The upcoming months are going to be some of the most exciting months in gaming history.

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo was, in my honest opinion, the best in a few years. Nearly every company had something exciting to show us, and even the disappointing conferences weren’t that disappointing (ok…maybe Square-Enix). The fans where let back in, the booth babes came back, and you could smell it in the air, even if you where watching it on TV hundreds of miles away from L.A., that a bunch of gamers were in need of a new pair of pants. Man, I wish I could have gone to E3, I would be happy to lend those guys some shorts, but alas, I’m here, typing out to you my impressions on this year’s Expo.

Needless to say, I was happy.



Let’s begin the general Big 3 run down, starting off with Nintendo, and their impressive DS/Wii lineup. Oh woe was last year, as gamers alike cried in anguish at the horrible presentation that was given to them. No core titles, none of the familiar titles, just a whole bunch of Wii-headliners, and not much else. Enter E3 09, when Nintendo redeems themselves with some big drops. Golden Sun DS, Metroid: Other M (By Team Ninja, none the less. Bring on the Girls!), New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Now with more Yoshi!), not to mention other titles, such as the now exciting looking Wii Sports Resort (Packaged with Motion+), Scribblenauts, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (evil box heads, unite!) Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Sin & Punishment 2, and of course, the concept art of the next Legend of Zelda, now with Motion+ Support. And the Vitality sensor, which, if used properly (and you can bet there will be at least one game that does it right), can really bring some new enhancements to gaming on Nintendo’s White (and Black) Box.



Of course, we also have your Red Steel 2, which is looking to be infinitely better than the first, Rabbids Go Home, which is looking to be one of those Wii games which has one of those modes you could just spend months on (talking about customizing your Rabbid inside a WiiMote, of course), The Conduit, Gladiator A.D., The Grinder (man, High Voltage just churns out them Wii games), the recent announcements of Fragile and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, both of which were previously not coming to the States, and don’t forget WiiWare, with its Cave Story Wii, BIT.TRIP Core, and Bit Boy. Overall, I believe Nintendo had an excellent showing at E3; they definitely stepped up the games the core audience wants, and games I can have fun with. The money for my soon-to-be Wii can’t come soon enough.



Next up is Microsoft, which pleased me greatly as well. First and foremost, we finally got something on Alan Wake, and while it might not look impressive to the masses, the narration going on in-game almost makes me think that I’m playing a game about a person writing a horror novel…about righting a horror novel (that comes to life). Meta doesn’t being to describe this, and the game looks excellent as well, with its focus on lighting. Expect trippy light based puzzles and boss battles.

Of course, you have your Halo: ODST, which does looks to improve on the money-maker that is Halo 3. Now that you play a human, looks like you won’t be able to jump 50 feet in the air, (or dual wield, or have enhancements), but hey, the old Halo 1 pistol is back. It’s fucking time to drop, bitches. If not, you’ve always got Modern Warfare 2; while not exclusive…do I really need to say anything? It’s fucking Infinity Ware; it’s fucking Modern Warfare, it's fucking snowmobiles. You were going to buy it regardless if it was a Zune HD exclusive game. But if that's not your cup of tea either (you freak of nature), ODST has a multiplayer beta invite for Bungie's new Halo: Reach, now with 100% more Spartans, guaranteed or your money back.

Not Really.



The Beatles Rock Band is going to be a must have for me. I don’t know about the Beatles themselves, as I’m not that much of a fan, but the way the game looks, plus the fucking tripped out dream sequences, and the badass looking, “I could have sex with that” instrument peripherals have sold me on a purchase. It’s time I finally got into owning a copy of Rock Band myself, I really need to jump on that NIN and Coheed and Cambria DLC anyways.



But we all know the real showstopper was Natal. From the incredibly slick menu integration, to the 3D space cameras, to the instant scanning, to Skyne...ahem, excuse me, Milo being fucking scary and yet interesting, Natal is going to be some serious shit to contend with. I’m sold on menu integration alone, all I need now is to re-buy an Xbox 360.



Now, let’s talk Sony.First off, I don’t like the PSP Go, it looks way to ugly for my tastes, but I’m glad they're moving away from UMD, semi-glad at least, I won’t be able to do my yearly hand-me-down to my cousins, since I always give them awesome shit I don’t play anymore (I had to part ways with Wind Waker, really depressing, since I secretly kept the box), but hey, if I go out to buy a PSP, I know what games I’ll be getting: Jack and Daxter: Lost Frontier, Pixel Junk Monsters Deluxe, Echochrono, Half Minuet Hero, Rock Band: Unplugged, and, if I can find one, a copy of Burnout Legends, so EA can port Burnout Paradise to the PSP.

On the PS3 side, we got the admittedly fun looking ModNation Racers, which I hope becomes something new for me. I didn’t really like having to shift through the trash on LBP to find some good levels, so let’s hope thinking "racing levels" make things easier for people. Then there was The Last Guardian, which looks really fucking amazing, and I really wanna get my hands on it…now. And of course, God of War 3, which look incredibly fun. I need to get my hands on that game too.



We saw some MAG, which proves the 256 player thing can work, and I hope that when it drops, we can get the Destructoid Community together and wreck havoc among the world of MAG. We shall unite, we shall fight, and we shall conquer. Uncharted 2 looks simply delicious, I just hope it doesn’t have that weirdo ending like the first one did. Also, to my surprise, Heavy Rain looks really, really damn deep, although, I know when I play, everyone is going to die, and I can’t wait to see what happens after that, as apparently, the game keeps going after all the main characters are killed.



There are the new Metal Gear Solid titles, and at least I’m hoping for Rising to ease up on the story and produce something fun. I would have really have liked to see another Ac!d, and I liked the PSP title strangely enough, but hey, Kojima is a cock teasing bitch. Where’s my Boktai, you sick twisted fuck?

And Final Fantasy XIII, you say? Who gives a shit; it’s all about Final Fantasy XIV. I was a little excited…and now it’s an MMO. Oh well. Maybe they can produce something that doesn’t include bosses that take countless hours to spawn, and upwards of 24 hours to beat (I know they’ve been nerfed, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place). Hopefully, and I’ll start believing in the power of the Holy Ghost if this comes true, but hopefully, it’ll be free to play, and if not, it better have one amazing free month of play, or mark my words, Square, and mark them well; I will not buy Versus XIII, IF IT EXISTS, since we saw close to nothing this year. TGS? Maybe…but I don’t want to wait that long, gotta make a decision quick, FFXIII or Vs XIII. My money hinges on this meng….



Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Sony’s motion controller stuff as well. I wasn’t really impressed, but it does look nice. I just don’t trust Sony to follow through on the games. I mean, the Playstation Eye by itself has Eye of Judgment (FUCK THAT NOISE, I’m sticking with MTG), and….not much else. If Sony or someone else can get some good shit on that stuff, I’d be willing to make a few sacrifices…not really, but hey, money is money, whether it’s from me or from my Grandmother, Sony wants it.



Lastly, the announcements that I just want to single out by themselves. Let’s start with Left4Dead 2, which I, personally, am glad it’s coming out on disk. I haven’t bought Left4Dead, which means I’d have to buy the game in the first place, and then wait for close to 6 hours for the game and its massive updates finish downloading on my PC. The same time, I could have downloaded the complete Eureka 7 and its movie in Full HD.



Moving on, the Facebook/Twitter on the 360 deal means the hipsters (and Destructoid) can finally not move to update they’re bliggity blogs/facey pages. I would have personally wanted some Tumblr, even though it’s the most Apple-Fanboy accented blogging service in the universe, it’s much nicer than what Twitter has to offer, in my opinion (that, and Workman has a Tumblr). But fuck all of that, Last.fm? Hell yes, one step closer to having all internet radio available for stream while playing games. Imagine what if Burnout Paradise had a real live radio station instead of the in game one. Bliss, I say, true bliss.



Then there’s Bayonetta. Gunna have LOTS of fun with that game, especially with the fact that it seems like her hair makes up her clothes, and spells, and the irony in killing angels. It’s like playing Dante’s Inferno…inverted…and with tall and hotness…



Spirit Tracks looks amazing. I don’t care what anyone says, we need more Toon Link. We need more hilarious expressions on his too-fucking-cute face. We need more hilarious situations for the unlucky motherfucker to end up in, and Japan needs more Tetra/Mini Zelda fan service…I mean, Japan (and the US) needs online multiplayer train cannon battles. You don’t know how sick that would be. Please make this exist, Spirit Tracks, please.



Brutal Legend. I’m not a total Jack Black fanatic, but I need for him to high-pitch scream once in game, and I’ll buy 60 copies. His metal scream is godly, in my opinion. That, and Tim Schafer. Fucking damnit, I need this game….



And finally, Starz, and it’s awesomeness to bring Gurren Lagann, as well as other hit anime, to PSN. Hell, a lot of other services are bring stuff to PSN Video (ADV and hopefully Elfen Lied, Viz and hopefully Big O, and maybe Bones will sign on some more stuff…like Eureka 7...), but damnit, I watched half of Gurren Lagann a few weeks ago, and I WANT MORE.



And there you have it. It’s going to be an exciting 2009/2010, technology growing, games getting better, and overall, fun’s making its big comeback. This year’s E3 has got me so happy, I randomly brake out in smiles now. From Nintendo and it’s slew of games making their way onto the Wii and DS, to Microsoft and Sony first steps into new and exciting control schemes, to Gurren Lagann, the only thing that could make this better is if I somehow landed a high paying job to pay for all the new shit I want to get.

So…anybody know anyone who’s hiring? I need to make bank.