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Join sisters NinJaSistah and Pandalicious and the rest of the ESH Crew each day as they discuss video games, tech gadgets, anime, manga... pretty much everything within the geek chic lifestyle.

From Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, and PC game reviews, previews, news, and gushings to audience questions and rumor mill seeding galore you'll find it here at ESH!
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    The Aftermath After "The Aftermath"

    posted @ 11/02/2009 06:00:00 AM by Pandalicious

    It was acquired, played and here comes the afterthought...

    Sometime ago I introduced a game called Obscure: The Aftermath. Through the forces of fate, I was given a review copy of this game for the PSP.

    Here is a little refresher in the storyline of Obscure: Take several high school teenagers and trap them on school grounds. Add a demented headmaster who subjects these students to evil experimentation, then unleash horrific baddies on them while they slowly get taken out Darwin style. Oh, do not forget to add the grainy filter, and atmospheric music. Those who made it out alive now have since been treated for the mutations they endured, and also have graduated. Enter next step: college, which proves to not be such an easy transition.

    Even though I have a natural attraction to the distorted and demented stories encased in survival horror games; I also harbor an enhanced reaction to fear. In laymen’s terms: I’m a scaredy cat. To be completely honest, they scare the bejesus out of me! This fear hasn’t stopped me from playing these titles; all they have managed to do is instill in me a habit of late night rummaging for something a little less threatening with a smiley face on it.

    As I loaded this game into the PSP, I heard the chilling sounds of eerie children singing. If we haven’t learned a thing or two about what makes an atmosphere creepy; disembodied child-like choir voices surrounding you like the coat you put on is a good start. If that isn’t enough add the agent that is key to all Japanese horror films and no I don’t mean deathly pale eight-year-old girls. The element of flashing horrific scenes or pictures does the trick. Walking down a hallway at night can be spooky, but add a flash of screaming face or a mutilated person or dog and you are in business.

    Lastly, if the grainy filter, invisible choir boys, and B movie acting isn’t enough to strike fear and uncertainty into your sub cranium, perhaps the lack of true control of your pairs will do it. It is one thing to combat the forces of the darkest twisted corners of the human psyche but try doing it when the only analog stick on your PSP is the biggest piece of crap on the face of the planet. One wrong flick could land you into a corner where you’ll become these monsters’ nighttime love…or at best their nighttime snack.

    If you are a wizard at modification or know someone who has that gamer god-given talent, then I suggest bribing them to mod your analog stick. Then you’ll know for sure that your death was just bad luck and not because you couldn’t move efficiently.

    One concern I do have with this game isn’t really a fault with the game but with Playlogic’s choice to put this game on a portable platform. This game has its share of jumpy moments that could compel someone-say like myself- in utter terror to throw their PSP into the air, thus potentially breaking it into several pieces. To safeguard said PSP, playing in a place made of plush pillows should be considered. However I have recently discovered that Obscure was initially for the Playstation 2 and the fan base clamored for a portable release of this game. So you guys got what you asked for!

    Overall I felt like the atmosphere really set the tone for this game. It reminds me a lot of Silent Hill 2, which is one of my favorite survival horror games. So I give Obscure: The Aftermath for the PSP a 4 out of 5 rating. If you want some portable fear in your pocket Obscure: The Aftermath is the way to go.

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    Fun With Audio: The Next Round

    posted @ 7/06/2009 08:00:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    The gals took the weekend off and left Evermore to his own devices [meaning Adobe SoundBooth and Final Cut Pro] to Frankenstein together another one of his infamous ESH clip shows!

    There is music, there are interviews from some of our E3 booth stops, and maybe even a nugget or two of fun. From Warner Bros. Batman: Arkham Asylum to my Beatles: RockBandinterview with Creative Director Josh Randall. from Harmonix and more. [Can you say Heavy Rain walkthrough? What about Ratchet and Clank: walkthrough.]

    You'll find the last remnants of our LA time in this one, so sit back, relax and enjoy Electric Sista Hood podcast episode 153: The Last Word From E3 (We Promise!)

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    Mmm, Podcast Goodness

    posted @ 6/15/2009 08:00:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    Once again, Monday brings with it a new episode of the Electric Sista Hood podcast, and in this one I think we finally put the nail in the post E3 wrap-up content.

    Pandalicious and Ninjasistah talk about some of the lesser known or presented games like Warner Bros. Scribblenauts for the DS and a few titles from Playlogic including Section 8 Who had the best looking man candy by far. From Alpha Protocol to The Lord of the Rings: Arrogorns' Tale we talk through the last bits of our E3 notes... until we finish unpacking that is.

    So kick back, relax, and enjoy ESH podcast episode 150: The Brownies Were Mad Crazy Delicious

    p.s. more photo galleries to come, so be sure to check out the website this week often.

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    Remember: Pillage, Then Burn

    posted @ 6/13/2009 09:57:00 PM by FreeLoader
    Naughty Dog may not be the biggest name in videogames, but anyone who has owned a Sony console should know the name. The Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter trilogies were great. Now Naughty Dog has a new puppy, but this time there aren’t any humanoid animals running about.


    Uncharted 2: Among Thieves follows the hero of the first game – Nathan Drake as he searches for the lost fleet of Marco Polo. A cool concept I must admit, especially after the first game revolving around Sir Francis Drake and the lost city of gold, El Dorado. The integration of actual history and fabricated legend is what gives the series its charm. I had the pleasure of testing out the closed beta for Uncharted 2.

    I’ll start with the co-op. The levels look great and play well. One of the only complaints I had was the lack of sufficient cover, because in every section of the levels you will be attacked from all sides. This makes teamwork essential though. You need to use all three players taking cover in strategic places so as to cover every side. Boss characters drop down after a long and bloody battle in each section and it takes the combined fire of all three teammates to bring them down. So while the levels are well designed for team play, I can’t say much for the AI.

    In each section of the levels there were three spawn points for enemies. Of course because of this, one player on each spawn means the CPUs can’t even touch the ground before they’re dead. The AI seemed inconsistent as well. Sometimes the AI would just stay behind cover, shoot a little, rinse and repeat. Other times it would just crouch and move slowly towards you (which I found to be a little unfair since the player gets no crouch button). All in all, unless wielding a shotgun or a rocket launcher, the AI could simply be walked up to and punched in the face, and it would result in the same effect as hiding behind cover and wasting your ammo. Which actually brings me to the melee aspect of the game.

    The melee moves are flashy, but not hard. As long as you hit the Square button before your enemy attempts a melee move, you’ll do one of a variety of cool looking moves. However it always turned into a button mash sequence, so I wondered if there could be a punishing system for not hitting the button at the right time.

    The co-op ends up being exceptionally short, and leaves you at a cliffhanger where another boss jumps out. The way you enter new sections irked me a little because you can climb over basically anything during gameplay, but when you need to climb a wall to get to a new section, it’s a scripted sequence where the characters climb on their own and you have to watch. I’m guessing it was the developer’s way of bypassing “load screens”. The mission format was ok, but I honestly wanted to get into some storyline stuff with others online, so I hope that the main game will also include co-op, because otherwise I don’t see many people playing it as the missions are short and the exp payout is a small fraction of what you’d get in competitive play. And that is where this beta really shines.

    The two included game modes allow for a lot of fun and enough variety to keep players on the servers for a while. Deathmatch is a classic favorite and can really vary in this game. I played some matches that were fast paced fire fights and others that were slow cover battles. The maps are small enough so that you’ll always have someone to shoot, but offer enough cover that the fights don’t end immediately. Plunder is basically capture the flag, but the flag is treasure, and you can throw it. In fact, throwing the treasure is necessary on one of the maps to get it into your base. The throw system makes the mode a lot more fun, as you can chuck the treasure in the direction of your base if you start to get shot to make it harder for your opponents to move it toward theirs.

    I did have some gripes with the game play though. Bullet speed is pretty slow, so many times two players shooting at each other will both die because it takes a while for the bullets to reach their target. Simultaneous deaths occur in melee range a lot too because it takes two attacks to kill, and there seems to be some kind of death lag that allows you one more attack as you are dying.

    Long range kills are one of the most difficult things in the game. Bullet damage is so low that you can fire an entire clip at one enemy (accounting for missing a number of times) and still lose the fight. (I know, I was the guy you were emptying clips on) There is a sniper rifle, but with the game lacking a crouch button, you have to go to one of the predetermined sniper spots that the game lays out on the map, which causes you to be a sitting duck, especially for a grenade. Which brings me to my next point.

    Grenades will kill in a huge radius. Grenades have a 3 second timer. Grenades can be thrown behind you while you are running around corners. Grenades have the best aiming system I have ever seen for a thrown weapon in a game. Basically, this game IS grenades. You are almost guaranteed one kill per life because of the grenade you spawn with. It is impossible to escape an explosion of that caliber in only three seconds, and I've tried. Rolling and jumping do nothing, if you see a grenade land next to you, you may as well just keep shooting at the one who threw it so you can get some points out of this guaranteed death. My suggestion is adding one second to the timer, even half a second to allow players a sliver of hope to survive these little red monstrosities. (EDIT: It seems that Naughty Dog has released a patch that makes grenade damage work the way it was “supposed to”. From what I can tell, the grenades no longer always kill you outright, but sometimes blow you to the ground, taking away most of your life and leaving you stunned. Regardless of the patch, a grenade still = death).

    The booster system reminds me a lot of Call of Duty with its power-ups. This game has only 2 slots, one affecting your ammo, and one affecting your aim. However I noticed that every single person always uses the same setup (understandable since there are only 3-4 boosts in each category). So instead of seeing my killer's setup, I felt instead like I was being given advice: "Keep firing down the irons". This of course being the bonus "Keep firing" for extended clip ammunition and "Down the irons", increased accuracy when aiming with any weapon not classified as a pistol. It seems like the booster system will need more bonuses, perhaps unlocked by leveling up, before it realizes its true potential.

    And there were times where there was a weird graphical glitch. I was aiming, walking and shooting, and it seemed like the camera got stuck on some vines or something, because there was this green and yellow coloration at the top of the screen flickering on and off. I’ve gotten up from behind cover to have my screen flicker black as well. And the water seems glitched too, because at times it will glow as if it were light, rather than light is bouncing off it, and standing in a puddle feels more like standing on a puddle. Granted it’s a small detail, but when water is deep enough for jumping in it to make a splash, I figure the soles of my shoes should at least be submerged. I assume this will be fixed in the final release though; it IS just a beta after all.

    All in all I really enjoyed the game and I can’t wait to get my hands on the final release at the end of the year. If for nothing else, the multiplayer will be a lot of fun once some new maps get added. Plus, I can’t wait to find out exactly what did happen to Marco Polo out at sea.

    Written by: Bramimond

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    PlayLogic Anticipated: The Obscurity of Obscure: The Aftermath

    posted @ 6/10/2009 10:54:00 AM by Pandalicious


    Rule one: Don't have sex, you'll die Rule two: Don't drink, you'll die Rule three: Don't do drugs or...you'll die.. Oh...Cmon put the drugs, the booze and the condoms down...Ok...see what happens to you!

    So you thought things were safe. You thought today you were going to do the same sort of things you did the day before: wake up, shower [hopefully] aim for passing that test or getting through that performance review. Maybe, just maybe life really is as mundane as we figure it to be…or maybe things are just a tad bit…obscure. The facets of life in regards to the life lived in the light, and the life lived in the dark are often left unseen.

    We don’t mind living in the light; however what about that other half? What about shedding some awareness on ones personal darkness? That inner horror, terror, fear and uncertainty will not stay hidden forever. Will you be ready?

    Now it is one thing to confront personal demons, but the contrast in a soon to be released title [Early September release] is that is fashioned in a complete B movie sheen. So combine all the Scream movies, I know what you did last summer, Silent Hill, Resident Evil and even a dash of everyone’s favorite “ Stay Alive” [*please note editor's strong strain of sarcasm.]

    In the universe of Obscure: The Aftermath, we are thrown into a rendition of “Scream”: The Later Years. There is a group of college students having the most generic college experience imaginable…you know…the one WE all THOUGHT we’d have? [Or maybe it is just me...] So add sex, drugs sex, pizza, sex, the occasional bathroom break in the middle of an exam and oh yeah don't forget about sex. Like always the universe wants to punish these academia bound youths with horrors that they have never imagined. [Sucks to be them right?]

    So in order to understand Obscure: The Aftermath it is best to understand what happened before…Two years ago at Leafmore high, there was a group of teenagers who were trapped inside their school; they were hunted down by demonic monsters set upon them by the headmaster. Some of them didn’t make it, while others were lucky to make it out alive. So with their lives in tacked they moved on…to the next phase.

    When these dark flowers begin popping up all over the campus, it is only natural that people want to experiment on them. From this came an unknown substance that would induce strange and vivid dreams. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like drugs to me. [Ohhhhh Yeah!] Editors note: The editor does not condone the use of narcotics while driving cars, walking on the street, and being slaughtered by devilish fiends.

    The PSP is getting this game with two modes: Single player and Co-Op. It is an easy drop in/drop out system. Other features in this game are: that there are six playable characters, each with a special or unique ability. This can be the ability to climb or have additional strength or...oh I don’t know, being able to absorb dark matter. It is all in a highly detailed and rich 3D environment. The last attribute to bring up about this game is the soundtrack! It is essential to the overall mood of the intended horror and terror that plagues this universe.

    Now, I was privileged enough to see this game up close. The monsters that I saw the heroes encounter were definitely eye catching…. My personal favorite was the Vagina monster. This Phobia [which is what the monsters are called] is a female’s body with no head, naked obviously. [Alright fellahs before whipping em out and fapping away let me warn you here and now. All those fears of a woman’s vagina, what it looks like and what it can do to you...are embodied in this game. Okay…don’t say I didn’t tell you.] All along her legs leading all the way to...you guessed it was a mouth with razor sharp fangs. If that isn’t enough to dissuade you, if you are close enough to her, she will unleash her umbilical cord that will wrap around you, drag you to her V-Town and will dish out some serious pain…if not...immediate death! [I know fellahs….I know but this isn’t a good idea!]

    If I only had a PSP I would be able to physically enter this world and be able to deliver a stronger vision for you guys. But if this sounds remotely intriguing then I strongly suggest that you check it out. I doubt you’d be disappointed, however keep in mind that this game isn’t meant to be taken seriously, it is done in a style that begs us to laugh our asses off. We all know I did! Enjoy!


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    Panda Says Woot! Woot!

    posted @ 6/09/2009 10:33:00 AM by Pandalicious

    And you thought after E3 that Panda stopped workin' it! You were wrong!

    Needless to say after things were said and done, I left Los Angeles a new kind of person. I saw the industry in a new actual light. Interviews were conducted, games were played and on my last day, my flight was delayed. I was already utterly exhausted from the big event that was E3 and the very last thing on my mind was more work. As luck would have it, I was fortunate to bump into a man who had worked a booth at the convention. He was standing by the Samsung charging station[which are HORRIBLY placed, and ill suited for the many devices people need to charge before a flight!] After the most humorous banter imaginable this man begins to tell me about who he works for.

    Woot! is an online store that primarily focuses on selling merchandise for affordable prices. Now the interesting thing about Woot! is they focus on selling one item a day.Hopefully it sells out otherwise we just move on to the next one. It isn't just a online store it is also a community.

    So for a while, I plan to introduce a mini segment called "Things that make you go Woot!" If you are curious as to what these guys do you can look at their website www.woot.com. Also as an aside, IF, you are one of the masses who has an iPhone Woot! has App from at the App Store![It is free!] What can be found there is the standard woot.com section, sellout.woot, shirt.woot and wine.woot.

    Check it out People! And look out for "Things that make you go Woot!"

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    Another E3 in the Can

    posted @ 6/08/2009 08:00:00 AM by Ninjasistah


    We aren't dead, but our feet [and brains] are dead tired from traipsing around the LA Convention Center last week to cover E3 for you guys. [And if I'm honest, for ourselves as well.] I couldn't tell you how much both Pandalicious and I enjoyed our time in LA. First there was the catching up with the rest of the AllGames fam, followed closely by the meeting and greeting of new gamer-type press groups and the exchange of thoughts and ideas over free drinks. [Crix Lee from GirlGamer, Destructoids' Nick Chester, and Mr. Crecente himself from Kotaku to name drop a few.] The side-story fun stuff aside, we descended on LA for a reason and that reason was to get the low down on the soon to be released and up-and-coming video games.

    I won't bore you with a list of what we looked at, and whom we spoke to now as it wouldn't leave us anything to write for the rest of the week. What I will do is tell you that this podcast was one of our more enjoyable ones to record. We recorded it live from the show floor and Crix Lee popped by during our The Beatles: RockBand time and shared some great insights with us. A few people were wow'd by my laptop skin [courtesy of DecalGirl] and interrupted us a bit so you may notice that in here as well, but we had a lot to talk about... Bayonetta, Scribblenaughts, Prototype, and Batman: Arkham Asylum come to mind as I write this.

    From the stronger female presence both physically and pixel-y at this years' show to media briefing impressions and being excluded from demos we talk about it all. Grab your beverage of choice and put on your headphones, it's time to enjoy Electric Sista Hood podcast 149: While My Pocketbook Gently Weeps

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    Now To The Main Stage DJ Hero!

    posted @ 6/06/2009 03:08:00 PM by Pandalicious


    I'm ready to take the floor and send my fans into a euphoria and pure panda pleasure....with music

    The gamer fan base was excited to the end of their sanity when Harmonix teamed up with MTV and Activision to bring Guitar Hero to this planet. Fingers fidgeted along the fret keys, hands furiously fapped at the strum bar [Yes I said it so what?!] Men and women gathered to test their rock skills to this masterpiece…but what about those out there who want to rock out but haven’t found their medium?

    At this year’s E3 I was about to watch a demo of Activision’s latest rhythm based game [Can I even say that really?!] Yes ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you DJ Hero. If you feel your house isn’t cluttered with peripherals enough, add this one you’ll see why…

    So the controller obviously looks like a turntable with complete 360 degree spinning capabilities. There are three buttons on that: blue green and a longer red on for your middle finger. The other side of the controller has a mixer which when on the left corresponds to one color, on the right side corresponds to another and when it is places in the middle it plays both. [This is a key concept to this game]

    There is a single button that when hit [with the euphoria bar filled up] will send the crowd into the most pleasant state of being imaginable!

    They didn’t go into character construction or any of those small details that make this game more personable to a gamer’s personal style.

    Speculation dictates that this has the potential of being this holiday’s “it” item. This is all well and good. This is due to the fact that it appeals to a large group of the base.

    If I were to predict who would be most likely to buy this game and excel at it, I would blindly say women gamers. I do not say this because I am in fact a woman, but I say it because of the game play motions necessary to achieve the highest amount of points. It is understandable if that triggered the most perverted thoughts to enter your mind. [IN FACT I welcome them!] If that doesn’t give you a clear image to what I am talking about, then I urge you to listen to Dane Cook talk about “DJ Diddles” Now if that didn’t give you an idea then I strongly suggest you get from underneath the rock you’ve been living under for most of your life. [Trust me it is nicer out here!]

    [TskTskTsk] Activision… I fear you have peaked too soon in your quest for rhythm-based dominance. We all know you walked the path with Harmonix and MTV Games. Now at this year’s E3 you were not only showcasing DJ Hero, but you were also highlighting Guitar Hero 5, and Band Hero [Which I assume is Guitar Hero World Tour all over again] DJ Hero seems the most refreshing rhythm based game to come out of your camp since the initial Guitar Hero.

    DJ Hero does not only seem to be the it game to look forward to…but…it could potentially lead to a decrease in the renting of DJ’s for parties in the future, why rent one when you could be one?!


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    E3 Day 2: Bayonetta

    posted @ 6/03/2009 06:31:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    Click the image to check out the photo gallery I put together from the show floor, or hit the jump and find out what I think about the game, then look at the pretty pictures.

    The choice is yours.
    Either way works for me, but you better get this game when it releases kids. Bayonetta is just fun. I got hands-on with the game on the floor here at E3 after a private demo of the game which just prepared me for what I was going to play on the floor as I originally had no idea what I was in for.

    If you don't know much about Bayonetta you should head over to Platinum Games' website to bone up on your history. The lead character is a sleek and sexy witch with some incredible powers and guns in her shoes... which she does shoot from in battle. There hasn't been a lot released about her past or the main story in the game, and honestly I don't care. I know, I know, you may be saying to yourself, "...but Ninja is all about story, WTF?" Well, Bayonetta is just so damn fun I don't really give much of a crap about the story but I'm sure it's a good one.

    The gameplay is fast, furious, and fluid. During the loading screens, you get to practice Bayonetta's combo moves so you can better lay the smackdown on your enemies. Once you have downed an enemy you can pick up any weapon that they have dropped and use it against other opponents for a limited time. You can also charge up attacks and enter an overdrive type mode called "witch time" which essentially slows down your opponents giving you a vast advantage during the fight.

    There have been a lot of parallels drawn between Bayonetta and Capcoms' Devil May Cry series and though the lead developer on this title from Sega did work on the DMC title that is the only similarity that should be drawn. Bayonetta has her own swagger, style of movement, and use of weaponry than Dante and has yet to drop an out of place one liner.

    Strong, sexy, female action lead number one down... 15 to go.

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    E3: When Mediums Mix

    posted @ 6/03/2009 12:18:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    If you have followed this site or our podcast for any length of time, you know that I love creativity and creative people, so it only makes sense that an event like the ESA's "Into the Pixel" art gallery would tickle me pink.

    Into the Pixel is an art show that the ESA puts on at the beginning of the E3 Expo. Video game themed artwork is created and submitted by gamers and non-gamers to be judged by a panel and the winners artwork goes on display for the entirety of the expo.

    Last night, I was able to attend the reception with some of the members of the AllGames.com fam and was very surprised at just how good and creative many of the pieced on exhibit were. Piece topics ranged from Raving Rabbids to not yet released The Conduit, and even included a piece on Dirk Dagger! I've included a picture below from the Pixel website which you should definitely check out and I may float back there today to get some pictures as they were not allowed last night.

    This piece was done by Kareem Ettouney based on the SCEA title Little Big Planet and is named "Craft Cosmos."




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    The Bastard Children Shall Rise: Pandalicious' Encounter at Nintendo Media Briefing

    posted @ 6/03/2009 12:02:00 PM by Pandalicious

    Lord knows that one day the meek shall inherit the earth. Nintendo's comment "Meh"

    So after the mental mindfuck that was my first alone trip on a plane. I safely arrived to the ever-glorious city of Los Angeles.

    Being new to this more professional aspect of the industry, dare I say that my first thoughts were slightly disillusioned? I thought of making it big in the industry…”gamedom” if you will. However it was quickly conveyed, onto many others,[Including myself] that some of the members of the blogosphere are being segregated. Since I cannot speak on what I don’t know, I shall only speak on what I know.

    This is what I know.
    This morning, at the tender time of 6am…I woke up, dressed, and prepped for the Nintendo Briefing held at the Nokia Center. It was quite cloudy out, which made me feel as if I had brought New England’s weather with me.

    As Ninja and I approached, I felt some tension in the air, this solely being because I saw color-coded bands along the check-in table. Quickly Ninja acquired her blue band, and I anticipated my matching band…only to see a yellow one extended to me.

    Fate decided to split the sistahs up. Normally I would not harbor ill will, and in honesty I don’t at this point. However at 7am this kind of thing plucks at the heart strings. So with all things said and done, a reluctant Pandalicious walks off into the overcrowd room.

    Needless to say that the area began to fill with other people, other people who had been subjected to a second-class status in the eyes of Nintendo. One person [who for the purpose of this article] stated that “Nintendo wasn’t always like this.” He could remember when Nintendo showered its press with gifts to entice people to stay invested.

    Now that Nintendo has proven not only to be a contender in the gaming industry, but that it could surpass the other two in terms of portables. Nintendo has found its mountain to be king of, it seems that it has adapted a “diva” stance.

    With egos bruised and battered, we all sat silently looking at the screen that showed us what was happening on the other side.

    But like I always mention...there was a silver lining to this dark cloud, those of us who were forced out of the event due to large numbers, got the reward of getting to get hands on experience right at the end of the briefing. This is all well and good…however most people flooded out of the Nokia Center to get on the shuttle to the Sony Press Release at Shriners Auditorium.

    So all and all…even with the temptation of hand and hand action offered by Nintendo, Sony still enticed people with just the hint of new innovation in games…. or so we think.


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    E3: It's Not Only About The Swag

    posted @ 6/03/2009 11:56:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    As I write this post, I am preparing to start day two of our ESH E3 coverage. Yesterday was a bit hurried, but I absolutely loved it.

    Where else can you get to play The Beatles: Rockband before the rest of the world does, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Scribblenauts, and get some free booze before noon?

    ONLY in LA!Which is fine by me if you want to keep score. I've got a few more things from yesterday that I have to get my notes and thoughts straight on, but wanted to give you an idea of what's on the docket today.

    First up is Sega and Bayonetta which is going to be a hands-on demo with some Q&A afterwards. I'm following up Bayonetta with a small helping of Bethesda Softworks Wet, which is a third person shooter featuring another badass female lead character who goes by the name of Rubi. Then I'm going to have a break and get a coke before I continue on to Ubisoft where I'm going to balance out my chick-fest with a look at Assassin's Creed 2 and Red Steel 2. [Among other things.]

    With the hard work out of the way I'm just going to mosey around the show floor, maybe visit with Konami, Activision, and Microsoft. Be on the lookout for updates today folks, they are just around the corner!

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    Here's Some Pictures For you

    posted @ 6/02/2009 05:56:00 PM by Ninjasistah

    You didn't think I would let the day go by without posting some pictures for you did ya?

    Well, I didn't. Click this here link to check them out!

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    Sony Briefing

    posted @ 6/02/2009 01:14:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    Yeah, I'mma live blog this one too.



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    The Nintendo Briefing: NinJa Style

    posted @ 6/02/2009 10:12:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    Here we go:



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    E3 Briefing: Microsoft

    posted @ 6/01/2009 12:50:00 PM by Ninjasistah

    The Beatles: RockBand just got cooler: Paul and Ringo were here!!!

    The fab four mockups look wonderful, and the highways don't look much different than before, but I want it even more. The sound in the Galen Center was ridiculous when Paul and Ringo hit the stage. I'm geeking out, but it was pretty freaking cool!

    Tony Hawk was just up showing off his new title Ride whose skateboard deck controller looks like something I'm going to kill myself own, but I want to try it.

    I know that G4 is in the building so if you have the station you should be able to watch the briefing along with me.

    Ok, I'm not a Modern Warfare kinda gal, but it did look fantastic. If you are a FPS fan be jealous of me.

    I take back what I said about FFXIII it is localized. I'm still not a turn based fan, but the summons [as with every title from Squeenix] make my jaw drop.

    *UPDATE*
    Cliffy B has on a tee with Bill Gate's mugshot on it. Priceless. Exclusive title numero uno: Shadow Complex. A side scrolling XBLA title that reminds me of an arcade console game. My first reaction was MS does Metroid.

    New kart game, JoyRide free kart game that everyone can get. Interesting bit about it: any level you purchase your friends can play with you without having to purchase the level themselves.

    *UPDATE 2*
    CRACKDOWN 2 HELL YEAZ!!!
    Left4Dead 2 Looks like the main characters are going to be BLACK!!!!
    Splinter Cell Conviction just about made me need a towel. No joke folks. The Ubisoft dude are on stage now to demo the title. I want to buy this now. It looks like a cross between a Max Payne title and the best of the Splinter Cell franchise.

    Racing enthusiasts, Forza 3 was just announced. The logo still needs some love in my opinion, but the car customization stuff looks deep. I'mma get on XBLive in my lo-lo like the guy that was just on the screen. I guess they are trying to show how different car design company facets influenced the game. Ships in October.

    *UPDATE 3*
    Halo3:ODST A little bit detective, a little bit Halo. Drops 9.22.09.
    **Secret Bungie Project** Halo: Reach drops 2010, but if you buy ODST you get an invite to play Reach Bungie... they have you buy the balls.

    ALAN WAKE Please don't suck. Just have to say, "Are you afraid of the dark?" You should be. 2010!!! GAWD DAMMAT!!

    Time for Live
    Last.fm on Live. Gold members get it later this year free.
    Netflix is going to get an update. Category browsing, Live TV streaming for the UK via SKY. Full 1080p video coming. Insta-streaming so no waiting for content, and rolling out in more countries through Zune media. Live party will let you watch your stuff with your party friends. Just what I need Facebook integration. Ah, but this Twitter integration interests me. Felicia Day, tell me more. Twitting from my dashboard... possibly interesting.

    KOJIMA-SANMETAL GEAR ON XB360!!!!!!! And I'm done ya'll! Metal Gear Solid: Rizing

    and... a new controller... you. full body motion sensor... want to see in action.



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    E3 is Around the Corner

    posted @ 5/31/2009 10:51:00 PM by Ninjasistah


    So E3 is literally right around the corner in that Pandalicious and I fly out to LA in the AM, and we are really excited!

    This years' event will be the third that we have attended in the last few years, but will mark the first time Pandalicious and I have covered an event together ever. We will be teaming up with some of the crew and affiliate family from AllGames Radio and bringing you all the news we can stay awake long enough to write, report, put together, or just plain think is cool.

    As always, we will be reporting on stuff as it goes down from some of the media briefings, sharing our unique take on things, and maybe even do a live event or two. If you have any questions for us, or want to suggest something for us to do/look at/investigate while at the show, make sure to take advantage of our Questionsat ESHdot mobi address and send them in... just keep in mind that all times for us will be PST and not EST.

    We cool?

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    Ninja's Left Alone Are Lonely Ninjas

    posted @ 10/13/2008 08:00:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    Creeping into your fresh cup of coffee is a new episode of the ESH podcast, and this one is a bit different than most.

    It's not a full crew episode, nor is it a top 5, this episode is all NinJaSistah, and it's all rant.

    I've pulled together all my thoughts about the last few video game trade show events that I've gone to and created nearly an hour of the good, the bad, the ugly, and hopefully the fixes that are needed to truly make tradeshows accessible, fun, and educational for all.

    To give you an idea of the paths this episode goes down, here are some of the titles I didn't pick for it:
    • The E3 Gods Must Be Crazy
    • CES: Where The Elite Meet To Deceit
    • Fair and Balanced: It's Not Just A Slogan... It's A Phrase
    • Stop Excluding A Sistah
    • and finally
    • COMDEX Got So Big Nobody Went There Anymore

    Yes indeedy, it's a good old fashioned tongue lashing... so sit back, relax and enjoy ESH podcast episode 117: "How To Get Treated Like A Meat Popsicle."

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    MagicMystic Still A No Show

    posted @ 7/21/2008 08:00:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    Who doesn't like new podcast episode Monday? Productive people that's who. Let us help you start your week off on the unproductive tip with this episode of our podcast.

    Sans MagicMystic yet again, the sistah's stick to the gaming topic covering both the new and upcoming starting with Panda's take on the game Project Origin and Ninja sharing some of what she was able to take away from the assorted E3 coverage.

    From talking about the survival horror game genre to specific experiences with titles like Manhunt and Silent Hill to the thriller-chiller types including the "I don't think NinJa is ever going to finish it" BioShock game. Ninja talks God of War 3, Animal Crossing: City Folk, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Portal 2, and Oneechanbura.

    It's another one of our lively podcast episodes people, here are some of the titles we decided not to use to name it:

    • Don't. Stop. Waitin' Fer RockBand 2, Yeah
    • Who? Guess Who?
    • Don't Sell Your Soul For Tic-Tacs
    • The New Animal Crossing Lets Me Be Mii
    • Kratos Makes Ninja's Gamer Boner Hard
    • Kratos Was A Red-Headed Step Child
    • Panda's Birthday Is Another 11 1/2 Months Away
    • Killing Me Softly with Her Sword
    • We Will. We Will...Flock Ewe
    • Videogame Word of the Year: Booty
    • E3 Didn't Want Me? Well, They're Not Invited to My Place Either
    • We Have Nothing To Fear But the Sequel to Fear Itself
    • This Guy's Full of Beans, and That Is a Bad Thing
    • Don't Ever Attend a Zmbie Reunion
    • and finally
    • Brain Exlax, I Like that

    If that hasn't told you everything you need to know about this week's podcast, then saddle up and give a listen to ESH podcast episode 106: Did I giggle That Outside Loud?

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    THQ Brings the iPhone to the Dark Side

    posted @ 7/17/2008 10:37:00 AM by Douceswild
    Ever since the release of the iPhone last year, I knew that it was only a matter of time before more in-depth and detailed mobile games would make their way to the device.

    We've seen full 3D games that make use of the iPhone's accelerometer (Super Monkey Ball and Kro-Mag Rally) in the iTunes App Store which was opened last week. Well THQ Wireless has taken mobile gaming a step further with their demo of Stars Wars: Force Unleashed at this weeks E3 conference. Before I began watching the video, I was a bit skeptical as to how the gameplay would pan out on this device, but after seeing it in action, I'm sold. I will definitely buy this when it releases September 16, 2008.



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    Preparing for the Fallout 3

    posted @ 7/17/2008 08:29:00 AM by Douceswild


    Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion are just a few of the great games to come from Bethesda Softworks.

    Fallout 3 looks to be right up there with the other greats. Check out the E3 video release showing gameplay, particularly, combat.



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    Waiting For the Force to be Unleashed

    posted @ 7/17/2008 08:14:00 AM by Douceswild

    I've been waiting for Star wars: The Force Unleased ever since I saw the inital footage at E3 2007.

    Check out this Rancor battle gameplay shown at this year's E3. This is what Star wars Knights of the Old Repulic should have looked like. The force lift at the end is AWESOME!

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    There Is A New Prince In Town

    posted @ 7/16/2008 10:39:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    When I first heard the announcement about the new Prince of Persia game I was pretty skeptical. While I did not complete Price of Persia:The Two Thrones [I only got half way through the title before I moved on to something else] I had grown quite attached to my prince, and the lovely narrator voice that followed him.

    But the fine folks at Ubisoft have moved on to tell the tale of a new Price, and in an entirely new way.

    The new Price is stuck in the middle of the most basest good versus evil conflicts: light versus dark. Very similar the the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes which the environment of the new PoP game strongly reminds me of. In the interview video you are about to watch you can see what I'm talking about. What I find most interested is how the companion character Elika will affect the gameplay. I can not shake the fact that this new PoP game comes across as the bastard child of Twilight Prince and Ico on the PS2.

    Take a look:

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    E3 Day One Summary

    posted @ 7/14/2008 08:31:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    If you are an avid listener of our podcast or frequent visitor our site you know that the ESH crew is not in LA covering E3 on the ground this year. We are there in spirit though, and I am more than happy to share what I have surmised from the day one coverage of the media bru ha ha.

    We kick off with Microsoft. From the land of online community comes the announcement of "Experience," the new online community framework that will be put into place on the XBox360 platform. Taking the hint from how successful the xbox.com community has been, "Experience" leans towards giving the user base a similar digital entertainment hub to that of MS counterpart/major competitor Sony with it's "Home" application. Through "Experience" users will have avatars that they create that can interact with each other over the internet, have access to an even broader base of electronic media entertainment [including the newly announced partner Netflix] and more.

    On hand were the pre-requisite hype game trailers for both Gears of War 2 and Fable 2 [both of which make have many of us in the gaming community salivating at the mere thought of them] upcoming titles. I will have a gallery collection of my favorite E3 released trailers up later on this week. The XBox camp was also proud to announce that the new Final Fantasy XIII title will launch simultaneously on the XBox360 platform as well as the PS3 platform. A huge win for MS in the fight to end PS3 exclusivity dominance over the Final Fantasy franchise. [Try saying that three times fast.]

    All in all MS tried to come out swinging at this event, making it known that that they are not afraid to jump into the brawl to be the best home entertainment system and not just gaming console. It's hard to not notice the trend towards a path of total digital media delivery package that the next gen systems seem to be moving toward. It is a road that competitors Sony and [to a degree] Nintendo have been marketing towards for well over a year now, but it still awaits to be seen if it is the predominant market for success here in the US.

    We will just have to see what day two brings us tomorrow evening.

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    Got Angst?

    posted @ 7/14/2008 08:00:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    It's hard to explain the title until you listen to the episode, but trust me this new episode of the ESH podcast is quite the piece of work.

    In this episode of the podcast, the sistah's run the video game, entertainment and anime gauntlet from the audience choice re-review of the anime series Angel Sanctuary to new games on the E3 horizon. Would it be an ESH podcast if we didn't talk about incest, angst, mentioning Bioshock or complaining about videogames/comic titles being turning into feature length films? I don't think so. To give you a better idea of how the episode turned out, here are the titles we didn't choose:

    • Sucked Into a Portal of Happiness
    • God Knows, Even In His Sleep
    • Again With the Incest
    • I Love Her, So I Need to Kill Her
    • The Sex Scenes Are Pretty Cool, Just Pretend They're Not Related
    • Just Say "No" to Will Smith
    • Want to Beat Darth Vader? Smack James Earl Jones in the Face
    • It's Big. It's Black. and It Makes No Noise
    • My Only Real Complaint Is that It's Short
    • I Finally Took Out Ghandhi - I'm Not Proud to Say That
    • and
    • FYI: Incest Sends Your Soul to Hell

    So grab your morning or evening cup of joe and enjoy ESH Podcast Episode 105: This Is Fan Service...WITHOUT My Crotch

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    Juiced 2, Frustration 0

    posted @ 7/25/2007 12:14:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    I have spent more than my fair share of money fixing my damn car in the original Juiced title, so much in fact that when I was presented with a chance to see a demo of the new addition to the Juiced franchise I almost passed on it. After the demo, I felt better about the title, and better about being a tuner poser.

    But we'll talk about that another time. Right now I want to talk about THQ's new addition to the race driving genre Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights.

    I think that I am one of those rare people that [for the most part] enjoyed the first Juiced title when it came out. I love racing games. I love them even more when the cars retain damage over time. I love being able to race other drivers from across the globe in real-time, and I love being able to modify my in-game vehicle as I choose as I have no real money to do so in the real world. With all that said, Juiced the first really should have been an out of the park hit for me, but it wasn't.

    As I said earlier, the first game was plagued by keeping many drivers from progressing very far. You had to earn money by winning races in order to buy better cars and compete in different circuits, but if you took too much damage during a race you had to spend that money on fixing your car so you could continue racing at all, let along purchase a new vehicle. This lead to a vicious circle which ultimately lead to my giving the game away and going back to Turismo. At least there I could progress up the racing chain as it were, but for me it wasn't as fun as Juiced the first originally was in the beginning of my gameplay. After being treated to this demo of Juiced the second by licensing manager [and drift master extrordinaire] Nick Clarkson, I think that frustrating loop has been addressed.

    Gone is the need to repair your car after a race. Gone is the race buy-in. In HIN you make money only to purchase new cars, or mod your existing one... and that's the way I like it. A new addition that I think will add to the gameplay is the ability to bet on races in order to make money to better your vehicle or use towards the purchase of a new set of wheels. What's even better is that you can bet on races that you aren't even driving in... on or offline. So if your tuner and or turning skills suck, but on a surething online. If things aren't quite going your way, you can change your bet in the middle of the race and hope to recoup some of your losses. And do I have to mention the ability to slap some true to life aftermarket parts on your psuedo ride is kinda pimp? I don't? Didn't think I had to.


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    New Podcast Day

    posted @ 7/22/2007 10:48:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    Monday rears it's ugly head once again, so you know what that means... it's new podcast day in the land of ESH!

    This Monday, Pandalicious starts the conversation with the anime series Elfen Lied and MagicMysticGrl and NinJaSistah weigh in with their take on the series. You asked for it Vichus, and the sistah's try to deliver. The girls talk about the ability of Elfen Lied to be marketed here in the West, and whether or not strong sexual content or violent anime in general can stand a chance of making the mainstream here in the West.

    Then NinJaSistah bats 3rd in order to share some of the thoughts and impressions that E3 07' left on her. It's a fun start to the week, so jump in and enjoy Episode 59: I Flash in Your General Direction.

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    Hands-On: Darksiders

    posted @ 7/21/2007 04:50:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    I like to imagine myself as a great connoisseur of video games. And while there are many flavors of games available to me, I find that the games that cleanse my palette tend to be those that are more unique in their format than anything else. [Can you tell it's close to lunch time?]

    Taking a few days to go over the notes I took while in Santa Monica for E3, I realize that I keep going back over my notes for the same few games over and over again. Not because my notes suck or that my drunken penmanship leaves anything to be desired, but because I get more and more excited each time I read over my notes for those titles. One of those yummy/unique titles happens to be Darksiders: Wrath of War.

    Let me get the business out of the way so we can talk about what I find interesting about this title. Darksiders is a single player action title that will out sometime in fall of 08 for the XB360 and PS3 console systems. Made by THQ's in house development studio Vigil Studios penned by Joe "The Man" Madureira. Joe is responsible for some of my more favorite Uncanny X-Men comic books so it should not have been a surprise to me that Darksiders would have been the type of game that grabbed my attention.

    Darksiders is set in post-apocalyptic Earth [all action titles must start post-apocalypse, it's the law] but instead of being the requisite lone "badass" human that is out to save what is left of humanity, in this game you are War, one of the horsemen of the apocalypse.

    Right off the bat I know that I am going to like this game.

    It's not that I don't like being a goody-two-shoes hero, [I do] but I value the fact that I'm going to get to play a character that probably lives in that grey/dark grey/ok, dark-charcoal area between good and evil. I think that creating a story for a game that has the player walking the fine line and gives them the ability to choose how far into the light or dark they venture is a title worth investing in.

    As War, you start the game battling Abaddon in a duel that ends with your defeat and loss of many of your Horsemen powers. You spend the rest of the game questing for revenge against Abaddon and recovery of your powers. At E3 I got to spend some time with Vigil's general manager David Adams who walked me through an early level of the game that flowed wonderfully.

    It was obvious that the developers were going for the God of War action style while trying to take advantage of what the XB360 and PS3 architectures had to offer. The demo I got was on the XB360 system and the environments looked amazing and were surprisingly interactive. Items that weren't nailed down could be used as weapons in a fight or to solve puzzles. Adams said that there wasn't a lot of puzzle solving that was going to be involved in the final game but that Vigil wanted to make sure that any inclusion of mini games/puzzles added to the storyline without complicating the gameplay. As I stated earlier, the environments are yummy but they aren't trying to be super realistic and I respect that as well. I don't need to be beaten over the head with a bunch of polygons to appreciate a good story or depth of a character.

    That being said, I shuddered a little bit when I started hearing more details about the storyline. In this day and age any game title that starts using the bible as material for the storyline makes me nervous. Why? Well, with the wrap that videogames are taking in the media and from the likes of the Jack Thompson's of the world basing a game on the book of revelation may just invite in an even more brutal “moral” advocate group. You know what I'm getting at. Scrutiny from the religious right with Thompson leading the way could make it very difficult for this game to gain the attention that it should in my opinion. After reading an interview done with Adams in a recent issue of GameInformer I think they are well aware of how much headache they may be in for. In the interview Madureira tries to stress how much this game is, “...our own fiction...” and that they [the developers] did, “...not follow the bible or get religious with it.” Which, from what I've seen they are pulling off. Darksiders does not follow any doctrine, nor does it try to create any of it's own.

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    New Podcast Day (The Sistahs Will Play)

    posted @ 7/16/2007 07:19:00 AM by evermore
    When the Ninja's away, the Sistahs will play. That's pretty much what's happening in this week's new podcast as Pandalicious and MagicMysticGrl take the mic while NinjaSistah returns from the E3 convention.

    Pandalicious, who's finally begun her search for a job, researches the anime series Desert Punk by watching its trailers. Magic, on the other hand, checks out a magic, red walnut and falls in love with the movie The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

    It's an episode that's certainly worth your time. And if you don't agree, you can take your magic, red walnut and return back in time to where you were before you listened. We've got the answer to everything! So please enjoy this week's Episode 58: Living in the Slums of ESHland.


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    Sony E3 Briefing: Notes From Afar

    posted @ 7/11/2007 04:36:00 PM by Ninjasistah
    I didn't get invited to the Sony E3 briefing, but I did get to watch the stream as many of you that are stuck at your day job did not get to do.

    What follows will be my accounting of the live feed that I watched with the few other soldiers of game reporting truth [meaning other non-invitees] today.

    I wish I could tell you that the stream was awesome, and made up for my not (1) not being invited to the real festivities, and (2) make the gamers not able to attend to feel in the loop. This was not the case. They glossed over PS2 info to jump into building up the PSP to showcase some upcoming titles for the platform. I was actually kinda looking forward to them, except the view of the trailers was all in widescreen, so you couldn't see squat but some of the text of the titles. Yippie freakin' skippy!

    They did announce a new PSP [flogging a dead freaking horse maybe?] that was lighter, thinner, and supported video out, and will be in Black, Ice Silver, and then a really bad Chewbacca came out onto the stage to announce the StarWars Battlefront Renegade Squadron PSP edition. Oh, it was painful to watch the fake Bacca try to pantomime to the canned Wookie vocals.

    The next step was the Playstation Network. Phil Harrison popped out to lead the cheer about the PSON. The first game they showed off was a black and white puzzle game that featured a stick like figure navigating some weird geometric shapes. It sounds weird, but looks damn cool.

    And now on to home... the only Sony PS3 technology that has piqued my interest enough to possibly need a towel. Home looks to be even more expansive that I first imagined. The environments that they showed as under construction looked great, but the entire walkthrough it just kept looking like a gigantic Sims title to me and I don't know if that's good or bad. I will leave the proof to be in the pudding. The ability to launch a game title from within home gives me more hope that it won't suck out loud, and should give you hope as well.

    I could tell you about the montage [BECAUSE YOU GOTTA HAVE A MONTAGE!!] but you've already got the idea that the video montages have been par for the course. What I will tell that struck me as odd was that there was no mention of Final Fantasy games at all. Nearly all of the game titles and enhancements to the system were all making their debut in 08'. Heavenly Sword didn't even have any real game play to show and it's supposed to hit for holiday.

    What did look and sound amazing was Metal Gear Solid 4. And if the hot sweet sexiness that was the MGS4 footage didn't get your heart pumping, the promise that it is the final title in the series that will answer all of MGS questions should. The MGS4 trailer should be hitting GameTrailers.com should be dropping soon.

    I don't know if it's because I went to the MS event last night so a lot of the 3rd party games didn't seem as impressive to me having seen them the night before, but many of the titles shown at the Sony briefing just felt like slightly tweaked versions of existing game titles. Haze looks like Halo. Infamous looks like Crackdown and Grand Theft Auto had a one night stand, and Crackdown wound up preggers. Oh, guess what game KillZone2 looks like? Yeap, you guessed it, Halo. It's obvious that Sony wants to declare war on XB360 in the FPS genre. KillZone if the game runs like the video they showed today [which they SWORE was actual gameplay] they may stand a chance of wooing some Halo players over to the darkside of the floss.

    Again, I'll wait for the pudding to cool before I eat it. NinJaSistah... OUT!

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    NintenOhNoTheyDidNot

    posted @ 7/11/2007 10:44:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    This one is a test folks. I'm going to do one of those live, updated blog thingies. We'll just have to see if blogger is up to the task or not.

    I will be coming to you live from Nintendo E3 briefing this morning, giving you all the news you can use on the upcoming goodness to flow forth from camp Mario.

    8:47am PDT : I got bumpkiss right now, the event doesn' jump off until 9am PDT, so stay tuned...

    9am: the Wii video propaganda starts. A video montage of every Nintendo related pop culture reference floats by reminding me that the Wii roll out was and is pretty damn amazing. I mean, you still can't get your hands on one. Then Reggie hits the stage, and he is happy. Hey, he said it, not me.

    According to Nintendo, the lion share of gamers are either in the 25+ demographic [32%] or 17 and under [47%]. Well duh Nintendo. Then they look at gender. They say for other consoles the ratio is 80% [male] to 20% [female] where as the break goes to 67% [male] to 33% [female]. Even bigger duh Nintendo. Women know what Wii want.

    Reggie sound byte of the moment:
    "Nintendo is not a fad. Nintendo is the future."
    BELIEVE IT! Ok, he didn't say believe it, but he should have.

    9:21 : Holy chit Batman! Wii Zapper. A housing for the Nunchuck and Wiimote, that will retial for $19.99 and will be packaged with software. The thing is so sexy it makes me wanna play Medal of Honor.

    9:24 : Smash Bros. Brawl announced to launch on December 3rd. Can you pre-order it at GameStop yet?

    9:29 :Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Looking at the graphics for the game, it's hard to believe that it's on the Wii. The game looks very next-gen. Samus' guns have never rendered so well.

    9:32 : Reggie decides to address the "missing' Nintendo online capabilities. New channel, called Check Me Out. Vote on Mii's around the world, take some home, enter them in look-a-like contests. EA online sports games will support Wii Online. Online multiplayer. Madden 08 and FIFA 08 have been announced. and Guitar Hero III with a wireless Les Paul guitar controller. Mario Kart Wii Online in first quarter next year announced. Online. Multiplayer. Battle Mode. A custom Wii-Wheel for the game. And guess what? It's white! The Wii-eel will come packed with the MarioKart title.

    9:43 : Iwata-san takes the stage. Iwata-san admits that his addiction to the cooking software title that is available in Japan has so affected his life, he is now taking more time to cook meals for his family because of it. Iwata-san states that the goal of Nintendo is to destroy the wall between hardcore and novice gamers.
    "Games are for everyone."
    He announces that Miyamoto-san will be hitting the stage to demo a title that should prove this fact.

    9:55 : November 12th will be Super Mario Galaxy buy it day according to Reggie.

    9:57 : Video montage time again... BECAUSE YOU GOTTA HAVE A MONTAGE!!

    10:00 : Reggie announces WiiFit. Yes, lazy fat asses, you are going to have to work it out. Pushups, dancing, yoga, you will loose those unwanted pounds, or his name isn't Reggie Fils-Amie. Because a healthy gamer, is a happy gamer. Over 40 activities in the new WiiFit game. The WiiBalanceBoard is a wireless controller for the WiiFit game. It will be implemented in future titles as well. You will be able to track your progress in the game, so think of it as an extension of Wii Fitness test in Wii Sports.

    10:12 : Reggie goes head to head literally with Miyamoto-san in the soccer ball competition... and Miyamoto-san wins as Reggie took too many shoes to head! [When else in the world can you say that.

    It's a good day to be a gamer! NinJa Out!!

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    E3: The Journey Kicks Off

    posted @ 7/11/2007 01:28:00 AM by Ninjasistah
    NinJaSistah here with the jump off of E3, and I have to say, it was interesting.

    If you don't know what E3 is, I'm not exactly sure why you are visiting this site as you are obviously not a gamer. Allow me to extend a branch of friendship to you. If you are a fan of Anime, think of E3 as you would AX. It is holy and to be cherished. Or at least it was, until the "invite only" revamp this year. That being said, you awesome readers and listeners made ESH popular enough to get invited to many of the festivities surrounding the new "exclusive" [in the not happy-time in the pants way] expo. Tonight's' fare dropped NinJa off in the land of Microsoft, and boy were they happy to see me. At least I think they were happy to see me, they lit up all green and whatnot.

    Anywho, I'm going off on a tangent and I have lots to share with you.

    The night started off cool. The venue was the Santa Monica High School drowned in the familiar neon green of the XBox brand and a kick-ass tent like thing that was setup to spew Microsoft folks onto the stage before the crowd. The whole idea was to show us in the crowd enough "cool" and "wicked" stuff [Peter Moore's words, not mine] knock our socks off. I personally had one sock knocked off of me, so they sorta did what they set out to do. Knocking a ninja's socks off is impressive, even if it's only a single sock. Digressing again. Before Peter comes out to speak, the massive screen that nearly engulfs center stage displays a "screensaver" for lack of a better term, that creates a nexus type of deal by connecting lines between random gamertags that float by. [I just want to say that my gamertag did float by on the screen and I took it as a personal shout out to me from Peter Moore and Shane Kim.] They definitely get an "A" from me in the "good ambiance" department. Hell, they gave me a butt cushion y'all!

    Normally this would be the part of the article where I recounted who came on in what order and what they said, quote the folks who obviously had been drinking the XB360 kool-aid a bit too much, and then piss and moan about not having E3 credentials. I would be well within my rights to do so. What I thought would be a better idea though was to share with you the few of the things that left lasting impressions on me, and what I took away from the night as a whole.

    Game numero "A" that got my juices flowing to the point that I thought I might be in need of a towel was Rock Band. Pandalicious and I have made no attempt to hide our lust, nay, obsession with Guitar Hero 2... so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Rock Band would be high on my "must have" list. What surprised me was the live demo the audience was treated to. Peter Moore himself suited up with the fine folks from Harmonix to play a song by the Hives I think, and it just rocked... the game, not so much Peter. Peter needs to work on his hammer-ons a bit. But the demo seemed to go off without a hitch. Well, Peter kept accidentally pausing the game, but it was forgivable, almost cute in a way. What struck me was how much of a "get together" game Rock Band potentially could be. If the peripheral controllers don't cost an arm and a leg to get at the same time as the game, I could really see people buying the whole set to host some impromptu jam sessions.

    Next up to bat was the trailer for a title that blatantly was going after the Mario Party people, Viva Pinata: Party Animals. It's a party game people. A party game based off of the "Viva Pinata animated series... in it's second year of broadcasting." The way that line was delivered it made me immediately think that MS Game Studios really wanted to distance this game from the existing Viva title on the XB360 as it did not do as favorably in sales as MS would have liked. It struck me as odd though. Viva didn't suck out loud. Those that did buy it completely enjoyed it, so why the need to declare the new titles affiliation with such an obscure TV show. One of the reviewers sitting beside me asked the guy to his right if it was really true that the cartoon was still on the air. Another reviewer in the row ahead of me didn't even know that there was a Viva cartoon series. Just odd.

    Lastly, what hit me were the missing demos. For all the talk about the new XB360 titles being delivered in 07, [and there are a shitload folks] it seemed to me that there was a huge lack of BioShock, DMC4, or even Fable 2 footage. There was about as much video evidence of the existence of these games in video we were treated to on average as there was for Dynasty Warriors: Gundam. Fable 2 is no small release for MS, and yet there wasn't even a section set aside to run the trailer we saw last year. I only know that BioShock exists because there was some pre-rendered video that did make it's way into a video montage that we saw. Because you gotta have-a MONTAGE!! But there was a longer clip for DW:Gundam in that same montage than footage of BioShock.

    But anyways, it's late and I'm sure you just want me to complete my thought and go to bed, so I will. [You guys are awfully pushy tonight.] I kinda left the gathering tonight feeling as though I had been sitting in on a state of the union address. A lot of information was put in front of me. Some demos worked while others had some technical difficulties. That said, important person after important person came out onto the stage to tell me that these games were good and these games were cool, and that millions of people were going to want to play these games, and I'm sure that they are right, but the lack of focus on the other games that are known "blockbuster" titles for MS gave me pause. Being surrounded by a gaggle of gamers like myself it was hard to not get caught up and drink the kool-aid my damn self, but I think I made it through day one with my integrity still in tact.

    It's not like they gave me a free XBElite to replace my busticated XB360 or anything cool like that.

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