N-Philes

N-Philes' Best of E3 Staff Picks

Posted June 14th 2009 by Jared Thomas.

Things run at a slower pace here at N-Philes. When we do our E3 retrospectives, we like to let the dust settle, let the excitement wear off, and let the memories congeal -- maybe even grow little mold spores of nostalgia on there -- before we're certain they're ripe for publishing. So without further ado, here are our barrel-aged gourmet retrospective impressions of the Best of E3.

To start things off chronologically, we'll look at who took first blood in the pre-expo theater of the press conferences.

ADRIAN: Easily Microsoft. Although Sony had some good ideas, I think Microsoft not only surpassed expectations but provided a show that was energetic and cool. I'm not even sure who Nintendo is talking to anymore. When Link riding a choo-choo train and Women's Murder Club are the jewels in your crown, you have to wonder who the audience is, and it's probably not me.

ADAM: Sony. They showed some solid games, including a portable sequel to my favorite Metal Gear Solid. I like that they spent some time on games that aren't super high profile, like ModNation Racers. The conference was too long, but I still think it was the best. Microsoft's was a close second.

DERRICK: Microsoft. They showed the most games that I personally want to play.

JACOB: Tie between Sony and Microsoft. Both companies showed off great games for all audiences and demonstrated some impressive new technology. Of course, I might be saying this to spite Nintendo's answer to innovation with their Vitality Sensor. And a new Mario sequel wasn't exactly what hardcore gamers were looking for, either.

BRANDON:Microsoft.

COREY: Microsoft. I am completely partial to the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 trailer because I am an online shooter fanatic. I also thought the inclusion of Project Natal, with a complete lack of a controller (on a much higher plane than the previous Eye Toy for PS2) is something Microsoft can take full advantage of.

GARETH: Microsoft, from what I've heard. Only two I actually saw were Ubisoft and Nintendo. I guess Nintendo would take it between those two on account of Metroid: Other M and Mario Galaxy 2.

JORDAN: Sony. Microsoft had a solid showing and Nintendo definitely knows what it's doing, even if they're not doing it for me anymore, but I find myself more interested in Sony's line-up of games, on both the downloadable and retail side.

DESIRÉ: Microsoft.

JARED: Microsoft. I didn't see Sony's press conference, to be fair. Worst PC might go to Nintendo, for being the only company to have the press walk through metal detectors, wand our crotches, and check our bags, despite also being the only company to show a non-live conference. Microsoft didn't even check our ID on our way in to a conference with the Beatles present, a band that actually has an assassination in its history.

And the Best Press Conference goes to...

The Microsoft press conference handily won the crowd with an impressive slew of games and a well-paced show that smacked of carnival barker brilliance. Sony's conference lacked no ambition in its game offerings or new ideas, but lacked the showmanship to keep things exciting. Nintendo appears to have a more sober priority these days to simply announce their wares for news publications (i.e. a true press conference) and as such were overtaken in the vaudevillian aspect of the show.

Now, Microsoft's pizazz may have won the hearts and minds of the conference attendees on the whole, but that doesn't mean they won every battle in the war. What single announcement rocked the most worlds?

Metroid! Totally new direction for the series with a totally new developer. I loved what Retro did with the Prime series, but I'm getting some serious Super Metroid vibes from Team Ninja's trailer. And that makes me happy.

Project Natal, hands down.

The PS3 motion controllers. Everyone has some kind of motion control "solution" now, and the PS3's is most interesting to me, even though it's the earliest along. I still think there's a good chance we'll look back at all this and think it's all stupid, but right now I'm interested to see where it will go.

I was really impressed at Project Natal for two reasons: One is that my expectations for Microsoft were so low that you could have debuted a game about Master Chief on a spirit train and I could have been impressed. Luckily there was second reason to be interested with a peripheral that has voice, movement and facial recognition. Neat. Just make sure you can use it in more than two games, please.

Metroid from Team Ninja.

Nintendo and Team Ninja collaborate on Metroid: Other M. Both Natal and the Sony Wands were exciting to hear about, but I think we had a general feeling that both companies would be entering the motion-controlled space. Another Metroid title isn't unexpected either, but Team Ninja doing a take on the series that will surely be unlike any other was more surprising. I don't know if I'll like it or if I think it's a good idea, but I was definitely surprised.

I want to say Project Natal, but a motion control idea from Microsoft can't compare to the completely left-field announcement of a pulse sensor from Nintendo. I still don't know what to make of it. Nintendo completely out-Nintendoed Nintendo on this one.

The most surprising game for me was Super Mario Galaxy 2. I say that primarily because Nintendo has never released two full 3D Mario games on a single platform before. I knew they were going to have a big announcement to make up for the complete fiasco that was last year's press conference, but I was still surprised, although I think it looks very similar to SMG.

PS3 Motion Controllers. Seeing the level of precision demonstrated so early in development impressed me more than Project Natal, which still seems glitchy at this point. I think everyone at Shrine Auditorium was pleased with how smoothly the Sony engineers handled the demo.

Left4Dead 2 is not only real, but coming out this year. It's Valve, so who knows if it actually will be out this year, but even their intention to do so is very surprising given their history. The motion control stuff from Sony and Microsoft was interesting in seeing how they differed from the Wii and each other, but their existence was so heavily rumored I wouldn't call my reaction "surprise."

And so it was written, that the last would be first. Nintendo's otherwise mundane and occasionally laughable press conference nonetheless blew the most minds with the announcement of a new "edgier" Metroid game crafted by the hands of Team Ninja. It just goes to show the power this company still holds over the hardcore: even at their most lackluster hour, they can score a home-run by announcing another entry in one of their 20 year-old franchises.

The idea of Samus being rendered by the makers of Xtreme Beach Volleyball should have boners tingling appropriately enough to segue gracefully into the real meat of this article. If there's one thing that these companies will be remembered for long after the hype has settled and the scores have been tallied, it's who brought in the best booth babes.

Best booth babe was Bayonetta, easily. Looked like a young Nicole Kidman, and acted like she enjoyed the part. Trauma Team girls weren't bad, either.

Those Atlus nurses were pretty cute, and not in a whorey way. But kind of.

Sony Online Entertainment's babe for The Agency.

The Bayonetta girl because she acted the part, too. The cheerleaders in THQ's booth were fun to talk to, but I don't think they were booth babes.

There were a couple of exhibitors in the Nintendo area that were pretty cute, but I'd say the nurses from Atlus.

If you had seen the PR lady from TOMY, you would have never had needed to look at any other girl on the floor. She was smoking. In a close second were the Ubisoft babes, but some of their shorts were so tiny that I feel I should have had a medical license to be seeing what they showed me.

The Bayonetta booth babe's costume looked like it took effort to put together, so her I guess.

I didn't see the Bayonetta chick, I guess I'll go with the Atlus nurses. Most of them were pretty gross in that daytime stripper way. A couple of the young ladies running demo stations were nice/cute, but not really booth babes.

I honestly don't recall seeing any booth babes (perhaps for logical reasons), but I did like the guy running around in a giant robot head.

Forget booth babes, I almost fell in love with the PR lady from Crave. If you're out there reading this, email me for my cell phone number. <3

We adore all the lovely ladies that make E3 so hospitable, but the most hospitable of all were the most hospital...able belles of the ball:

Hmm... cutesy Asian girls in skimpy nurse outfits; why did we even bother taking a vote? For that matter, why did Atlus bother showing anything else? (Did they? If so, didn't notice.)

With 12 staffers in attendance, N-Philes brought its biggest staff to date to this year's E3. There were a lot of new faces and a lot of old friends, so it shouldn't be surprising that we made some great memories both on and off the E3 grounds.

Hanging out with the N-Philes staff, laughing hysterically after Jared got shot.

D3 party. Second: crossing the road with Jack Sparrow to my left and Batman to my right. Surreal is not even the word.

D3 party for sure. Also, eating the best ramen bowl with an N-Sider.com friend at Daikokuya. It's the the brightest gem in Little Tokyo; sure, it's a hole-in-the-wall but it is purely delicious.

Meeting the n-philes crew was great. Everyone was really cool and I had a great time. A close second would be Jared getting shot.

Either Jared getting shot or the D3 party. Drunken late night fun was good, too. I would say meeting the N-Philes staff was exciting, but that's a given. Opening my hotel room door to see the first four members in some sort of Power Rangers/supplies scene from UHF pose is something I'll always remember.

Shooting Jared with that BB gun from Wal-mart. But seriously, the D3 party.

Is there such a thing as a non-personal memory? Anyway, my best memory was, like most others, the D3 party. Kobe beef does live up to the hype... however, drinking Red Label with Ysh at the SOE open bar while getting a walkthough of The Agency was pretty great, too. I am also glad I got to meet everyone from N-Philes.

Jared getting shot. So ridiculous.

Cracking up at a drunken Reggie at the Nintendo Business Reception.

Best personal memory from the E3 show floor itself was offending Elijah Wood with my starstruck stammering "H-hey... it's you!" (I still feel shame about it so it must be good). But getting drive-by BB gunned is somehow my favorite memory from the trip.

That's a surprisingly homogeneous spattering of memories for such a large group, but the memory of all memories is...

With an open bar, an accommodating host and a pair of bikini girls playing beach ball in the pool, the D3 reception still only narrowly beat out a staff member being shot in the dark for the best E3 memory. Actually, did it? Everyone's so goddamned vague in their answers, I can't really tell. Either way, there's something wrong with all of us. Perhaps Adam said it best: "No matter what else happens this week, this year will always be the E3 where Jared got shot." But the D3 party makes for a better picture.

When it's all said and done, E3 is (supposedly) all about the games. With so many games and such disparate tastes between staffers, there were a lot of favorites. So let's get right down to it: which one took the show?

Best game of E3 is going to have to go to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 because I am such a COD fan and I was excited to see some actual hands-on gameplay (although they weren't my hands). As far as games I actually played, Wii Sports Resort takes my spot because I managed to snag a new daily record on Archery on my first try (but it was also pretty damn fun overall). Finally, I was amazed at how well Soulcalibur ported over to the PSP. I honestly find the controls easier than the 360 version I am currently playing.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade for Wii. I had to go back and play it a second time to make sure all the boners I was getting for it weren't misplaced. They weren't. Brütal Legend was also a lot of fun, and played better than I was expecting.

I am still thinking about my experience with Prototype, for good reason. No other game for me encapsulated the feeling of panic, destruction and mayhem like this game. I couldn't' stop talking about it.

I didn't play anything that gave me that old fashioned E3 tingle, like Trauma Center and Kirby Canvas Curse have in the past. The Beatles: Rock Band was easily my favorite game, but I'm a Rock Band fiend so my level of excitement for the Beatles version has been at a constant high since it was announced.

I guess I liked The Conduit and Sin and Punishment 2 but they're probably not the best.

Wii Sports Resort. Yeah, I know, but I really enjoyed the archery. The lines to play the 360 games were too damn long for my taste.

The Beatles: Rock Band, followed by Wii Sports Resort and Puzzle Conquest.

Aliens vs Predator. Helps that I'm a huge fan of the series, but I love some of the new additions and just how ridiculously violent it is. You had groups of grown men screaming "Ohhhh!!!" in unison. Batman: Arkham Asylum and Red Steel 2 get honourable mentions.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade for Wii. I have a feeling I would've picked Bayonetta if I played the entire demo and not just the end, but I didn't, so Muramasa takes it. Brütal Legend probably rounds out my top three.

Next year I'm going to make sure I get to actually play more games, it seems like I played hardly anything. I enjoyed Bayonetta, and that Muramasa game started growing on me after I followed Adam when he went back to play it a couple times. The few other games I played, I played very briefly just because there was an open demo station available. Mostly I didn't want to wait in line to play sequels and games that I already understand how they work. Do you really need to stand in line for a half-hour to play God of War III, to find out that it plays like God of War?

A controversy! With such diverse opinions, there's no clear winner here. But the games that won the most hearts and minds at E3 2009 were...

I'm kind of surprised we even came to a half-consensus on that one. But when you've got arguably the greatest rock band of all time and some kind of demonic blade thing, I mean, there you go. Case closed. There were actually plenty of great games and even more mediocre and lousy ones, which probably would have made a better list for a group of cynical nerds like us. There's always next year.

Well, that's it! Another E3 attended and judged, another victory for N-Philes' readers. You're welcome, Internet.

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Update 6/18/2009 with more staff impressions - Editor.

Tags: E3-09

Posted in: Gaming

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