So E3 is underway right now. I've been watching through G4 TV. DVR is my friend. So many commercials and crap I don't care about. I've also watched through Gamespot. Good times.

This will be a long post. I'm going to share my thoughts on the big three conferences; Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. Then I'll share my thoughts on the EA and Ubisoft conferences. Then I'll highlight a few games. Sound good?

Gamespot is a good place to watch the press conferences. Go here [broken link - removed] to check out their E3 coverage. Anyways, let's start out with the Microsoft Press Conference.

I thought Microsoft would have the most interesting conference because Nintendo has had lame ones for the past few years, and Sony can't keep their mouth shut. The conference wasn't good.

Some highlights were announcing a Metal Gear Solid game for the 360. Not an exclusive, but Microsoft doesn't care. It stars the lovable Raiden. I liked Metal Gear Solid 2 and thought that Raiden wasn't a big panzy when I got to the end. So that's something to look forward to.

Left 4 Dead 2 trailer was shown and announced to be released this November. Good times. The Director can change the game even more, including weather and the path you take. Also some sunshine on a few stages! I like seeing the details of the zombies. All the zombies looked similar in the first one because it was dark.

Rock Band Beatles was also highlighted but I don't care.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was also shown. I'm not a big Call of Duty fan.

The most interesting part of the Microsoft Conference was Halo ODST, for me anyways. I'm not a big Halo fan, although I do admit that the first Halo changed the FPS for the console, so I give it that. The other two were just copy paste of the first one with a few improvements. But ODST looks interesting. First, no Master Chief. Second, you play as an ODST soldier, which is a cool concept. Third, the game is more open, which is good. I like different. It proves me and a bunch of other Halo haters wrong, so good job Bungie. Fourth, and probably my most favorite part of the game, is the fact that you play as various ODST's and you are peicing together the story through them. So that's good news. The bad news, Bungie has turned into a one trick pony and making another Halo game, apparently based on one of the Halo books, which makes me go, why make a game if there's a book. But it's a cash cow and Microsoft loves its money. I was hoping for a new IP from Bungie because they are a talented developer.

The last thing shown was Project Natal. Basically an advance Eye Toy. Microsoft calls it their version of the motion control. Again, it's an updated version of the Eye Toy. Which failed. Miserably. By Sony. There's voice recognition and facial recognition, but that's the main difference. Microsoft showed off things that could be done with, that has been done on the PS2 and the Eye Toy. Except the thing called Milo. People were impressed by Milo, but I wasn't.

Basically a lady interacted with this boy named Milo in the XBox. She drew him a picture, talked to him, and what not. I wasn't impressed because it didn't show the power of this new technology. Basically, the entire thing could have been scripted. I truly beleive that when she put her picture up to the camera, that Milo knew to "grab" the picture, but I am talking about other things.

For instance, what would happen if she would have drawn a hippo instead of a fish? Would Milo know? When Milo threw something to the lady, and she "caught" it, what if she would have just stood there? What would Milo have done? Would Milo make fun of her? Mircosoft didn't show me anything that interested me yet. Each person is different and reacts differently, therefore the character on screen needs to also react differently. Anyways, until I see actual games I won't be impressed. Stomping down a street as a dinosaur and swatting at buildings does not interest me.

Next up would be the Nintendo Conference. My expectations and what Nintendo delivered were completely different. I expected the big thing would be the Wii Motion Plus, that they announced last year. I mean, a Mario game was released recently, and they already announced a Zelda game for the DS. They surpised me, just as they said they would.

First off was the New Super Mario Bros. Wii, for the Wii. Basically this is like the New Super Mario Bros for the DS, except on the Wii. You can also play four players on any stage. At any point in the game, another person can join the game. It's gonna be sweet. Reminds of the arcade version of Mario Bros, where you were competeing for a high score in the sewers. It's old. It made an appearance in Mario Bros 3.

Nintendo also talked about the Wii Motion Plus, and Wii Sports Resort. The Wii Motion Plus attatches onto the Wiimote and detects your movement, 1 for 1. Looks good.

I'll talk about Red Steel 2 when I talk about Ubisoft's conference, which uses the Wii Motion Plus. A real game.

Nintendo also announced Mario Vs Donkey Kong for the DSi where you can make your own stages.

Then another Mario and Luigi game.

Then the announcement of Super Mario Galaxy 2! YAY! I like the New Super Mario Bros Wii better, but Galaxy was so much fun. But that's not until next year.

They also showed off a trailer for Metroid Other M, for the Wii. They teamed up with Team Ninja. The people behind Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive. Intriguing, but I haven't gotten into the Metroid games.

Behind closed doors, Nintendo also announced they are going to be releasing a new Zelda game for the Wii next year. And it'll use the Wii Motion Plus.

New Conduit trailer also, but no new information. Still excited.

Moving onto Sony. My expectations were pretty low of Sony. Not because they didn't have stuff to talk about, but because they spilled a lot of beans. The Playstation Protable Go was leaked right before E3. But Sony got be excited and made me a very happy Playstation owner.

First the PSP. New Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker is coming to it. Kojima wrote the script and is producing it so he is very involved with it. A lot of the team from Metal Gear Solid 4 is working on it. Takes place 10 years after Metal Gear Solid 3. An entertaining and humorous trailer. The trailer hinted at four player co op.

Sony also demoed Assassin's Creed 2, which is mulitplatform. It looks amazing and looks fun. I love the combat. You go in witout a weapon, take your enemy's weapon and kill them with it. Then Davinci's inventions. Then swimming. Then grabbing a guard who investigates a hay pile you jumped and and you stab him and pull him into the hay. Then there's the two hidden blades that you can stealh assassinate two people at once. Good times. More on that. Maybe. I said a lot.

Also an Assasin's Creed Bloodlines is coming to the PSP, and there will be some sort of connectivity between Assassin's Creed 2 on the pS3 and the PSP game. So that should be interesting.

Sony also announced an exclusive Final Fantasy 14 for the PS3. Not a Final Fantasy fan.

Sony also showed a trailer for The Last Guardian which is a game by Team Ico. They created Ico and Shadow of the Colosus for the PS2. Both highly rated games and Shadow of the Colosus was awesome. I need to play Ico yet. Still excited for the Last Guardian.

Modnation Racers also looked cool. Customized tacks. Sweet. It was an interesting demo. He made a track in 5 minutes.

Sony also demoed their prototype for a motion control, using the Eye Toy. It's interesting. What I liked about this controler over Microsoft's, was that they showed how it could be used with games. First Person Shooters, RTS, Sword Fighting, among others. It was just a prototype and a tech demo, so nothing special, but they actual showed applicable ideas that don't include painting. I'm not too excited, but at least Sony is trying to keep up.

Then there was the God of War III demo. I peed myself. I said "Weeeeeeee!" a lot yesterday, but God of War III left me with a stupid smile on my face that only a God of War game could bring. Seeing Kratos in HD, and seeing him covered in blood, and seeing him rip off a horn and stab it into the same enemy's eye, just brings joy to me. I mean there are no words to describe how excited I am for God of War III. I won't camp out for it, but I might preorder it. I usually don't preorder, but if there's a good preorder bonus (which I am sure there will be) I will. So Sony made me the most excited.

This year wasn't a dissapointment when it came to the press confences. Onto the EA and Ubisoft Press Conferences. I'm proud of EA. With new management, they have cleaned up their act from a few years ago. They are introducing new IP's.

First up is Brutal Legend, by Tim Schafer. Tim is behind Secret of Moneky Island and Psychonauts and others. He's a genious. A strange mind creates the funniest and greatest games. He has that mind. And so Brutal Legend will be awesome. They demoed the game, and it's violent and is very heavy metal. I'm excited for it.

To be honest, I can't remember anything else from EA. There was more, but I got too excited over God of War III.

Ubisoft didn't talk about much either. New Splinter Cell, but didn't demo Assassin's Creed 2.

They did demo Red Steel 2. I read about it and got excited, but seeing it made me even more excited. The first one sucked. But they revamped everything, including the graphics for this game. Looks great, and the sword play and gun play looks good. Especially since you can switch between the two whenever you want. Plus the Wii Motion Plus will provide one for one movement of the sword, and more customizable controls. I'll just talk about games now.

Heavy Rain for the PS3 intrigues me still. The game is like an interactive movie. There really isn't a lot of gaming to it. It's basically a never ending set of button prompts. Which sounds lame. But it's the story that's going to draw me. In the demo, there was an FBI agent investigating the Origami Killer and had to check out the junk yard. He was asking question to the junk yard owner and the junk yard owner starts attacking him. The player has to push button prompts to fight back. Certain things would happen with each prompt. If you miss a button prompt, you won't loose, but the path will change.

For instance, in the first demo I saw, he got to a part where he's handcuffed in a car and he barely escapes, but the junk yard owner starts fighting him again. But while the player is on the ground, a prompt pops up to protect your head from the junk yard owner's foot. he missed the prompt, and died. In another demo, he got to the same part, and succeeded and there was more of the action. In the end, he kills the junk yard owner and survives and you get to see more of the story through the FBI Agent's eyes. I was rooting for the player to win, since I had seen him die before.

Bye the way, when the agent died teh first time, the game continues. You just don't get to see more of the story through that character. We'll see though.

Crysis 2 was also announced for the PS3, 360, and PC. So that's cool.

Dragon Age Origins is looking cool. The demo showed you fighting a dragon. Good times.

MAG was also demoed. 256 players online FPS. It sounds good. The concept is a good idea, but we'll see what happens after it is released.

Anyways, enough of that. I'll report more on E3 later. I covered the 3 press conferences which is important.

Bye.