Assuredly, anyone reading this blog has already gotten most of their big E3 news from one of the main gaming sites, or from G4 or Spike. So, no need to rehash that news here. Instead, I’ll give you a little insight to the con from the point of view of a lowly attendee. We’ll do little updates throughout the show, then a full wrap-up of the event after its conclusion.

So here we are, at glorious E3. Day one. As we enter, we are handed free energy drinks by women in tiny, tiny dresses. Let the games begin. So to speak.

Super Scribblenauts

While it is entirely accurate to say this game is ‘more of the same’, I assure you that it’s not meant as an insult. Super Scribblenauts features the same graphics and gameplay as the original Scribblenauts, with the addition of a few thousand more words, including adjectives. When I created a ‘lycanthropic clown’, and then placed a ‘full moon’, I suddenly had a very angry were-clown. The controls have tightened a bit as well, lessening the chances of you sending the protagonist plummeting into a chasm when you were just trying to pick up a hot dog.

Battle Chess

As someone who remembers the old Battle Chess, playing a new iteration was a blast. Essentially, Battle Chess is a game of, well, chess, in which your pieces are little humans and creatures as opposed to statues. When one ‘takes’ another, a little cinematic plays of them maiming and destroying the opposing piece. Childish? Yes. Entertaining? As hell.  They have also added a new ‘Battle Mode’, in which when a piece is taken, it opens up a little action minigame where the piece can defend itself. Sure, the latter mode isn’t really chess, but that will be a great way to teach my son the basics of chess, without him lapsing into a boredom coma.

John Daly Golf (Playstation Move)

Before I played this game, the nice Brit that was demoing it explained to me how much more advanced and accurate this game was than Tiger Woods on the Wii. After playing a few holes, I can tell you with complete confidence :

This is exactly the goddamn same as Tiger Woods on the Wii.

The motion feels the same, that weird little jitter the icon has when you point it at the screen as if you are having a stroke (golf pun unintended) is the same, and the game looks near identical. The only major difference I noticed is that John Daly is significantly whiter than Tiger Woods.

That isn’t to say the game isn’t fun, it’s just exactly as fun as golf on the Wii. Believe not the hype, my friends. Everything that is great and everything that annoys you on the Wii, you will get with the Move.

Arcania

Not much to say about this one. Arcania is your basic fantasy-based third person hack and slash game.  You run around, you kill skeletons with a sword, you jump on things. The version I played was either unfinished, or half-assed. It had interesting design, but quite a few graphical flaws. If they tighten it up a bit it may be worth keeping an eye on, otherwise, it will be completely forgettable.

Power Gig: Rise of the Six String

Since their creation, games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero have endured the chide of ‘why don’t you just learn to play a real instrument?’. This year’s E3 shows how companies are attacking that, with Mad Catz’s 102 (!) button controller, and more of a focus on real chords. Power Gig has gone right for the throat, by just giving you a real guitar. Real strings, real frets, real everything. In order to play a note, you hold down a string in the correct fret, and strum. Now, let’s cut straight to it. In all reality, this won’t teach you shit about playing the guitar. But, it feels more real, and being able to move up and down strings while rocking a solo is pretty damn fun.

More on this game (air drums?) tomorrow, as well as hands on with the 3DS, and the new Zelda.