Oizys and myself set off on the yearly Adventure of Adventures. With our trusty cameravideophone recorders Internet devices, we managed to document a lot of random but cool sights and sounds around the expo halls. We captured a combination of live audio recordings, live (but sometimes choppy) video clips, and a few random pictures. Here are our highlights of this years E3!
 
Here's our E3 WRAP-UP PODCAST COVERAGE OF DOOM MP3! Download and listen now!
 
Annnnnd Wiiiiiiiiiiii

First things first, when the doors opened on Wednesday, we made a bee-line to the Nintendo area, in hopes to get in the line for the Wii area. While we were progressing in line, we passed a series of some flat-screen televisions that were turned on their sides and mounted on the walls of the huge Nintendo area. Each TV had a live broadcast of a person sitting there who would chit-chat with you while you waited in line. It was a seemingly random mix of people. We didn't catch who they were, but one person stood out; the person who does the voice for Mario. We recognized him from last year's E3, when you could play Mario Kart DS with him from a studio somewhere far away (Seattle?).

It turns out the people in the screens were the people used in some of the demonstration footage inside the booth, which was a nice touch. The guy on the far right of the slot-machine looking series of TVs is the guy who does the voice for Mario. The whole area was really quite impressive. It had a very futuristic feel to it, very light and well-lit. It was a circular, organic structure, lots of curves and bright white panels. Monitors were scattered around to show you video clips and highlights, while a rotating podium stood in the middle of the structure. On the podium were three TVs where three sets of people were all playing the Wii in their own way. Two people were playing tennis, another person was conducting an orchestra in the symphony game (who we later found out to be the person who conducted the music for Zelda), and another was playing the Metroid game.
Here's an AUDIO CLIP of our first impressions walking into the Wii area.



Nearby, soon after that, there was a very well lit display case that helped illustrate the amazing design each of the Wii components have. Check out some of the shots and video we got of the cool tech.
As I said before, one of the Wii musical games puts you in the place of a symphony orchestra conductor. It's a fairly simple game, (mostly another proof-of-concept,) where you wave your controller like a baton. The faster or slower you move it around, the faster or slower the orchestra plays. You can get silly and make them play super fast or super slow, or change it up gradually. The most impressive aspect of the experience is that it is incredibly sensitive and responds quickly to any changes in tempo. We caught a glimpse of someone playing this demo above.
I got my hands on a proof-of-concept demo that illustrates how to use the controller. It involved 'picking up' a person and trying to navigate around a scrolling screen, all while collecting coins. This gave me a quick feeling as to how light the controller was, and how easy it was to 'relate' the cursor to the main screen. The game itself was simple to understand but it required some very subtle and precise movements. You want to swing the controller around like a light saber but you really don't have to. It's really amazing how sensitive it can be. Having previously owned the powerglove, and also trying various types of virtual reality games, the sheer subtlety required to control this and other games was almost shocking. Sheer effortlessness.

Oizys managed to play through a demo of the mighty Zelda. When you first sit to try it, you have the option of trying a fishing minigame, or play through a dungeon sequence. Oizys opted for the dungeon sequence. It's a fairly quick tutorial of how to work your way around levels, including how to target using Navi, (LISSEN!), look around and shoot things with your bow using the pointer controller, and slash the crap out of bad guys. The end of the demo yields a nice climax, a boss fight involving a big fiery monster and a big flashy weak point on his forehead.

Here's another AUDIO CLIP after we'd had a chance to look around a bit in the Wii area.

Overall we were incredibly impressed with the ease of use and versatility of the up-and-coming console. It may have a silly name, but by no means is it a silly console. The Wii has carved itself a huge niche and the possibilities of the device are quite expansive. Not everyone shares our sentiments, though.

Battlefield 2142
Holy crap. Holy crap oh my god, holycrap. These words and more were said when I first laid eyes on the logo for this game. To my utter excitement and glee, there was a fully playable demo for Battlefield 2142 live and on the floor of E3. It turns out that the actual production of the game is all but done, however they are working hard on balancing the game now. I got a chance to sit down and give it a shot. LOL A SHOT GET IT.
The gameplay and feel for the most part is identical to Battlefield 2, but there are some significant and incredible enhancements and changes that have been implemented.
For starters, instead of just being able to unlock another gun or to for each class, they universalized the class system a bit, and made every little thing other then the base class gun an unlock. Over 40 unlocks!
There are now only four base classes, Scout (Sniper, Recon), Assault, Support (heavy weapons and rocket launchers), and Engineer. Where did the medic go?!?! Easy: Instead of a medic class, ANY CLASS CAN UNLOCK THE MEDIC OR RES KIT. The trick is that each class has a paper doll slot that they can drag their unlocks on to configure their load-out. If you take a medic kit and a res kit, that might mean you can't carry grenades with you.
You can save a load-out to quickly be able to pull up. So instead of saying 'Hmm, I want to play a sniper,' you say 'Hmm, I'll load up my full sniper config; active camouflage, high-powered sniper rifle, extra ammo, and an EMP grenade.'
New vehicles include a walking mech, which is a very useful anti-infantry vehicle, a hover tank, APCs that allows their occupants to LAUNCH themselves hundreds of feet into the air safely, and helicopter-equivalents. (Think those flying things from the future in the Terminator movies).
They've introduced a new gameplay mode called Titan, in which each side must protect their huge aerial aircraft carrier/fortress from being destroyed. Scattered across the map are missile silos which can be captured like bases. Every two minutes those silos shoot missiles at whichever team's Titan doesn't control the silo. After the Titans shields are weak enough, you can infiltrate their base (remember those launch-tastic APCs I talked about?), head in the base, and then destroy key targets.

Honestly I can talk for hours about how much potential for fun this game has. I'm a big fan of Battlefield 2; This sequel takes the best from Battlefield 2, combines with elements of the great and classic Starsiege: Tribes, and adds a sprinkle of virtual advancement a-la Planetside. I cannot wait.

Here's a quick AUDIO CLIP of the game, as well as a little of the SHADOWRUN FPS that's due out for XBOX and PC.
Other Attractions!
E3 is always such a wank. Don't get me wrong, it's impressive as hell, but it's just such sensory overload. Every company is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to vie for your undivided attention. Booths have done some crazy things in the past but this shocked the hell out of me. For the new Tony Hawk Downhill somethingorother game, they busted out a huge half-pipe and were doing tricks on them. Yeah, Tony Hawk himself. Totally cool.
Here's an AUDIO CLIP of me mistakenly calling this the Kentia Hall, (Oops!) and talking about the half pipe.
Here's Oizys rocking out to a Franz Ferdinand song, which happens to be the theme for the credits in an anime called Paradise Kiss that he and Penultimate are all about.
The Sony area was underwhelming. Perhaps I was jaded or spoiled by the oozing ahhs from the Nintendo area, but we just blazed through the PS3 area. Nothing jumped out at us, except for a cool interactive card game and the above Karaoke game. Here's an AUDIO CLIP with our fly-by of the PS3 area.
Kentia Hall
Here's an AUDIO CLIP with a little explanation and description of Kentia Hall, the 'indy area' of E3. Kentia is basically filled with lots of small meeting rooms for companies who don't really have a 'booth presence' but help the industry nonetheless. For example, we met with our favoritistestest online gaming ezine, The Escapist, to shake some hands and let them know how much they rock.
In Kentia Hall, we caught wind of an exclusive first look at a new game due out soon. It looks awesome.
 
OTHER E3 RANDOMNESS!
Here's an AUDIO CLIP with a snippet about Dead Rising, AKA Grand Theft Buncha Zombies In A Mall. The time has come in which consoles can finally handle putting more particles and characters and bodies on a screen than can fit. Also, you can throw CDs at zombies. Stacks of them. It doesn't appear to hurt them, but then again zombies aren't real. Either that or you have to use records. YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!
 
Here's an AUDIO CLIP of a stamp collection frenzy Oizys and I took part of to get some Schhhwag. It's a good idea; They give you a card with a list of games to try. You fiddle with them for a few minutes, and someone comes over and stamps your card. Once you've gotten all your stamps, you get a big bag of schwag, with posters and whatnot.
 
We got a chance to play a heavy PVP semi-MMO game being developed called Unleash the Fuc... Sorry, just Unleash the Fury. Here's an AUDIO CLIP of our snap reactions.
 
A quick AUDIO CLIP glance and walk-by of the new World of Warcraft expansion, as well as the latest patch and new dungeon coming out. I didn't get to spend nearly as much time at this booth as I wanted, but c'est la vie.
 
The jerks at Bethesda cock-teased us again this year with yet another cool poster. DAMMIT HURRY UP AND DON'T SCREW IT UP, EITHER. S.P.E.C.I.A.L. OR BUST.
 
Project Wiki: This is an MMO coming out. It has nothing to do with Zelda. Really. Nothing at all. Not the same game at all. No Zelda MMOs coming out at all.
 
Pikachu always brings the fight wherever he is. Pokemon Ranger, AKA Pokemon: Circle a Bunch of Shit.
 
Oizys gonna eat all the Pokemons.
 
Oizys gonna eat all the Autobots.
 
An interesting look as to exactly how close the Nintendo and Sony areas were. It was awkward and fantastic all at the same time.
 
You may have seen this guy's work on the internets. He's a very famous sidewalk artist who draws things with screwy perspective, so that when you look at them from a certain point, you see a really huge cool... thing.
This drawing was no exception.
 
This Duderdude and Chickychick are from a few games by the same mighty company (Webzen). The soldier is from Huxley, a first person shooter MMO type game,
And the axey dude is from a game called Soul of the Ultimate Nation.
 
This chick was hot as hell. You can see her trying to cop a feel there. Her left arm was hella long, and that is hot as hell. I hear she got fined five grand for showing off her chest. So hot.
 
:3
 
Lol forum trolls.
 
Our sentiments exactly...
 
We tried to summon the Zenon. PPPPPPPPPP. But failed. =/
 
That about wraps up this years coverage of E3. It was a blast and I think we managed to see everything we wanted to see in our one-day shotgun race through the event.