E3 ’09 Live Running Coverage! Day 3!

10am – We’re back at E3 for our last day! As sad as it is to say goodbye to all of these games and have to wait until they ultimately hit shelves over the next two years, the rotating Gilmore badge is now in the hands of our friend Ben Dunn! First we had Nar. Then Zack Haddad gave us his impressions. Today, we get Ben Dunn getting down on the action!

The floor is about to open so we’re going to go check things out. I’ll be back in a few with Ben and I’s impressions of what we haven’t already covered this week! Stay tuned!

I aint afraid of no ghosts… as long as I’m with these guys.

– It’s 12:45 and we’re about to go to the Tecmo booth for a tour of their upcoming games. Real quick though: Ben and I got some hands on time with the new PSP-Go and I’ll give you some quick impressions. It is super light and feels better in your hands than the current PSP model (which cramps you up over time). As much as it feels like you’re playing on a cell phone, the gaming just feels more natural and the flip top screen looks great. This system is THE EXACT SAME SOFTWARE AS THE CURRENT PSP. The screen size is smaller so the pixels are smaller and so it gives a nicer resolution. If you’re a fan of the PSP, you won’t complain about the smaller screen size because it feels and looks cleaner. There still aren’t dual thumb pads (because it’s basically a PSP still) and there’s only one data input slot. I asked if there would be a UMD reader that you could buy as an attachment and that decision hasn’t been made yet but the launch title is Gran Turismo with a few more downloadable ones to be announced. These will be both full titles and demos. Check Ben out. He’s loving this:

Ben actually has very small lady hands… this system is pretty tiny!

I’m curious about the PSP-Go… but since I already have a PSP (with Kratos on it!) this might be a pass until there’s a real reason to pick it up.

I have to run to Tecmo but I’ll be right back! Promise!

– 9pm – Okay. So I never came back and now I’m at home completely exhausted. Please, let me explain. At the Tecmo booth, I was shown three games (which I will write up a more in depth story on for next week). The first was Undead Knights, a PSP hack and slash title with a pretty cool Lemmings/Overlord-style mechanic. You play as one of three undead characters who are out to get revenge on the king that had them killed. As you battle the kings forces on your way to and through the castle, you can turn any enemies that you fight into undead zombies that can turn and work for you. They can bum rush enemy soldiers, take down obstacles, get thrown onto bad guys or team up to build ladders. These are just some of the applications. Out of all of the Tecmo games, this one interested me the most because, while it looks like a Lord of the Rings Conquest style of game, thehumor and metal music playing is very much straight up Army of Darkness-style. The other two games were Quantum, a Gears of War style PS3 exclusive with team elements similar to the most recent Prince of Persia and giant shifting environments, and the fall PS3 release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, where you can play three different characters. Full impressions are coming soon so watch this space!

From Tecmo, I headed to the West Hall for a meeting with a smaller company called Vogster. Vogster had three games to show off for different platforms and all three were absolutely different. The first one I played is a PSP downloadable exclusive being released in the next few weeks called Unbound Saga. It is a beat ’em up similar to Final Fight or Streets of Rage but in this one you play between two different characters (who you can switch between at any time) as they battle through a comic book panels on their quest to defeat their creator.

As the styles of enemies and artwork change in relation to periods in comic book history (like a golden age transitioning to a silver age and on into an Image Comics style, etc), a floating hand draws new villains onto the screen to deal with his upstart creations. The game looks great on the PSP screen and I’ll write up more very soon. The first thing that caught my eye was the Leinil Francis Yu artwork that Vogster had commissioned to promote the title.

Leinil Francis Yu Artwork = Jonny Is Interested!

The other two games were Robocalypse, an iPhone and WiiWare tower defense game and Crime Craft, an online MMO for the PC that plays differently than any other PC MMO and takes place in a near future world run by gangs and criminal organizations. I’ll write up some bigger impressions for you in a separate article considering I had some in depth time with all three games.

See that sniper scope? That’s in an MMO… honest!

The day had a lot of moments that I glazed over in my rush to see more and get updates for you. Let me use this time to bring them back for you.

Ben and I spent some serious time on Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time. Although I’m PS3-less and have never played the first installment or the added DLC chapter, I was assured that I could enjoy A Crack in Time without needing too much of the backstory from the first PS3 episodes (even though I’m still totally going to hunt them down once I get my PS3 to play some God of War 3 and The Last Guardian!). It was a Ratchet and Clank game, so really, I didn’t care. I wanted to play! The game is par for the course with any of the earlier Ratchet and Clank games with creative, upgradeable characters (most of them hilarious) and interesting and sometimes complicated enemies and puzzles. The build that we played still had some bugs to work through but it was still some of the most enjoyable minutes I spent on the show floor. Is it just me, or is Ratchet and Clank one of the most overlooked consistent franchises in gaming? I think it’s about time that the pair took over for the flatlined sonic franchise and the wobbley platforming experience of Little Big Planet. If Sony really is hard up for a company mascot, they have have two consistently performing employees of the month already on their release calendar. I nominate Ratchet and Clank and can’t wait to play this game again!

This is a picture of me whipping a tank’s ass… with a suck cannon.

This is lunch. It was better than yesterday’s sandwich and pretty cheap. I love finding cheaper alternatives to the overpriced convention center options. 7 dollars for a fruit bowl? REALLY? BLAH! I will pay for your $3 Diet Pepsi’s but only because those are like water to me!

I also learned that I suck at Sing Star! As if this isn’t proof enough that I’m a red blooded American male that loves a hot steak and game on the TV set every Sunday afternoon, check out this duet from Ben and I of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”. It’s a fucking trainwreck on my part. I don’t know the song very well at all (I thought you only had to say Under Pressure a lot) and I tanked my score way behind Ben’s. When I pointed out to him that I started scoring really well at the end, he deflated my female balloon by blurting out “yeah, ‘cuz I was singing your parts”. Does his near perfect score make him a bigger man? You be the judge:

The other games that Ben and I checked out was Sin and Punishment 2 for the Wii. THIS is a good looking game! I never played the first Sin and Punishment but what I played here reminded me of the old Master System game Space Harrier but on some serious crack. The environment is constantly shifting and offering up new enemies as you run, jump and fly around the screen shooting at a countless number of enemies. You have multiple weapons with varying powers and the action is constant and fast paced. If you’re a fan of shooters like R-Type or Space Invaders Extreme but also like platforming elements, this game is a solid representation of both. I’m definitely interested in playing this game through if only to see all of the gorgeous backgrounds and challenges moving around me. You see buildings topple around you and you flying both rightside up and upside down while wave after wave of enemy forces manuever to cut you off. It’s like fighting a deadly, metal kaleidoscope of bad guys and I loved it.

Speaking of shifting environments and bad ass platforming, here’s a blatant picture of a woman dressed like the chick from Bayonetta. I cannot wait to play this game again one day. It’s humor and kinetic action teamed up to rock me to my core.

So was that it for E3 ’09? I was beat and had collected all six Monkey Island pins. I had seen and played all of the games I wanted to (some of them I will cover on next week’s show). I had built myself up for some really cool releases next year and boned up on my info for the rest of you. Was I done with E3?

No. There were 2 more games, unavailable on the show floor, that I had yet to see and I wasn’t leaving until I had played them for myself. As I cracked the door to the outside world, intent on going to my car, I stopped and turned around. I still needed to visit a guy named Threepwood…

Two minutes later I walked into Lucasarts’ private demo room. Stormtroopers were standing outside to promote the Clone Wars Baby Races Game or something like that. I had no time for that prequel Hitler: The Early Years bull-hickey. The girl at the front desk asked me if I had an appointment as she opened her appointment binder. “No” I replied, “but I want to see a demo of the Monkey Island stuff… right now.” She could tell I was serious and I could tell SHE could tell because she turned around and went to look for security. No F-ing way was I going to come this close and be ushered out. I saw another press group being ushered around the desk and around a corner and I pretended to be part of their publication. I think Guybrush himself would be proud of my sneakyness. Aren’t you?

I rounded the corner and saw two screens facing me (amongst some other Lego Kingdom of the Crystal Dull silliness). One screen offered the new XBL reskin of the original Monkey Island while the other screen presented Tell Tale Games’ soon to be released first episode of their 5 part PC and WiiWare title Tales of Monkey Island. Could I get a “hells to the mofo-ing yeah”!?! It was time! I had waited 8 years to see my friends again!

You want impressions? Here they are. The Curse of Monkey Island reskin for XBox Live is absolutely breathetaking. Now, once and for all, the younger Geekscapists will get exactly what I’m talking about every time I geek out over my favorite game of yesteryear. Not because this is an enhanced version of the old game necessarily. This is LITERALLY the EXACT SAME GAME. The Scumm engine and the old Monkey Island code is STILL THERE, running underneath the new artwork and control scheme! If you flick a button YOU WILL SEE IT! Old nostalgic gamers like myself will spend the entire game switching back and forth between the new, beautifully hand drawn rendition of Monkey Island and the old 1990 version of the game. The team at LucasArts went to huge lengths to make sure that the game we will be playing on XBox Live and the PC this summer is as close as what we experienced 19 years ago. Even the hint system has a sense of humor. The control scheme is simple and intuitive and the added voice acting is all pulled from the last iteration of the franchise. Guybrush Threepwood and LeChuck SOUND like they did the last time you saw them… except now, it’s the first all over again! The music has been rescored from the original and enhanced for current systems. No jokes have been taken out or corners cut. This game is as much a love letter to the original game as it is a fresh re-experiencing of it. And for players like Jake108, who LOVE to track their gamerscore, there WILL be achievements for this title consistent with the rest of the XBox Live DLC. Now you have a REASON to take me for my word and download my childhood so you can live it for yourself.

While everything played out in front of me and I was brought through the updates, I had to ask if there was a chance we might see other LucasArts titles re-released in this fashion. What I was told my the LucasArts producer (who was blown away (or scared) by the intensity of my Monkey Island fandom) was that if this DLC is successful, it might give them insentive to crack open the rest of the LucasArts vault. Could you imagine some Maniac Mansion or Day of the Tentacle? What about Fate of Atlantis or the rest of the Monkey Island titles? The older stuff like Grim Fandango and Full Throttle still hold up. Maybe they could be put out with just a modernized control scheme? And you KNOW I didn’t leave without gently reminding him that we are still waiting on the LAST TWO chapters in the Loom saga! Why not just release all three in this fashion? The original and the rest of the story! People… it could happen. If you think I’m dreaming, remind yourself that a re-release and added chapter to the Monkey Island series was also a dream of mine… and that dream came true!

So what about the new Tales of Monkey Island title coming to PC and WiiWare in early July? Well, for starters, here’s the backstory. It’s been five years since the end of Escape from Monkey Island and Tell Tales is giving themselves that space to distance themselves a bit from what may or may not have occured when we last saw the characters (Guybrush had just finished fighting in a giant mechanized monkey if I’m not mistaken!). Guybrush and Elaine are finishing off another adventure (the subject of a true Monkey Island 5?) when this chapter picks up. The build that I saw still had some animation issues, noticeably the voice animations of the characters mouths but the voice acting is everyone who was involved in Monkey Island 4 and the new XBL reskin. As with the earlier titles in the Tell Tale library, the animation and art quality isn’t completely top notch but it does have a distinct character design. This is a game that just started development in January, I was told. As much as I would have liked to see a smoother and nicer visual presentation, the humor from the earlier games is intact and the world seems sincerely Monkey Island. I almost stole some carved unicorns from a bored pirate but he caught me. I can’t wait to see what I need to do to successfully get those unicorns for myself! And then what will I do with them? THESE are the thoughts of a 30 year old Monkey Island addict! This is for life, baby! I was told that there won’t be any mini-games conducive to the Wii control scheme set up for the first episode of the five Tales of Monkey Island release but that they might be developed for the later chapters. Tales of Monkey Island is being released in five linked episodes over a five month period starting early July and I could not be more excited to jump on the boat and set sail.

Well, with that knowledge in hand, and not wanting security to be alerted, I grabbed myself a Monkey Island poster and headed for my car. E3 was an exhausing experience but being among good friends like Nar, Zack and Ben and experiencing some exciting games with all of them was definitely worth the derailing of my sleep schedule. This week has given me some really exciting things to look forward to and I’m enthusiastic about sharing them with you guys here on the site and on the show. Be looking forward for the rest of my impressions from the demos I was given at E3 and be sure to tell all of your friends where you can find us.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m pretty sure I have an episode of Geekscape to upload for all of you. Sorry it’s so late, but things this week have been a little busy! Just know that I did it all for you… well, kinda.