Shigeru Miyamoto with his usual goofiness.
* Zelda Link's Awakening available for download on the 3DS's Game Boy Color download library. Available from now.
* Hint movies for playing Ocarina of Time, youths these days are just big babies, at least for Nintendo.
* Special gold Wiimore available with Zelda Skyward Sword.
* Looks like Zelda Four Swords will be free.
* Zelda 25th anniversary concert in each region of the world. Something tells me not the whole world will have it though.
* Confirmed, for Nintendo "the world" means USA and Europe. Fail.
* CD albums confirmed for Zelda, including one for celebration of 25th anniversary.
* Development crew on stage.
* Nintendo's global president Satoru Iwata on stage.
* chitchat about how Nintendo got new people to gaming, kill me now.
* Nintendo is incredibly happy with their casuals, disgusting.
* They have serious sound normalizing problems.
* Video with several shots of games and characters.
* Reggie on stage.
* He talks about what he's aiming for with their new console. According to him, we want the new and we want the old, somehow.
* New Mario Kart footage.
* Looks like it's for the Nintendo 3DS.
* Karts can now fly using a hang-gliding or dive underwater using a boat engine.
* Star Fox will be released for the 3DS. game controllable by moving the 3DS as well.
* It's the Nintendo 64 remake, gamers' pictures shown instead of usual characters.
* Super Mario 3D coming to the Nintendo 3DS. It's a full 3D game, not a 2D platformer. The first ever released that not a remake (Super Mario 64 DS).
* Will be released before year's end.
* They'll talk about Kid Icarus Uprising
* "Your days of darkness are numbered, Medusa, prepare to meet the light!" - Voice acting is terrible on KId Icarus.
* New game announcement.
* Luigi's Mansion 2!
* Finally something worthy! Luigi's Mansion 2 for the 3DS looks awesome!
* Took them this long to realize we needed another Luigi's Mansion? Fail!
* It's a whole new game, not a remake. Coming from Nintendo it's a good thing, they love remaking old games, especially now.
* Ace Combat, Cave Story, Tetris, Resident Evil Revelations, Driver, Pac-Man, Tekken 3D, Metal Gear Solid. All coming to the 3DS.
* Let's talk about the 3DS hardware.
* ****c portable games available on the Virtual Console.
* Free 3D ****c Excitebike.
* Pokemon Pokedex 3D, used with Pokemon White/Black.
* Reggie is talking about the wonders of casuals on the Wii.
* Wii U announced.
* The new controller for the Wii U announced. It has a touch screen at the middle of it. Looks like a one-piece Nintendo DS with analog stick.
* It's like Nintendo 3DS connectivity, but having to buy a new controller.
* Backward compatible, all the many Wii controllers will be used interchangeably.
* It even has shoulder buttons. What a huge controller.
* It has a gyroscope and a camera. It's another Nintendo 3DS.
* Is Nintendo copying Sony, their new portable console can be used with a TV, and you don't have to buy a new "controller".
* They're calling it Wii U, they don't want to lose the Wii brand, too much success with casuals. makes sense. A new name would lose the bond created with them.
* Could come a Super Smash Bros. developed for both the 3Ds and the WII U game console.
* We've reached the moment for controller demonstration. No games, just prototypes for demonstration purposes.
* Super Mario Bros. Mii. You can use Miis to play along.
* Nintendo will publish the Lego City Stories. Coming to Wii U and Nintendo 3DS.
* People from the industry talk about the new controller. Funny, none of them seem to like the Wii, and the Wii is more innovative.
* Batman Arkham City, Assassin's Creed, Ghost Recon, all coming to the Nintendo Wii U
* Darksiders, Dirt, Aliens, Ghost Recon Online, Metro Last Night, Tekken, Ninja Gaiden. All coming to it. Hardcore games that Nintendo has never dreaming of having.
* Soccer moms will not be happy.
* EA guy talks about their games on the WIi U.
* "Discover what happens when a second window appears before you." I thought I had already seen that with the Nintendo DS.
* Nintendo Network back on E3. Too bad I'm not there.
* Trailer will be seen at the boots.
* The Nintendo Press Conference is over.

Score: 7/10

Sony started with a major delay, and that's never a good thing.The conference itself was typical Sony, lots of talking and many games. The first half had Playstation 3 games and move, some cool games were presented including uncharted 3 that definitely was the star here. The second half was dedicated to the unveiling of the PSP Vita, Sony's new handheld, and future games. It was an overall good Press Conference, the bomb dropped was clearly the new handheld, direct competitor to the 3DS. So that wrap things up, PS3 had a shy show, while Sony decided that the future was more important, and the PCP Vita is the future.

* Just for a change, Gamespot seems to have problems broadcasting, shocker huh?
* Sony is late, gotta wait with some interviews from people related to Sony.
* 17 minutes later, it begins; not nice Sony, not nice at all.
* I see, the audience is watching the intro movie in 3D, no wonder I find it boring.
* Jack Trettons comes! Love this guy, he really knows how to host. He has distinction, he knows how to be funny without overdoing it.
* Apologies for the Playstation Network outage. Well, it happens.
* He points out the stuff Playstation does besides gaming.
* Looks like he's going to talk about Uncharted 3.
* We begin out demo for Uncharted 3, not sure it's what one would expect from Uncharted.
* He's on a ship, the scenery is outstanding.
* The ship is sinking, the action is non-stop.
* I can definitely see improvements in new ideas. He must get off the sinking ship
* Early access to the few lucky ones who live in the mentioned locations that have the game playable at subways, the whole game available for try before release.
* And now a trailer for Uncharted 3.
* Uncharted 3 available 11/11/2011, the same day as Skyrim. Interesting date however.
* Insomniac Games on stage.
* It's Resistance 3. He's gonna shut up and play the game. In 3D.
* Well, we have another shooter, with Nintendo's conference being held tomorrow I'm gonna have an overdose of them.
* Remastered HD collections: God of War, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Available in September.
* Playstation branded 3D display, Sony want YOU to play in 3D.
* Less expensive 3D glasses.
* Full 3D bundle: With glasses, TV display, HDMI cable and Resitence 3 for $499.
* Let's talk about Move.
* NBA 2K12 time.
* A whole new set of controls for use with Playstation Move.
* Kobe Bryant is on stage to help promote the game.
* Medieval Moves: Dead Man's Quest on stage. The motion controls look lame. The game looks derivative.
* Infamous 2 begins its show. It's a trailer of the game.
* Update for Little Big Planet to use with Playstation Move.
* StarHawk trailer. nothing spectacular.
* A fan-favorite and often requested, Sly Cooper's new game.
* Dust is... you guessed it, a shooter.
* Bioshock Infinite, it looks a hell of a lot different than the other games.
* A guy from Bioshock tells he used not to believe in motion controls, but now he's a believer. Nice, sell out.
* Star Trek game, well, I'll leave that to fans...
* 3 new exclusive content for the Playstation 3 games: SSX with Fuji's track created based on Nasa's data. 7 additional super-cars for Need for Speed The Run. Added Battlefield 1943 to Playstation 3 version of Battle field 3.
* Playstation Suite created to showcase Playstation wonders to other devices, trying to convert them.
* The successor to the PSP!
* Playstation Vita!!!!
* Breaking news: Dual analog stick, touch screens, cameras, triggers, wi-fi, 3G wi-fi.
* Partner AT&T on the United States to provide high-speed wireless access.
* It provides social attributes, Sony wants the casuals now, also on portable.
* Let us see how this new little thing handles.
* PSP Vita is like a Nintendo 3DS on steroids.
* Uncharted is shown on PSP VIta, it handles amazing graphics, almost incredible, looks like a montage.
* The player can choose between touch screen control and normal control.
* Game called Ruin, a top-down view social action RPG.
* The aesthetics look great.
* Can be played in a Playstation 3 on the big screen, the transition is instantaneous.
* ModNation Racers is up, now for Playstation Vita. It's not a port from the Playstation 3 game release, it's a whole new game.
* Track creation showcase. It looks surprisingly well with the touch screen.
* Looks like a solid racing game.
* The tracks created on the PS3 (over 2 million) will be available day-1 on the PSP Vita game.
* PSP Vita will have lots of cross-platform compatible games.
* Online competition between handheld and home console.
* Let's take a look at Little Big Planet for PSP Vita, Little Big Planet fits well on the social aspect Sony is trying to input on PSP Vita.
* Street Fighter X Tekken, from Capcom. A Playstation Vita release.
* Cole from Infamous will be joining the fight on the game.
* We have a demonstration on stage, graphics look spectacular, almost surreal.
* Finishing up with Vita, a video showing games like Wipeout, Little Big Planet, Uncharted, Pool, Ruin, Golf, Tennis, and many more.
* 2 models of PSP Vita: Wi-fi only model at $249; 3G and Wi-Fi model at $299. 1 dollar = 1 euro
* Sony's show is over. Went easy on the Playstation 3. I was expecting something big for the system at the end. I guess the bomb was Vita anyway.
* Sony cheers us with a little show at the end.
* Even a Dj is there.

Score: 7/10

Trying to fight casual games is like trying to fight gravity, Nintendo showed the path to glory -- too much Klondike maybe? -- and now everyone want a bite. Ubisoft had their casual games like Just Dance and your Shape, but presented the good stuff as well. Assassin's Creed, like always, dominated their show, so it was kept for last. Tin Tin was a very nice surprise, especially for me because I'm a huge fan.

* What would you doooo, for a Klodike bar?
* Technical problems for GameSpot, is that surprising?
* Rayman Origins is on, cool little game. Anything that's platforming, even with some shooter aspects, I'm sold.
* Too much talk, too little games.
* They're now presenting Driver, looks okay, though I can't say much, Gamespot is being Gamespot and screwing up the broadcast.
* The presenter can't be this outgoing, he must be a serious guy, like last year's Sony guy. Games = Serious business
* Jungle setting, looks like could be Far Cry 3.
* It really is Far Cry 3, and it looks gorgeous.
* Brother in Arms now, more first person shooter...
* Brother in Arms Furious 4, looks pretty much like any other shooter.
* A film? Could it be Assassin's Creed?
* It's TINTIN! OMG that instant WIN!
* A game based on Tin Tin is bound to success.
* It looks gorgeous with a cell-shaded look.
* Old-School kind of shooter?
* Now it's time for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, three guys playing simultaneously on stage, on different TV sets, co-op.
* What more can I say, it's a shooter...
* Quite long gameplay video of Ghost Recon. Nothing especially out of ordinary.
* A woman on stage, that's new. There's a problem with her mic, so no one listens to her (Klondike bar commercial creators think it's better that way).
* The two women were talking about Trackmania, now we have audio and a trailer. The game's TrackMania Canyon.
* The mute women again, thanks Gamespot, it seems everyone else has sound.
* The wonders of Kinect, a crazy bearded guy is on stage jumping on rabbits
* Fill the Shapes is the name of the game, and it's casual.
* Having people try performing the shapes on screen is not entirely crap, and I feel bad for writing that.
* Some kind of Dancing game, as if I wasn't having a bad day of casualization already.
* It's Just Dance 3! I don't know why the exclamation point!
* Want to play the guitar? Buy a guitar?
* It's Rocksmith, the incredible idea of transforming the act of playing an instrument in a game.
* Your Shape is next, also known as Ubisoft's Wii Fit. Or what I like to call them, crap.
* As always, thank you Nintendo for that.
* What? Assassin's Creed platformer cel-shaded? Cool.
* Assassin's Creed Revelations. Just a reminder, Altair is much better than Ezio.
* The CGI is amazing, the song? Surreal. Nice mix.
* Simply amazing, Assassin's Creed is amazing. That was one of the best game clips I've ever seen. The great Altair marked presense!
* There's more, gameplay video for Assassin's Creed Revelations!
* Ubisoft's show is over, cool show.

Score: 7/10

EA's Press Conference was centered around Battlefield and the incredible amount of hype it has been receiving -- and that not a bad thing at all. The final act was Battlefield and it shined. EA is not EA without its sports games, and they were well represented with FiFA and Madden. The new Need for Speed looks back to its roots, but the secondary off-the-car system looks simplistic and a gimmick, but I don't see it advancing the series, not at the actual state of it. In the end, none casual crap, so that's good. The CGI movies for Star Wars, SSX and Overstrike were incredible, especialy the Star Wars one, and overstrike.

* 15 minutes before the show, Ricardo Torres and two UK guys comment Microsoft's Press Conference.
* The EA Press Conference is up!
* Mass Effect 3 at the start.
* Gameplay demo looks cool! Played at stage.
* The industry can't go wrong with colossal bosses, Mass Effect seems to have attended that lesson.
* Mass Effect 3 trailer debuted on the conference.
* Need for Speed on stage.
* Need for Speed The Run will feature off-car action, as time goes Need For Speed looks less and less like Need for Speed.
* Gameplay video in a nighttime scenery, nice, that more like it.
* Reminds me of the first Underground, which is always good.
* So far it doesn't seem like you control the character out of the car, you just have to press the right buttons at the right moment, if that it then it's a failure.
* The helicopter somehow has perfect aim.
* Games these days hold your hand and never let go, that not a good trend.
* Bioware at the stage, probably, judging by the music, they're gonna present Star Wars the Old Republic.
* Not gameplay, but these CGI Star Wars trailers are always amazing.
* Great, it's SSX. Not gameplay again, but still nice.
* Looks like they're gonna bring lots of content on the next SSX.
* He says FIFA is the biggest sports game on the planet, might be true for size, but Pro Evolution Soccer is better.
* Let's talk FIFA 2012
* I'll try to forget the game borrows the name of one of the most corrupted companies in the world.
* Of one thing I am sure, FIFA owns Pro Evolution Soccer in terms of graphics.
* Kaka appeared on the video, a plus already.
* The video showing fans of football and famous players was absolutely incredible!
* FIFA 12 looks good. There's no denying.
* American Football, who actually cares for it?
* Another The Sims. Called The Sims Social. Looks as bad as the rest of them, but this time with Facebook connectivity. Double the casual!
* Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is up. Didn't know about this game, looks a little derivative.
* Insomniac Games starts their show.
* Overstrike trailer, looks amazing!
* Fanboys are going nuts right now, it's Battlefield 3!
* The presentation looks superb, maybe it could be more than just another first person shooter.
* Hell, Battlefield looks too good, and that's coming from me, a person who dislikes FPS in general.
* Finally the Crysis killer? Looks like it, the graphics are spectacular.
* In 30 years I'll be able to run that!
* A long live demo of battlefield, can't say it was half-bad.
* And that's it for EA's Press Conference. Of course they have much more limited set of games, but this was better than Microsoft's.

Score: 7/10

Microsoft's Press Conference opened this year's E3, it did a good job at the start, but they used a tactic I feared, they got all games out of the way at first, showed Modern Warfare 3, Tomb Raider, Mass Effect 3, Gears of War 3 and all that. Then they had their path cleared for Nintendo imitation, and started the freak show with Kinect, casual crap, kids games, lame excuses for a show. Then at the end they presented their "bomb", Halo 4, and that was it. pretty safe there Microsoft, pretty safe show.

Here's my real time transcript of what was going on for recollection reasons.

* It's on, the E3 is on! Microsoft is starting!
* Modern Warfare 3 clip is shown right at the start, technical problems try but fail to stop the show.
* Looks cool, but it's typical Call of Duty footage, it's Modern Warfare 2 footage changing snow for water.
* A new Call of Duty is not my dream news, but since it is for about 80 of the hardcore gaming community, I guess they're excited.
* They're assaulting a submarine, an insanely cool mission if you ask me. The graphics are outstanding.
* At each Call of Duty released, more the sense of grandiose they cast to it, at least in gameplay videos.
* Tomb Raider is up, Lara is trapped in a mysterious island and has to use her survival instincts in order to escape.
* Lara Croft is much more mature looking, feels like her character will be much better developed.
* The gameplay video looks pretty good, as she tries to get out of a cave infested with traps.
* EA Sports president on stage.
* Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Madden NFL, FIFA and some other unknown sports game will have Kinect compatibility.
* It's time for Mass Effect 3, will support Kinect and voice recognition.
* The presenter uses the microphone to respond to one of the answers on screen, making the choice by voice.
* Looks like you can also give action order by voice, weird.
* So far Microsoft's Press conference is all about games. I like it.
* A teaser trailer for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier.
* Another showcase of how voice/movements can affect playing a game, or at least building up your gun.
* Playing video games with Kinect is almost not playing video games. Thanks Nintendo for that.
* Good show but nothing particularly incredible so far.
* Seems like here comes the "our console is an entertainment center" jibber-jabber.
* Voice commands to change screen, just what I've been dreaming about all my life.
* Bing and Youtube on Xbox Life.
* Voice Search engine, cool actually.
* Xbox, home. Xbox Kinect, self-destruct!
* After a short while of casualization, UFC trailer video.
* What! Gear of War 3!
* Amazing gameplay for Gear of War 3, they're figting some giant sea monster with enormous tentacles and all. Gear of War 3 is awesome!
* That's a big freaking monster.
* Looks like everything about Xbox now is centered about Kinect, the trailer for the game Ryse looks really cool, but Kinect and the guy controlling it are just crappy.
* It would actually be a surprise if Gamespot didn't have problems broadcasting E3.
* Trailer of the first Halo remade for Halo Anniversary.
* Gamespot, year after year, offers the same problems, they'll never learn. pathetic really.
* Forza Motorsport 4 is on. Simulation racers don't appeal to me at all, but it's a nice little game.
* Pretty safe conference so far for Microsoft, that's not entirely a bad thing.
* It's time for Fable The journey. More gameplay movie with Kinect, gameplay movies are good, Kinect is not.
* Now they're going to talk about indie games, good topic. Support it Microsoft, always a good idea.
* Minecraft is coming to consoles, more precisely Xbox 360.
* Kids casual crap detected! Some Disney Kinect game, so bad I think I'm gonna die.
* Star Wars Kinect? The game could work on Kinect. Looks like a mix of Knights of the Old Republic, Rogue Squadron and Star Wars Racer, all in one.
* Sure, waving your arms like an idiot is fun, we have the Wii to prove it.
* I sure hope all those games they used Kinect to control can be controlled with a controller, and they've shown with Kinect just to show both world, the casual and hardcore.
* Tim Schafer on stage. He surrendered to the magic of Kinect.
* Sesame Street. OMG, two morons waving their arms in the air. total awesomeness!
* Kinect Fun Lab, more crap.
* Keep going with Kinect casual crap, no games, just showing the wonders of Kinect, anything you'd do once and get bored of. The clothes detecting is cool though.
* Kinect Sports, it even has Tennis, and the characters look like Miis. Lame Microsoft.
* Clearly staged demos, but okay, lame nonetheless.
* OMG kill me now, more casual stuff, now a dance game, which I feel guilty for finding loosely interesting!
* Microsoft thought: "Let's get the games out of the way right at the start, and focus on crap afterward".
* The dawn of a new trilogy for Xbox 360? Interesting... Creating is good, someone needs to remind developers.
* It's actually Halo 4. Coming Holiday 2012.
* Microsoft's misery... I mean, Conference is over.

Score: 4/10

I watched Konami's warm up show for E3 and didn't find anything particularly bad about it. It had their games, it had their interviews, it had funny moments, it had Kojima, pretty much what you'd expect from Konami doing something like it. Metal Gear Solid for the 3DS looks pretty good, almost makes me want to buy the system, it seems to utilize many 3DS features. The possibility to take photos of real life objects and use the pattern as camouflage could turn out really good, if implemented right. That Yoshi at the end was at the same time intriguing and disturbing. It's incredible how good the 3DS graphics can be.

As for Pro Evolution Soccer I'll say that they'll pretend to move on with the franchise, and I'll pretend I'll notice something has changed (or not). The fact is, since 2008 I haven't noticed many differences, not that actually justified the expenses of getting the updated year game. It was nice to see some development phases in the video though. I play the Wii version so guess the aspect I wish to see improvements the most is graphics, but I know the system it runs in so it's hard. Pro Evolution Soccer is already a great football game, for me it's the best there is, but I don't know about getting the same game I've been getting since 2009. We'll see though.

That Never Dead game looks good too, of course the fact that you can't die isn't really something to get excited for, no one likes a game where you just have to move forward. However, they're confident about giving a brand new experience with it so with a couple of good ideas and a good story--good characters they seem to have--it could actually work out. Megadeth composing a song exclusively for this game is pretty cool as well. We could take a glimpse at the new Silent Hill, fans can wait for a good release, I'm sure of it.

The second half of the show had a funny mini movie about a guy meeting up with Hideo Kojima and finding out why he's not gonna make it to E3 2011. He finds out some of Kojima's "secrets", two of them to be exactly. Along with some conversations about next projects, Metal Gear Solid, and other stuff, he reveals that he's about to launch a brand new game engine called Fox, also, he unveils what is called Tranfarring, a feature that would allow gamers to transfer game saves from home consoles onto handhelds and continue playing on the go, returning the updated save file when back home. The Transfarring thing looks like it's bound to failure, at least until a global internet connection covers the whole world. But his new engine sure looks interesting.

From what we could see, it seems like it can produce nice environments and Kojima is working on a new game using this very engine, an unknown project, and it's allowing to make improvements on the engine as the work goes on. He revealed that he has such optimistic aspirations like making it the best of the world. surely something to look forward to.

All in all, I hope E3 flows much like this show, more the good stuff and less the bullcrap. None of little girls showcasing the casual wonders of Kinect, none of Nintendo's numbers and family commercials on how casual and family oriented they've turned out to become, and none of Sony's "hey, we can be like Nintendo too". More of games, trailers, gameplay, special moments, wow moments, revelations, release dates, advanced releases and F-Zero. No F-Zero, no deal.

I have some updates. First, I've finally beaten everything in Super Meat Boy. When I bought this game last December I played through the game normally and even beat every light world level, including the final boss and everything. I beat some dark world levels but never really took it seriously to go and beat all of them. I still had my first brandless USB controller which wasn't amazing but was't bad at all. I stopped playing for two main reasons, two levels that frustrated me -- actually three. These levels are Omega/No Quarter and El Topo. The two light/dark world levels Omega and No quarter frustrated me because I had a horrible time playing Omega, and when I finally beat that, I merely tried No Quarter only to find that the dark world counterpart was a lot harder, that left a bad impression on me. The problem I had with El Topo was about getting the bandage, and El Topo was actually the main reason I stopped playing, I didn't even finish the level normally.

Now I went back and did it all, strangely none of these problems turned out overwhelming in the end. I can easily beat El Topo with the bandage now, it's strange, maybe this 5-month hiatus matured my Super Meat Boy skills. About No Quarter, well I found something I was doing wrong and it certainly made things a lot easier. Though even with my old strat I could still beat No Quarter now. I was expecting these levels to be insanely hard, they were not that much in the end, but I met many other harder levels, I hadn't touched Cotton Alley yet.

Here's a list about the 10 hardest levels/bandages in my opinion. Some might not be the hardest per say, but are certainly the ones that gave me the most headaches:

1. Billy Boy with the Bandage
HELL ON EARTH! That's just cheap! This level is incredibly brutal when collecting the bandage, you can't flow naturally like you would normally and that kills any previous strategy you might have had at first. Let me say that I beat this level with no big problems without the bandage, but every time I tried to get it and finish the level some obscure evil force befell onto me and cursed my soul down the malevolent abyss of never-ending madness! I swear this level has a conspiracy with evil! I managed to beat it with Meat Boy in the end which made me very proud.

2. The Kid #3
The first kid was hard, the second kid was also hard, but when you got the timing it was actually normal. The third kid gave me more headaches because I just couldn't quit at that point, quitting would mean instant fail at life. And I can't fail at that proportion. So of course I kept going, the problem here is that the physics change a bit compared to the other levels and even the rest of the game, I found the perspective a bit weird and the timing required made it almost surreal. Also, double jumping repeatedly tires the hand like no other level does, you hold the run button with the top of the thumb and press the jump twice every time with the joint, that left me severe fatigue -- the pace is relentless! I later discovered you can actually run with RT, people were actually recommending it, leaving your thumb exclusive for jumping, of course, I'm so "lucky" I only found afterward.

3. 4-Letter Word with A+
This levels is cruel going for the A+, it's probably the only light world level that's harder than its dark world counterpart. Mainly because the difficult part is actually the top section of the level and the dark world level is simply done backwards, so you do the hard part first -- the downward saws aren't that bad. Also, the time requirements are lowered on dark, since all dark world levels on Cotton Alley have 60 seconds time requirement. At first I tried to apply a fast rhythm to try reaching the time limit, but I found it wasn't going to suffice, so I had to take more risks. It took a little while until I got used to the first part (20-30 seconds) at my faster pace, the last part was mostly luck, I could train that for years and I still wouldn't manage to be consistent. Well, maybe I would.

4. The Kid #1
Ok, this is pretty tricky and leaves no room for error. Some small techniques like air control after kicking a wall for the second climbing and adjusting the height of the first climb below the first spike on the left pillar help a lot.

5. Skyscraper with bandage
Think Skyscraper was hard enough? Think again, getting the bandage on this level demands the player to do the second part twice, while still having the same old god-dammed 3 lives--why would they do that? Such an archaic system that Super Meat Boy actually got rid of during the main game, and now this... Failing on the last set of spikes after getting the bandage is sad, and I experienced this level of frustration.

6. Patience
This level is overwhelming at first, hard to come up with a method for staying alive that long. Even when you realize what to do it's hard. This is a level I don't want to replay so soon.

7. XOXO
The first section is easy, no problem there, but the saw corridor has unforgiving timing, so much it's almost dependent on luck. When I beat this level I simply learned the timing by jumping the first two and tried emulating to apply on later tries. Strangely, it worked.

8. Bleach
This level is hard because it's precise, you need to have mastered small jumps to do it as quickly as it requires. As you keep trying it becomes much easier since it's not a huge level, it's just that there's little room for error.

9. Dark World Final Boss
This has a tricky set of two levels, thankfully the lives system does not apply here. The hardest section here is the three spinning saws right after you leave the first building, the one you start on. The second level, after you press the button to trigger the trap floor for Dr. Fetus, is tricky and long. As you proceed the level gets easier, but the difficulty change is barely noticeable since you're increasingly nervous about losing, that any standart trap feels like the hardest thing you've ever encountered.

10. Char
Well, I absolutely hate this level. If you compare with other levels you realize it's not that bad when it comes to raw difficulty, but something about this, the intense music, the constant high pace, the lava almost getting you right at the start, bugs the hell out of me. I'm giving this level the honor of appearing on my list.

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As you can see I take "normal" levels individually, but when we have a 2 or 3 set of levels in one warp I generally consider them as one, since you have to beat them all to complete. The only exception are the Kid levels, they're so hard put together that no other would even come close, so I broke them as individual levels. It took me about an hour to beat all Kid levels, but I thought it would take me much, much longer.

As a side note, a couple of news have surfaced, one good and one bad. The good news first, it's been reported that team Meat has released its level editor, something the community have long asked for. I still haven't tested the editor but I'm sure it's another plus for Team Meat. As for the bad news, Team Meat said they won't ever release a sequel for Super Meat Boy, which is quite sad if true. Though I'm almost sure they're going to eventually make another game, for the sake of us all and the great series they've created.