It's funny that my last blog post was almost a year ago to the day, and it covers the same thing. Watched all three console press conferences, and I can honestly say each one offered something new.

Microsoft started things off with their big guns, "Halo 4" and "Forza Horizon", which looks both fresh and familiar, a hard trick nowadays. Then a quick tease for "Gears of War Judgment," setting up a new chapter in this franchise that we know wasn't going to end just yet. A lot of love for Kinect again, and more dashboard apps. I have to admit, SmartGlass does seem like a ripoff of Wii U's new tablet Gamepad, but at the same time it works with just about any tablet/smart device and seems to be biased more towards controlling the dashboard than controlling the gameplay. Overall, I liked it. Good news: "Halo 4", "Forza Horizon", new "Gears of War". Bad news: No tease of Xbox 720, no major Kinect upgrades.

Sony divided its time between both Vita and PS3, although I was kind of distressed. They showcased a stunning new original IP, "Beyond", and then immediately after devote a lot of time to a "Super Smash Bros." ripoff in "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale". It was also apparenty they were desperately trying to build up PlayStation Move by devoting another large chunk of time to it and a new add-on, Wonderbook. Wonderbook, basically a big AR Card, does give authors and game designers a chance to work together and to get kids interested in books (always a good idea), but this seems kitschy to me ... and too little too late to save Move, at least for this generation. Good news: "Beyond", "God of War Ascension". Bad news: No tease of PlayStation 4, nothing new on "The Last Guardian".

Nintendo had the day to itself to showcase Wii U. They started things off Sunday night with a webcast introducing the Gamepad, the Wii U "new controller" from last show. Definitely a lot of improvements from what we saw last season, and what better way to show those off than with Miyamoto-san's latest, "Pikmin 3" and "New Super Mario Bros. U". The Wii U is getting some third-party love, although some of the games shown ("Batman Arkham City Armored Edition" and "Mass Effect 3") will be old news by the time they hit for Wii U; that said, the all-new properties for it, like "ZombiU" and "Aliens: Colonial Marines" look very promising. And between you and me, I would expect "NintendoLand" to become Wii U's pack-in game when launch date (prediction: Sunday, November 18) and pricing (prediction: $299.99) are finally announced. Good news: Great new Pikmin and Mario titles, third-party support for Wii U, a whole separate presser planned for 3DS. Bad news: No pricing/release details, no "Super Smash Bros." details

A sidebar here: I am hoping that Nintendo thinks about their market and releases some different SKUs for Wii U. There are tons of Wii Remotes and Nunchuks out there already, so give users the opportunity to buy just the console and the GamePad. Also offer a full starter set with the added controllers for those who no longer have a Wii or have never bought one. I predict that an "upgrade pack" (console and GamePad only) will come in at the $299.99 figure I mentioned above, with a "starter pack" (console, GamePad, Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk) hitting at $349.99.

So, who won? Again, Microsoft is standing pat with no truly new equipment, but some eagerly-awaited content. Sony had fewer distractions, but Vita's modest sales figures and desperation to move Move shown through. Nintendo didn't quite hit a home-run with Wii U, but I liked what I saw, so call it a standing triple. In order of performance: Nintendo first, then Microsoft and lastly Sony, but all reasonably close, so no clear winner this year.

Now that Nintendo's given its press conference at E3, let's handicap the field ...

Microsoft was the only one not showing any sort of new hardware, and I think a number of people have already dinged them for saying there wasn't that much flashy or new. I think the opinions would be different had the info on Halo 4 not leaked earlier that morning. What I did like seeing was incorporating more Kinect controls into the hardcore games, trying to bring the two worlds together, and I think they're on the right track. Looking forward to Forza 4 (and driving on the Top Gear test track) and Halo 4, for sure.

Sony did a very good job dealing with the PlayStation Network outage right out of the gate, and earned a few points from me for doing so. I don't have a PlayStation 3 yet, but I have to admit that the thought of getting a 3D TV and console for under $1000 total cost is quite appealing. Then there's Vita: I'm very interested in this one, and I would like to see what developers can do with it besides port over existing properties. I'm still very surprised that Sony partnered with AT&T for its wireless service, and judging from the gasps in the audience, so were those in attendance. I'll be getting the Wi-Fi-only model, thanks ...

Lastly, Nintendo. I'm thrilled they're really getting behind the 25th anniversary of the Zelda series, and they set the bar very high for themselves, claiming they would best be able to merge the worlds of casual and hardcore gaming with their new console. After a lot of love for Nintendo 3DS (and some surprise new titles ... Luigi's Mansion 2, for instance), Team Mario unveiled the name: Wii U. I am not loving the name yet, but after a few minutes watching what they had in mind, I am really excited. They clearly stated that the tablet-ish "New Controller" can't operate without the console, so no death knell for portable gaming (or a knife in the back of the 3DS), and it looks like they're really ready to go full-HD and hardcore in a big way. Fingers crossed for 'em.

So, how did they do? Microsoft played it safe, since Kinect is doing reasonably well, but safe doesn't generate much chatter. 3rd place this year, but not far off the leaders at all. Sony is in second, with a promising new console (that can be had without dealing with AT&T fortunately) but maybe a bit too much emphasis on 3D for most; it looks like they wanna go 100% hardcore, which could bite them if they aren't careful. Nintendo definitely won, with fan service for Zelda, quite a few surprises for 3DS and the exciting possibilities suggested by Wii U.

This has been a decent week for gaming. At long last, I completed "Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess" for Wii on Monday evening. Wednesday night I picked up "Super Mario Galaxy 2," and I've started out my campaign there (first opinion: the initial difficulty seems to assume I've played SMG already). Friday night was a retro evening, as I decided to do whatever it took to complete "Mega Man" (more specifically, the "Mega Man Anniversary Collection" edition of said game, on GameCube/Wii). I've been stuck at Wily's castle with the giant Rockman, and finally broke down to using the old "pause" trick in order to increase the damage per shot. Maybe it is cheating, but at the same time this game has an insane difficulty level. Anyway, time to move on to my next conquests.

May go ahead and start into "Mega Man 2," or work with SMG2 a bit, or get back into some of my Xbox 360 racers. Will just see what I'm in the mood for, I guess.

You know things may not end well when your lead-off hit title, "Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword," has problems during the live demo. It also doesn't help when your point-man spends so much time trumpeting the praises of a sequel to a poorly-reviewed dance game, which appears to be sloppy seconds compared to Harmonix's "Dance Central" for Xbox 360 and Kinect that was shown the day before. And then what happened to the Vitality Sensor that was such a big part of last year's presentation?

OK, are we still gonna buy "Skyward Sword" next year? Of course. Are we still gonna ignore "Just Dance 2"? Absolutely. And really, did anyone miss the Vitality Sensor? So all that said, how did the new stuff come off? Truthfully, I'm stoked.

Since I use my Wii to entertain a lot, mainly at family gatherings, "Wii Party" actually looks like fun. The "Mario Party" series seems to have evolved into using the Miis, although it'd be nice if players could "invite" Mario and company to play with them, even if just as AI and not player-selectable.

I've already seen some grousing online about Activision taking the reins on a reboot of the superb N64 "GoldenEye 007." But it does appear to pay homage to the rich history of the Bond movies instead of focusing purely on the 1995 film. Plus, playing online is gonna be fun, too.

The "epic" games in the presser, "Epic Mickey" and "Kirby's Epic Yarn" both look spectacular. Mickey will have plenty of in-jokes for Disney fans like myself, and Kirby's graphic style was simply beautiful, while still holding true to the pink puffball's gameplay roots.

Then came the swing for the fences ... Nintendo 3DS. Reggie gave passive mention to its first 3D hardware system, and rightfully so. Virtual Boy was a joke, and it would seem that Nintendo has learned from that mistake, and that was working with what we knew or figured would be true (works without glasses, backwards-compatible to DS/DSi). The new stuff is even more promising.

The plans to allow for 3D movies sound awesome, so either (a) the thing's gonna have tons of onboard memory or (b) it'll allow for huge and fast SD cards. The ability to adjust the 3D-ness of it should help users find a setting they like and limit complaints of eye-strain and such (although not having glasses should help there, too). They spent a great deal of time talking about how it'll be online even when asleep ... all they had to do was call it 3DSConnect24, since it acts just like WiiConnect24 (but that is a lot of digits). Then there's the 3D camera. The last time this got attempted, the camera had 4 lenses and did paper prints, and it didn't look all that good. While you won't be able to print these out (yet), the concept sounds awesome.

All in all, I'm very excited with the 3DS, and so many of the Nintendo properties hitting in the next several months. The first few tweets I'm getting say the 3DS' screen is "stunning," so it's a start. :)

Just finished up collecting the 120th star in "Super Mario Galaxy," and beat Bowser for the second time. I gotta admit, that last star was driving me nuts ... for those of you who've played that far into SMG, the last star I got was "Luigi's Purple Coins," in the Toy Time Galaxy. A timed Purple Comet level, where the basic rules are simple: if you stop, you die. I can't count how many lives I lost trying to (a) get 100 coins and (b) leave enough of a path to safely return to where the star would actually appear.

Well, I lucked out on one attempt and sure enough got that elusive final star (well, final for me, anyway). Then another crack at the final Bowser level and, after that, time to see the true ending. I do like this game a lot, and now that I've finished I'm trying to decide what I'd like to do next.

Should I go ahead and pick up "Super Mario Galaxy 2" and get started there, return to another old game, or what? Decisions, decisions ...

I'm having a crisis of faith today. No, not *that* faith ... faith in the Wii. I've been trying to get a hold of the new "Data East Arcade Classics" collection, released this week. While hardly a marquee title, it's got some awesome old-school games (like BurgerTime, Bump N Jump and Bad Dudes), and it's at a great price. However, no store here has it, be it big-box retailer or one of the many GameStop locations here. I don't think any of them even ordered it. But on their shelves, tons of DDR clone "Just Dance" and I can't count the number of "party game" collections. Long story short, I ordered online from Toys R Us (free shipping offer), so I'll wind up paying the same amount as if I had bought it in stores, and I should get it early next week, most likely.

But at the same time, it's got me thinking about the little white console. I'm reading how good mature games (like "Dead Space Extraction" and "No More Heroes") get overlooked while Midway sells enough copies of the atrociously-reviewed "Game Party" to warrant a sequel. I've never fretted about the Wii's graphics capabilities, since I've always been more concerned about how good a game is instead of how it looks. Yes, the Wii is a challenge to develop for, but the rewards for developing a quality title should be worth it. All that said, this constant barrage of shovelware, crowding out already limited shelf space, has got to stop.

I honestly don't blame the stores for not ordering "Data East Arcade Classics." It's an obscure name that only a few Gen X-ers will even consider, and if "Just Dance" warrants that much shelf space because it's selling, then do what you gotta. I just wish Nintendo would raise its standards and not let just anyone with a Wii development kit release software.

Well, once again I dug into my rather extensive library of games to find a couple of titles I played for a bit, but then they got pushed aside as new games (and, at times, new hardware) came along. Thanks to the Wii's backwards-compatibility, I've been able to get back into my Gamecube library, starting with the two "Star Wars Rogue Squadron" games for the system, the launch title "Rogue Leader" and its sequel, "Rebel Strike." It's fun to see things that, believe it or not, I never got around to seeing before, such as finding out that "Rebel Strike" has all three Atari "Star Wars" arcade games hidden away in it (no, I didn't read that deep into the review).

Another duo of games I've rediscovered are the last two "Super Mario" titles ... "Sunshine" on the Gamecube and "Galaxy" on the Wii. In both cases, instead of picking up where I left off, I decided to restart my campaigns from the opening scenes. I have to admit, my impressions of both games were harmed somewhat by the repetitive nature of returning to the same game worlds over and over, each time with different conditions, a format that debuted with "Super Mario 64" (another one I haven't finished ... see aforementioned reason). "Sunshine" seems to suffer from this more than "Galaxy," with upwards of 8 episodes in some worlds, although thankfully some are very short. "Galaxy" made a very fair swap, trading out repetition for a larger number of one-shot levels that use the Wii's control scheme in some fun ways. I also have to admit I like the comet levels, which add some challenging parameters to some levels.

Considering just how many games (and systems) I have, there's a lot more to see again for the first time. Happy Turkey Day, y'all!

I continue to play classic games I've had for a while but, for some reason, I haven't gotten around to finishing them. A couple of Black Fridays ago, I impulsively picked up a new Nintendo DS Lite ... the gold "Legend of Zelda" edition that came packed with the then-new "Phantom Hourglass." Well, as I was getting into the game (a fun title, by the by, if you don't have it), story points kept popping up that referenced the first title in this continuity, "The Wind Waker" on GameCube. Since I prefer to play games in order (see previous posts regarding "God of War"), I decided to fire up the old WayBack machine (in this case, the Wii) and delve into this merger of Zelda and "Waterworld."

As I looked at my original game save on my old reliable Memory Card 251--why the GCN memory cards used such oddball numbers is beyond me--it was last saved over six years ago. So I started anew ... and this time I couldn't put it down. I just finished it today, and now the story in "Phantom Hourglass" makes more sense. What I like the best about these games is that they are separate and independant from the classic Zelda games (up to and including "Twilight Princess"), and as such they can keep up both continuities at the same time. It appears that the next DS iteration, "Spirit Tracks," will be in the new universe, and while little has been said about the next Wii version, I'd wager it will be in the classic universe.

As to what game I pick up next ... not sure at the moment. Probably will continue with "Phantom Hourglass," if I were to guess, or maybe return to the Ace Attorney series (still working on "And Justice For All").

Admittedly, that didn't take too long. I just now finished the game on Normal difficulty, and I'm quite satisfied with the ending, although it does make me wonder just how "God of War II" starts. Based on my early reading, the PSP's "Chains of Olympus" is a prequel to "God of War," and what I've learned so far definitely has me curious as to how the game's story unfolded to this point. I'm trying to be cautious about just what I read, lest I spoil the events of GoW2 and CoO.

I'm very story-oriented. I've never been a huge fan of first-person shooters, like Quake and Doom, because they came across as, well, like an X-rated movie: all action with no plot. Then came "Halo" ... there was a game with exceptional graphics *and* superb story-telling. "Metroid Prime" was also a winner, combining top-notch gameplay with a riveting story. Now, "God of War" joins that same pantheon.

Next up, "God of War II" ... and maybe my first crack at GoW's God Mode, to see if I can get the other unlockable items.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've re-discovered my Sony gaming hardware. Part of that, I admit, was because of how impressed I was with the Sony press conference at E3. While, in my opinion, Microsoft had the best overall show, Sony wasn't too far behind (Nintendo did OK, but still seems to be resting on its laurels too much ... although "Metroid: Other M" was a great surprise). The digital distribution model for the PSP is very intriguing ... intriguing enough for me to track down a dirt-cheap Sandisk 8GB Memory Stick Pro Duo (only $35) so I could purchase some games. The presser also convinced me to make a purchase that I know many PlayStation 2 owners made years ago--I bought "God of War."

Not "God of War 2" or the PSP's "Chains of Olympus", but the original 2005 release of "God of War." I've been pretty focused on my Xbox/360, Wii and DS over the last few years, to the point where the Sony machines kinda got lost in the shuffle. Which is a shame, because as I'm getting back into them, I'm recalling some great titles and discovering new (to me) ones. The preview of "God of War 3" in the Sony conference was most impressive, both in scope and gameplay, and my first opinions of the original have me looking forward to its 2010 release, because I see so many of the same things in the original. The larger-than-life battles, the relative ease of controlling Kratos and how easy it was to pull off some great-looking (and incredibly brutal) moves ... this game still holds up even today.

Fortunately, I have plenty of time to finish the original, then "God of War 2" and "Chains of Olympus" before next March, when "God of War 3" is set for release (currently). Anyone else got any suggestions for games I might have missed?