NBA 2k8 (xbox360)

It's a great game of basketball, but not quite as satisfying and addictive as my first foray into next gen hoops last year. The cumbersome menus have changed but they're still not as slick and intuitive as they could be, which is a shame because in modes like player creation and Association (franchise) you spend a lot of time navigating menus. Player animations are possibly the best I've ever seen from any game - they nail so many moves from so many players, even relatively insignificant ones. The gameplay is tough and realistic and the refinements to the control makes passing and off the ball trafficking easier. I still love the game and it easily replaced my 2k7, but I'm a little dissapointed that it's still not *the* perfect basketball simulator, which the series always seems to be on the verge of producing. Splurge for some realisitc hair models next time guys, it makes a big difference.

Etrian Odyssey (DS)

I decided to buy this one after stumbling across the last copy in stock at a Brooklyn area Gamestop, figured at the very least it might become another hard to find Atlus title. I've been pleasantly surprised as Etrian Odyssey has become my favorite RPG for the handheld by far. There's many interesting builds to choose from, and the guild of characters you create from scratch is highly customizable. A hub town houses your RPG staples (inn, pub, guild hall, quest givers, shop, etc.) and a huge labyrinth dungeon is where the bulk of the game takes place. The exploration is interesting and the combat is fun, things get quite tactical as you venture deeper inside and gain some levels. This game has as much cartography as it does RPG, you map out everything you come across using the touch screen and it's a unique and addicting gameplay mechanic.

I went in knowing this was going to be old school and hard which helped - if you're prepared to play carefully and take things slowly while leveling it's not a problem. Could feel a little too slow for some, though. The game is also well presented with some very nice technical graphics and artwork, even if it's not exactly a world of variety inside the labyrinth. Highly recommended if you're looking for a time sucking DS RPG that focuses on pen and paper influenced combat and exploration over long winded narrative and drama.

Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (DS)

It's totally the third Phoenix Wright game. Not much else to say, it plays and looks exactly the same as the first two. I've only completed the first simple tutorial case which isn't really fun for me at this point (we've completed 9 cases already, do we really need another tutorial?), though the case itself was hilarious and well done. The characters and music are still great, for what it's worth. I'm looking forward to getting through this one but it may take some time with everything else on my plate.

God of War (PS2)

I never got around to playing God of War after watching my old roommate finish it, but now that I'm on my own and trying to complete my PS2 collection I picked it up fairly cheap and started making my way through. Great action game of course and I love how steeped in Greek mythology it is, I'm a sucker for that stuff. The camera is especially smooth, I'm a notorious camera fidgeter and usually wary of no camera control but they do a good job with this series. It's violent and epic and solid all around, stands up very well today and I'll probably complete it sooner rather than later. Looking forward to GoW2 sometime in the near future.

Lumines Live! (xbox360)

Those new packs pulled me back in. I don't care what people say, this is my favorite XBLA game. The one I've put the most time into and the one that does DLC right (now that the base pack price has been reduced to 800 points). It's my favorite puzzle game in ages - comforting, hypnotic and rewarding. Plus it looks positively mesmerizing in HD. The better you get the more fun it is to play, you see things unfolding that you couldn't before. Not too tough or too easy, I never get tired of Lumines. I do wish they let you create longer playlists now that there's so many skins to choose from.

Halo 3 (xbox360)

Yup.

The Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)

About halfway through this one, still enjoying it but not really feeling the pull to put everything else aside and rush through things. The control is the star here, it's quick and responsive and makes great use of the stylus. It makes me want to go back and play Wind Waker, so glad they made a direct sequel to that universe. All in all a very satisfying Zelda game with some fun new elements and a showpiece for the DS, not a 10 or anything but definitely worth buying.

and finally..

my new DS Lite

Finally took the plunge and upgraded my old phat model and it's like I'm playing the system for the first time again. Glad I waited a bit, the glossy finish looks nice. I love the DS Lite, it's so bad.

Also been slowly going through replays of Knights of the Old Republic and Bioshock while hitting up a smattering of XBLA titles like Puzzle Quest, Puzzle Fighter and Carcassonne (another underrated gem on the service). Too many games, too little time..

Is very good. It's lush and trippy and even a little soulful. The guitars and the string arrangements make the record shine, the album flows cohesively with a purpose and the songs are some of the best the group has put out to date. It was released in an unconventional and potentially revolutionary manner that I support 100% as a fellow (part-time and struggling) musician. They took every trick in their book and put it to good use while still showcasing a relatively new direction overall, even if the record never sounds anything unlike Radiohead. Repeating the hell out of Reckoner, All I Need, Faust Arp and Bodysnatchers but there's not a weak track in the lot. I'm bout it bout it, ya heard?!?

When I purchased my Xbox 360 a year and change back, Halo 3 was the furthest thing on my mind. I was pumped to finally play Oblivion, looking forward to some next-gen NBA ball, and marking off stunners like Bioshock and Mass Effect on my Most Wanted list. Why even give a second thought to Halo 3? After all, I have a decorated history of sucking mightily when it comes to the Halo. I'm no stranger to first person shooters but playing that first game co-op on Legendary was an exercise in patience for my friend as I was murdered and murdered repeatedly, guns blazing and camera flailing. And Halo 2 (which I never technically owned.. college and no Xbox and whatnot) multiplayer would consistently humble and shred my already modest gaming ego. Too many maps I didn't know, too many vehicles running over me and snipers headshotting me. I regressed into my Gamecube and soured on Microsoft's flagship offering.

And then, right on schedule, oodles of millions of dollars were let loose from the war chest in the hopes of making people like me furrow my brow, stare at the noisy white box under my TV and wonder, "If I don't go out and buy this game, nay, this *event* right now, why did I even get this thing anyway?" This was the marketing blitz to end all blitzes, grandiose and expensive and in-your-face stupid. The Game Fuel(TM), sponsoring everything from Monday Night Football to the evening news, Believe! and Finish The Fight!, overly dramatic commercials without a hint of gameplay or even a sense of why this game is any good, hell, the giant sidebars I see every time I log into Gamespot. Very subtle stuff, real classy-like. Microsoft gleefully and unashamedly employed all the marketing tactics that, if I had the money, would drive me to go out and buy a PS3 simply out of spite (and to check out Heavenly Sword).

But the funny thing is, and I am ashamed to admit such things, it kind of worked. They made me feel small for not caring about my generation's Star Wars. The traditional news media ate it up and this manufactured event became actual news. I read up on the backstory, it was cooler than I remembered. I checked out some videos of the mulitplayer beta I had no interest in partaking in, and it looked fun. My will was crumbling, and the $60 I had set aside for Orange Box started scratching at the walls of my wallet, begging to jump out just a few weeks earlier. And then the reviews hit the Sunday before release day (Halo 3-Day? I don't even know if they gave it a silly name or not), and all those 9's and 10's flipped the switched for good. I was sold. Not excited, not particularly happy, just sold. I own a 360, hence, I would own Halo 3 and there was nothing I could do about it.

As the Wal-Mart woman opened the display case for me on Saturday, a frazzled mother pushed me aside and interrupted our conversation with a "is this the Halo 3? I need it." Great, I thought, I'm going to love hearing your annoying son's racist spew while I frantically try and remember how to switch grenades again. But I can't fault her urgency, she must have seen the news. Or watched TV. Or stepped outside for 5 minutes. Hey this was a big deal, even bigger than Spiderman 3!*

Cynicism is well and good, and I looked proudly at my unopened copy near 1 in the morning last night. Pshh.. Halo. The box isn't even very attractive. Might as well pop it in and give it a go. Next thing I know it's 7 AM, my cats are crying because they never went to sleep, I more than held my own in multiplayer and was engrossed in the punishing but exhilarating gameplay on Heroic. The cutscenes are a bit ridiculous and the environments are lacking something but the music, presentation, level design, enemy AI, voice acting, forge, videos, customization.. this is a very good game, I thought to myself. And I still think it today, as I woke up "early" to get in a few rounds before football. And then I turned off football to play some more.

Clearly Halo 3 is a game that deserves to be celebrated. I just wish Microsoft didn't have to do 90% of the celebrating for us. Though I shouldn't really complain, after all it helped make me a believer.

*not really, and bad movie anyway

Maybe a little more than halfway through. Minor spoilers ahoy!

So many great characters in Bioshock. The idealistic, power driven Andrew Ryan, the twisted Dr. Steinman, the cold and brilliant Dr. Suchong, Dr. Tenenbaum and her history, the mad artistry of Sander Cohen, the mysterious big daddies and little sisters, minor characters that may become major in time and Frank Fontaine, who is a genius in his own right. The picture is coming together but that can always change.

The audio diaries work great, mainly because the writing and acting is of such a high quality. You gain an understanding for these complex people before ever meeting them, knowing their fate or their true motives. Unlike a game such as Oblivion where I could care less about the supporting cast involved, let alone any of the major players despite interacting repeatedly with them face to face. I know that great characters in gaming isn't anything new but it just adds to the overall experience and makes it that much richer and enjoyable.

yeah, so, Bioshock... I'm about an hour in and really getting into it. I'm dying to see more, and yet I'm taking my sweet time examining every inch of the world Irrational created. So far so good.

These 10 games impressed me the most, intrigued me the most, they're the ones I want in my hands ASAP. A fairly conventional list, it's hard to find the diamonds in the rough sitting at home clicking through webpages and video feeds. Also mostly games that were in playable form at the show, I get more hyped for titles expected to be hitting shelves in the near future.

Mass Effect

LittleBigPlanet

Bioshock

Rock Band

Super Mario Galaxy

Assassin's Creed

Echochrome

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Call of Duty 4

Crysis

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Honorable Mentions:

Burnout Paradise, Starcraft 2, Halo 3, Folklore, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Lost Odyssey, Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations, Metal Gear Solid 4.

Dissapointments:

No Tim Schafer game, hardly any Super Smash Bros, Brawl, no Harvey Birdman, no Alan Wake/2008 360 blowout, no big MMO's on display, not many surprise announcements, not many interesting 3rd party DS/Wii titles shown, PSP Slim "redesign".

Overall:

Well it wasn't the usual celebration of gaming culture by any means this year. Press conferences were safe and predictable with nobody really capturing my imagination, Nintendo was the weakest with their self love montages and trickle of quality software. Made me glad to own a 360 this year and interested in picking up a PS3 whenever they can sell one for under $300.

PSP Slim wasn't what I was hoping for, Wii Fit will sell huge, Rock Band should beat out Guitar Hero III after word of mouth gets out. Hopefully the ESA can recapture some of the holiday atmosphere if the show moves to Vegas in '08, but at least we got loads of information on a fortune's worth of promising titles and some great coverage from all the major media outlets.

-Get ready for lots of Touch Generation and whatever the Wii equivalent will be from Nintendo. Fitness Training, Brain Training, Logic Training, Face Training, SAT Training, who knows how far down the rabbit hole they're willing to go. Some will be intriguing, some will sound stupid, all have a strong possibility of selling very well here in the states.

-I don't understand the suffocating hype behind Killzone 2. I get that PS3 owners want very much for this game to be a success in every way possible because it's a high profile exclusive but really, what have we had to go on so far in order to judge its level of quality? A 2 year old CGI video? Are people really that hard up for yet another entry in perhaps the most crowded genre in all of gaming? As a comparison, the sequel to No One Lives Forever recieved a fraction of the hype Killzone 2 has despite the original title being 10x the game that the first Killzone was. Even if this turns out to be an above average next-gen shooter, it's looking like it will be one out of dozens that also deserve such a title.

-Super psyched to see Double Fine finally pull back the curtain on their latest opus.

-Besides Alan Wake, I have no idea what to expect from the 360 in 2008 and I'm not sure if we're going to have any clearer picture of what's on the horizon at the end of the week. Everything they seem to be focusing on should be on store shelves by Holiday season, there better be a few announcements to keep momentum going.

-Really hope the PSP Lite is shown in all its glory. Would love to pick one of those babies up later this year if that is indeed the timetable for launch, E3 seems like the time to show off the redesign.

-After turning off from WoW seemingly for good, I wouldn't mind scratching that MMO itch at some point once again. Marvel/DC, Bioware, possibly Blizzard and who knows else are working on things, I'm interested in seeing which ones look the most promising. Something other than the well worn fantasy RPG motif, please.

-Despite my worries for Nintendo's direction I'm salivating at more Mario Galaxy information. I'll surely buy a Wii just for that and Smash Brothers and most likely feel completely satisfied with the purchase on the merits of those two powerhouses.

-Guitar Hero III vs. Rock Band, Round 1, Fight!!1

-Probably a longshot, but if even a glimpse of whatever Team Ico has up their sleeves is shown I'll be one happy internet browser.

-Hopefully an excellent surprise Xbox Live Arcade game will be coming our way tomorrow after being announced at the press conference tonight. I want lots of sexy arcade and console titles that everyones been clamoring for announced at this show.

--

Microsoft will win if all the playable games are great, there's plenty more announced for the future, a price drop is in store later this year, and there's one ZOMG bombshell either in hardware or software form announced.

Microsoft will lose if we get alot of Windows Live blah blah, a more expensive tier introduced, and an overreliance on Halo branding at the conference and barely a peep on what to expect for the future of the 360.

Nintendo will win if the DS dominates both 1st and 3rd party offerings, the Wii gets some real meaty games on the horizon and third parties actually have something interesting and fun to offer Wii gamers with strong effort and talent behind their development.

Nintendo will lose if they turn their back on the hardcore audience with gusto, as casual gamers aren't really paying attention to E3 to begin with. Also if the arrival of quality Wii games looks to be as slow of a drip as it is now heading into the end of the year and beyond.

Sony will win if the PS3 software is mindblowing to the point even a cynic will realize this stuff can't be done on the 360, Home is flippin great, the PSP has a strong showing, and they reveal a ton of first, second and third party exclusives worth getting excited about. Also, chop off another $100 from the pricetag.

Sony will lose if they rest on their laurels, show alot of pie charts and graphs at the conference, or lie to the public and act arrogant about their position in the console race. Also if third parties that once made exclusive Sony games continue going multiplatform.

But really, it's E3 time again despite the wierdness of a new era for the show so we all win! How nice.

I wish I hadn't sold my PSP before playing Crush

I wish my second disc for Curse of Monkey Island wasn't so scratched to all hell

I pumped all those quarters into Michael Jackson's Moonwalker when I probably should have been playing Street Fighter II or something

I should have kept my copy of Katamari Damacy instead of giving it to that girl

I can't believe I put all those hours into World of Warcraft/Burning Crusade only to stop for good as soon as my main hit 60

I should really play Metal Gear Solid sometime

I wish I had paid that guy for his NBA Jam TE cabinet when the offer was on the table

I should have taken better care of my Dreamcast games

I wish I owned a Nintendo system growing up to go along with all the Sega

I wish my 360 gamertag was AlistairCookie

I never realized the reprocussions of a Gamespot permaban, but thanks to this user I came across browsing around the site I now know what lies ahead for us at the end of the rainbow. That's some good stuff right there Gamespot, good stuff indeed.

Nintendo has its sights set on expanding the market, and that's great. They also want the Wii to be the companion system of choice for more serious gamers like myself, and that's fine too. But if the good folks at Nintendo really want to sneak their Wii next to my 360 in the living room, they're going to have to start announcing some more compelling titles than the current crop of minigames and underwhelming rehashes on the horizon. Resident Evil 4, really? That's the best Capcom has to offer? And while I'm interested in a Nights or Fire Emblem sequel as much as anyone, fan service and redesigned Gamecube projects will only go so far and it's certainly not the reason I felt so excited after the unveilings during E3 and TGS.

I thought that redefining the interface was going to inspire a host of new ideas from developers. That everyone's favorite game maker would
come up with some imaginative use for the remote and bring original IP's to the console in the process. The reality is aside from Wii Sports I've yet to see sparks of inspiration from Nintendo's own teams, let alone the Kojimas and Molyneuxs of the world.

Though it gets little fanfare today, Nintendogs was a watershed title for the DS. Not only did it take advantage of all the unique capabilities of
the system, it was an original IP unlike anything we've ever experienced on a handheld and went a long way towards setting the system apart from both the GBA and PSP. Electroplankton and Brain Age continued the trend and helped the DS establish it's identity, essentially fulfilling the systems promise of what was possible from a software standpoint (worldwide dominance followed shortly after). Now the sky is the limit, and not just for first and second party developers. I'm afraid that the overwhelming early success of the Wii will send the wrong signal to Nintendo that they're giving the people what they want and it may take even longer before the Wii sees its own Nintendogs (and no, I don't mean a console version of the DS game).

It's obvious that third parties are (were?) taking a wait-and-see apporach to Wii development and sure it takes time for every console to get its legs, especially unconventional ones. Despite enjoying the DS I was about ready to give up on the system after the lean early year. But what was once XX/YX and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent eventually became Elite Beat Agents and Hotel Dusk, so I have faith that at some point we will see the Wii's true potential materialize. I'm just not prepared to pay Nintendo $300 right now while I wait.

The three keys to making a Nintendo Wii purchase worthwhile:

1. Expanded online functionality
2. Announcements/releases of original IP's that take advantage of the interface
3. Super Mario Galaxy on store shelves