E3 2011: Sony Conference

Compilation trailer opens the show… features NGP, no PSP in sight. Nevermind, PSP shows up late to the show…

Jack Tretton gives out an apology regarding the PSN. Much appreciated.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
- Live demo shown, somehow looks better than Uncharted 2
- Multiplayer begins June 28
- Will support 3DTV, another trailer shown
- Releases 11-1-11

Resistance 3
- Live demo shown, also supports 3D
- Bundled with Sharpshooter controller, PS Move, PS Eye, Analog controller for $150

God of War: Origins Collection
- Remakes of PSP God of War games: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta
- Both game remastered in HD and 3D
- Releases September

ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection
- Both game remastered in HD and 3D
- Releases September

PlayStation 3D Monitor
- $499 gets you a 24" 3D monitor, with glasses and HDMI cable, and Resistance 3
- 2 Players can see 2 different images instead of split-screen somehow.
- Releases in Fall

NBA 2K12
- Uses PS Move
- Kobe claims it's realistic, he's also a rapist…
- Releases October 4th, 2011

Medieval Moves
- PS Move title played from sort of first person/third person hack n slash adventure
- Will probably have the same fate as Sorcery the PS Move game we saw last year
- Claims to be releasing in Fall 2011

InFamous 2
- New trailer despite it releasing tomorrow
- User created features coming in Fall

LittleBigPlanet 2
- Update coming to heavily feature PS Move

Starhawk
- Sort of sequel to Warhawk

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
- Pre-rendered trailer shown
- Coming 2012

DUST 514
- Connects with EVE Online
- Supports PS Move and NGP
- Beta in Fall, releases Spring 2012

BioShock Infinite
- New gameplay trailer shown
- Will support PS Move
- Comes with BioShock 1 on PS3 (weird)

BioShock for NGP
- Only mentioned, no footage or screens

Saints Row 3
- Launches November with PS Move support

Star Trek
- Trailer shown, co-op based gameplay
- Based on next Star Trek film
- Will support PS Move and 3D, with a Phaser controller coming out
- Coming 2012

SSX, Need for Speed: the Run, and Battlefield 3 all support extra context exclusive to PS3

PlayStation Suite
- Service for non-PlayStation devices like Android phones and tablets

PlayStation Vita
- Final name for the NGP
- Two analog stick, 2 cameras, SIXAXIS, 2 touch panels
- Will have 3G and WiFi models
- AT&T exclusive 3G carrier for PSVita in North America
- PartyRoom allows cross game voice chat
- Near, allows you to play games and see trophies of nearby Vita users
- More than 80 titles in development
- Releasing Holiday 2011
- WiFi model costs $249
- 3G model costs $299

Uncharted: Golden Abyss
- Live demo shown
- Can use traditional controls, or touch/motion based controls

Ruin
- Top-down fantasy combat game
- PS3 version will be compatible with Vita version, cloud saves.

ModNation Racers
- Entirely new version developed exclusively for PSVita
- Use both touch screen and rear touch panel to raise/drop elevations
- PSVita version will be able to access content from the PS3 version's community

WipeOut 2048
- Compete via PSVita or PS3 at launch

LittleBigPlanet
- Touch controls
- Carries over LBP2's design tools
- Horizontal or vertical levels
- Share costumes/content with PS3 version

Street Fighter X Tekken
- PSVita version, live demo shown
- Will feature Cole from InFamous

No PSP new for obvious reasons, and seriously, where was The Last Guardian??

E3 2011: Ubisoft Conference

What a... weird presentation, no James Cameron boring people to death, but... yeah.

Rayman Origins
- Live demo shown, has co-op
- Looks fun!

Driver: San Francisco
- Hyperactive man says dick jokes on stage
- New trailer shown

FarCry 3
- They didn't even say what this was for the first 5 minutes of this trailer/gameplay
- Doesn't seem that exciting…
- "THE surprise of the show" I beg to differ

Brothers in Arms: Furious 4
- Looks a bit cartoony
- Oddly doesn't show swastikas despite calling the bad guys Nazis
- Probably has Left 4 Dead inspired gameplay

The Adventures of Tintin: The Game
- Spielberg and Jackson talk about the game based on their film (in a trailer of course)
- Trailer shown, 2D/3D gameplay

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
- Live demo shown, with a controller this time

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online
- Free to play web version of the franchise

ManiaPlanet
- Trackmania 2 for PC releases in September
- Shootmania and Questmania also coming

Rabbids: Alive & Kicking
- I can't believe this franchise is successful…
- Exclusive for Kinect
- Share photos from the game on Facebook
- Comes out November 8, 2011

Just Dance 3
- Another franchise I don't get why its popular
- Not only on Wii, now on Kinect and PS Move

Rocksmith
- Another use-a-real-guitar music game
- Coming Fall 2011

Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012
- I'm just bored now

Assassin's Creed Revelations
- New trailer shown
- Features Ezio and Altaïr
- Live demo shown
- Releases November, like every other big game...

E3 2011: EA Conference

No major reveals, but I did this anyways...

Mass Effect 3
- Releases March 6th, 2012 on 360, PS3, and PC
- Live demo shown, looks amazing

Origin
- EAs new Steam-like service, "Go check it out!"…
- No really, its after EVERY TRAILER

Need for Speed: the Run
- Super stat-tracking
- Out of car gameplay, a.k.a. running from the cops

Star Wars: The Old Republic
- New trailer shown, all pre-rendered footage we've seen…
- No date

SSX
- No more serious look or subtitle
- Comes next January

FIFA 12
- Yup, they still make it.
- EA Sports Football Club connects you through all versions of FIFA regardless of platform.

Madden 12
- Holy Crap!! I cannot believe they're bringing this franchise back!
- Really, they used Inception music for this??
- Enough of the meat-heads please.

The Sims: Social
- Facebook is not a gaming platform, get out of my face.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
- First game from 38 Studios
- Open world fantasy game

OverStrike
- First multi-platform title from Insomniac Games
- Weird off-portioned realistic characters, I'm scared.

Battlefield 3
- New graphics engine is … astonishing
- Beta in September
- Free stat tracking, coughActivisioncough
- Releases October 25, 2011

E3 2011: Microsoft Conference

A summary of Microsoft's E3 Press Conference. Media will possibly be added later.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Live demo shown, with controller hiccups too!
- Graphics/animations look better
- Releases November 8th, 2011

Tomb Raider
- Origin story (if you didn't already know)
- Live demo, looks totally different, more cinematic
- Releasing Fall 2012

EA
- Tiger Woods PGA, Madden, FIFA, and another game will support Kinect
- Sims 3: Pets and other EA titles also using Kinect

Mass Effect 3
- Uses Kinect for voice commands
- Speak Shepard's speech choices as opposed to just pressing a button…
- Tell party members what to do in battle

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
- New trailer, clearly not in-game footage
- Uses Kinect for… everything. Seems, odd.
- All future Tom Clany games will use Kinect

A new Xbox user interface, streamlined for Kinect
- Very much like Sony's Xross Media Bar
- Will support YouTube (which Wii and PS3 have done with browsers for years)
- Bing to search Netflix, Hulu, XBL Marketplace
- Live TV support with voice controller
- Launching in Fall

UFC
- Brofest 360
- watch live events, check stats, play trivia, for an added fee of course

Gears of War 3
- Ice T live demos with Cliff B.
- Ice T's band Body Count will have a new song in the game...

Ryse
- Formerly Codename: Kingdoms
- Trailer shown
- Kinect based Roman first person combat

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
- Rerelease and remake of Halo 1
- Releases November 15, 2011

Forza Motorsport 4
- New trailer
- Releases October 14th, 2011

Fable: The Journey
- Trailer shown, pre-rendered footage
- In-game demo, uses Kinect
- Releases 2012

Minecraft
- Exclusive console debut in winter for 360 and Kinect

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
- No longer give your kids a vacation, tell them to stare at the TV
- Actually a mini-game collection
- Awful child actors not included

Kinect Star Wars
- Actually looks like a real product now
- Yet another mini-game collection basically

Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
- From DoubleFine
- Uses Kinect
- Comes out this Fall

Kinect Fun Labs
- Being added to the dashboard
- Scan your body and make an Avatar
- Drawing in 3D space
- Scan in your real life items
- Goes live TODAY

Kinect Sports: Season Two
- More Wii Sports in HD
- Skiing, Tennis, Golf, Football, Baseball, something with a stage?

Dance Central 2
- Because no one wants plastic instruments, but shaking like a fool is fun.
- Import songs from the first game, like Rock Band did.

Halo 4
- Teaser trailer shown, still no personality
- "Start of a new trilogy"
- Not by Bungie
- Fall 2012

No More This Week in Futurama

It's exactly one month before Futurama returns to Comedy Central again with new episodes. But I've decided, with an upcoming busy work schedule, and an unfavorable feeling when I wrote the previous episode reviews that I won't continue the episode reviews for the remainder of the show's existence.

I'm fine reviewing Fringe and Doctor Who, because at least those shows generally have an overall narrative that I can discuss my thoughts and theories about (and sometimes bounce ideas of another reviewer like I do with Fringe). But when it comes to Futurama (and not the movies, cause I can at least treat those like movie reviews), I'm just judging the humor, and that honestly just gets annoying after awhile when I can't say anything about the story. Sure, the episode plot may have something to say, but overall, it doesn't matter. But really its a mix of that, and the fact that I have a lot of work to be doing on my own film this summer, so I figured I would cut the feature I liked the least.

Sorry if you were looking forward to those, however, I'll still be tweeting my thoughts on the new episodes over on @ViewFromHeaven with #Futurama.

A Thought on Box Art

This awesome and official minimalist box art by Olly Moss for Resistance 3 almost makes me want to buy the game just for that reason... but then I remembered it's Resistance 3.*

Either way, if it sells well, I hope more publishers go with 'Criterion' box art like this instead of the usual guy/girl front and center with big guns and/or muscles/boobs.

Class it up, game industry, class it up.

*I'm aware that Resistance has its fans, and that the games are well made. But from what I've experience from demos of the game, it's just not for me. And let's be honest, the boxart for Resistance 2 was pretty crap/generic when compared to the need-no-explanation photo cover used for the first game.