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Fallout 3, Electronic Arts clean up at Game Critics E3 Awards
Fallout 3 from Bethesda Softworks nabbed the coveted Game of the Show award today from Game Critics -- a panel of judges comprised of editors from various online/offline publications (including Joystiq's own Chris Grant). Fallout 3 also took home the award for Best RPG at the show.Electronic Arts brought home 5 awards including Best Action/Adventure game for Dead Space and Best Original Game for Mirror's Edge. The Xbox 360 platform was at the top of the award count with 8 for the console, including a Best Action Game win for Gears of War 2.
The Joystiq E3 2008 Awards
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Joystiq_E3_2008_Awards'; With E3 over and done, it's time for outlets everywhere to start organizing their Best of E3 awards, and the Joystiq network is no different. Thus, we present to you Joystiq's E3 2008 Awards. Find out what the Most Devestating Megaton was. Discover which company walks away with the Annual Least Like EA Award. Of course, you'll want to find out what Joystiq picked as their game of the show as well.Check out Joystiq's E3 2008 Awards!
PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Mega Man 9
[Editor's note: We played the Wii version of this game. If you're worried about the graphics being different for the PS3 version ... you're probably looking at the wrong hands-on article.]Mega Man 2 is my earliest truly memorable gameplay experience, so it's a bizarre feeling to be getting hands-on time with a game that looks identical fifteen years later. Make no bones about it, though. Mega Man 9 looks identical to the old NES games from the series. Capcom said they were taking the series back to its roots, and that's what they've done; difficulty included. If you've never played a NES Mega Man game, firstly -- shame on you! Secondly, you'll probably be confused by Mega Man 9's graphics. These are pixelated 8-bit sprite graphics at their finest. In fact, the game looks like it borrows assets from Mega Man 2. Particularly the forest level, where the background looks almost identical. Speaking of levels, there were only two available and they were both hard as nails. Mega Man 9 is going to make you weep like no modern game has done in years. During the levels I played, Mega Man doesn't have any particularly special abilities. No charge beam and no slide tackle. Rush returns with a spring in his back, letting you reach higher ledges, but that's it. There's no indication whether you'll be able to pick up these skills later in the game or not, but I'm hoping so. Even Mega Man 4 had the charge beam.%Gallery-28416%
Fanpoll: How was Microsoft's E308 showing?
After being privy to everything we heard, saw and played at E3 2008 we'd like to hear what you thought of Microsoft's overall performance. With suitable OMG-megatons like Final Fantasy XIII, awesome exclusivity announcements like DLC in Fallout 3 and rad showings of games like Gears of War 2 -- it seems like it was a great show! But ... noticeable absences like Alan Wake, the controversy surrounding the Bungie announcement and debatable decisions like the dashboard revamp this poll could go either way. So, X3F Army we ask you. How did Microsoft do overall?%Poll-17216%
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Tomb Raider: Underworld
click to embiggen The room is stuffed with a handful of game journalists. It's dark. Drifting from the (very nice) speaker system are the sounds of ocean waves lapping against a boat. On screen, Lara Croft stands on the wooden deck wearing scuba gear. Thrifty girl that she is, it looks like Lara didn't want to spring for a wetsuit with legs in it. Apparently not worried by the deep cold of the ocean, she dives into the water. It's time for me to play Tomb Raider Underworld. %Gallery-28391%
E308: Updates on PS3's Home
Our sister-sites Joystiq and PS3Fanboy managed to get some new information and pictures for Sony's Home at E3 last week. The biggest piece of news is somewhat disappointing -- public areas in Home are region locked. You can still visit anyone's private area, but outdoor mingling will be restricted.On the bright side, we are treated to a gallery of the "Game Spaces" for two of the PS3's biggest hits, Warhawk and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. These Game Spaces are decorated with apparel relating to the game's they're based on, and feature interactive elements. Warhawk's room has a sand-table to formulate strategies with friends for an upcoming game. The Uncharted room has a locked door that can be opened after visitors discover a secret code, as well as a platforming mini-game to play.
E308: We can model X3F
Towards the end of the Fable 2 / Banjo-Kazooie event during last week's E3 festivities, while we ninja-stalked Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, our own Richard Mitchell decided to pose for Gamerscore Blog's Dirty Diva. And, as you can see, Richard successfully posed an "X", "3" and an "F", though Dustin had to redirect his "3" seeing that Richard's first attempt to model the number was a bit backwards. X3F bloggers: We can spell, we can model and, darnit, we look good doing it too.
E308 X3F Sticker Gallery: The final entry
With E3 2008 coming to a welcomed end (it was fun while it lasted), so too comes the end of our official E308 X3F Sticker Gallery. During our stay in LA this week, we were able to tag 35+ industry developers, producers, PR folks and pretty much anyone that was willing to get tagged. It was entertaining, a source of free advertising and, darnit, we had fun doing it. Thanks to all the folks who were willing to play along with the sticker fun, especially those who slapped a sticker on their forehead or mouth. Too cool.Anyway, we just uploaded another batch (the final batch) of X3F sticker photos including Dead Space producer Chuck Beaver, Mirror's Edge's own Nick Channon, the SouthPeak crew as well as the one, Joystiq's only, our main boss guy who keeps us employed ... CHRIS GRANT! Oh, and don't mind the pic quality. We had to use our cell phone camera due to a digital camera going MIA for a bit. Anyhoo, long live the X3F stickering.
Almost everything you want to know about the New Xbox Experience
Looking for simple answers to your Xbox 360 dashboard redesign questions? Here are a few points to take away from the new Xbox experience: "There's nothing to announce" right now regarding a keyword search for the Marketplace. We hope for some kind of searching option or a better layout for content Playing games from the hard drive will work fine for multi-disc games; in fact, you can pick which discs you want to rip (but a disc swap for the correct disc in the drive is required) As an example, Joystiq was told that Devil May Cry 4 is approximately a 4 or 5GB installation and takes about 10 minutes to copy onto a harddive: PS3 installation is roughly 18-25 mins You'll need to keep the disc in the drive the entire time. This is about speeding up load times and to check if you own the title -- the disc will not spin so no more jet noises Xbox 360 notifications look the same but are actually very cleaned up and look sharper -- the sounds are all the same Yes, you can still use your gamertag pics and your themes (they look cleaner and more crisp now, an example of what it could look like is above) -- example of a gamerpic in action is in the top right corner of the image above Gallery: New Xbox Experience
E308: The Joystiq / X3F reader meetup recap-o-pix
Last night, we went out of E3 in style and on our own partying terms by hosting a Joystiq and X3F Reader Meetup event in Santa Monica, California. The turnout was great (something close to 300 readers attended), we ate some pizza, chit-chatted some, gave out a couple hundred pounds of swag and the highlight of the meetup was Rock Band 2. You read correctly, the guys from Harmonix showed up with Rock Band 2 (which is freakin' amazing btw) and new instruments in hand to let everyone try out the new setup. All in all it was a great way to close out the E3 week and for those who attended, we send a gigantic "thank you!" your way. Without your support we'd be nothing but a few sad and lonely fanboys.Check out the photographic reader meetup recap below and for more meetup coverage, jump on over to Joystiq and browse their photos too.%Gallery-28049% Gallery: Joystiq Post-E3 2008 Party
E308: Time to leave, time to go home
We just wanted to update you on our (Richard and Dustin) current status as it pertains to E3 2008. Simply stated, the expo is now over and we're jetting out of Los Angeles in the next few hours. This in turn means a few things. The first, most obvious conclusion being that WE SURVIVED E3! The long hours we put in all week, experienced by not only those in LA but team X3F back at Fanboy Towers were grueling. But our brains haven't exploded under the stress so we can't complain too much. As a result of our leaving of E3 we probably will not be updating as much as we should be today. We'll do our best, but no promises. Finally, you should be seeing some E3 wrap-up coverage heading into the weekend and carrying over into early next week. We have a backlog of E3 hands on impressions and general news that (due to there only being 24 hours in a day) we just couldn't get to.Again, thanks to everyone for sharing a memorable E3 2008 with all of us at X3F. It was exciting, it was stressful, but overall we'll be walking away from this week with a grin on our face and dreams of special Xbox 360 releases that will be coming later this year. Tata.
E308: South Park XBLA to launch in 2009
Remember that epic trailer showcasing the new South Park game for Xbox Live Arcade? All 2.4 seconds of it. No details were dropped regarding what type of game it would be but the South Park Studios official site is already trying to fuel the hype train. A posting moments after it was unveiled at the conference reads: "A brand new South Park game is coming to Xbox Live in 2009. That's all we've got for now, but stay tuned for more details over the next few months. Let the speculations begin!" We don't have any guesses on what it will be but we hope it has nothing to do with that awful first-person shooter or the terrible kart racing game or that laughable mini-game collection or ... wait, are we supposed to speculate on whether or not it's going to suck? Who do we send our guesses to?
Valve's Lombardi talks Portal XBLA, achievements and other platforms
Valve's Doug Lombardi (seen muzzled by an X3F sticker at E3 2008) recently cleared up some confusion regarding the content of Portal: Still Alive for the Xbox Live Arcade in an interview with OXM. "It's just a series of new challenges," Lombardi told the magazine. "[Portal: Still Alive is] another way for people to experience Portal, without having to buy the full Orange Box."We can't say we're surprised. With such a focus on story we didn't expect Valve to do anything exclusively for the Xbox that would factor into actual canon of the series.Lombardi later detailed that Valve has new projects in the works for the Xbox 360 but remain firm on its disinterest for PS3 and Wii development. It was also confirmed that Team Fortess 2 that the achievements and content added to the PC version of the game will come to the Xbox 360 at some point, when Valve has worked out how it wants to package and release that content.
E308: Sony 'disappointed' by FFXIII for 360
Sony Computer Entertainment America boss Jack Tretton discussed Sony's take on the recent announcement that Final Fantasy XIII will release simultaneously on the Xbox 360 with the PS3 with a round-table of journalists, including our own team at Joystiq. "Am I disappointed by it? Yes," Tretton told the group, adding: "Am I surprised by it? No." He was quick to stress that the game remains a PS3 exclusive in Japan, but that "seeing as there isn't that big of a [PS3] installed base in [there], I don't know how big of a coup that is for us."Speaking on the subject of paying off publishers for exclusivity, Tretton told Joystiq "[Sony] invested so much money in the [PS3] hardware" that it simply "can't write checks for exclusive software."While popular theory is that Microsoft paid Square Enix off for its recent handfull of upcoming releases, word around the industry campfire points at a decision made by Square Enix months ago to focus on multiplatform development that saw Final Fantasy XIII land on the Xbox 360. With a high install base and solid attach rate for the Xbox 360 in North America and Europe many developers are forgoing exclusivity in order to lessen the blow of "next-gen" game development. Capcom has been a prime example of this point with Devil May Cry 4; which saw better sales on the Xbox 360.Regardless of the situation, Square Enix is happy to bring the experience to as many people as possible and as gamers we all should be too.%Gallery-28020%
E308: X3F Wish Makers
Before we left to go to E3 2008 we each outlined our Top Three Interests for the big show. Nearly every one of our interests were available for us to poke and prod at but what about your interests? Asking you to list your E3 anticipations, we molded our content to suit your needs. Why? Because you're the X3F Army!Jump in for a list of the games you asked about with links to all the news and content we could find, steal and bribe our way to get! We couldn't get them all and there is a ton more not listed but check it out and let us know what you thought of our coverage.Oh and by the way, we are SO not even done covering E3 2008. Prepare yo' self!
Castle Crashers, Galaga Legions, more on XBLA in 4-6 weeks
During our guided demo of Microsoft's upcoming stable of XBLA games, Microsoft's Scott Austin informed us that all the games on display would be available in the next four to six weeks on Xbox Live Arcade. All of 'em. If you've been reading the impressions on Joystiq, you'll know that this a reason to be excited. For the record, the XBLA games being shown by Microsoft are: Bionic Commando Rearmed Castle Crashers Galaga Legions Braid Geometry Wars 2 We expected Microsoft to show off some cool XBLA games at E3, but we weren't expecting four to six weeks of win.
E308 hands-on: Galaga Legions
click to embiggen There's really no way to get around this, so here it is: Galaga Legions might as well be called Galaga Championship Edition. It's made by the same Namco team that made Pac-Man Championship Edition and it achieves the same success: reinventing an arcade classic and making it relevant again. At the same time, it is definitely still Galaga in much the same way that Pac-Man CE is still Pac-Man. It's new, it's classic, it's pretty. Period.
Rumor: Gears 2 LE includes mini Lancer replica [update]
Update: Okay, after further picture analysis, what we thought to be the mini-Lancer may actually be the metal tin being slid out of the box. That said, a loose lipped source did mention a mini-Lancer, so that's why we were accepting of the thought. Still, we wouldn't count on a mini Lancer being in the LE. Sorry for getting your hopes up. There has been a bunch of Gears of War 2 related news coming out of E3 this week including matchmaking specifics, new footage as well as a new multiplayer mode getting revealed. But also exciting was the reveal of the Gears of War 2 Limited Edition's contents which may include some mini Lancer love.Thanks to the kind Gamestop folks, we know that for the extra $10 price of Limited Edition admission, you'll get steel DVD case, a 48 page "Beneath the Surface: An Inside Look at Gears of War 2" mini-book, a bonus behind the scenes DVD as well as a code to unlock an in-game gold plated Lancer. Not too shabby. But if you look closer, pictured to the right of the box looks to be an included Lancer mini-replica of some sort even though Gamestop doesn't list it as part of the contents. Funny thing is that this week, during the E3 festivities, we heard from an anonymous but totally reliable source that there will in fact be a mini-Lancer included in the GoW2 LE. Take it for what you will, but we'll be dreaming our mini Lancer dreams all week long.[Thanks, BAK6E]
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Silent Hill: Homecoming
A few things. First, I love the Silent Hill series. Second, E3 really isn't the venue for demoing a Silent Hill game. Even in Konami's relatively quiet meeting room, it was impossible to hear any dialogue or music in Silent Hill: Homecoming -- headphones were available, but they were broken ... grrr. Considering that the soundscape of any given Silent Hill game is responsible for half of the atmosphere (arguably more), it makes it hard to judge how the game feels. So, you'll just have to settle for a look at how the game plays.%Gallery-23416%
E308: Dead Space hands on
It's the survival horror game that really hasn't been able to garner too much attention this year, but after getting a chance to play it at EA's booth during E3, we're more confident than ever that the buzz machine surrounding the title will be kicking in pretty soon. We're of course talking about Dead Space, EA's twisted sci-fi horror game that isn't only beautiful artistically, but also offers equally stunning gameplay and innovative gameplay elements to match. Click on to read our Dead Space impressions%Gallery-21371%
