E3: Insane Media Overload Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of our coverage of everybody else's coverage of E3. Starting off, we've got a trailer for the hotly anticipated Super Mario Galaxy:

If you're in the mood for something a little more... intimate... Check out this developer talking us through a particularBEE neat level:


Hit the jump for the new Simpsons game, some Halo 3 action, a Wii trivia game called Smarty Pants, a new LittleBigPlanet video, a cheesy but thrilling Rock Band performance of Bowie's "Suffragette City", and more Metroid Prime 3.


Here's the Simpsons game:

It sure looks good, but I have to wonder: why are most Simpsons games about fighting? There's rarely any fights on the show, so it seems incongruous that that would be the go-to genre for Simpsons video game developers. Why not an adventure game that has you actually progressing through a hilarious Simpsons story, or a Bully-style sandbox game where you run around Springfield pranking people and carrying out specific missions for people? That being said, this game sho is pretty. Also keep an eye out for Matt Groening himself as the end boss, as reported by Eurogamer.

Here's Halo 3 in action:

Pretty.

And now Smarty Pants:

It's hard to tell if this will be fun or not. The only thing I do know is those chaps playing are grating. I like something as simple as the hand-raising motion to "get called on." I hope the emphasis is on trivia and not those little epileptic minigames they do a couple times.

If yesterday left you wanting more, here is the full LittleBigPlanet trailer:


From start to finish, some good (if silly) players running through a Rock Band song:


Yesterday's trailer was a little dry, but it's fun to watch this game developer walk us through a Metroid Prime 3 level:

This is the first time I noticed how good the game looks. It sure moves well, and has a lot of nice art direction touches.

E3: Insane Media Overload Day 1

All the legitimate gaming journalists are out in LA right now at E3, where some exciting stuff is being announced. Since neither AHR nor myself are legitimate gaming journalists, please accept this gift of videos and news we've stolen accumulated from other sites.

First off, Kotaku got to play with the finalized Rock Band drumkit so go read their impressions and gawk at their pretty pictures. These things look... expensive. I'm so excited/terrified for my wallet.

After the jump we have about a billion videos of cool (or at least interesting) games, including ones of Rock Band, Wii Fit, Metal Gear Solid 4, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, LittleBigPlanet, the Wii Zapper, Resident Evil 5, Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3, and Assassin's Creed.

Let's get this set started off right with Rock Band!

Like I said before, excited... And terrified.

A shiny commercial for "Wii Fit", featuring the Wii Balance Board, which appears to be a normal bathroom scale on crack:

First off, what the junk kinda name is Wii Fit? Is it supposed to be like "We fit!"? I mean, wouldn't Wii Fitness roll of the tongue better? Also, I question how naturally the board will feel in practice, because this video of Reggie and Miyamoto playing with it makes it look a little twitchy:

We'll see.

LittleBigPlanet is the only upcoming game that makes me wish I owned a PS3...

Can you believe how beautiful this game is? Really amazing stuff.

Now, the Wii Zapper being used with Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles:

And here's a vid of it in raw, un-modelly action:

This really doesn't look very fun. Frankly, I think I would prefer the nunchuck be separate from the zapper. Having them in-line like this seems much less comfortable than being able to keep a hand at your side. Infendo says this thing will cost $20. Can't wait for the first game that utilizes this AND the Wii Balance Board!

Next up is Metal Gear Solid 4 for the Playstation 3:

Looks... Brown. Honestly, I'm sick of watching cut scenes from this and want to see some actual gameplay. Especially if the cutscenes continue being so boring. Though this one has a pretty sweet fight tacked onto it after the main titles.

Now, a Raving Rabbids 2 trailer:

How delightful. Too bad a couple of the minigame vids I've seen at IGN look to be stinkers.

Resident Evil 5 for Xbox 360!

I liked Resident Evil 4 so much it hurts, so while this trailer doesn't quite do it for me I still have faith that it'll keep up the fun times we had with the last game.

Reggie talks Mario Kart Wii:

We don't get to see too much gameplay here, but it doesn't look too different than what we've come to expect from the franchise. Reggie pulls out the Wii Wheel, which will come packed with the game and which he claims will make it easy for new gamers to pick up and play but which I claim is a useless hunkajunka.

Not much new here, but it's still Metroid Prime 3!

I really hope the controls work out for this, because if it turns out FPSs suck on the Wii after all the hype I'm gonna cry a thousand tears.

And to cap us off, the always impressive Assassin's Creed:

Somehow this was the least exciting footage I've ever seen of this game and I'm still excited to play it. Apparently Brian Crecente felt the same way, but he played it and has some great things to say about it. Especially of note is his description of the the free running / climbing dynamic: "You can free run through the city and head straight at a wall. As soon as you approach it, Altair runs up the wall and reaches for something. If there is anything jutting out within his reach he grabs on to it. And I don't mean he sorta clings to the wall near it, I mean his hand grasps the object jutting out of the wall. The effect is startling. After he's clinging to that position you just push the joystick in the direction you want him to move and Altair will reach out for another hold. It looks amazingly like real rock climbing."

That wraps us up for now, I'll update tomorrow with another megapost!