No show yet but a busy start anyway.

While E3 starts tomorrow (or technically a handful of hours as I write this) it unofficially kicked in today with a handful of press conferences.  Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft all had things to announce, some more impressive than others.

Microsoft kicked off the day with a press conference so incredibly exciting that Nick, Travis, Aaron and I all gave up simultaneously and went to Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles instead.  From a personal perspective there were two things that caught my eye, namely Crackdown 2 and Shadow Complex.  The latter especially looks like it has a lot of potential, thanks to its unashamed Metroid/Castlevania influences.  Crackdown 2 didn’t have enough shown to get by on anything other than brand-name, though.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Microsoft’s camera control, Project Natal.  This looks more than a little silly, and not very fun at all.  Why would I want to move menus around with arm gestures when a few pokes at a controller does the same thing?  Why would I want my dashboard avatar to mimick my body movements?  Do we really need virtual friends like Milo?  And finally, do I really want to flail around my apartment in the fashion necessary to have full control of whatever games may come out for it?  I’m not feeling the optimism at the moment.

EA and Ubisoft both fared much better.  EA specifically was focused on games, games, and nothing but games, making a refreshing change from Microsoft’s social netowork integration and Ubisoft’s bizarre belief that the Hollywood skillset somehow makes for better gaming.

Take Brutal Legend, for example.  If Jack Black wasn’t involved this would still look like a complete blast.  There’s no Hollywood at all in Saboteur and it looks like a wonderfully fun stealth action game, especially seeing as it adds large explosions to the genre.  What movies have to offer games is endless experience in visual storytelling and the talent to present it, but that’s only one part of the overall gaming experience.

Still, it’s not like Ubisoft didn’t have a few goodies to show off.  None of them were Beyond Good & Evil 2, unfortunately, but Rabbids Go Home looks funny as hell so that’s ok.  A real surprise was Red Steel 2, which looks like it has the potential to make up for the pain caused by its predecessor.  I’m already sold on the Rabbids so may not devote much time to them on the show floor, but Red Steel 2’s improved style and more integrated swordplay makes it look like it might become the game Red Steel 1 wanted to be.

While all three companies had much more to say and show off, this is what stuck with me today.  The endless river of info has started flowing and it’s only possible to soak in a certain amount at one time.  In 6.5 hours the Nintendo conference begins, and then it’s off to the show floor for complete gaming submersion.  It’s going to be a very busy day.

Sony’s Joe C faces off against Justin Wong.

Earlier this week, members from Capcom, Sony and Microsoft got together for a private SFIV tournament held during CES 2009 in Las Vegas. Among the participants including Joe C from the Sony team, Josh L from Microsoft and several community members from Capcom Unity. Of course, Community Manager was also on hand to help coordinate the festivities, along with Microsoft’s Major Nelson sporting a flashy purple velvet jacket (lol).

It’s a bit surprising to hear the competition was reported to be “stiff”, which allowed Joe and Josh to easily breeze through the tournament bracket with little difficulty. Joe took home a Star Wars Battlefront PSP Bundle and then was given the honor of facing against (using Sagat) Justin Wong (using Chun).

Justin succeeded in taking the victory, though Joe deserves a great deal of props and respects for holding his own against one of the most professional SF players in North America.

More highlights can be read directly at Capcom-Unity.

Or at least its promotional artwork.

The SITE Intelligence Group mine terrorist message boards daily for evidence of terrorist activities, and they find all sorts of interesting things. One of those things was the above image from Fallout 3, which sadly lacks a man, faithful doggy companion by his side, pumping hot lead into the twisted nuclear zombie survivors that make life in the postapocalyptic age such a tricky prospect. Apparently, Al Qaeda are so confused and misguided that they believe a nuclear-ravaged Washington DC doesn’t need anything else, and I’m willing to bet the message board was filled with obnoxiously short posts best summarized as “Dude, awesome! (smiley face)”.

It’s worth noting that, contrary to initial reports, the SITE Intelligence Agency didn’t believe this was a commissioned piece demonstrating “the feasibility of nuclear strikes against the US and Britain.” While terrorists in general can be depressingly effective, they tend to work low-tech and aren’t widely known for their ability to generate high-end computer renderings. Their ability to appropriate images for their own (sometimes bizarrely amusing) ends is, however, somewhat better documented. Just ask Bert.

Uh… Gamers, we have a problem.

In case some of you have been wondering why a certain section of the front page seems, well… out of date – we recently experienced a recent data that affected our valued features section. The end result was nearly a year’s worth of data which we are currently working on trying to retrieve. The retrieval process isn’t going too well at the moment, so you can imagine that we’re not all smiles here at GotNext. Though all is not lost – our administration team is working in a contingency plan. But most importantly, we have some very cool new features in the works (some of which have already put into action such as the index sorting tools). Some features you will probably not see until sometime next year. There’s also another BIG change underway and if all goes well, you should be seeing it launch well before the 4th Qtr.

“Hello, Computer…”

Don’t fret everyone — we’ll make it right, one way or another, we’ll work on restoring as much content as possible (all the really significant content anyways like interviews and such). On behalf of the entire crew, we appreciate your patience and understanding during this unfortunate setback. Stay tuned!