The Final phase of our plan has begun; Release the Laser-Shark-Bees! (By Robert Bruce) The first thoughts I had after roaming the floors of E3, were toward the bafflingly huge booths dedicated to social gaming and mobile gaming companies. These companies must be making a fairly sizable profit to be able to afford the large swathe of floor space on the E3 floor. The other thing I noticed was how small the big game prod companies booths were in comparison to years before. Who dis!? EA’s booth was the most anemic, and their primary game push was Madden; along with some other EA sports titles. Other than a DOTA-esque Lord of the Rings game, that was it, really for EA. (Edit; thanks to Chris for pointing out the inaccuracy) They were also showcasing Dead Space 3, but unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to check it out; the line was intense for this one, however my point stands that in years past there was a larger section for EA, with more unique titles. Activision was focusing on Skylanders, which is smart cause that’s a cash cow that keeps on giving. Also, obviously they were focusing on Black Ops 2, because that is the game people seem to buy in their sleep. Spiderman 15: the reckoning 2 (not sure of the current title) was somewhere in there as well, but I wasn’t interested. Nintendo and Sony’s booths were about as large as ever, with a plethora of play-ables. I had the most fun in these sections. I got a feel for the possible promise of a Vita system, but after the glow of the show wore off, my cynicism returned. I gotta’ say the two coolest things I saw at the Sony area were 3rd party, small time developments –or semi-small time in the case of the Portal Expansion. Retro City Rampage, one of the two, has that poise to blast off in a big way. The polish and detail on that game was so intense, and the people I talked to about the game seemed like some of the most sincere guys; which if you don’t know is a sentiment that’s slowly disappearing at E3. You can switch the view mode to CGA guis!- also a game boy view mode, replete with the vomit grey and green that was so signature of that system. That is dedication to old-school-ness that really should be a legend in the making. The game -unlike many lip-service old school motif games- really tries to capture the feel of a game from that era, with a little bit of the sensibility of this era. Pure fun, that’s all I gotta’ say. If you want to see more about this game, check it out here. How many Kart Racer ripoffs this year? …at least 3 I also got to check out the new Portal Move based expansion “Portal 2 In Motion”, and I got the same feeling from the guy I talked to as I...
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