Out on the floor on E3, many people could be overheard saying that 2009 is truly the year of the portable, as the sheer volume of titles being released over both the PSP and the DSi (not to mention the announcement of the PSP Go!) are nearly overwhelming.

Some garner more attention than others, and yet one shines brighter than all the rest, bringing together some of the most celebrated characters in videogame history for the first time ever: Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Read more… »

After finally getting to hit the show floor, following the stellar announcements at the press conferences, I made my way to the Atlus block. Feeling my inner excitement for one of my favorite publishers/developers I dove right into one of their highly-anticipated remakes.

Persona PSP is slated to release in Fall 2009 (I pestered, but no official date yet), and its a going to be a refurbished version of the original with cinematics, voice acting, and a graphical upgrade. Dated gameplay, however, keeps the game from being anything but a fan service. Read more… »

Guitar Hero: On Tour introduced the world of handheld gaming to the most conventional concept for portable modern rhythm games. Some players, however, didn’t like the idea of curling their fingers around a Nintendo DS in order to jam out some arthritic rock tracks. Harmonix has heard the cries of the carpal tunnel afflicted, and has thus created Rock Band: Unplugged. The musical millstone has been passed back onto your good ‘ol thumb. Read more… »

Everyone has been on the edge of their seat for more details regarding Capcom’s Dark Void. Will it become a new, sucessful IP similar to Lost Planet? Or, will it in fact be just “Lost Planet with a jetpack”?

Honestly, after playing the game, I can safely say it’s the latter. Read more… »

Tony Hawk himself was here at the E3 showfloor to show us a demonstration of his latest game, Tony Hawk Ride. As you already know, the latest edition of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series will ship with an interactive skateboard controller.

Not only did Tony talk about how Ride came to fruition, but he also played on-stag with the E3 Ride contest winner. Hit the jump for some pictures, and more information! Read more… »

It’s no doubt that the Halo franchise has revolutionized shooters on consoles forever. One of the best matchmaking systems which are still matching up millions of players each and every day years since Halo: Combat Evolved launched. I played Halo 2 and 3 to death. Midnight launches, 5am sessions, I did it all.

Not only the multiplayer but the single player kept me coming back for more, finding out what else could happen in this generic but compelling sci-fi story has made the Halo series one of my all time favorites. So why is it that when Halo: ODST was demoed at Microsoft’s E3 press conference I was left underwhelmed and utterly disappointed.

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It’s E3 minus one, and already Microsoft delivered on its promise of something big. Let’s face it, everyone was surprised. We all knew that there would be some “waggle” involved, but no-one actually expected that they’d go and make an evolutionary leap.

Project Natal is really more then motion capture, and the point of the “Milo” demonstration was to concentrate the focus on that. By removing the peripheral from the equation, the immersion becomes less about thinking, and more about doing.

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