E3 2010 Day Two: Highlights and Lowpoints

Well, yesterday was a wash. It was pretty hard to find anything to be positive about yesterday. In fact, yesterday may have been the worst day for E3 ever. And there have been some pretty bad E3 days. Needless to say, I was not very optimistic about today. So was I right? Was today a complete blowout? Well, read on and find out!

Highlights:


It Was Actually About The Games

Unlike yesterday, this wasn't about Laser Tag, "Kinectimals" and technological innovations. This was about games. A good thing for the biggest gaming convention of the year. Kevin Butler said it well during his appearance during Sony's press conference. Gaming is having a massive TV in a tiny apartment. Staying up until 3 AM to get a trophy that isn't real... But is. And you know what? He was right. Kevin Butler's speech summed up everything important about gaming today.

Nintendo Shows It Still Loves Me
After a few years that were total duds, I had the lowest of low expectations for its conference today. Boy was I wrong. They not only premiered the new 3DS console, they showed off ACTUAL GAMES. Including...

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
CRAP YES. IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME.
I love Zelda. One of my favorite game series. The new art style that's a cross between the stylized Wind Waker, and the realistic Twilight Princess looks absolutely GORGEOUS. The game will use Wii Motion Plus to have the Wiimote act as a sword and the Nunchuck act as his shield. I'm positively psyched.

Kirby's Epic Yarn

A new Kirby game? That borrows from Paper Mario's paper style making all the characters appear as felt or other fabric? Yes please!

Donkey Kong Country Returns
I don't know much about DKC, but this is cool. I think.

Epic Mickey info!

I'm very excited for this game, which feels like a spiritual successor to Kingdom Hearts! Which is great!

3DS looks great!
The 3DS looks like it will be awesome! It's a glasses free 3D handheld system! With actual games! More details can be found here, and here.

Kevin Butler Is Amazing, Marcus Rivers Is Too

I love the Kevin Butler PS3 ads, and I'm sure I'll love the Marcus Rivers PSP ads. They'll be awesome.

inFamous 2

*Caution Strong Language*
ICE POWERS! AN UPRISING! A NEW VOICE ACTOR FOR COLE! A NEW CITY! A MONSTER! THIS LOOKS AMAZING!

Twisted Metal
*More Strong Language*
This looks awesome. Twisted Metal has been gone for a few years now, so the fact that it's making a return on PS3? Awesome news.

Surprise!

I like Portal. People know this. The sequel will be amazing.

Lowpoints:
No KH3?


I am saddened by the fact that there's no Kingdom Hearts 3 coming. There's a PSP title coming, and 3DS title coming and a freaking PHONE title coming, but no proper sequel. I am sad.

Other comments: I was very happy with E3 day two. It looks like it's still worthwhile to be a gamer!

Why Yes, I Am A Geek, Why Do You Ask?

I've also mentioned my love of video games, MANY times before. You know what else I love? Music. I know, shocker, I like music. You know what else I love though? video game music. As in, the OST (Original Sound Track) to games. I actually own a couple of them.

This is the point where several of you start laughing, but I'm serious. There are some brilliant OSTs out there. I personally own one that I'm quite fond of called "Zelda: The Music" which is comprised of songs from every Zelda game made up to the point it was released. (No Phantom Hourglass, Twilight Princess, or Spirit Tracks songs I'm afraid.)

Now, I know a lot of you are skeptical of this, so I'm going to point out a few pieces that are just brilliant.

Take for first, a few of the pieces off of the "Wind Waker" OST.

For example, this piece called "The Legendary Hero" is played at the start of the game, when the story is being laid out.



Notice the darker tone it takes toward the middle. The scene playing over this was a sort of recap of the events of the game set before this Ocarina of Time. At the point it gets sadder though, you find out that after the events of OOT, the villain returned, and the hero did not save the kingdom. It's explained that the goddesses sunk the entire kingdom, thus creating one of the most interesting setups for a game. The Great Sea.

This brings me to the Wind Waker Theme.



The use of the flute creates the entire feel for the game. This theme is more strongly linked to a game than possibly any other theme has been linked to any game, ever. Wind Waker reminds me of this theme, this theme reminds me of Wind Waker.

I'd also like to submit to you a video called "Wind Waker Unplugged" made by Freddie Gredde.



But then again, Zelda has always had major links with music, even in the gameplay. Ocarina of Time, considered by many to be the greatest game of all time, revolved around an Ocarina which is a type of flute. What about other games? There are still a lot of great OSTs out there for other games.



The Professor Layton Series has great music. Really superb music, especially for a handheld game. The music really sets the theme for the game.



The Wrath of the Lich King OST (Which I own a copy of that came with my Collector's Edition) is pretty darn good too.

The point of this post is just to say that video game music has come a LONG way from the days of Mario Brothers, and video game music can in fact, be good.

Let me finish with a video game song that's very very popular, and a personal favorite song of mine.