Get Geeked...

Nerd out people. It's gonna be a video game Friday, and I'm inviting you into my review of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Welcome to the 2010 E3 Review...or as I like to call it...Get Him to the GEEK.

WAKE UP THE MASSES!!! This is Something Clever.

Whoo! So E3 is over. It was great, right? Hmm...I wouldn't know. What I do isn't considered "journalism", so I was not invited. Oh well. Maybe we'll make some headway, and get invited next year.

Well, if you're reading this, you probably already have a good idea of what E3 is and what it's all about. But let's be honest, every E3 has about 5 to 10 things that are really, really awesome. The rest is just filler. Games you don't care about (Kid Icarus). Vague attempts to squeeze every bit of life out of a franchise that has been bastardized beyond recognition (Splinter Cell). Needlessly bringing out new versions of the same exact console or peripheral we've had for 5 years (Nintendo 3DS). But there are some announcements that really get peoples attention. That being said, I talked to about 30 different gamers to get their opinions about what they saw for the past three days. So this review is about the top 5 things that came out of E3.

First off, here are the honorable mentions:

Donkey Kong Country Returns

It's all about nostalgia. This looks like it could be a lot of fun. From what I can gather, it's pretty much just an update/sequel to the DKC series from the Super Nintendo. Honestly, it's about time.The only reason it's not higher is because it has a lot of pitfalls to overcome. Donkey Kong Country came out 16 years ago. I was 9 years old. Needless to say, my tastes have changed. So how do you update the game for newcomers but retain the aspects that made us love it in the early 90's? There's no telling if Nintendo can pull that off. That being said, this game will easily sell a million copies based solely on the fact that the people who bought this game in 1994 are now adults, have jobs and don't mind dropping $50 to relive some of their childhood.

Dead Space 2

Every time I think of Dead Space, I think of my roommate screaming in horror every time something crazy happened in this game. For storyline and intensity, Dead Space nailed it. It really was engrossing and interesting. Dead Space 2 looks like it will continue in that vein. The reason it isn't higher is because I feel like they're really running the risk of making the story line played out. It's like doing a sequel to Titanic. Yeah, you can make it happen, but all the stuff that got you involved in the first one is long gone. Also, it looks insanely gorey, much more so than the first one. I'm still undecided on this one, but I trust EA, so we'll see what happens.

And now: The Top Five

5. Portal 2

The cake is a LIE! The sequel is not. Solving puzzles in FPS format...what isn't fun about that? Everyone I talked to said they planned to check out this game. The plot seems to be pretty solid, taking place 100 years after Portal. Also, it's going to have a two player co-op feature. The release date has been pushed back until 2011, but I think this game will be pretty successful.

4. Fallout: New Vegas

Everybody loves a post-apocalyptic world! Do you know why this impressed me? New Vegas has a completely different story line from the rest of the Fallout games, includes none of the original characters and basically could have been released as an expansion pack to Fallout 3. Yet EVERY single person I spoke to said they were going to buy this game. That says a lot about this franchise.

3. GoldenEye 007

I really thought this was going to be #1. Everybody who calls himself a fan of 'First-Person Shooters' has memories of GoldenEye 007. And everyone I talked to agreed: Without 007, there's no Halo. There's no Call of Duty. There's no Fallout. This was the game that said, "From now on, THIS is how we do FPS." So why isn't it #1? Well, trust is a big issue. If you count the Perfect Dark series, there have been 12 007 franchise video games since GoldenEye 007 came out in 1997. Almost every single one sucked. Bad. Agent Under Fire was passable because it had a good multi-player setup. But most of the games were awful, so it's hard to believe that we're going to go back to getting that vintage GoldenEye experience. Also, keep in mind, this is NOT a reboot. This is a re-release. Basically, Nintendo decided that since everyone keeps talking about how great the old game was, they would just give us the exact same game, instead of trying to change things. Seriously, I saw the screenshots and the trailer, it doesn't look like anything has changed. Some new guns and Daniel Craig instead of Pierce Brosnan. So, either it will remind you of the days of your youth or you'll get irritated because the game is 13 years old. Either way, its hard to tell until I can actually get my hands on it. Which I'll do as soon as possible.

2. Marvel vs. Capcom 3

YO! This looks awesome! Everyone I talked to was geeked for this one. Everyone knows the Capcom VS. series, so there's not much to explain there. But it looks like this game is going to use the same fighting engine that was used for Street Fighter 4, which could make the graphic experience of this game epic. No gameplay footage yet, but if you can, go to YouTube and watch the trailer. It's really intense and the scene where Dante from Devil May Cry fights Deadpool is ILL. Slated for a Summer 2011 release.

And now, the number one E3 release, as voted on by my friends and some people at my job and my roommates and some people I saw in line at the food court two days ago...

1. NBA Jam

WHAT??? I did NOT see this coming! Believe it or not, EVERY single person I polled had this game in their top 3, if not #1. Why? Why would a novelty basketball game get people this interested?

HE'S ON FIRE! Need I say more?

Basically, it's like this: it's REALLY hard to screw up a sports game. The basic premise is already there. You just have to decide what to add to make it interesting. Madden NFL and NBA Live have the market cornered on games that simulate the real thing. But it was always games like NFL Blitz and NBA Jam that had mass appeal. Take a game you love, then break all the rules, and do things that they could NEVER do in the real sport. That's why these games have been popular for years.

In the new NBA Jam, we're going old school. Back to the basic two-on-two setup, though it's now incorporating 3D graphics. All the NBA stars. Pushing and shoving. Insane dunks. Busted backboards. And, most importantly, basketballs that catch on fire. After you play through the season, you have to face what may be the ultimate duo in basketball history: Magic and Bird! Other legends already announced include Clyde Drexler, James Worthy and Dennis Rodman. My only gripe with this game is that it's a Wii exclusive, but I'm hoping that it will get ported over. Release date is set for August, but I promise that will get moved. You don't want a game like this getting caught up in mix with Madden and NCAA in August. I'm thinking this will drop closer to October.

OK, that's a wrap. Let's be honest, I'm a video game nerd at heart, and its cool to talk about something light-hearted for once (especially after that BP article). But I think it's time we separated this into 2 blogs. Current events commentary is what we do here. If you are a regular reader, look for some changes coming soon. Hope you enjoyed, see you Monday!

up, down, up, down, left, right, select, start!

Watts