This weekend, I put in a good amount of hours playing Killzone 2 on PS3. This was mostly due to the new DLC (which I don’t have yet) and Guerilla Game’s (GG) double experience points announcement. I’ve been having blast, but there is a glaring bug with their double xp weekend: it only works if you win the match. Killzone elitists are quick to respond “well, just win”, but I hope GG lets us know about their little snafu. As for Killzone 2 itself, I’ve unlocked all classes up to Saboteur and have pretty much gotten used to the unique controls (yes they are unique and don’t “stink” as a lot of haters claim) There’s a great deal more to the game than meets the eye, and if you’re on the fence about purchasing it, the multiplayer component alone is worth the purchase.

Before I went on this gaming tyrade, I asked my Twitter friends what they were playing, here are their responses:

Bwana: What video game are you currently playing? Me? I'm playing Killzone 2 for PS3.

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:00:27 +0000 2009

Bowlerguy92: MLB 09 The Show on the PS3 obviously, after another game or so I will be moving to NCAA Football 10 also on the #ps3

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:01:16 +0000 2009

wanyal: Red Faction: Guerilla on 360

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:01:27 +0000 2009

jcm28x: gears of war 2 on the xbox 360.

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:06 +0000 2009

FoamyFalcon: L4D on pc

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:30 +0000 2009

krisguy: Call of Duty: World at War for 360

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:41 +0000 2009

zackw29379: Battlefield: Bad Company for xbox 360

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:56 +0000 2009

Darkness383: street fighter 4

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:02:59 +0000 2009

_funkyboy: paper toss on the iPhone.

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:04:04 +0000 2009

danohart: I stick with Call Of Duty 4 until Modern Warfare 2 comes out. On the PC of course

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:05:37 +0000 2009

aaronmcdonald: im currently on Ghostbusters & now gone back to Uncharted too! Loving hanging out with pete,ray, winston & egon tho!

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:06:35 +0000 2009

petern: Killzone 2 and Super Stardust HD. PSN: kermit_swe

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:11:19 +0000 2009

premonition: fight night round 4 for me

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:18:34 +0000 2009

M4rck: Fight Night Round

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:18:38 +0000 2009

kev151: littlebigplanet

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:27:18 +0000 2009

RadioMacGuru: I decided to go for an oldie but a goodie: MGS3. I got frustrated with the series on 1st go round, I figure I'd give it another try

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:27:26 +0000 2009

Chillash: Fifa 09; ps3

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:33:23 +0000 2009

Jason_Diaz: SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:37:15 +0000 2009

markkemp: Am playing Resistance: Fall of Man (in preparation to play Resistance 2). Hanging out for CoD: Modern Warfare 2 though

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:39:33 +0000 2009

TekJunkie09: battlefield1943 thanx to you

about 5 days ago

Tue Jul 21 23:52:28 +0000 2009

Bxdaddy93: IM PLAYING BATTLEFIELD 1943 FOR XBOX 360 AT THE MOMENT. IM WAITING FOR THE LAUNCH OF NFL MADDEN 2010 NEXT MONTH.

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 00:17:33 +0000 2009

dphyfer: I'm still on Gears of War for xbox 360. I hear Fight Night is sick!

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 00:22:55 +0000 2009

lopez79: Call of duty W@W for ps3 & UFC

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 00:55:31 +0000 2009

ChrisCAL96: GTA IV for PS3.

about 5 days ago

Wed Jul 22 02:16:06 +0000 2009

CoGMysterio: Gears of War 1 on the Xbox 360

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 03:08:41 +0000 2009

Gregz0r: It's all about PS3 Fight Night Round 4 at the moment.

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 05:58:25 +0000 2009

AppleIphoneMan: I'm currently playing UFC Undisputed 2009, Killzone, Call Of Duty 4 and 5. Waiting For Call Of Duty 6!! Add my PSN KylerRodgers

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 17:04:18 +0000 2009

Taurus_500: i loooooooove killzone 2! i got the platinum trophy! :p right now im playin fight night round 4.

about 4 days ago

Wed Jul 22 19:43:42 +0000 2009

What about you? What are you currently playing and why? Have fun whatever it is!

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Often, I get asked by my readers/listeners/viewers which is the “best” console: Sony Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, or Microsoft’s Xbox 360. I wrote my thoughts about deciding which console is best for you back in December, and I think some people benefited from it. When it comes to gaming, I’ve noticed that it’s extremely difficult to give a non-biased recommendation to someone else. It seems to be proportional to the passion gamers have for their platforms and titles. Take a look at this little tidbit: I made a 17 second video which asks the question, “Which is better, Xbox 360 or PS3?”. I didn’t give an answer, but I gave this:

The result is over 200 comments and 1000 views in less than 24 hours. What does that say? Gamers are passionate about what they love. I find that this passion is driven by their wants and preferences, which I call selfishness. I know some of you are already offended, but I’m sorry to say, everyone is selfish at some point. It’s the truth.

So are gamers selfish when they are quick to say which console is the “best”? Note they don’t usually say is “best for me”, but the “best” period. Here are the classic lines:

• Console X has the best games
• Console Y has the best online game play
• Console Z has the best multimedia experience
• Console A gives you more bang for the buck

People will look you straight in the eye, and tell you that these are facts. Yes, they call them facts. Note that if you look at those reasons carefully, they are highly based on opinions and personal preferences. They are hardly factual. How can someone claim they are factual when it’s obviously opinionated? Selfishness. Wow, I can see the steam rising from your heads from here. Watch how Kyle from South Park breaks down how selfishness can warp your reality (Warning: adult language and typical South Park):

Sometimes, I think it can get this extreme for some gamers when it comes to consoles. Their opinions are so valuable that they become factual in their mind and it becomes a passionate, pointless argument. Hear me gamers: Everyone doesn’t think like you. Step outside of your selfish world of perfectness and realize that you are not the center of the universe. It’s OK for someone to love their Xbox 360. It’s OK for someone to love their PS3. It’s OK for someone to love their (Nintendo) Wii.

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I have not made it a secret that I absolutely love my Sony Playstation 3 and that I actually use it more than my Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. This often confuses people why I seem to be “going against the grain” on this topic because it is the popular opinion to love the 360 or Wii over the PS3.

I believe the machine is the best hardware I have in the house easily, not only because of “Blu-Ray” technology but the whole experience in terms of entertainment. I also love the price of online play (being a PC gamer as well). Sony has been consistently falling short of expectations from the gaming community since they were #1 with their insanely successful Playstation 2. I asked Twitter what Sony needs to do to get their dollar:

SkiCat56: @Bwana There lot's of titles that are PS3 exclusive we would to play but we cannot fit another gaming console into our budget PS2,360 owner

about 5 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 13:50:37 +0000 2009

chokewho: @Bwana Cheaper price and probably some more original games.

about 7 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 11:49:18 +0000 2009

fochsenhirt: @Bwana drop the price under $200 for the hardware and $40 for the games. So basically, nothing. I already have a BD player.

about 7 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 11:34:42 +0000 2009

robraider78: @Bwana PS3 only good for blue ray. Not a good selection of games on PS3. No Halo. No Gears.

about 9 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 09:33:26 +0000 2009

TaoGao: @Bwana they are Amazing! Besides blue-ray compatible, it has great graphics

about 12 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 06:31:39 +0000 2009

powerspec: @Bwana I use mine only for Blu-ray, but i would use it more if it had some good games. I own 3 PS3 games and ~30 360 games.

about 12 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 06:15:35 +0000 2009

johnsensfan: @Bwana xbox360 vanishing of the face of the earth

about 12 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 06:06:37 +0000 2009

SWB: @Bwana They would have to make it better than the Nintendo DS, which we all know is impossible!

about 12 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 06:02:54 +0000 2009

murphysblues: @Bwana I don't have a PS3, and it would take a radical improvement of my hand/eye coordination before I would buy a PS3.

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:53:19 +0000 2009

dannyblaine: @Bwana a healthier economy?

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:49:14 +0000 2009

chrispirillo: @Bwana The PS3 is great for one thing: Blu-ray playback. Beyond that, it's not of much use to me. I don't have that many BDs yet, either.

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:48:23 +0000 2009

Leica1956: @Bwana a $150 or less base model would get me in.

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:47:19 +0000 2009

CannonGod: @Bwana Good games, ergonomic controller, the firing of all marketing staff involved with the PS3.

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:45:43 +0000 2009

mattbebich: @Bwana Halo, Left 4 Dead many others

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:40:25 +0000 2009

johnxkills: @Bwana the price alittle lower

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:32:29 +0000 2009

se7enjewels: @Bwana simple.price! price! price! The should have dropped the PS3 last christmas to $299. I would have been all over that.

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:32:01 +0000 2009

jercat: @Bwana… $249.99

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:31:25 +0000 2009

chrispugh: @Bwana lower price

about 13 hours ago

Mon Feb 09 05:31:18 +0000 2009

Without getting into a console war, I believe the price is often misunderstood when compared to the Xbox 360, since Microsoft has a done an excellent job with marketing. I have spent much less on my PS3 than I have on my Xbox 360, but the point is moot. The users want a price drop, but what then? Is price the only factor? Users also want *more* games, but if I’m not mistaken, a majority of new games are now cross platform. The handful of exclusives that are considered “must-haves” are dwindling in my opinion. (Case in point: Capcom just announced 360, PC and PS3 support for Dead Rising 2) I believe the games are there, but the mindset isn’t. The mantra of “PS3 has no games” will completely overwhelm the facts and user perception is all that will matter when it comes to a purchase.

What can Sony do about this? Well, in my opinion, they have to change the way they’re doing things now. What they’re doing right now is not working. In a tight market, where Nintendo is breaking records left and right (which I can’t understand honestly) Sony really is put in a tight situation since their hardware is truly next-gen, and a price-cut is a huge gamble. I have a suspicion that a majority of users who claim the price is the only issue, will back peddle if there is a price cut. I believe Sony realizes this every time they read user feedback regarding the price (Yes, Sony DOES read user feedback) I honestly don’t know what they can do win over the users, but they better come up with something quickly or the whole division will be a distant memory this time next year.

Agree, disagree? Let me know in the comments. You can also find me on the Playstation Network (PSN) under the handle, Nuvalo. Add me!

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So it’s that time of year again.

What time is that Bwana?

Well, it’s the time where you need to decide on which console to buy for your loved one. You’ve picked a perfect time to buy since all the consoles, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3 are over two years old and have matured as platforms. Each console has a variety of games to choose from as well as social entertainment features that will knock your socks off. If only Pong! were alive to see this. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are fighting tooth and nail to get your business, so let’s get right down to it.

The Culprits

There are three main players in this space and I’ll give a brief description of each:

• The Xbox 360 (360) – First out of the gate, Microsoft’s follow-up to the Xbox console was released with the promise of a more robust online offering and media center capabilities. This console supports high definition televisions as well as standard definition, has wired or wireless controllers, and can connect to the internet via wired ethernet connection or wireless internet.
• The Nintendo Wii (Wii) – Formerly known as the Nintendo Revolution, Nintendo’s follow-up with the Gamecube assured gamers that it would redefine console gaming. The Nintendo Wii is the most unique as it offers motion sensing controls to an already stellar lineup of first-party titles such as Mario, Zelda, and others. It connects to the internet via Wi-Fi and offers a variety of other features that take advantage.
• The Playstation 3 (PS3) – The king of consoles returns with a sequel to its record breaking Playstation 2 console and offers a high-end spin on consoles. The PS3 promises the glory of high definition optical support in the form of Blu-Ray, and a rich multimedia experience that Sony has been known for. Sony also promised to concentrate more on the online gaming and made a big deal out of their consoles brute strength and offerings.

The Questions

When considering these fabulous consoles, you should be asking yourself questions. If you haven’t started asking questions, I’ll get you started:

1. Do I care about online gaming?
2. Do I care about high definition gaming?
3. Do I care about high definition movies?
4. Do I play with friends and family often in person?
5. Do I want to leverage this console as a music player, video player, and photo viewer?
6. Do I have wireless internet?
7. Do I want to buy or rent movies from my game console?
8. Do I know what bluetooth is and do I own any bluetooth hardware?
9. What am I willing to spend after I buy the console?
10. Do I want to play my old Xbox/PS2/Nintendo Gamecube games on this new console?
11. What types of games do I like the most? Platformers? Role Playing Games? First person Shooters? Real time strategy? Music Rhythm Games?

These are just some of the questions that I have posed to people when asked which console to buy. As an owner of all three consoles, I can never recommend anything without first getting the needs and wants of the purchaser. So, now that you’ve asked yourself these questions, let’s dig a bit further.

The Profiles

When answering questions about which console you’ll buy, there are four main profiles that you’ll likely fit into (and I do stress likely)

1. The casual gamer
2. The gadget freak who sometimes plays games
3. The semi-casual online gamer
4. The hardcore gamer

The casual gamer tends to play games less than 5 hours a week, and often has to be invited in order to become motivated. These gamers play when friends and family come over, during parties, events, but do not generally play as a pass time. The casual gamer usually finds out about multimedia features of their console by visiting a friend who uses theirs.

The gadget freak who sometimes plays games tends to play games for maybe 10 hours a month depending on the situation. He or she will buy every new game that comes out, but won’t play it for more than 2 hours after buying it. The game collects dust and the gamer will claim to own it, but never play it. The gadget freak will utilize all of the features of the console except the gaming part.

The semi-casual semi-online gamer may average between 10-15 hours week depending on outside circumstances. If a new game comes out, this gamer may buy it to try it out, and play for it many hours, but eventually taper off into semi-casual mode again. This gamer is generally aware of the multimedia features of consoles and most times will take advantage of one or two.

The hardcore gamer can kill 40 hours a week playing 3 to 4 games online and offline. This machine of a man or woman will forego the love of family and friends to reach that new level, climb that impossible mountain, finish that new game on Super-duper-incredibly-impossibly-hard difficulty. The only music they care about is the music they can play while playing their favorite game. Movies, pictures, and the like are generally secondary.

So which are you? Remember, I did say likely. It’s my guess that you’re probably a combination of the profiles, (I know I am) so let’s dig a bit deeper.

The Method

The next step is to combine the needs, wants, the estimated profile of the purchaser to build a priority list. Let’s take an example to help you out.

Johnny Doodad plays games online only on weekends but usually plays 1-2 hours, Monday through Friday. Johnny has homework and his parents are strict on his gaming hours during the week. If Johnny does well, he gets to go all out on the weekend. Johnny loves first person shooters and platformers but never finishes them. Johnny already owns a Gamecube and an Xbox.

Based on my college education, I would rate Johnny a cross between a semi-casual online gamer and hardcore gamer. If given the chance, Johnny could easily rack up hours playing games, but has to adhere to the parental units. Given his lack of time towards the games, Johnny loses interest and shifts focus to another game before finishing the previous. Now, Johnny likes first person shooters and platformers, but he’s not necessarily loyal (an assumption). So let’s analyze:

Gamer Type: Semi-casual online
Genre Preferences: FPS, Platformer
Owned Systems: Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox
Gaming Preference: Plays on weekends, mostly online, but little during the week.

So which does Johnny care about the most? Let’s try to rank them:

1. Gaming Preference
2. Genre Preferences
3. Owned System
4. Gamer type

These are guesses, but they could provide an accurate view of where to concentrate your focus. Given that Johnny plays online, likes FPS and Platformers, and owns an Xbox, I would recommend an Xbox 360 in this case. It gives him his top 3 priorities right off the bat. Now, even if Gamer type were misplaced, and would be #2 on his priority list, an Xbox 360 would probably fit him best.

See the method? It’s all fuzzy and really depends on a lot of factors. This is the only way I can explain which console to buy this holiday. You have to ask yourself these questions and more to gauge which features are more important to you than others. Here’s a general guideline to go by:

Xbox 360
Pros: Platform has matured, Cheap initial price ($199 base), High definition gaming, High definition movie support (downloadable), Great game library, Online gameplay, Online marketplace, Great online community features, Great multimedia features (movie rentals, tv shows, music, photos, etc)
Cons: Costs $50 a year to play online, Pricey accessories, Prone to break (get a warranty!), No web browser

Nintendo Wii
Pros: Platform has matured, Cheap ($250), Excellent first-party titles (Mario, Zelda, etc), Unique controls, Lots of fun with family and friends, Online marketplace, web browser (costs extra)
Cons: Hard to find (too popular), Lots of accessories (Wheels, Balance board, Controllers, Gun, etc), Game library mediocre (due to poor third-party support) Poor online gaming support, Not so great multimedia support (No DVD Playback)

Playstation 3
Pros: Platform has matured, High definition gaming, High definition optical support (Blu-Ray), Superb multimedia features, Online gameplay is free, Updated often, Online marketplace, Supports existing Bluetooth and USB devices, User upgradeable storage, Built-in web browser, Linux operation system supported (basic features)
Cons: Pricey (starts at $399), Entire game library mediocre, Online community not is vivacious as Xbox Live

Wow!

I just did those off the top of my head. You see why this decision is not straight forward? I didn’t cover everything and it’s already overwhelming the amount of features each offers and also their pros and cons. It’s important to get those questions answered and prioritize them to find out which may be best for you.

The Wildcard

But, what about PC gaming? PC gaming is not dead by any means and offers a wide variety of choices. While price may be a barrier for some people, let me tell you about a deal that Valve has. They are offering their entire gaming library for $99. That’s right, they are offering 22 games for $99. You are not going to find that on a console. Granted, most of these games are first person shooters, it is definitely something to consider. Gaming PCs are coming down in price and if you price one compared to a console with 3 or 4 games, they price difference isn’t all that great. I’m not going to get into a PC gaming vs console gaming war here, but I do want to make you aware of this often overlooked wildcard.

Conclusion

In short, continue to research! I’ve provided a method of soliciting information in various categories and prioritizing them to attempt to find a best fit. There is no one size fits all for this type of decision. So, when asked which gaming console should you buy this holiday, the answer is it all depends on what you want, what you need, and how bad you want and need it.

Happy shopping everyone. It’s hard to go wrong this year.

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The first and most important question that comes to mind is: Why?

No, not why did Sony delay the release of the most anticipated game since Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet. The question is, why in the world would these lyrics be allowed in any video game:

• In the 18th second: “كل نفس ذائقة الموت” (“kollo nafsin tha’iqatol mawt”, literally: ‘Every soul shall have the taste of death‘).
• Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: “كل من عليها فان” (“kollo man alaiha fan”, literally: ‘All that is on earth will perish‘).

This is an ESRB “Everyone” rated game with these lyrics from the Qur’an. Again, the question that comes to mind is why? The only good thing that came out of all this is that Sony did the right thing by completely recalling the game and delaying it until October 27th. A lot of gamers are upset about the delay (for selfish reasons obviously) and don’t believe they should suffer due to other’s “beliefs”. I’m not surprised, really. This is a much bigger issue than “having fun” or “entertainment” or even what some believe are their “rights”. There isn’t a gray area here. It’s about as black and white as any situation can be.

The lyrics that are included in this game add nothing at all, and I now question the motives of the game writers. This is supposed to be a game about light-hearted fun and creativity, but Media Molecule felt it necessary to include Qu’ran lyrics regarding death and destruction to the entire earth.

Why?!?! Seriously, why in the world was this even considered let alone allowed? I could care less about the delay, in fact, I reiterate, that I encourage it. This game should not be released in its current form. I was part of the beta of LittleBigPlanet for about 4 days, and was very impressed with the gameplay. I’m saddened that this glaring mistake has tarnished the game forever. I don’t think I’ll have the same level of trust for Media Molecule or Sony ever again.

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Ah yes, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). That conference that all console gamers look forward to. It has a history of providing us with insight into upcoming gaming titles, new features, and new hardware. Over time the conference has lost it’s glitter and mass appeal. Last year’s E3 had it’s moments, but overall, it wasn’t all that impressive. This year was no better.

I’m sad to say, E3 2008′s keynotes from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony were worse than last year. I went on record to call them out in 2007 and seemingly, here I am again to basically do a repeat of last year. Rather than rant on all the poor presentations, I think I’m going to focus on the positive aspects of each keynote and stay there.

Microsoft

Nintendo

Sony

As I stated earlier, there were so many things that I didn’t like this E3, and some of them even were stated in the positives. I want to keep the tone of this post positive so that gamers will know that competition between these three companies is constantly driving them to win your loyalty. Very few industries can demonstrate such dedication to delivering new and shiny every single year. I do hope, for the sake of the future E3 conferences, that Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony jazz up their presentations. Sony really impressed me by using LittleBigPlanet to demonstrate business numbers. Hello! Now that’s innovation. I hope Microsoft and Nintendo do something else next year. These presentations are painful to sit through.

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Sony has announced PhyreEngine which allows for cross platform (PC and PS3) development of game titles. Given that it supports DirectX as well as OpenGL, Sony is showing their commitment to cross platform development and is not closing doors to technologies that Microsoft leverages. Games such as DiRT, GripShfit and flOw were developed using PhyreEngine and only one of these titles is a PS3 exclusive. The future looks bright.

Oh yeah, it’s absolutely free.

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Sony announced today at CES, the PSP “slim” models (i.e. newer PSPs) will support Skype VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) software in January. This will allow PSP owners to actually talk to other PSP users and the millions of other Skype users. It also allows them to talk to any phone anywhere for a small SkypeOut fee. I bet you’re saying, we’ve seen games on cell phones before, why is this such a big deal? I believe this is a huge step in the portable gaming world as it will allow you to do what PC gamers have been doing for years: Talk to your teammates. This opens up many multiplayer games for the PSP that weren’t really feasible such as tactical shooters, strategy games, and even MMORPGs. These genres do well when guilds and clans form and communicate via voice. With the number of WiFi hotspots increasing daily, coverage won’t be as big an issue as people may think, although it is a weak spot. (no pun intended)

All in all, I believe today’s announcement is the beginning of something exciting in the portable gaming world. We’ve seen the benefits of networked gameplay on the Nintendo DS, and now with official Skype support on the PSP, we’ll see even more benefits. Now you can surf the web, read RSS, listen to music, watch videos, play games, and talk to your friends on Skype. The PSP is a juggernaut of a device.

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After my Microsoft and Nintendo rants, I didn’t know if anyone could change my thoughts about this year’s E3. Veronica Belmont hinted on today’s Buzz Out Loud, that the word on the show floor is that this may be the last E3. It’s starting to feel that way. Anyway, let’s talk about Sony.

Sony conducted their E3 press event today and did what everyone expected them to do: Pimp Playstation Home. Playstation Home was announced a few months ago and now is in beta. Jack Tretton began the keynote as a Playstation Home avatar and we saw this theme throughout. Home looks cool and all, but we had seen it all before. Sony then announced a new PSP which has improvements (unlike a Halo edition Xbox 360 which is painted a different color) in the form factor, battery life and video performance departments. A welcome change while keeping the same price of $169. Sony announced PSP entertainment packs that I could care less about which included branded PSPs and exclusive games. So far, it was still a yawner in my mind.

Then Phil Harrison stepped on the stage. It all changed from here. Phil went into further details regarding the improvements of Playstation Home including the ability to lauch stuff from within Home (that’s what I expected anyway) but also, cell phone integration. It was a little surprising to see him upload a picture of the audience from his cell phone to PS Home. Not earth shattering, just surprising.

From this point, Sony went in a fury of game announcements and most notably, new games! One that stood out to me was Echochrome. Oh my God. This game made me tingle the same way LittleBigPlanet did earlier this year. It’s a simple puzzle game that screams brilliance and innovation. That’s what I’m talking about people!!! Nintendo, Microsoft, Listen!! They showed a lot of the same games that Microsoft showed, but in a glancing manner if you will. They didn’t focus on Resident Evil 5, or Rock Band, or Call of Duty 4, but focused on new features and unannounced games (save the Motorstorm demo) They showcased a nice Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer which was completely realtime on the PS3, but it wasn’t actual gameplay. The gameplay will come next week. I’m looking forward to seeing it, because the trailer was amazing.

Sony ended the presentation with probably the most impressive title at E3, Killzone 2. Even though I’m not a fan, it still looked impressive. Very impressive. There was more applause during this presentation than all of the others. Notice I didn’t even mention Heavenly Sword, LittleBigPlanet or Gran Turismo which were expected killer titles for PS3. Sony gave us new stuff to drool over and that’s what E3 is/was all about.

Even with Sony’s presentation, it still couldn’t save an overall lackluster E3. Microsoft and Nintendo produced two total yawners and Sony produced an average E3 presentation. It wasn’t enough to save it though. This year’s E3 is officially a bust says this blogger. I fear, it is the nail in the coffin to the whole conference.

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