E3: Day One

E3 starts today, but going by the amount of press releases in my inbox this morning you’d be forgiven for thinking it came and went over the weekend.

We’ll be keeping you updated with quick posts about our favourite moments from the expo over the coming days. Not that we’re actually there, but, y’know. We have our methods.  We won’t be bringing you the hottest news before everyone else, but we hope to have an interesting slant on our coverage, and we hope you’ll enjoy what we have to offer.  We also hope we’ll have enough time to do this.  Crikey.  Okay, keep checking back for updates. Let’s go.

Monday – 9:39AM
It’s been a weekend of crap trailers. The Borderlands teaser doesn’t tell us a damn thing about the game, and Mass Effect 2 spectacularly resurrects Shepard just weeks after supposedly killing him off.  Squenix’s new effort looked pretty impressive from the trailer, until it went all generic. Boo!

Meanwhile, back in Leicester, SouthPeak announce a Horrid Henry game with the strap “Parents beware! Video games are about to get a little bit horrid.”  What, like that headline, SouthPeak? Wink-wink.

Monday – 9:52AM
It’s cloudy in LA! It’s sunny where we are! This is why it’s best not to go to E3.

Monday – 12.39AM
Crytek and EA announce Crysis 2 via press release, presumably ahead of some kind of announcement at E3 itself. I say presumably, because I can’t confirm if Crytek even have a presence at the show. The new game is built on CryEngine 3 and, in a first for Crytek, the title is being developed across the PC, 360 and PS3 simultaneously.

Will this new outing break your PC’s video card all over again? Will the console jockeys’ platform of choice be unable to cope with Crytek’s effort? Will the new game keep those rubbish bits where you had to shoot those silly aliens over and over again?

I’d put money on at least two of those answers being “Yes”.

Monday – 3:02PM
The quiet before the storm…  Also, I assume whoever posted last meant “12PM“, not AM.  Tsk.

Monday – 3:04PM
Just realised Microsoft’s press conference starts around the same time I have to go pick my girlfriend up from work. Man! Good job Christos is covering it…

Monday – 5:09PM
Christos here. I’m live blogging the Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft conferences across the day till 2AM GMT. It’s going to be harsh on this old carcass of mine. My girlfriend is snoozing on the couch, lucky her. You can find the Microsoft live blog here, and I’ll do the same for EA and Ubisoft when the time comes. Now it’s a case of waiting an hour until the nightmare begins.

Monday – 5:17PM
Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 announced by Traveller’s Tales, along with some other unnamed Lego titles they’re working on. I’ll give you three guesses how this game works. Collectibles, Lego money, and children screaming at their parents because Dad can’t get Ron and Hermione over the spike pit before dinner.

Monday – 6:00PM
Heroes of Telara, a new MMO IP from the Trion World Network, has been announced. Generic fantasy stuff from what I can see, but take a look for yourself and make a judgement.

Monday – 6:42PM
We probably should be blogging in across-the-pond-time instead of BST, but hell, started now. Telltale and Lucas Arts are working on some new Monkey Island games. Not sure whether that’s a good thing or not. They’re based on the first two games, apparently. There are some very small screenshots on this website.

PS. Am shocked by Christos’ lack of commitment to live blogging. He should be doing it here as well, dammit, not just linking in! WORK, YOU WORKHORSE! :-)

Monday – 7:13PM
Holy zombie Jesus. Left 4 Dead 2.
Edit: Those sexy heroes at RPS have got the skinny. L4D 2 will also adorn the latest issue of PC Gamer magazine.

Monday – 7:20PM
Also Crackdown 2. Ace on toast. Crackdown is still one of the best games on the Xbox.

Monday – 8:18PM
The most uninteresting news of the day award goes to… [drum roll] a new Halo game! Oh, the joy. Halo Reach will launch next year.

Does anyone remember when Halo was exciting?

Monday – 8:26 PM
Christos here. That was exhausting, but 3282 words later, I’m done. Lewis makes me feel bad. I originally planned to do both as I think Lewis got the impression I was, but it became too messy and hectic. But holy cow, how amazing did it all look. Natal for the win, Nintendo look seriously under par until tomorrow.

Monday – 8:32PM
Christos is forgiven, and allowed some time off. He is writing about EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD over at GamerNode, and I’d highly recommend checking the blog out. I’d link to it, but he already has. Barry “Oh Baby” White and I will continue over here. Yeah, actually, you should totally read about E3 here rather than anywhere else.

Denby out for a bit. I have a deadline tonight. Boo!

Monday – 9:28PM
Denby out, Christos in. EA press conference in thirty minutes. Hopefully I’ll squeeze some dinner in between now and then. I also can’t help feeling like Left4Dead 2 is a serious kick in the family jewels from Valve, especially if it’s full-price. Almost seems like the original was a tech demo. RPS have a world-exclusive and the press release here, let us know what you think.

Monday – 10:11PM
Christos turns his back, and in steps Barry, with a bit of a counter point to the previous update. I can’t understand the hate for Left 4 Dead 2 that’s starting to bubble up already. If you’ve read the RPS exclusive (linked, er, twice in this series of updates) you’ll know that it’s a whole new set of characters and campaigns, in a whole new setting, with masses of tweaks to the Director A.I. and new types of special Infected to boot. In otherwords, it’s looking like a whole new game. So I can’t understand why people are already starting to feel aggrieved at the very notion of having to (possibly, we’ve no solid details yet) pay full price for such a thing.

We’re getting more content than we did when Left 4 Dead originally launched, and this game is going to benefit massively from the experience Valve have gained in between the two releases. The original, by the way, was well worth the full asking price on release by itself, irrespective of any updates. There are those who think that Valve have under supported Left 4 Dead since launch, with perhaps too much attention paid to Team Fortress 2, and maybe there’s a case to be made for that. I think the game is still massive amounts of fun, even without the likes of the new Survival mode, so I’m not craving updates to it like I do with TF2.

In short, Valve look to be offering a huge load of new content and an improved core experience. We’re getting a game’s worth of new stuff. Why wouldn’t you be prepared to pony up the cash for something like that?

Monday – 10:45PM
That’s queer. I swear I blogged something about 20 minutes ago that’s disappeared. Oh well, it was pretty unremarkable and irrelevant. It’s been a long day.

Still, who’s editing the editor?!

Denby out, pretty much for the night, I’d guess.  The others may continue to update into the wee hours, but I’m off to bed. It’s too hot. See you tomorrow for more E3 shenanigans!

Monday – 10:56PM
Oh, one more before I go. Doesn’t a Left 4 Dead sequel strike anyone as the perfect opportunity for number play?  Sod Driv3r and Thi4f. I want L3F7 4 D34D 2! Man!  Denby sleeps.

Tuesday – 3:05AM
Denby sleeps, Christos needs to. Wow. 9422 words later, I’m done live blogging for this year’s E3 on behalf of GamerNode, as someone else is taking over for Sony and Nintendo, so prepare for me to assault this blog (albeit with less words, as to be honest three thousand words of live blogging may look a little scary, and I think my hands will actually stop working). It’ll be nice, as I won’t have to be as hardcore. Ah, the sweet sound of free-thinking while writing.

As for Left4Dead, more a reflection on the current state of affairs in the RPS comment thread, though they make some good points. I think if it’s at a £20 RRP and we get another campaign or two over the summer, we could even see a new Orange Box with Episode Three in it aswell. That’s right, I said it. I’m still hoping.

As for Left4Dead 2, I know I’ll buy it anyway, mainly as it’s such a big improvement! Seriously, I couldn’t believe it. All the suggestions I’d have made are in there, and the charger is a scary, scary Infected. I thought the idea of hazmat-suited infected was clever, and it reminded me of the armoured zombies in PopCap’s recent smash hit; that little bit more to get you to take zombies more seriously as an enemy. Though, these are simply infected humans. I wonder if the swine flu press were simply playing too much L4D. Who knows.

I agree, Barry. I’ll buy it. Methinks it’s just spite from most people because it wasn’t Episode Three. Hopefully most have calmed down. Personally I’m torn apart by the fact Ubisoft didn’t showcase Beyond Good and Evil 2, though James Cameron made Avatar sound like the best narrative in any videogame, ever. I thought showing Splinter Cell: Conviction again was a tad pointless, though they did explain more about the Last Known Position system, which was ingenious.

Ah well. More Valve games for me to buy post-summer, and I look forward to it, the quality’s always high. In fact, I transferred my Valve collection (bar the original Half-Life) over to PC last year by buying the Valve pack, and let me tell you, I’d have paid full-price to watch people shoot zombies any day if it was done by Valve. Not just that, but Louis looks like Burke in Grey’s Anatomy. It makes him so much more hardcore. Sleep now!