I'll warn you this entry will be heavy on videos! I'm going to talk about the games that were shown at E3 this year that I can't wait to play.

Before I launch into it, though, I finally got to play Mod Nation Racers. I'd heard so much about this kart-racing game because my good friend zathril worked on the development team. I haven't played a kart game in years (I didn't much enjoy Mario Kart on the wii due to the controls), but years ago I was completely hooked on the various kart games and I have to say my favourite was Krash Team Racing. So, I was fairly excited to play a new one.

But let me tell you, I had NO idea how much I'd love this game. I didn't get to sleep until around 3am saturday night after we were desperately trying to beat Pandemic the strategy board game, but I woke up at 8.30am and all I could think about was unlocking the mods I needed to make some really cool characters. It's been a long time since I neglected my sleep because I was so fascinated by a game.

Not only is the customisation out of this world (for your characters, karts and courses) but the gameplay is just incredible. I'd read some of reviews about how the actual racing was pretty standard kart racing, which on first appearances it is, but the many things you can do and the FAST races make this the most intense kart racer I've played. It's certainly very difficult, but it's difficult in a totally fun (and not controller smashing) way.

What really had me hooked, though, was the absolutely endless things you can create with the mods. If you have some time to spare and are totally intrigued do a search on youtube and take a look at what some people have been coming up with. It boggles my mind. Mind you, I already made my dream racing cadillac AND a super fantastic bat mobile, which I have to say I'm quite proud of.

If you get this game, we should have a race! My PS3 name is cherryrae, feel free to add me!

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Games I'm excited about from E3
(in no particular order)

DEAD SPACE 2


Here's the deal: I LOVE scary films. Love them. Scary games I love too but I have a stupidly hard time playing them. I tried to play the first Dead Space and only got through an hour. Admittedly I did play it somewhere around 10pm and in the dark. If I get time (and my xbox360 fixed) I'm going to play that game during the day. This trailer blew me away and if I never play it I hope one of my friends does and they let me watch!

PORTAL 2


Yesss! All of us Portal fans have heard the rumours of the sequel and here we have it. So so excited. This is like an uber-fan dream. Lots of pandering to fans of Portal 1, I expect. And if not I'll be sadly disappointed! (Hey, pandering is totally cool in the right place).

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION



I won't lie, I'm mostly excited about this because it's being made by Square. I really enjoyed the last Deus Ex and this new one looks like it'll be so much fun. This is probably the game I'm most excited about. ALSO. FUTURE!

And the music, ugh. If this trailer doesn't give you goose bumps... well, you're not entirely human.

HALO REACH (demo)


We've all heard a lot about Halo: Reach by now, but the hands on demo at e3 show us more of the same that we've come to expect from Halo but INTENSE. Holy crap that's the only way to describe this demo.

ZELDA SKYWARD SWORD


Pretty cool! I don't think I've been really excited for a Zelda game since Majora's Mask and I think that has something to do with the wii platform. I love the wii for the wii fit but playing the last Zelda on this console I kind of gave up because I started to feel like a bit of a tit swinging around the controller to slash enemies. It's either because a. I'm getting old and boring or b. because I'm self conscious even when in a room on my own! This is a pretty cool first look, I just want to see a trailer that shows us the story and some draw!

SUPER SCRIBBLENAUTS


Adjectives! I LOVE adjectives! Seriously! Scribblenauts was the first DS game I'd bought in years when it came out. And I finished it in a weekend it was so addictive and fun. Add in some descriptive words and I'm pretty much hooked. Also a game that finally isn't afraid to let us get back to using the d-pad instead of that damn stylus.

ASSASSIN'S CREED BROTHERHOOD


Assassin's Creed II was one of my favourite games in years. I enjoyed playing it through so much. I rarely finish games because 1. there's not enough hours in the day for me to work, create AND play 2. very few games hold my attention to the very end (probably due to 1.). I'm super excited I get to play a whole new game as Ezio, but I wish there were more single player hours built in. I just don't have time to really work at online multiplayers like this. It does promise to be a very different multiplayer experience, though!

I do wish there was the option to buy the singleplayer mode alone since clearly the game is more about the multiplayer, and do I really want to spend $70 for only 15 hours of play?


SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD


A fantastic comic book turned into a super retro 8-bit (even down to the music) game?! Yes please! Nostalgia aimed at my generation will never fail to hook me in. And I love this comic book series, so it's win-win!


ROCK BAND 3


We have regular rock band nights round these parts, and we've been hooked since the first version. A real six string guitar, a keyboard and harmonics ala Beatles Rock Band and this just makes this an even BIGGER game. I better get some more friends. Haha.


FABLE III


Confession: I never finished Fable I or II. Still both of these games would probably end up on a favourite shortlist for several reasons - the game play, the soundtracks and the stories. ALL genius! And pretty unique in the game world too. Fable III looks similar to the first two with a brand new story. I'm pretty sure I never finished the first two for the simple reason I ran out of time and got side tracked on newer games! These games are HUGE for completists like me.


TRON EVOLUTION


Again a bit disappointed with it being on the wii, but maybe this will be the game that makes me love playing games on that console? Either way it looks SO COOL and futurey. A neat idea for online play and it looks like the kind of thing you can dip in and out without having to devote hours and hours to online play. As IGN pointed out the Light Cycle challenges looks a bit like F-Zero, which I loved so here's to hoping!


BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD


Another nostalgia hook for our generation, but it looks like some good old fashioned arcade fun. Mostly I just want to play it because it's a BATMAN beat em up!


FINAL FANTASY THE 4 HEROES OF LIGHT


I'm an old school Japanese RPG addict. That's all!

NEVER DEAD


It's been a while since I've played a good 3rd person from Konami. From this preview the engine looks like it could be similar to Silent Hill with a lot more action (and swords apparently!). It's a game set in the middle of a supernatural war. It could go either way but I'm excited to see.


CHILD OF EDEN


An experience not a game? That sounded pretty pretentious to me until I watched the trailer. It's a really cool concept using the Kinect system to physically envelope you in light and sound. Of course you should probably like dance music if you're going to play this game. Now, if only I still did a lot of drugs...



BATTLESTAR GALACTICA MMO


I'd be the among the first to rush to play this game if 1. it wasn't browser based and 2. I had time for MMOs it's exciting that MMOs are being made from great science fiction but at the same time I don't think you're giving it much of a chance by building it browser based - you're going to alienate hardcore gamers who will shun the browser and thus limiting your audience to the tee vee show viewers who might not have time/care to invest in gaming. It makes me wonder how well those audiences cross!



PROJECT DUST


Very intriguing! I haven't played a good RTS/God sim in forever. I have a feeling this is where this is going, but I could be totally wrong.



FINAL FANTASY TACTICS (iphone)

I really enjoy playing tactical games like Advance Wars and FF Tactics in the spare 10 minutes I get here and there. The iphone seems like the perfect platform for that!


Biggest disappointment:

Final Fantasy XIV online. Why online? Seriously? I heard that Final Fantasy XI really didn't do that well, and that and XII are the only ones I haven't played. I'm right in the middle of XIII and it's seriously the best one I've played since VII (I know everyone harks back to the world favourite). I have a hard time understanding how the FF concept works in the MMO world, so maybe that's really the issue here, but I'd be sad to have to wait another 12 years for a really good FF.



CONSOLE NEWS

Obviously the big news is the 360 Kinect and also Sony's announcement of their own motion hardware (called 'Move' I think?). As you can see from my various ramblings not having really gotten into playing games on the wii I'm not really swinging one way or the other for motion games. But, it does look promising that there'll be a lot more adult oriented games on these consoles and it looks like they're taking the movement to a while new interactivity level, so it'll be interesting to see it develop. Also, I know my good friend S_Eldorado is working on the music for one of Microsofts release titles so it'll be exciting to see how that pans out.

Although I did read several places that one of most people's biggest concerns was whether they could sit down while using Kinect. Really? I'm amazed at how gamers manage to reinforce the stereotypes sometimes.

PHEW! This whole thing took me two days to put together, so I hope it's useful for those of you that weren't able to follow the E3 announcements entirely. I'm sure I've forgotten a couple of games I read about and was excited for, so please feel free to tell me about them!

As an aside - while there are a couple of really exciting PC RPGs coming out, I didn't include them because I don't own a PC, sorry!