Highlights of E3: Day One (For Reals)

I guess, even though it was listed as a date on the official schedule, Monday was a "pre-E3" day and not considered to be the actual first day of the event. Even though Microsoft held their big press event and lots of publishers showed off their games on Monday. Anyway, here's the poop from yesterday:

I'd talk about the highlights of the Sony and Nintendo press conferences, except the problem is that there really weren't any. Sony's video download service launched late last night and they showed off Killzone 2 and Resistance 2. Sony's Jack Tretton also brought out a new game that they described as an MMO MAG (Massive Action Game, or something to that effect) and I guess they're calling it "MAG." He's saying it will support up to 256 players in one match, which sounds like a clusterfuck, and went on to say this kind of game hasn't been done before and wouldn't be possible on any platform except for the PS3. He didn't really give any reasons why you couldn't do it on the 360, because I'm pretty sure you could, and I should mention it has been done before, by the same company he works for, no less.
The reps from Nintendo spent a lot of time talking about the casual market, the importance of trying to cater to the female market, backing that up with some enthralling charts and graphs showing that Nintendo DS ownership is nearly split right down the middle between men and women. They talked about Wii Sports 2 being included with the new "MotionPlus" peripheral which is a new controller attachment that is supposed to create more realistic and accurate 1:1 motion with the controller, which is kind of something it should've had to begin with. Also they announced a new DS-exclusive Grand Theft Auto game called Chinatown Wars, set in Liberty City, but did not show off anything from the game itself. Capcom also stated that Dead Rising will be coming to the Wii, but still no PC version or mention of a sequel.

And now, flashing lights and pretty pictures:

• More media and an official trailer for the new Ghostbusters game can be found here. The game itself does not look particularly great, but it's very hard not to be excited knowing that the original cast is involved and that Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd are writing the script and are being very hands-on with the development.
• Shacknews has a new preview of Valve's Left 4 Dead, which has gone through a big facelift apparently, and Rock Paper Shotgun has some hands-on impressions. Also here's some raw footage of the game. Since last we saw it they've redesigned the characters, changed some weapons and commented about two-player split-screen for the 360. For a while now the game has supposedly been content complete and is going through the rigorous Valve playtesting wringer, and as much as I'd like to play it now the quality of The Orange Box speaks volumes about how valuable that process is.
• Shacknews also has some hands-on impressions of Bethesda's Fallout 3, which leaves me a little more hopeful about it than their demonstration video left me feeling. Like what many have been saying is that what made the Fallout games great was not the combat but the dialogue and atmosphere, but that's not really something you can show off effectively in a five minute presentation.
• Ubisoft's Far Cry 2, which is not being developed by Crytek, is something that I've been looking forward to for quite some time, and even though it bears the title it has little resemblance to any of the previous titles (Which apart from the PC original were kind of crap). Set in Africa, they're promising a non-linear adventure in which you explore a 50km open world space, trying to seek out and eliminate an arms dealer known as The Jackal, and along the way you'll take on side missions so you can buy bigger and better guns. They put out an official trailer and some new media, and just for kicks, here's an interview with Ubi's Clint Hocking from a couple days ago.
• EA also showed off a trailer and some walkthrough footage of their upcoming third-person horror-themed shooter Dead Space, which to me sort of looks like they're trying to combine Doom 3 and Resident Evil 4, with a splash of System Shock 2. I'm really hoping they can pull it off, but while what they're showing off here is interesting, it's not terribly impressive.
• Raven has finally come out of whatever dark basement they've been laboring in and showed off a teaser trailer for the new Wolfenstein game. I know everybody and their mom loves to bitch about how played out and stale World War II games are getting, but I've always maintained that as long as it's a good game I'll play it. I played through Return to Castle Wolfenstein again recently, and barring the forced stealth sections, it still holds up relatively well. I'm completely down for another game where I get to kill Nazis and zombies.

With the exception of the new Wolfenstein, all of the games I've talked about, including Gears of War 2, are slated to hit this Fall. It should be a fun (and expensive) time to be a gamer.