Alright, so here's part one of my E3 stuff. Stay tuned, as there are still more pics and more importantly, video to be posted.
First stop, I entered West Hall and immediately went to Nintendo's booth. Even though I was there during the two hours that was open to media only, there was already a line waiting to get into the Wii booth. I talked to an attendant and to my surprise he allowed me through the VIP line.
As you enter the Wii booth, you see a huge rotating display with people playing Wii.
I didn't really have any time to play any titles at that time as I had an appointment with Gametap.
There are some pretty sweet titles available on Gametap. Sega, Capcom, Namco, and SNK all have games available on the service.
After my appointment, I called up Richie and we went straight back to Nintendo's Wii booth. Being at the right place at the right time and running into the right people is great. Again, I did not have to wait in line to get into the Wii booth. I sensed that I wouldn't get a chance like that again, so I made sure I played as many games as I could. All in all I played Super Mario Galaxy, One Piece, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, and some Spongebob game.
I went back to the display case of Wii hardware and accessories and took some pictures from different angles.
Had some other meetings to head to in Kentia Hall. Richie found the $300 Logitech wheel that he's in love with. He played it on a $3500 seat and speaker setup.
Thursday, May 11 Expo Day 2
Took some up-close pictures of the PS3 and PS3 controller. My roommate Zukin says he wants to buy a large George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine and mod it to look like that PS3.
These pieces were part of the "Into the Pixel" gallery showing.
Intel had a free latte/mocha/cappuccino bar as well as a free internet access area for everyone.
Battlefield 2142 was interesting. It reminded me of futuristic FPSs like Unreal Tournament, but make no mistake, it is a Battlefield title.
Went back to Nintendo’s booth to play some new DS titles on some very nice DS Lites. Some of my favorites include Chibi Robo: Park Patrol, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Mario Hoops 3 on 3, Children of Mana, Final Fantasy III, Big Brain Academy, Elite Beat Agents, the new Kirby game, SNK VS Capcom: Card Fighters Clash, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, Contact, Yoshi’s Island 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
Richie playing Star Fox DS. It has some pretty intuitive controls.
Guitar Hero II was a huge hit at E3. The new multiplayer modes are awesome. You can now choose whether you want to play lead guitar, rhythm guitar, or bass guitar.
Richie trying out an odd and hard to use board controller. They had this thing hooked up to a SSX game, and it was difficult to make hard turns without falling off of the board.
Martin Leung making a name for himself. If I’m not mistaken, he was previously known as the Blindfolded Pianist.
Link is really a girl!?
Rob Van Dam was stopped by for a signing to promote the new next gen WWE title.
A car from Pixar’s next hit.
The Scarface attraction at Vivendi’s booth looked pretty marvelous. They were constantly showing a trailer for the game where everyone said "fuck" fourty times over.
Waiting in line to see Spore.
Reggie! He stopped by while we were waiting in line. I asked him if we could take a picture and he said “very quickly please.” I then proceeded to ask him if he could act like he was choking me. He responded saying “No, no, no, I don’t do violence.” I then told him, “but you do kick ass and take names.”
After waiting in line, we enter a small room that should normally hold thirty people and we fill it with about fifty. As I enter, I see a familiar face to my left sitting in front of a computer. “Holy shit!” I thought to myself. “That is Will Wright!” Mr. Wright proceeded to amaze me with what looks to be one of the most incredible I’ve ever seen, Spore. Apparently it’s been announced that Spore will be released on ALL platforms. Even the DS will be getting a version.
This display was in Capcom’s booth and included some pretty cool Mega Man action figures.
Elebits, a Wii title by Konami where you can moves objects around in a three dimensional space.
DDR SuperNOVA. The same DDR as it ever was. This version of course has a bunch of new songs to dance to and master.
Konami had a few arcade machines in their booth. This here is Guitar Freaks V2, a title similar to Guitar Hero, except it was created before Guitar Hero. I’ve played it before, and after playing Guitar Hero, I don’t find Guitar Freaks as fun. The guitar controller only has three buttons, no whammy bar, and most of the songs are Japanese. When I want to rock out, I would rather play songs I’m more familiar with.
Beatmania IIDX: 13 Distorted. If you’re into music titles like Guitar Hero, DDR, Frequency and Amplitude, you should definitely give Beatmania a try. It has recently been released on PS2 with the turntable controller.
