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.Ugliest Babe

Red Faction girls. I know you're staring at the girl on the left... perv.

It’s ok.  We still love you for trying to look hot with the investment you made to your chest.

Classiest Babe

Nintendo! Wa-hoo!!!

Nintendo’s Booth babes looked hot, but didn’t need the ultra-short-micro-mini-is-that-even-a skirt like the G4 girls, to show how hot they were.

Best Costume

Skin tight sexyness

The sexy Bayonetta was at E3 to show us that skin tight costumed video game babes CAN come to life. Thank you, Sega.

Overall Hottest Booth Babe(s)

Thank you for wearing what G4 made you wear.  We know you loved the attention and know nothing about video games, but you did what you were hired to do.  Walk around like a slutty G4 billboard.

For pictures for the ladies that didn’t “win” an award, click here.

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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

Best Mature Game – Bayonetta

From the creator of Devil May Cry, you play as an ultra violent hot sexy witch by the name of Bayonetta. The game plays beautifully. If you like Devil May Cry or God of War, then it’s highly likely that Bayonetta will be right up your alley.

Best Casual Game – New Super Mario Bros Wii

A 4 player retro side scrolling Mario game?! Yes, please!  Go back to when you were a kid.  Go back to the time when Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World made you happy with simple to hard platform puzzles.  Life felt simple back then. Now with the New Super Mario Bros. Wii game, you can get that feeling back with 3 other people at the same time.  You can either help each other complete each level, or kill each other.  It’s up to you.

Best Graphics -Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Leave it to Team Ninja to not be a slouch when it comes to graphics. Ninja Gaiden Sigma was an amazing visual experience and Sigma 2 seems to only build on those visuals. Beautiful and realistic character designs and backgrounds truly bring the game experience to life.

Best Rhythm Game – The Beatles: Rock Band

Harmonix has proven time and again that they know what they’re doing when it comes to rhythm games…except for Rock Band: Unplugged. I have to say, not really a fan. But that’s besides the point. The Beatles: Rock Band takes you on a musical and visual journey through out The Beatles’ career. With input from surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as Beatles widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, Beatles fans will appreciate this tribute.

Best Announced Game that we didn’t see any trailer or even one screenshot for - Avatar: The Game

James Cameron came out on to the Ubisoft press conference stage.  The crowd cheered for this super famous director.  The crowd cheered even more as they saw the title screen show up for Avatar.  Then, James started “I’m going to give you a little back story on Avatar.” 10 minutes later, he said “Thank you.” Without giving us a screenshot or trailer, James Cameron bored the crowd with a story similar to an old grandpa telling you “when I was your age.”

Best Announced Game that was not on the show floor but still made us hot in the pants – Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

At the beginning, Kojima announced that he had 4 announcements from the teaser site his team made.  3 of which, we expected to be Metal Gear titles.  We were right.  But that 4th announcment puzzled everyone.  Without telling people what his 4th new game was, he played a trailer during the Konami press conference. The trailer look beautiful, of course.  But no one could guess what it was until the ending title screen came up. “Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.”  The crowd cheered and roared!

Most Pointless/Lame Game – Real Heroes: Firefighter

In this first person shooter, you play as a firefighter.  You point your Wiimote towards the flames and shoot.  That’s about it…seriously.

Best Game that’ll make you flamboyant – We Cheer

Hey. It’s a pretty fun game! Just try it and laugh at yourself. “If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?”

Best Overall Game – WET

What would happen if Quentin Tarrantino made a game? That question is answered in Wet, by Bethesday Softworks. The game is so over the top and bloody, it feels like you’re playing the video game equivalent of Kill Bill. With it’s split targetting, Rubi Vision, and interactive Quicktime Events, the games is shaping up to be a blood and guts gorefest that’s worth checking out.

Honorable Mention – Darkest of Days

While we didn’t get a chance to demo the game, Darkest of Days deserves some sort of mention. Taking players through different and important battles through history, the game prides itself on it’s historical accuracy, expansive landscapes, and massive battles. As an historical MIA recruited as a time traveler to stop people from changing history by eliminating survivors from historical battles, the game offers an interesting dynamic that’s definitely worth an honorable mention.

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.