This year’s E3 was a smorgasbord of triple A sequels from quite a few big name publishers. I’m not saying this is a bad thing because I’m sure Modern Warfare 2 will kick ass but inevitably some good looking original IPs went less noticed than they should have. Darksiders falls into this catergory.

The story of Darksiders really peaked by interest when I first heard about it. You play as War, one of the four horseman of the apocalypse. As it turns out the apocalypse went down when it wasn’t supposed to and both Heaven and Hell are putting the blame on you (this isn’t your swine-flu zombie apocalypse or your “oops, we launched one too many nukes and accidentally killed everyone on earth” apocalypse, this is the true biblical apocalypse). With this story as the backdrop, you head on over to Earth to clear your name and figure out who really induced the apocalypse.

Ok. So. Kick ass story line? Check. But how about the rest of the game? I got some hands-on time with Darksiders at E3 and can say a few things about it. It struck me how incredibly similar to a Zelda game it feels. It is an open world game but through out the story War will have to make his way through dungeons. From what I was told by the guys over at THQ each dungeon will have a new item for War to acquire. Each item will be used to solve puzzles through out the dungeon and defeat the boss of the dungeon. Sounds a lot like Zelda huh?

The core combat of the game is focused on preforming combos with War’s big ass sword and gun. It is very reminiscent of the Devil May Cry games. The weapons in the game will be upgradable. War has horseman powers that were stripped from him after being blamed for starting the apocalypse. So part of the game will involve questing to get your powers back.

Darksiders is a game that I have been following for a while now. Every time I see it, it looks better and better. With what could be a good story, good gameplay, and a pretty cool art style, I can say I am genuinely excited for this game. The biggest criticism I have thus far is that it doesn’t feel innovative. It’s just grabbing bits and pieces of other games and stringing them together. That being said, it is grabbing bits and pieces of some of my favorite games (i.e. Zelda and Devil May Cry). I think we can expect a pretty solid title out of Darksiders, which hits stores on New Year’s Day 2010.

I forgot to post these 2 screenshots during E3.  Here is a shot of the Wifi networks at the Ritz-Milner:

And the Wifi networks available at the Los Angeles convention center, near the media lounge:

Yea, I know what you’re thinking.  Why would anyone try the “Free Public Wifi” network.  Everyone knows those don’t work.

Seth Killian is a co-founder of the annual and national tournament EVO. In the past, he won championship titles for Street Fighter 2. He is currently working at Capcom USA as the Community Manager. If you’re a fan of Street Fighter 4, you might recognize Seth’s name – that character was named after him. In this interview, he discusses EVO and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which has been nominated and has won several awards for “Best Fighting Game of the Show” at this year’s E3.

Click to Play

Most uninteresting person on the E3 floor – Fata1lty

To see why, click here for the infamous E3 interview.

Biggest Asshat / CUNT / Worst and Most Unprofessional Interviewer / Definitely shouldn’t quit her day job – Jamie

Best E3 Party – Riot Games / THQ

Not only were there awesome people to meet at the party.  But they setup a 5v5 PC gaming area to play League of Legends! A party with free booze, cool people, and an awesome video game to watch or play? I wish more parties were like this. LAN parties don’t count, because you usually have to bring your own computer and beer.

Lamest E3 Party – NOS Energy Drink / EA

This hallway was the party. Yea. Lame.

Yes, they had some hot models, but the party was so small! I mean, it seems like a small hallway with 3 PS3 demo stations, a DJ, and a couple of people.  Bleh.

Best Press Kit – Heroes of Telara

Click the image above to see why it is the best Press Kit we've seen from any of the companies at E3

Coolest guy to drop and break his beer right in front of me – Tomonobu Itagaki

His rockstar level is over 9000

Shortest Skirts

G4TV Booth Babe looks great from this angle

We couldn’t help but stare at these asses. Thank you, G4.  I thought you were only going to bring one short skirt to your booth, but you said “fuck it. That ‘vote for a booth babe’ contest was just another way to get ratings on our show. We’ll bring 6 more that people don’t know about.”

For more E3 booth babe awards, go past the break. (more…)

Best Children’s Game – Scribblenauts

Here is a creative game that makes children be creative.  Instead of just one way to solve a puzzle or beat a level, the player is supposed to use their imagination to summon anything they can think of to get to the “star.”  For example, if the star is hanging in a tree. You could type ladder, place it next to the tree and guide your character up the tree to get it.

But, the game gets even better if you have a weird imagination. Here’s a quote from neogaf.com:

So listen to this story. I was in the early levels; I didn’t quite have an idea of how ridiculously in-depth the database was. I was summoning things like ladders, glasses of water, rayguns, what have you. But I reached a level with zombie robots, and the zombie robots kept killing me. Rayguns didn’t work, a torch didn’t work, a pickaxe didn’t work. In my frustration, I wrote in “Time Machine”. And one popped up. What the fuck? A smile dawned on my face. I hopped in, and the option was given to me to either travel to the past or the future. I chose past. When I hopped out, there were fucking dinosaurs walking around. I clicked one, and realized I could RIDE THEM. So I hopped on a fucking DINOSAUR, traveled back to the present, and stomped the shit out of robot zombies. Did you just read that sentence? Did you really? I FUCKING TRAVELED THROUGH TIME AND JUMPED ON A DINOSAUR AND USED IT TO KILL MOTHERFUCKING ROBOT ZOMBIES. This game is unbelievable. Impossible. There’s nothing you can’t do.

So, yes.  The only limit in this game is your own imagination.

For more unofficial PixelatedGeek E3 video game awards, go past the break (more…)

Click to Play

I finally found Waldo. Wierd thing is, he was at E3 2009 and not in a book. Even more weird, he was with 2 smokin’ hot babes with very pushed up… glasses. Apparently, all three costumed people were promoting his new mobile game from T-Mobile. I doubt anyone was paying attention to the girls lips as they pitched the game to E3 attendees.

Click to Play

Over at the Activision booth, they demoed DJ Hero. Not knowing anything about the game except for the turntable, I was impressed. I’m a big fan of music mash-ups like Linkin Park and Jay-Z’s Collision Course (don’t judge me). So, a game with this type of music, instantly got my attention. At first, the scratching and switch of the tracks using the crossfader got me confused. But just like any new game, it just takes some time and practice to get used to it. In the second part of the video, you’ll see that if you have a Guitar Hero guitar controller, you can also use that for 2 player fun. But there is only 10 special tracks you can play with both the Guitar Hero guitar and the DJ hero turntable.

DJ Hero release September 30th, 2009.

When Ostendo thinks up a widescreen monitor, they really mean, WIIIIIIIIIDDDDDEEEESCREEN.  I had a chance to check out this bad boy on display at E3 in the Alienware booth.

WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDEEEESCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN

Check out the specs on this bad boy!

43″. Fourty-Three friggin inches of awesomeness.  Why? Because you can never have enough screen real estate.  I would love to own one of these.  But, I think this screen is one of those toys where “if you have to ask for the price, you probably can’t afford it.” For more info, please visit Ostendo Technologies.