Don'tcha just love it when your internet just decides it doesn't want to work anymore?? SO DO I!!! YAY!!!! So sorry about the noticable absence over the past week, that's the cause of that.
Anyway, on to more pleasant topics such as E3!!! YAY!! So I haven't looked at everything there is to see yet but I did look at two games in particular. Being away from Gamespot for so long had its consequences. I honestly had no idea some of this stuff was coming out. A new Banjo-Kazooie game? Rock Band 2's coming out in the fall?? FOR REALZ??!! Guitar Hero: Metallica??? (actually got that one from Game Informer but whatev's ;P) I checked the stuff on Banjo Kazooie 3 and Rock Band 2 just now and I like what I see.
Banjo Kazooie 3 is taking a completely new spin on platformers (a favorite genre of mine) by making it almost like a racing platformer. You must make vehicles by adding together pieces you win by completing missions in the game. The missions are things like push the snowman's head up the mountain. To do that you must find the parts for a tractor and use that tractor to push the head up. It sounds really fun. We'll see though how it ends up.
The thing I'm even more excited about is all the new information on ROCK BAND 2!!!! OMG!!! Amazing! So i'll compile all the info i've found out here. First of all, new game modes. They're getting rid of the linear solo quest thing from the first game and allowing players to do the World Tour solo. Freaking awesome in my book since World Tour is the best thing you can do in the game. Also, brand new solo bass tour, that's pretty cool for all you bass players. Also, the character development area has been completely revamped so that you have far more latitude for stuff to do and the characters you make will be able to play any instrument whereas in the first one, you had to make a seperate character for a different instrument. This is really nice since my friends and I switch a lot between vocals, guitar and drums (we've got a great bass player who stays static). The World Tour system has been revamped as well so that instead of winning employees, you can now actively hire them with the money you've saved up (thank god since the moeny hardly did anything in the first game). There is also a new challenge mode which sets you up with a tough setlist that will get harder as you go on. These can be particular decades, artists or just fun songs but this is really awesome since it remakes the challenges whenever you get new downloadable songs!
As far as individual instruments go, the equipment is all getting revamped completely. A new look for the guitar as well as the necessary changes (no more crappy strum bar, quieter fret buttons). For the drums, they are softer and quieter and, an optional addition, you can add bonus cymbals to the drum set to make it more realistic (these are alternates for already present buttons. So you can have a blue drum and a blue cymbal). There's even going to be limited edition drum sets that, if you plug them into speakers, will work as a real electronic drum set. Freaking sweet! But if none of this appeals to you, you can stick with your Rock Band 1 stuff too.
Which brings me to the songs. The full list is right here on GS but what they don't tell you is that all the songs you had on Rock Band 1 will be transfered over to Rock Band 2 automatically! This means any songs you loved from Rock Band 1 (Dont Fear the Reaper, More than a Feeling, etc., etc.) will be transferred over so you don't have to downgrade back to the original to play those awesome songs again. Incredibly cool. If you don't feel like checking the list of songs, there are 84 songs that come with the game and 20 that will be free to download the day the game comes out. Harmonix has also announced that in a year, there will be over 500 songs. That's spectacular. Better than Guitar Hero: World Tour if you ask me :P. Unfortunately, I won't be able to play this amazing game until at least christmas since I'll be at college. One last tidbit of information is that for a while, the game will be 360 exclusive. Harmonix said the other systems will be released before christmas.