So over the course of sunday my followers count on twitter damn near doubled. This was very much a WTF moment for me. A bit later I made my afternoon rounds on the ususal sites, D-toid, Joystiq, Kotaku and the likes, and found out a few of them were covering a story that Sam Houston, the community manager for GamerDNA, had compiled a directory of all the known twitter accounts of game biz folks. Well that explains that! I guess no more drunken tweets anymore now that people are actually paying attention to what I have to say, haha. For those that want to read his blog post about it you can check it out here http://qforq.com/2009/01/11/video-game-companies-on-twitter/

Want to see two of the best Rock Band drummers face off in the hardest songs the game creators can make? Check out http://www.pmsclan.com/drumhell/ to watch H2O^Someguy913 and Phr34k^H2O face off on the 30 most difficult songs made for Rock Band 2. But there is one wrinkle to this drum-off, the two have already been playing head to head on Expert for over 50 hours straight. That's right, these two iron men started playing at 10 am EST on Friday morning, and have been going strong ever since. Harmonix has been putting out weekly downloadable songs since Rock Band 1 was released last in November 2007. That amounts to a whopping 533 tracks to date, and these two drummers have set out to play every single one head to head. They are, as of the time of posting this, in the final stretches with only 30 or so songs left to go. Since they are playing in the order of difficulty, that means they are now hitting the hardest of the songs, while they are at their weakest!

They are hitting the home stretch now, and closing in on a Guiness World Record for video game drumming. Stop by and watch as they finish out this incredible event live from Canada! Also, they aren't just doing this for the record, they have been asking for donations to The United Way. Also, all of their sponsors (Plantronics, Harmonix, Patriot, Sharp, and more) have pitched in tons of prizes to be given away every time they 100% a song, or 99% or better an expert song to anyone who's watching!

It has been long said this is the "Make or break" year for E3. And while this is only Thursday morning, I can't help but feel that E3 hasn't made it. There is not a person involved in the gaming industry who doesn't fondly reflect on "the old days". I myself last attended at E305, considered by most to be the best of the best, and the last of a great line. For a multitude of reasons from many directions, things changed, as everyone has known. Now E3 is no longer the fun filled extravaganza, where excessiveness is the norm, and the weight of your presence is measured in the 8 digits and up. He who comes closest to going into the red, without going over, wins.

Now its a conference, a real conference. Spartan, utilitarian setups on the front, lavishly decorated PR conference rooms that get used for 2 hours or so, and that's it. Each of the big players has their little dog and pony show, and then follows it up with a minimal booth presence to show off those wares in detail. Now the reasoning behind this is clear, E3 got too big. The focus was on core industry members and the press, not the thousands of people that got in though loop holes (I'm looking at you Gamestop employees and your girlfriends!). This is understandable, however you need to ask yourself, is the new method even worth it? At the end of the day we are left with a collection of Press Conferences scattered throughout the day in staggered formation, and really, that's it. Why? Could the same needs not be met if the big players (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA, Ubi, Actilizzard, etc) simply got together and said "Hey, we are all going to be at GDC next spring, or CES next June, or heck, PAX next August, lets put together all this then?". They can simply shift their PR focus back 2 months to GDC, or ahead one to PAX, or all the way to the start of the year for CES. They get the SAME exposure, if not more. They are already footing large bills for these events, and to increase ones presence there would cost significantly less than the overhead and operations costs of an entirely other event. (You need to factor in hotels, airfare, food, travel costs for your entire operations, which is already in play for other events). Really, how hard is it to set aside a slightly larger conference time slot at an existing event, for all of them?

So this begs to ask the big question, even if E3 had "made it" this year, which I don't feel that it has, whats the point even so?

Every year as the fall season approaches, and everyone's holdout for the holidays fiscal seasons begin to roll out, I lament about the sheer number of games I want to play. Every year that list gets bigger, and I whine louder.

I had it easy.

Last year, I was such a baby, "Oh my god" i thought.. "there have got to be like, 7 games, I want to play between September and the end of the year, however will I cope?" If only I had known then what I know now, I would have kept my whiny ass mouth shut.

17... yes seventeen games are coming out the remainder of this year. 17 games, and those are just the ones I know I will be making time for, there are a good 5 or so off the wall ones I will be playing if time permits, which it looks like it will most assuredly NOT be. Allow me to recap.

Gears of War 2 (xbox 360)
Fable 2 (xbox 360)
Fallout 3 (xbox 360)
Spore (PC)
Little Big Planet (PS3)
Rockband 2 (xbox 360)
Too Human (xbox 360)
Left for Dead (PC)
Portal:Still Alive (xbox 360)
Lego Batman (xbox 360)
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (xbox 360)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (xbox 360)
Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway (xbox 360)
Saints Row 2 (xbox 360)
Dead Space (xbox 360)
Ghostbusters the Video Game (xbox 360)

I mean HELL! And they arent even spread out evenly on me. Most of them come in batches of two a week, with several weeks in a row at times. It's a damn good thing I have a 360 hooked up at my desk in my office, or I would never get though all of this. Not to mention a slew of XBLA games I cant wait to play/get, as well as the 3 updates for Burnout Paradise, including the new Island, and the fact I JUST today started playing Grand Theft Auto IV... and there is a bloody addon for it on the way as well.

I swear if I didn't work in the gaming industry all ready, I'd have to quit my job to get though all this.. fortunately I can blend the two quietly at work and no one will notice!

Shit I might have to cancel going to PAX in order to make room for all of... *smack* wtf is wrong with me.. not going to PAX? I have gone insane haven't I?

*sigh*

HOLY ^@#$^&#@!

Ok so being born in 1980, I'm OBVIOUSLY looking forward to the Ghostbusters Game. It was my favorite movie as a kid, and I have been eternally hoping for a third movie. Supposedly this game, for all intents and purposes, is meant to fill that role. Now everyone has seen/heard/read all the news. The entire old gang is back reprising their roles as voice actors, its true to the genre, written by Akroyd and Ramis, etc etc. But enough of rehashing what everyone knows.. THEY HAVE RELEASED A TRAILER!!

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36298.html



Now I get excited about a lot of games, big blockbuster stuff on its way and the like. The thing about this trailer is, its IN the VERY style of the old movie trailer. Because of that, this thing gave me freaking chills to watch. No game preview, no trailer, ever, has done that. I am giddy like some freaking little kid, and wired right now as if i was on a sugar buzz. Even though I know the game wont be THAT big, nothing EVER has made me this excited about a game as long as I can remember.

Ok I like everyone else have heard the chorus of Game Reviewers who shared their experiences with Silicon Knights little game they are making. I've followed a fair share of Dyack's public crusade against some of the press, and I even suffered though his lengthy, and mind numbing, well, mind fuck of a preaching on 1up's podcast when he visited them a few weeks back.

I trust most of the reviewers whom I follow regularly, well in the case of Workman I trust his opinion, I cant really say I trust the man. There is too much of a "crazy" look in his eye, but I digress. I did however take his personal recounting to heart, and added it to the rest I had heared up untill a few weeks ago. So yesterday when the Demo dropped on XBL, I downloaded it to give it a spin.

Now I dont know if my feelings were askew because I had spent the previous 7 hours playing Mass Effect, and ergo my mind was firmly locked in the action/rpg mind frame, and eager for a break from the style of Bioware's epic adventure, or if it was genuine enjoyment, but I liked the game greatly. I am no fool, I know that it does indeed have the flaws that were brought to everyones attention. I could see them and experienced them myself. However, even with them clearly in my mind, and looking for them actively, I found myself beginning to tune them out quickly. The camera control drove me nuts and I was forever whipping out my sword in an empty room like a crazed madman, simply because of habit. I mean, really, in what game do you NOT pivot the camera with the right thumb stick?

The thing was, I really enjoyed the game, and this seemed to get glazed over by the fact I was really having fun, I mean I *really* was! The game is far from perfect and I dont expect a revolution of the worlds opinion of it, I do expect it to maintain its stigma, and I think a lot of folks will miss out on something they might like because of that. However I know that I, personally, enjoyed it, and I will be sure to get it when it releases. It was fun enough for me that it crossed that magical threshold in my mind that is rather hard to quantify, where the game itself, in all its glory combined across all aspect, really was worth the time to play. I look forward to it, and I hope others out there give it a chance to prove its worth, without solely relying on what they have heard from the early on stages. I have always paid heed to the gaming community, and yet I have always remained faithful to my own creed of "give it a shot, to prove itself to me" with any game. Because of my experience with the demo last night, I am reminded why I do this. This game is no blockbuster, this game is most assuredly far far down the chain in even being suggested for an award this year for game of the year from someone, but its by far and above well worth my time to play though, and enjoy the experience that Silicon Knights has prepared for me, on an entertainment level.