PR: Viz Media Simulcasts Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan

PRESS RELEASE

VIZ MEDIA SIMULCASTS EXCLUSIVE NEW ANIME SERIES NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN ON VIZANIME.COM

Supernatural Action Adventure Launched Simultaneously In Japan And U.S.; First Episode Available To Stream Now

San Francisco, CA, July 6, 2010 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the launch of a brand new anime series – NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN – on VIZAnime.com, the company’s premier website for anime. The first subtitled episode of the new fantasy action-adventure series about a junior high school student that is part human and part yokai (supernatural demon), premiered for free after the series debut in Japan; free new episodes will be simulcast mere hours after it airs in Japan each Monday.

NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, based on the best selling Nurarihyon no Mago manga series in Japan, is being offered under the SHONEN JUMP imprint, home to other exciting properties including BLEACH and NARUTO. While the day belongs to humans, the night belongs to yokai, supernatural creatures that thrive on human fear. Caught between these worlds is Rikuo Nura. He's three-quarters human, but his grandfather is none other than Nurarihyon, the supreme commander of the Nura clan, a powerful yokai consortium. So, Rikuo is an ordinary teenager three quarters of the time, until his yokai blood awakens. Then he transforms into the future leader of the Nura clan, leading a hundred demons.

“We are pleased to expand the line-up on VIZAnime.com with the exclusive simulcast of NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, reaffirming our commitment to bringing the latest series from Japan,” says Ken Sasaki, Senior Vice President & General Manager of VIZ Media. “We are excited for fans to explore the fantastic world of NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN, and share their thoughts and start discussions through the social network features of VIZAnime.com!”

VIZAnime.com is a free-to-use web destination that is now the permanent home to some of the company’s best-loved animated series. Over 1,100 episodes are currently available, and new content is added on a weekly basis. Series currently featured on VIZAnime.com include BLEACH, BUSO RENKIN, DEATH NOTE, HONEY AND CLOVER, HIKARU NO GO, INUYASHA, INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT, KEKKAISHI, NANA, NARUTO, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, ONE PIECE and THE PRINCE OF TENNIS.

To view subtitled NURA: RISE OF THE YOKAI CLAN animated episodes (rated ‘T’ for Teens) and other VIZ Media animated titles, please visit VIZAnime.com.

PR: Viz Media to Stream New Bleach Episodes

PRESS RELEASE

LATEST EPISODES AIRED IN JAPAN OF POPULAR BLEACH ANIME SERIES TO START STREAMING ON VIZANIME.COM

Fans Are Invited To View New Episodes On VIZAnime.com

Beginning Today For FREE!

San Francisco, CA, June 22, 2010– VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, continues to generate tremendous momentum for its popular BLEACH series with the announcement that English-subtitled episodes from the most current story arc will begin streaming for free in the U.S. via the company’s premier website for anime, VIZAnime.com. Starting today with Episode 275, VIZAnime.com will stream a new BLEACH episode one week after it has aired in Japan.

BLEACH is one of the most popular Japanese anime and manga properties in the world and this near simulcast schedule is part of VIZ Anime’s ongoing strategy to bring hit animated properties to a national audience via the web.

BLEACH is a popular manga and animated series (both rated ‘T’ for Teens), distributed domestically by VIZ Media, that follows the adventures of Ichigo, a 15-year old student with the ability to see ghosts. When his family is attacked by a Hollow — a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo encounters Rukia, a Soul Reaper, and inadvertently absorbs her powers. Now, he’s dedicating his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured souls find peace. Episode 275, from the newest story arc in Japan, marks the start of a thrilling storyline and guarantees a series of face-offs that are sure to excite old and new BLEACH fans!

VIZAnime.com is the official online home to some of VIZ Media’s best-loved animated series, and a burgeoning social network for fans to connect and form an interactive community. Over 1,000 episodes are currently available, and new content is added on a weekly basis.

“BLEACH remains one of the most successful and popular anime series in North America, and VIZ Media continues to break down time and distance barriers by making new episodes available within days of their original airing in Japan,” says Ken Sasaki, Sr. Vice President & General Manager, VIZ Media. “VIZAnime.com is the ultimate destination for the many popular VIZ Media animated titles, and currently contains an extensive catalog of hundreds of episodes from popular shows like BLEACH, INUYASHA, NARUTO, THE PRINCE OF TENNIS and more, all offered with accurate, high-quality streaming video that is completely free for viewers!”

BLEACH is a tremendously successful multimedia property internationally. The manga has been licensed in numerous countries around the world and has sold over 2 million copies in the US. In North America, the manga has been a sales hit and the popular animated series is viewed weekly by millions. This success also includes an array of related video games, apparel, action figures and other merchandise.

BLEACH animation can be viewed on Adult Swim and through a variety of other web-based video download and streaming outlets that have partnered with VIZ Media, including iTunes®, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Amazon, and HULU. For more information on BLEACH, please visit bleach.viz.com. To view subtitled BLEACH animated episodes, please visit VIZAnime.com.

E3 2010: Sony

Here's Sony. Sorry for the lack of excitement here. I'm not a Sony fan this time around, and honestly there were too many long, boring, repetitive montages in there. They lost my interest several times. Still, I took decent notes, so here's Sony's conference:

Welcome to the Sony Press Conference. It’s 1:55 PM CT. So not even remotely interested. Disclaimer: I don’t own a PSP or a PS3. Really thought about skipping this one, but eh, might as well. Last Guardian, Persona, and Kingdom Hearts will wake me up.

Montage playing with lots of various game footage. And a little jibe at Kinect from Kevin Butler.

Here is Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony America. Making a joke about Kevin Butler co-hosting with him. Kevin Butler is the guy in all their commercials, by the way. Sony annoys me, but he’s hilarious and those commercials are great. Transition from more to a game company into an entertainment company Jack says. Something for everyone in you family; the only console he say that has that (WTF? Glad to see Sony’s arrogance hasn’t gone anywhere). He’s talking about the PS3 as an entertainment center with movies, music, BR, games, etc.

Pres and CEO of SCE, Kazuo Hirai. Talking about 3D. Weee. Well, it’s Sony; they’re pimping their new 3D TVs right now, so obviously the PS3 would go there too. Content defining 3D. Because I totally want to shell out for a freakin’ 3D television, too. No thanks. He’s calling out some 3D PSN titles, 20 titles by March 2011 will be in 3D.

Killzone 3 in 3D, here is Hermen from Gorilla Games (I think he said). Group up built for 3D play. The scene they’re showcasing takes place in the arctic. And everyone puts on the glasses, those black sunglass looking ones like you get in theaters. Unfortunately this effect does not carry over into the home broadcasts. Anyway, it’s Killzone. There’s shooting and stuff. And you’ve got some kind of jet pack…that shoots flames out in front of your face. That’s nice. February. Also compatible with PSMove.

Kaz is back. “The content drives the consumer interest.” He’s talking about content created for 3D and not just adapted. PS3 only platform with native 3D gaming. Motor Storm Apocalypse, Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5, and one I missed (Sly?). Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Shaun White Skateboarding, Tron Evolution, NBA 2K11, all in 3D (and one I missed again…it’s too fast). MLB, Eyepet…games that use 3D and Move.

“It’s a future that Sony will lead” – the future of entertainment. Another 3D video. Fifa, golf, football…. Montage time I guess. Oh this was definitely created to show off the 3D. Eyepet (this thing is so ugly), Motor Storm, MLB The Show, The Fight, Killzone 3, tumble, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, GT5, The Sly Collection…all just the stuff he just mentioned.

Jack is back. Talking about life cycles. “How many ways you can be relevant in people’s lives” not just how long. Talking about the lasting effect of the PS2. Streaming Netflix, internet browsing, music, with the PS3. And PlayStation Move. “Realism.”

Peter Dille to talk about PS Move. A “future-proof” product. Casual fans and core gamers will enjoy it. He’s talking about the specs of the controller. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a little wand with a colored ball on top that is tracked by a camera. Video of developers talking about Move. It basically does what Kinect does, but with controllers. Kevin Butler poking fun again, saying that buttons are important. I can definitely see how Kinect is not really great for complex games like FPS games, whereas the Move can handle that. So that’s a really good point for them to make.

Jack says they are not here today to show things we’ve already seen, but here for brand new reveals. Sorcery with Christian Busic. You are a sorcerer’s apprentice going on magic adventures. A little magician is moving his wand around with Christian’s arm that is holding the Move wand. He’s shooting off bolts at monsters by flicking the controller in his hand. It’s a little jerky, like a Wii game. Graphics don’t exactly say “this can only be on the PS3” either. Oh that’s neat. The little ball on top of the Move wand changes colors depending on what spell he is using. He can draw walls of fire, cast AOE spells, control trajectory, etc. Spring 2011.

Sports games. EA Sports’ Andrew Wilson to talk about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Tiger Woods works amazingly well on the Wii with Motion Plus, by the way. But it does track your positioning more, instead of just where the controller points by standard (he made a point to say it tracks 1:1 movement instead of just using the same set animations). Boy, he shot two sand traps. Move functionality for the game will be delivered via downloaded update on PSN when the controller comes out.

One more title, a familiar franchise. It’s Heroes on the Move. A collection of some of Sony’s flagship characters all in one game. Jak, Sly, Ratchet, Daxter, Clank…I missed one. There’s 6. Looks like an action game in line with their individual games.

CocaCola supports active and positive living? Haha…. Some sort of partnership with CC Jack is talking about here, winning Sony prizes and stuff. OH IT’S THE BUTLER.

Kevin Butler is here to joke around. *heart*

Launch date for Move – Europe Sep 15, NA Sep 19, Japan Oct 21. $50 if you already own the PS3 and the Eye. $29.99 for what is basically the ‘chuk. And a $99 bundle with wand and camera plus a game. $399 for the PS3, camera and wand plus a game (Sports Champions). Ruse, Killzone 3, Singstar Dance, Echochrome 3, Eyepet… Toy Story 3, Heavy Rain, Resident Evil 5 will all have updates to enable Move. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Brunswick Pro Bowling, The Fight Lights Out, Sports Champions, Start the Party, Singstar Dance, Eyepet (still ugly), Heroes on the Move, Superstars TV, Socom 4, Time Crisis, The Shoot, RE5, Aragorn’s Quest, Tron, Sorcery, all Move capable this fall.

Jack again. …. I think the guy I kept saying was Jack a couple times up there was NOT Jack. Oops. But this is (sorry for my confusion, they look a little similar). He’s talking about the PSP. It allows any serious gamer to “step up your game.” Some little punk kid named Marcus is the new PSP spokesperson.

Metal Gear Solid Peacewalker. Invizimals with a PSP camera peripheral. God of War Chains of Olympus. God of War Ghost of Sparta is being shown now. And that didn’t really say anything about what the game is about.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Ace Combat, The Third Birthday, UFC, new PSP games coming out this fall. Montage of new titles coming out: MGS: PW, Mod Nation Racers, Ace Combat Joint Assault, Gravity Crash, Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi, Hot Shots Tennis, Madden 11, Birth by Sleep, Invizimals, Patapon 3, Fat Princess, Tetris, Eyepet, Piyotama, The 3rd Birthday, P3P, Ys, Valkyria II, God of War.

Jack is talking about the PSN now. 50 million registered users. Quick blurbs about various PSN features, like Home. They recreated their E3 booth in Home. Little Big Planet, to talk about user content, etc. And Mod Nation Racers.

Alex Evans from Media Molecule for LBP2. I still don’t really get this game, but Sackboy is adorable. You can create little mini games with multi-player. Various new creation and game features. You can make shooters, driving games, various things.

Jack just came out and said that the PSN will be free, but there is a service packaged called PSPlus. It gives you expanded options – exclusive features and content for gamers. Value…. OK, what KIND. OK, early demos, select betas, discounts, automatic downloads. Available later this month, a full year is about 50 bucks. 3 months for $17.99. Oh, he just said “this extra content you will own for the duration of your subscription” so…what. It goes away and you can’t access it anymore if you stop? That kind of sucks.

EA support. John Schappert from EA. Two new titles with exclusive PS3 content – Medal of Honor. Greg Goodrich to show new content (as in, different from EA’s content yesterday). Yesterday they showed muti-player play, today is a new character named Deuce, AFO Wolfpack. In June they’re going to show Tier 1 operators to share their stories that influenced the game. New multi map reveal – Dingaw Valley? Missed the spelling. LE version for PS3 on Oct 12. Remastered HD version of Frontline will be included.

Dead Space 2 time. Saw this yesterday during the EA conf too. Steve Papoutsis is back to show us the continuation from the cliff hanger yesterday, where the character was jumped by a huge boss. Now they’re going to show what happened after. It is big and it is nasty. Tight fight in a narrow hallway, lots of dangling by the ankles. Pretty intense. LE for PS3, Dead Space 2 and DS Extraction in one, with Move support.

Jack is back and is interrupted by GLADOS. Portal 2 with Gabe Newell from Valve. Steam will be partnering up with this. And Portal 2 trailer. Guess who is Still Alive? It’s footage of GLADOS rebuilding the entire lab. “I think we can put our differences behind us, for science. You monster.” *glee*

Jack is back talking about Square Enix’s MMO, FFXIV. Gorgeous trailer. But if I’m gonna shell out for an MMO, sorry, it’s gonna be Old Republic.

2K Games. Mafia II, exclusive content on PS3, free bonuses for purchasing the game. Ubisoft – Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Exclusive missions only for PS3….dammit. Multi-player beta exclusive for PS3 too. Trailer was supposed to show some multiplayer stuff but uh, that didn’t explain or show how it’s supposed to work.

Jack is naming off some games they weren’t able to demo, like DCU, Shaun White, and some others they already mentioned but didn’t really showcase. So…montage: Socom 4, Killzone 3, Medal of Honor, DS2, Mafia II, Madden 11, NBA2K11, Tiger Woods, Sports Champions, The Fight, NCAA 11, Eyepet (still ugly), Start the Party, LBP2, The Shoot, echochrome II, Heroes on the Move, GT5, Mon Nation Racers, Motor Storm, True Crime, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Shooter 2, Mortal Kombat, Castlevania, Dead Nation, Sorcery, DCU, Sly, Tron, FFXIV, Lego Harry Potter in there and some Spider-Man. Gee, they could have shown off some more stuff if they weren’t repeating every damn thing 3 times.

Here’s another title. GT5. Ug, it just goes on and on and on….. It’s another fucking driving game. I don’t play them, so I can’t tell you how it’s different from Forza or any of the others that have been shown this week. They all look the same to me. Showing off some cars and locations like Japan. November. It’s 3D too.

Infamous 2. Looks OK. Seen better. Finally. One last surprise.

What is it. Everything went dark. It’s a car. Oh, it’s some live action commercial something or other. From Papa Johns. Not the game, just the commercial is presented by PJ’s. Still waiting to see what it is. Pan up on a character, it isssssss a crazy clown. Twisted Metal. Sony just rolled out a fucking truck on stage with a costumed guy hanging out. 2011. Demoing online team death match mode. 16 players, with 2 and 4 player split screen. Helicopter fights. New mode: Nuke. Fighting up skyscrapers, along freeways…. In Nuke you destroy these giant statues hanging from helicopters. You capture the faction leader, shoot off a huge missile, and guide it to the target.

Jack wrapping up, talking about innovation and content. Little surprising that there was nothing about Last Guardian in there anywhere. Portal 2 I guess was a big announcement for them, but I'll play that on the PC. And that’s that. No more conferences to blog. Tonight on G4 they’re doing a half hour look at the Old Republic MMO though; you should watch.

E3 2010: Nintendo

Um, wow. Nintendo just made up for years of crappy presentations. Old school is back in awesome ways. Here are my notes on Nintendo's conference:

Good morning everyone! It’s time for Nintendo! Everyone is expecting a new Zelda reveal, though I’m not sure if this is a confirmed offering or not. Expect plenty casual bull shit. Probably a look at Metroid from Team Ninja. And the 3DS. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

LOL the iPad is the “enemy of the future.” That’s from uh…I think they said Miyamoto said that. Hilarious. Oh hey guess what. Wii Sports Resort sold almost 6 million copies because it was packaged in with the new remote. They really shouldn’t even count that one when they’re talking about top game sales numbers.

11 am CT, time for Nintendo. All blogs are coming to you live from my living room. ^_^

Here’s Reggie (he’s the pres of Nintendo America). “That buzz begins with technology.” Sounds like they’re starting off with the 3DS. “Technology is a tool…” What matters is the experience, and the best comes with “technology and game design are perfectly matched.” “We intend to show you how Nintendo once again is raising the bar….”

ZELDA. They’re starting with Zelda? Wow. Grown up Zelda, but not as gritty as Twilight Princess. It’s called Skyward Sword. Shortest trailer ever. Oh, here’s Miyamoto to talk about the game. But he’s not actually on stage. It’s taped. Looks like you get to use the Wiimote as the sword, and the ‘chuk as the shield, which is cool. Mr. Bill is going to demo the game on stage. Oh, there he is! Miyamoto is live on stage now. Because apparently Bill sucks at playing Zelda, so Miyamoto is gonna explain himself with Bill to translate. That’s really cool that you can use the controllers that way, but I don’t think I want to play a whole Zelda game like that…. If you swing up and down, the sword makes a downward strike, ditto on side-to-side. The way you swing your arm/sword makes a huge difference. I bet it’s a motion-plus only game; Miyamoto’s got one attached. There’s an item wheel now that pops up a quick item select menu. Targeting works a bit differently with the sling shot; basically you don’t aim at the TV anymore, just move the remote around. They’re having some wireless interference in there….. You use your controls like an actual bow and arrow to shoot the bow, pulling back on the ‘chuk like you would the string. There’s a whip now too; he’s cycling through the various new items. Looks good, but no clues to the story. Won’t be out until 2011.

Reggie is back. Talking about universal appeal. Wide World of Sports – Ultra realism or over-the-top fun. Madden, Pro Evo Soccer, MLB 2K, NBA Jam. Setting up a new Mario game. Haha, oh my gosh, seriously? Mario volleyball. Hockey. Dodgeball. Basketball. Mario Sports Mix. 2011. Reggie says you can’t always listen to the experts, who last year said Wii momentum was starting to wane, and that casual Wii owners don’t buy games. He’s telling them they’re wrong. Wii owners play their systems more often than others. Not at my house. The popularity of bridge games like Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros Wii keeps it afloat. Tons of Miis created.

Wii Party. Party games for your Miis. Horse racing, board games, 70 different mini-games. Holiday season.

He’s talking about Just Dance now. From Ubisoft. Just Dance 2 with 40+ tracks. Dancing duets, dance crew face-offs. Fall 2010 Wii exclusive.

Reggie’s saying “a lot of you got jazzed in a different way” last year for Golden Sun. Golden Sun Dark Dawn it’s called. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS Footage. It’s 3D now. Uh-oh, something has gone wrong in the world of Golden Sun! Fabulous. This holiday! Merry Christmas to meeeeeee.

“Golden” has an entirely different meaning to other gamers. Reggie’s doing good with the segues here. It’s a Goldeneye game. Split screen and multiplayer (at least 4 player). With game modes like paintball. Exclusive for the Wii from Activision this holiday.

A new type of hero whose reach has spanned 8 decades. Ooooh, it’s time for Epic Mickey. My stomach is telling me it’s also time for lunch. Here are Warren Spector and Adam Creighton for Epic Mickey. They are showing off an area called Ventureland where you talk to characters about quests. Smee, Swiss Family Robinson. Old stuff should be prevalent. Mickey uses paint and paint thinner to erase objects and characters, or restore them. How you change the world makes a difference. Do you solve problems by removing obstacles or by creating. It looks good. Action Zones are for missions. Mickey jumps into a movie screen to enter Travel Zone. Side scrolling areas that take you from one place to another. Balance heritage and innovation. Awesome awesome.

Reggie is talking about keeping popular franchises fresh. 1992 Iwata worked with Sakurai (Smash Bros, Kirby). Kirby! Wii Kirby. Should Kirby stick to his roots or go to something new, Reggie asks. Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Oh that is CUTE. It’s Kirby’s world made out of stitching, buttons, yarn, needle point. CUUUUTE. Oh that is fucking adorable. Kirby is a giant yarn robot! That is really, really cool looking. The most obvious difference is not the way it looks but the way it works, Reggie says. Comes out this fall.

He’s talking about Dragon Quest IX now. Over 300 monsters, over 900 items. Online multi-player. Tag-mode seeks out other players even when your DS is closed to add new characters and things. On the DS in 26 days in America (July 11).

Last day in August, players on Wii get Metroid Other M. Oh that is pretty sweet looking. Nintendo is really bringing it this year. Platforming, FPS segments for Samus.

Retro Studios in Texas is producing…Donkey Kong. Classic DK theme playing. DK has never looked this good. Side scroller with DK and Diddy. Donkey Kong Country Returns (thought it had some familiar elements). This holiday on Wii.

Geez, what else does Reggie have? Talking about all these titles have brought your game memory into the past. Now we’re going into the future. Guess it’s 3DS time. Basically he’s saying that it’s too expensive to get the 3D on the big screens, and there’s really no content for it yet. And he’s making fun of the glasses. Nintendo thinks there’s a better way, with portable 3D, ample game content on first day, and NO GLASSES. Montage rolling with the history of 3D, “nothing between you and the experience.” Haha, that was a little melodramatic. A tiny blue 3DS rose from the stage on a platform with lots of smoke.

Here is Iwata to discuss it. 2 screens, 3.5 inch on the upper screen. Nintendo produced the first 3D video game 15 years ago. Mass market product. It has a 3D slider on the side to maximize the effect or remove it all together. Touch panel on bottom. Graphic improvements. Slide Pad for analog movement. Motion sensor/gyro sensor. Boy they’re going all out with this. Compatible with DSi. 3DS has 2 cameras on the outside so you can take 3D photos. It can play 3D movies too, but he’s not going into that much; but he says you can watch trailers for several movies at their booth. It’s incredibly impressive, but I’m not remotely interested.

“Gamers care most about games” Iwata says. Project Sora (announced in 2009). It was established to create a game specifically for the 3DS. Kid Icarus. Uprising. It has voices. It looks like it could be a console title with those graphics. “Coming Soon” is all it says. OK, now I’m kind of interested.

Iwata is talking about navigating a 3D world. And communicating with other systems and hot spots. Ooooh….. The 3Ds lets you communicate regardless of what software you’re playing. It does it all on its own. And it’s free. He’s wrapping up by talking about how they proved themselves with their new technology. And announcing some other various things. Nintendogs+Cats in 3D. Atlus, Konami, Bandai, Activision, EA, Harmonix, WB, Sega, all developing 3D games. Including Kingdom Hearts, Madden NFL, DJ Hero, Saints Row, Assassin’s Creed, Ridge Racer, Metal Gear Solid, Professor Layton…. Shit. Guess I will have to get one of those.

Montage of developers reacting to the 3D news. They seem impressed and excited. Precision, exploration, online, cameras.

Reggie is back to wrap up. That was like 2-3 casual games, and a shit ton of core games. Nintendo just blew Microsoft out of the water. Cute commercial – Iwata and Miyamoto are getting sucked into the 3DS, literally. Stuff flies out of the system. Reggie is watching Iwata and Miyamoto being chased by Bowser. Cheesy, but cute. Reggie got fire spewed on him and appeared back onstage with a torn up coat. They’re trying to express what the 3DS can do. They just brought a bunch of 3DS…es in to demo. Like tons of them. They’re going to walk out to the people in the theater to let everyone try it out. And Wii kiosks came out of the floor to demo the new Zelda. Go Nintendo.

And that’s a wrap. Sony is later. Time for lunch.

E3 2010: Ubisoft

Ubisoft now. Started at 7, ended at 8:30. Time for dinner now. Gotta make sure I get up in the morning for Nintendo and Sony. They're starting early. So here's Ubi's conference:

It’s time for Ubisoft. Most recent news: The new slimmer Xbox was announced to be the same price as the Elite bundle out now ($299)…except the Elite drops by $50 tomorrow morning. So that promise was only true for less than 24 hours. By the way, as much as I rather wish I could actually attend E3, I’m kind of glad I can’t, because I don’t think I could handle it. It’s tiring enough keeping up from home. I’d probably collapse from exhaustion. Or overdose on caffeine, which I don’t drink.

Reading some manga in between conferences while I rest my eyes. Working on Afterschool Charisma right now, a really cool new title from Viz Media. By the way, Olivia is conspicuously missing from the G4 coverage. Everyone else seems to be there. Not that I’m complaining (I’m so not). Just taking notice. Morgan is looking very smart in her skirt/suit thing.

7 pm CT, welcome to Ubisoft. Starting off with Kinect right away. It’s a guy waving his hands around and directing these flashes of color on the screen. It’s some kind of little shooting game on an acid trip. It’s neat. I’ll never play it, but it looks pretty cool. Reminds me of the Gummi Ship battles in Kingdom Hearts 2. Lots of shapes, bright colors, upbeat music. …. And G4 screwed up their feed. Yay. Jumping over to GameTrailers. Child of Eden by Tetsuya Mizuguchi.

Joel McHale again. Uggggggggg. Why does this guy keep hosting shit? FYI, he’s the guy from The Soup on E! He does not work for Ubisoft. He is not funny.

He’s gone (yay( and now there’s a fancy trailer for an Assassin’s Creed game. Brotherhood. Nice looking and totally useless trailer. 1503 Rome (oh there’s more!). This is still Ezio…I thought this was a handheld? The graphics are incredible…. His enemies are dropping like flies as Ezio’s team takes everyone out. And big battle between assassins and soldiers in the street. November. Vincent and Patrick from Ubi here to talk about it. Ezio is a leader now…oh and still a lady’s man apparently. Yup. He’s in bed with his chick. And a body falls through his roof. So it takes place after AC2 and his home is being attacked by the Templars. Ezio runs through his villa as cannon balls fall around him. Advanced horse riding and combat, they’re showing some of it off. He’s playing this on the PS3. Ezio’s shooting his own cannon off at the enemy. Some neat, new stuff. AI is more aggressive now. Threw an axe at some huge armored guy. BORGIA! That’s his enemy. Sweet. The Borgia’s are super interesting. Wowzers. Except, uh, spoiler there at the end. I’m still a little confused about what this game is supposed to be. I had thought it was some in betweener handheld or arcade game or something, but it looks like a full title.

Joel again to announce a “20th century urban jungle” title. Oh, some skateboarding game. Are they still making these? Shaun White Skateboarding. Shaun is there to talk about stuff. Skateboard against The Man! Oh, now I know why I was confused about the new AC game. I was confusing it with Bloodlines, which IS a handheld title. Though that doesn’t leave me any less confused on what the game supposed to be. Will likely pick it up though; I really liked Ezio, much more than Altair.

Oh…Shaun White is in 3D too. Joy of joys.

Joel is talking about technology and video games. He is interrupted by music and some kind of laser tag-ish game demo. Ubisoft is making toys now? Battle Tag it’s called. “Something lots of gamers have been waiting for.” We have? The developer guy is basically saying it’s a real life FPS game. It’s got a chest piece with a sensor, big plastic guns, and ammo packs. So yeah, it’s just fancy laser tag that you can connect to your computer or console or whatever. You can set up targets too. 2 guns, 2 harnesses, 4 tags (the target things) come in each pack. That’s nice.

Joel is now making bad jokes and announcing Tommy Francois for Innergy. It’s a game to reduce stress. …. Isn’t that what they all do? It’s got a sensor, like the Wii vitality sensor but it’s Ubi’s thing. A little bubble goes up and down a rainbow telling you when to breathe in and out. Bright rainbow colors are not relaxing, Ubisoft. It’s made to plug into any computer. Or you could just do yoga breathing exercises for free.

Video from developers to talk about…Kinect I assume. Revolving the game world around you. Ah, some of these guys have hilarious accents. Using your mind and body to play. Now 2 new Kinect titles. This one looks like a sports game. Snow skiing, soccer, football. Motion Sports. Live demo of Your Shape (which was shown at the MS conference). It’s the same two people from the MS demo. It looks like it may be the exact same demo…Felicia’s even using the same dialog from earlier. They are talking a bit more about the online features though. But it’s all the same demo from earlier. I would probably get something like Your Shape; it’s nifty.

Joel is announcing the new Rabbids game now. “Now they will go…where no Rabbid has gone before.” Back in time apparently. Give a caveman fire, break the nose off the Sphinx, keep Excalibur from being pulled from the stone… It’s called Raving Rabbids Travel in Time. November on the Wii.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier. New weapons, new tech like optical camouflage. “The Soldier of the Future is an F-16 on Legs.” The producer and game designer are on to talk about it. See tomorrow’s soldier. Demo now, making good use of the optical camo. Lots of close quarter combat, perfect for the new camo feature. Quick and clean assassinations. There’s a voice over giving commands to you (“Take out the guy on the left while so-and-so gets the guy on the right.”). Wraps up with a big shoot out. You can play the campaign with 4-player co-op and…3D. Did he really just say this one is in 3D too? This has got to stop.

Joel announces a driving game now. Driver: San Francisco. Big car chase on a crowded bridge, plenty of carnage. Good looking game. Mostly rendered stuff there though. Martin Edmondson the creator is there to talk. Tanner vs. Jericho. Martin keeps talking about how they’re going back to their roots with this game.

CEO of Ubi, Yves Guillemot. First is Dust, a game for digital distribution. By Eric Chahi. Some old civilization, very Atlantean. Spring 2011. I guess it’s some kind of strategy game. Next is a presentation about creating art…leading into a new Rayman game. Rayman Origins. Only 5 people have been working on it apparently. The third project is a platform. He’s talking about UPlay from last year, but they have a new one, ManiaPlanet. Video about user-powered gaming and Track Mania, which has user generated content. User-Powered PC Gaming Zone. Shootmania and Questmania coming next year.

Now Yves is talking about a new product, learning from the experts. It is a…Michael Jackson game? It’s another dance game using Kinect I think. I dunno, there’s just some guys dancing around onstage with Beat It playing, but nothing happening on screen. Still dancing. Be nice to see the actual game. They did the whole dang song. ……….. So uh. That’s the end of the conference. What the hell was that for?

Well, they kind of ended with a thud there. The dance was cool, but they didn’t even say what it was for. Looked like maybe that dance game from the MS conference. Oh, no, wait, sorry, that was a Harmonix game. Quick check on Kotaku…they think it’s Just Dance. Oh well, at least they had that awesome Assassin’s Creed thing there at the beginning. That’s all for today. Sony and Nintendo tomorrow morning/afternoon. I forget which is first.

E3 2010: EA

Time for EA! And don't forget to check out the Microsoft post from earlier today. EA was boring mostly. Lots of FPS games followed by lots of sport games followed by...super sexy new trailer for Old Republic. Just too bad there wasn't any game play footage. Anywhere, here is the EA conference:

EA in half an hour. Should see some Old Republic stuff, maybe new Mass Effect info. Probably a bunch of EA Sports crap, which I’m (not) sorry to say I don’t give a shit about, except that it helps pay for games I actually want to play. So please buy the slightly updated version of the exact same game next year so I can play more Dragon Age.

You know, I really don’t like G4, but Adam is hilarious to watch throughout the week. He gets really hyped up on caffeine and he’s totally wired. Oh, Morgan was upset by the representation of women in Microsoft’s conference. They’re repeating my own thoughts, (everyone seems to have these thoughts) about how the whole presentation just looked like the Wii.

Apparently they are passing 3D glasses around in there. *sigh* So it begins. I really hate this whole 3D fad and I wish the video game people wouldn’t try to push it too. G4 was talking about some of the best of E3 earlier, now they’re talking about the worst. It’s kind of funny. And sad…sad reminder of Nintendo’s massive casual game showing a couple years ago that made everyone want to cry.

They’re running a little late here, but should be starting soon…please…I don’t want to be up all night. :( Ah finally, 4:08 PM CT.

Trailer for…Need for Speed Hot Pursuit in November. Gorgeous cinematic, but the whole thing was just cinematics. Craig Sullivan Creative Director. Talking about Autolog, which shows you what your friends do in the game. Craig and Matt are gonna play together. One is a cop, the other the driver. View is from behind your car. It’s really pretty, but is otherwise kind of boring looking.

John Riccitiello from EA. He just compared EA to Sundance as compared to the Academy Awards. And introduced….

Dead Space 2. The producer is going to demo. Straight into a nasty boss fight. Looks good. Big mob battle here. Blood everywhere. Sorry…Dead Space is not a game I know much about. Monsters popping out everywhere, sufficiently creepy, good atmosphere. And he goes up an elevator, they show off some of the scenery, and a HUGE monster attacks. More at the Sony conference (so, to be cont.). January.

John is back. Talking about shooters. An updated out of commission franchise. DICE and EALA. Sean Decker for Medal of Honor. This one is going to the war in Afghanistan. Live, 24-player (wow) on stage. And they’re all out there. It’s called Team Assault. They’ve got multiple screens up on the big screen so you can watch several of them playing. And then the stupid camera keeps cutting down to their hands on the controllers, because, you know, THAT’S what I want to see. …. So it was just a jumbled battle. October. Beta in June. Then some fancy trailer action to showcase locals and combat. MoH uses real world locals and operations, by the way.

Katrina Senior Director at EA. Gun Club, a rewards club for gamers. Lol, Gun Club? Geez…. Weapon unlocks, early Beta and emo access, etc. So like, if you pre-order the new game, you get early Beta access.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam trailer. Uh…more like 5 second blurb that shows absolutely nothing. It’s an expansion pack.

Peter Moore for EA Sports. It’s time for a nap. MMA with Strikeforce. International mixed martial arts game. EA Sports Live Broadcast. Sounds like it will let you upload your fights in your game so other people can watch. It’s arranged online matches that air live, you can use your own face, and real commentators will comment on the fights. You can earn real world prizes. October.

Interactive Fitness. Andrew Wilson head of development for EA sports. Active 2. This is their fitness game that’s like a polished up version of Wii Fit. Multi-platform, online, and wireless, he says. First video shows the Wii, finally a use for the heart rate monitor it looks like. Track your progress online with your PC. November. They’re gonna demo with Kinect. Oh, the heart rate monitor is EA’s. Wii uses the remotes to bike ride, PS3 girl is lifting little weights, and the guy is boxing with Kinect. Serious lag on the PS3 demo. Still a tiny lag on the Kinect.

Peter is wrapping up with Madden of course. It’s Madden. Do I really need to pay attention? No? OK. Oh? Simpler, quicker, deeper. They’re saying they’re (finally?) evolving the game. Streamlining everything and making it much quicker. Oh, look, it’s Joe Montana.

Zzzzz…Huh? Rod Humble talking about free will and fate…Sims 3. He’s comparing it to Greek gods. Mentions the newest expansion, Ambitions, which put in more jobs. It’s just static pictures of stuff he’s done in the game. Like a slide show of Sim life. It’s kind of dull actually. Need some Old Republic to wake me back up. Unpredictability of the system, Sims with free will. Neuroscience…. It’s like I’m in a high school biology class. Or Psych 101 may be more appropriate. Sims 3 to consoles. Talking about putting more of the Sims world onto the consoles than before. In the past they’ve been pretty linear and constricted for a Sims game.

John is back talking about EA Partners. 2 brand new partners – Ted Price from Insomniac and the Respawn guys. Also mentions Epic. 2 games to announce, one is an FPS – Crysis 2. It’s going to the consoles now, if you hadn’t heard., so people might actually be able to play it now. Sandbox play experience. Most intelligent enemies in any shooter. I think he said it takes place in New York? Full freedom of experience. Gameplay now. Big battle in um…Central Station I think he said. Very tight graphics, very detailed. Heat vision is cool. Lots of explosions and huge enemies. Entire fucking skyscraper just got blown to bits and tumbled down. Pretty cool. Now 3D glasses. Oh man, it would be these fucking guys to do this. 3D on all platforms, but you can play it without too. They’re showing a 3D trailer, which I’m obviously not able to see the effects of. I don’t know that a 3D trailer will be offered up at some point or not.

Epic Games. Cliff is back (from MS) with Adrian from People Can Fly and Tanya from Epic. Bulletstorm. It’s an “over the top” FPS, Cliff’s words. February 2011. It’s uh…pretty over the top all right. Kicking enemies into generators where they get electrocuted, stuff like that. Lots of crazy looking stuff. Looks like time slows down a bit when you shoot enemies.

FINALLY. Fucking Star Wars. I’m awake now. Mary Bihr and Grez from Lucas Arts. Old Republic time. Every player gets a starship. Gonna talk about PVP, and show a new trailer. And here it goes, “Hope.” Oh wow. That was sexy. Go watch it. Right now. I’ll wait.

And they ended with a bang.

Ubisoft is next.

E3 2010: Microsoft

It's that time of year again. Time for E3, 2010! I plan on live blogging the conferences like I've been doing for a few years now. This early afternoon was Microsoft's Press Conference. Spitting this up quick here, because Ubi and EA are in an hour, and I'd like to rest my eyes a bit. That's supposed to go for like 6 hours or something (probably a break in between). LOTS of stuff about their motion control system. So, here you go! I watched the conference live on Spike TV and wrote my thoughts as it went along:

Listening to a pre-show thing. Keep hearing “premier of another Xbox LIVE Arcade game trailer” way too often.

Big news, of course, is that Natal is now Kinect. …. Should have kept the project name. It’s smaller than the prototypes. Lots of price speculation. Too much on the high end.

Ok, here we go! 12:30 pm CT. Welcome to the 2010 Xbox 360 Global Media Briefing.

Montage time. Explosions. Nice looking war game. Call of Duty Black Ops. November. Mark Lamia from Treyarch to talk about the game. I’ve never played one so I can’t comment on improvements. But the graphics are tight. All that’s on the screen are the crosshairs and a really pale ammo indicator in the bottom corner. Helicopter combat now; big explosions. I’m gonna finish my lunch here…. It looks great, so yeah….

Don Mattrick. He’s talking about the agreement with Activision. Xbox gets map packs and expansions first for Call of Duty, through 2012. Halo, Gears of War, Call of Duty, big games on Xbox. Now he’s talking about Netflix, FB, etc. And announcing Project Natal’s new name, Kinect. Showing, not telling.

Hideo Kojima in the house. Aw, he’s so adorable. Talking about Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Talking about something new and unique for Kinect, I think? Or maybe he just means a new alliance with Xbox. Shigenobu Matsuyama now. Zan-Datsu. “Cut-Take” translated. This younger guy is the game’s producer. And here’s a trailer. Nice and shiny. And here comes Raiden to kick some ass. Cuts the head off this robot and rips out its spinal cord. “Cut at will.” “Cut what you will.” HAHA he’s slicing up watermelon now. Nice accuracy. No date on that.

Phil Spencer, Corporate VP. Experiences that cannot be found anywhere else. Blockbuster games, online multiplayer, storytelling…and characters. Halo Reach, Fable 3, Crackdown 2…. Everything showing today is available only on Xbox 360. And here comes….. Cliff Bleszinski for Gears of War.

4 player story based co-op on display here. I hated Gears of War, just a disclaimer here. Graphics look amazing though. Oooh there’s a girl in this one. Looks like pretty standard Gears stuff. Limbs being torn/blown off, blood everywhere. I don’t know how it will play; they’re only showing one full screen here for Player1. Big nasty boss fight. Characters call out to each other when they’re out of ammo or something, that’s neat. He mentions a new mode called “Beast” but doesn’t describe it here.

Peter Molyneux. Fable 3 (duh). Here to raise up our hopes, so they can be dashed when the game comes out. I love these games, but Pete hypes like crazy; he gets super excited about what he’s making, but half of it never makes it in. In F3 you are a ruler. Good looking trailer here. This looks to be set in the…17 or 18th century. No release date but…I think it comes out in October.

Phil is back. Exclusive title…with a new partener. Activision I guess. What is this? Trailer of some huge gladiator looking guy on a field of battle. Oops, Crytek. Codename Kingdoms. Have not heard of this, and the trailer didn’t really show much.

Phil again…one game changed everything. Must be talking about Halo. Halo Reach. Bungie Creative Director Marcus Lehto. Showing off the new campaign. And of course it looks amazing. I want to say Reach is…a prequel? I don’t remember. Anyway, it looks like a freakin’ Halo game. Not noticing any obvious changes. Girls in this one too! And awesome music. Oooooo…nice melee move. B oy that is massive. Spartan just hopped on a rocket/space shuttle. …… It’s a battle in space. Wowzers. Got some goose bumps. September.

Marc Whitten, VP of LIVE. Ug his mic sucks. He’s just rambling about LIVE stats. Kinect. Oh, he’s going to talk about using Kinect with the dashboard. Controller free play. Demonstration. Ron, one of the engineers. He’s showing how easy it is to sign into LIVE with a wave of the hand (it has facial recognition). He’s showing off menu navigation. !!!!! You can select with your voice, too. He said “Zune” and it selected. Now he’s navigating through a film with his hands. Paused the movie with his voice. “Xbox pause, Xbox Play,” and it does. “Xbox, play music” and it does. That is COOL.

Marc again. FB, Netflix, Last FM, etc, all can be used with Kinect. Coming to every country with the Xbox. Xbox LIVE coming to Windows Phone7. ….. You can now use Kinect to communicate via video, like a web cam, and via the Kinect’s mic (so party chat with no headset). You can do this via LIVE or Windows Messenger. She’s demoing with a relative or something. You can watch a movie together this way. Um, wow. Ahaha, it’s cheesy and scripted. The other girl is moving and the Kinect is tracking her. “Xbox, End Chat,” and it goes away.

Marc again. Talking about a social living room. People are missing one important thing? ESPN apparently. I’m not missing that, I promise. On Demand and Live events through your Xbox. So…instead of just watching sports on your TV you can turn your Xbox on too. This is exclusive to the 360. 3,500 live and on demand events (these are Sports Center Guys doing a quick commercial thing, and now they’re on stage). *yawn* Lots in HD. This is probably exclusive to Gold users, like most things, though they haven’t said it outright yet. You an use Kinect with this too. Oh, wow… “Xbox, Replay” and it shows the last play. Trivia, polls…. It’s pretty interactive.

Back to Marc. Oop, there we go. He said “available to Gold users.” No additional cost.

Creative Director for Kinect, Kudo Tsunoda. Uniting people, etc. “Time for talk is over.” 6 launch games for this holiday. Cute little girl playing with a tiger. It responds to her voice and her movements. She jumps and the tiger jumps. ADORABLE. She hid behind something and the tiger is pressing up against the screen looking for her. Thought it was Viva Pinata at first, but this is a Rare game. She is jump roping with the tiger. OOOOOOH it’s CUTE. Kinectimals. Clearly a kiddie game, though.

Kinect Sports. Shin from Rare (Rare I guess is doing most of the Kinect development). He’s playing around in an arena. Where is the sports? They are…jumping hurdles??? Having some problems here. Running in place. Then they jump up to go over the hurdle. Nifty. But it’s like, Wii with more movement. It uses avatars, too. Montage of the sports you can play. Soccer, bowling, track and field, ping-pong, boxing, volleyball.

Kinect Joyride. Cart racing. Missed the girl’s name and studio. But she’s steering the car with just her hands. So far they’re just Wii games minus the controller. Nothing for the core here, but I guess they’re trying to hit the casual/family/kid market, which is fine. It’s not really a big market for them so far.

Kinect Adventures. I see a pattern here. Darren to demo. He is um, riding some kind of platform and leaning around to get coins, ducking under polls, things like that. Another guy comes onstage to play and the game automatically splits in two. It’s picking them up pretty well. The game took photos of them in the real space (you can post these to places like FB); that’s kinda neat. Another demo…some girls in an inner tube going down a river. I mean, it all looks cool, but it’s nothing I’m interested in. LOTS of active movement too; way more of a work out than the Wii games.

Other developers now. Ubisoft for Kinect. Looks like a workout game. Oh if I had a cute coach like that, I’d exercise more often…. It’s called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Felicia Williams from Ubi to talk about the game. Oh wow, she took off her sweater on stage and her image in the game did the same. It scans her body in and I guess…organizes the menus and things to her exact height/build. Celebrity trainer helped develop the game, and now he’s gonna talk about it. Martial Arts, yoga, gym activities. It remembers her preferences (fave routines) and tracks everything she is doing. It looks like there’s a teeny tiny lag on the screen. She’s doing tai chi as a cool down now. No remotes, to balance boards, just the Kinect camera.

Harmonix. Dance Central. Lead producer of the game is here, she’s dancing. I’m not sure if it’s teaching her, or just tracking her or what… I think it’s cycling through moves, and she’s performing them, like DDR. Alex Rigopulos, CEO. He’s talking about performing dances from original music videos of the songs they’re using. Another Harmonix guy, demonstrating a mode that teaches you the dance moves. Apparently this game is to teach nerdy white boys how to dance.

Phil is back. He’s been looking a little confused up there. November 4 is the launch for Kinect. More than 15 launch titles when it arrives. Exclusive arrangement with Lucas Arts…OMG. OMG OM GOMG OMGOIJSKHDGFHSD Star Wars Kinect. Lightsaber fighting, force power using. He’s deflecting blaster bolts, and the trailer cuts right before a duel with Vader. No live demo though.

Turn 10 Studios. Racing. Steering the car, checking mirrors, all with Kinect. Oh, it’s Forza. Finally some real games. Nifty stuff here, checking out the car inside and out with Kinect. 2011. Star Wars was 2011 too. So…just casual stuff for launch?

Don again. He’s wrapping up, I think. A brand new era for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. Kickstarting the new era with….a slimmer, sleeker 360. 250 gig HDD, built in WiFi, smaller, quiet, for…the same price as the new 360s are now. 299. Ships in…TODAY. Unless you are in the audience at the theater…and you get it now for free. ….. Damn. That’s…wow that’s rad. Go Microsoft.

And it’s over. Nice, with less talk and more footage but…lacking a bit in some areas. EA and Ubi coming in like…an hour I think.

PR: Viz Media joins coalition against manga piracy

From Viz Media (PR):

MULTI-NATIONAL MANGA ANTI-PIRACY COALITION FORMED

San Francisco, CA, June 8, 2010 – Today a coalition of Japanese and U.S. publishers announced a coordinated effort to combat a rampant and growing problem of internet piracy plaguing the manga industry. “Scanlation,” as this form of piracy has come to be known, refers to the unauthorized digital scanning and translation of manga material that is subsequently posted to the internet without the consent of copyright holders or their licensees. According to the coalition, the problem has reached a point where “scanlation aggregator” sites now host thousands of pirated titles, earning ad revenue and/or membership dues at creators’ expense while simultaneously undermining foreign licensing opportunities and unlawfully cannibalizing legitimate sales. Worse still, this pirated material is already making its way to smartphones and other wireless devices, like the iPhone and iPad, through apps that exist solely to link to and republish the content of scanlation sites.

Participants in the coalition include the 36 members of Japan’s Digital Comic Association, Square Enix, VIZ Media, TOKYOPOP, Vertical, Inc., the Tuttle-Mori Agency and Yen Press. Working together, the membership of the coalition will actively seek legal remedies to this intellectual property theft against those sites that fail to voluntarily cease their illegal appropriation of this material.

“It is unfortunate that this action has become necessary,” said a spokesperson for the group. “However, to protect the intellectual property rights of our creators and the overall health of our industry, we are left with no other alternative but to take aggressive action. It is our sincere hope that offending sites will take it upon themselves to immediately cease their activities. Where this is not the case, however, we will seek injunctive relief and statutory damages. We will also report offending sites to federal authorities, including the anti-piracy units of the Justice Department, local law enforcement agencies and FBI.”

The coalition stated that it has currently identified thirty sites targeted for action.

Participant members of the Digital Comic Association include: Akane Shinsha, Akita Shoten, ASCII Media Works, East Press, Ichijinsha, Enterbrain, Okura Shuppan, Ohzora Shuppan, Gakken, Kadokawa Shoten, Gentosha Comics, Kodansha, Jitsugyo No Nihonsha, Shueisha, Junet, Shogakukan, Shogakukan Shueisha Production, Shodensha, Shonen Gahosha, Shinshokan, Shinchosa, Take Shobo, Tatsumi Shuppan, Tokuma Shoten, Nihon Bungeisha, Hakusensha, Fujimi Shobo, Fusosha, Futabasha, France Shoin, Bunkasha, Houbunsha, Magazine House, Media Factory, Leed sha, Libre Shuppan

PR: Kekkaishi EP 1 Free DTO from Viz Media

Some quick PR from Viz Media:

VIZ MEDIA ANNOUNCES FREE KEKKAISHI DOWNLOAD EPISODE

Special Promotion To Celebrate the Domestic Broadcast Launch of the Shonen Sunday Animated Series

VIZ Media invites fans to explore the demon-battling action adventure of popular Shonen Sunday KEKKAISHI anime series with a FREE Download-to-Own (DTO) episode starting today through VIZ Media partners iTunes, Xbox Live's Zune Marketplace, PlayStation®Network and Amazon Video on Demand. KEKKAISHI Episode 1 will be available for free download through June 17^th to celebrate the recent domestic broadcast launch of KEKKAISHI on Adult Swim.

KEKKAISHI is based on the hit manga series by Yellow Tanabe (also published in North America by VIZ Media). A story of mystical forces powerful in the region known as Karasumori. For over 400 years, it has been the duty of a clan of “kekkaishi”—barrier masters—to guard this land and exterminate the supernatural creatures that are drawn to it night after night.

Yoshimori Sumimura is a junior high school student at Karasumori Academy, which is built upon the Karasumori grounds. By night, Yoshimori follows the tradition passed down through generations and fulfills his destiny as the twenty-second “kekkaishi” of the Sumimura clan. But by day, Yoshimori's got other demons to contend with, like an obsession with cake making and a seriously crotchety grandfather! Yoshimori's pretty neighbor, childhood friend and rival, Tokine Yukimura, is also a “kekkaishi,” but their families are caught up in a feud over who is the true practitioner of the art. Protecting ordinary people from the ever-present danger of the Karasumori grounds, Yoshimori will continue to grow stronger as he battles the forces of evil again tonight!

For more information on the KEKKAISHI anime and manga series (both rated “T” for Teens), please visit www.ShonenSunday.com or www.viz.com.

E3 2009 - Sony

Sony now. I have to be honest here and say I don’t give a crap what Sony’s showing. I don’t have a PS3 or a PSP, and have no near or future intentions of getting either. The only thing I have an interest in is Team ICO’s next title, which might be enough to make me want to get a PS3, but it won’t be out for a while anyway. I don’t even care about God of War 3; I enjoyed the first 2, but I’m kind of tired of it personally.

And here it goes. Montage video to start with. Overlord, God of War, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, Singstar, FFXIII, Batman, Brutal Legend, Ghost Busters, Saw.

Please welcome Jack Tretton, CEO. “Wow. Thank God you guys showed up.” He’s joking about the leaks. Saying they won’t be outdone by anybody with press leaks. 364 games coming out on PS platforms this year. That is a BIG screen. Apparently it’s not worth watching anything unless it’s shown that big. He’s going over figures and history. 30% of total sales in 2008 were from Sony. Modern Warfare 2, FFXIII, Ratchet and Clank, Batman Arkham, Heavy Rain, Rock Band Beatles. But at least 3 of those will also be on the 360 Jack.

Talking about the PS2 now and how it’s still kicking ass 9 years later. Mine is still kicking, surprisingly. PS2 will get 100 new titles this year. “Today’s PS2 owners are ultimately tomorrow’s PS3 owners.” More facts and figures. More figures regarding PSN.

What consumers really care about – great games. Haha he says some of you have bags under yours eyes because you’re playing Infamous. It’s one of the more than 35 exclusive PS3 titles for this year.

Naughty Dog and Uncharted Drake’s Fortune. Co-Pres of ND is coming out for Among Thieves. Multi-player beta starts tonight. Demo – nice graphics. He’s scaling a building. Big sweeping view of the gorgeous environment. Showing off different player abilities. He’s shimmying across a wooden beam and a helicopter shows up and starts shooting at them. Big shoot out, and an explosion. It’s a really good looking game, fast paced, pretty intense.

Jack is back. Says “Only on Playstation” means not only exclusive, but because it’s only possible to make on Playstation. He’s talking about MAG now. They talked about this last year. It’s a huge massively multiplayer FPS game. 256 players fight each other on a single map. They’re pulling a bunch of people to show off a full 256 person battle live. Ground vehicles, air strikes, ground assaults. Squads are assigned objectives. A LOT of stuff is going on. It looks like there’s a bit of tactical strategy type stuff going on as well. It’s great that you can play with so many people, this massive battle, but the game itself (graphics, gameplay, etc) isn’t blowing me away or anything (it’s not bad, it’s just not OMG amazing).

Jack is back to talk about the PSP. It’s for gamers looking for a richer, deeper portable experience he says (a shot at Nintendo). Dissidia Final Fantasy on Aug 25, Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines in November, and a Rock Band title. Tween girls again. Hannah Montana with a Lilac PSP. People cheered, haha.

Kaz Hirai, CEO Sony computer entertainment. He’s talking about making the PSP better. I’m assuming this a lead up to the PSP GO, which was leaked last week. Wow it’s tiny; he pulled it out of his pocket. LOL “We call it the worst kept secret of E3.” It will not replace the PSP 3000 or the UMD. So they will still support the UMD format. PSP Go, by the way, is digital only. 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the original PSP. 16 gigs of internal flash memory (pretty good). The controls slide out, has Bluetooth tech and an M2 memory port. Media Go, used to access the Playstation Store. Sense Me – analyzes your music library to create a play list based on the mood you select. That’s neat. PSP toolkit price is being lowered by 80% to help developers. All future titles will be released on UMD and digital. So you can have either and still play all games. Available for $249 on October 1st.

He’s talking about a video delivery service. Now you can use it with the PSP. More content being added to PS store. He’s naming off a bunch of networks that will add content (Starz, G4, Showtime, Manga, E).

Kazunouri Yamauchi for Polyphony Digital. Introducing Gran Turismo for PSP. Full scale Gran Turismo (60 frames per second). 800 cars, 35 tracks with 60 layouts. Everyone’s got a new racing game this year I guess. Single player mode and mission challenge mode. Emphasizing that this is a full game, not shrunken down. 4-player racing. Trading and sharing of cars with other players. Video of the game in action. Great graphics. October 1.

Kaz again. Quality and authenticity. It’s a Metal Gear announcement. So here’s Hideo Kojima. Poor guy; will they ever let him make anything else? Does he want to? Oh, his translator is kind of cute. Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker for PSP. 10 years after MGS3 in the 1970s. Kojima is writing and producing and the MGS4 team is working on it. “It’s not a spin off or a side story.” Trailer. Takes place in Latin America (Costa Rica specifically). Has all the elements of a MGS game. “The legendary ‘missing link’ in the Metal Gear Saga,” the trailer says. “Monstrous foes incapable of feeling pain.” Uh, there are 4 Snakes here (clones?). LOL @ cardboard box; two Snakes hide under it and then run off.

Jack is back again. Resident Evil again, for the PSP. Little Big Planet, Socom, Monster Hunter, Motorstorm, Hannah Montana and Harry Potter, all on the PSP. Video of PSP titles. LBP, Ratchet and Clank, FF Dissidia, MGS, Soul Calibur, Tiger Woods, Persona (!!!!), Warriors Orochi, Tennis, Fat Princess, Rock Band, Petz.

Jack is back to talk about the PSN. Facts and figures. 51 PS1 classics are being added, starting today with FFVII. Talking about Home now. Talking about the poor saps who bought millions of virtual items.

PS3 montage now. Uncharted, Infamous, Madden, FF XIII, Batman AA, Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters, White Knight, Ninja Gaiden, Buzz, Ice Age, Tekken, Tiger Woods, something with a hamster, Overlord, Fat Princess, Singstar, DCU Online, LBP, Saboteur, Bioshock 2, Ratchet and Clank, God of War 3.

Jack is back, talking about Rockstar. Agent, PS3 exclusive. It’s an espionage game, set in the 70s.

Assassin’s Creed 2. Sebastian and Patrice from Ubi to show the game. Demo! Ubi showed a glorious cinematic, this is gameplay. Says it picks up right where the first left off. Beautiful. This guy isn’t an assassin at first, but becomes one, working with people like Leonardo Da Vinci; Ezio is using the flying machine to sail across Venice. Wow look at him go. Action slips right into a scene perfectly. Ooooo I can’t WAIT for this. Ezio has new techniques, like jumping from a tower and stabbing a guy, and double stabbing two guys next to each other. Now he stabs a guy while hiding in the hay. 30 different weapons in the game, 6 additional if you played Bloodlines on the PSP and connect it to the PS3. Wooooow. He has smoke bombs now. And he can SWIM. Oh wowowowowow. AC2, this holiday (Bloodlines too). Too bad I’ll be getting it on the 360, Sony. But thanks for getting me excited.

Jack is back to introduce Square-Enix. Here’s a video for FFXIII. Beautiful. Cinematics, in game scenes and gameplay, all look amazing. Boy Sony it trumping MS with all the extra footage they’re showing. Now he’s showing FF….WHAT? 14?????
Is he serious? Oh…no he’s not. That is not a nice joke. It looks really good. It’s NOT a joke. FFXIV Online. 2010, only on the PS3. I haven’t heard of this before. “So there’s one that didn’t leak out, huh?” I didn’t even know they were working on that. It’s not clear what it is; another MMO? Have to look it up later. It's just a cinematic, but it seems to be a new MMO. Not sure why they're making another one and not just adding to the one they already have. And I wish they'd stop putting them in the numerical series; they should be separate, like the Crystal Chronicles and Tactics games.

Jack is talking about motion control now. It’s a new controller. He’s assuring everyone it’s just a prototype (it’s kind of tacky). Live tech demo. 1:1 tracking. It’s basically a Wii mote for the PS3. It looks like it’s using the camera to track motion. The eye cam or whatever it’s called. So it tracks your movement as well as the object you’re holding in your hand. VERY early stage of development. Now he’s using it as a pencil to write on a piece of paper within the game. They’re just showing off various uses of the tool. As weapons, paintbrushes, with strategy games, and character control (he’s using two controllers, one as a sword one as a shield). It’s very sensitive and precise. Talking about this coming out by spring 2010. Would have been more impressive if MS and Nintendo hadn’t already shown of theirs (and theirs was in more advanced stages as well).

Jack is back to talk about LBP. And introduces Mod Nation Racers. “Play, create, share.” It’s a cutesy car racing game. You can create racers and race tracks. Well he just drove through a tree trunk, so it doesn’t seem super realistic. Will appeal to people who enjoy stuff like LBP more than people who like racing games. Good track creation tools, quick and simple, you can even change the weather. You can upload your tracks online.

Jack is back for a sneak peak at another title from TEAM ICO! Finally (though this was leaked, too). The Last Guardian. In Ico you climbed around a bunch of ruins with a girl. In Shadow of the Colossus you took down gigantic bosses. A big monster is chasing a kid through a hall in some ruins, and the kid drops off the ledge. The monster picks him up; it’s his friend. The boy climbs up onto its head and looks out over a ruined landscape. Absolutely beautiful. It’s this HUGE pet dog/bird looking thing (like a giant griffon almost), and it’s carrying him around everywhere, helping him up on ledges, swimming with him under water. Now THAT is worth buying a PS3 for.

Gran Turismo 5 teaser. Cars racing. Whatever. Still giddy over Last Guardian.

Here’s another franchise. This is likely GOW3. Yup. Design director is going to do a live demo. Kratos takes down some nasties in classic Kratos style. I assume if you liked the others you’ll like this one as it’s more of he same. Kratos is using harpies to fly across large gaps. A huge Titan approaches in the distance. Kratos glides across a smaller gap with some dark wings that come out of his back, then kills some stuff. And some more stuff. The Titan is still fighting its own battle in the background. Button combos for special attacks are back. I guess this is Apollo flying around on a flaming chariot, fighting the Titan. A big nasty chimera sneaks up on Kratos, and Kratos precedes to take him out. LOTS of blood. He rips the things horns off and stabs it in the head with them. March 2010.

Good spot to end things. Jack is back. Again with the “not just exclusive to the PS3 but only possible on the PS3.” “Other companies imagine the future of gaming, we show you the future of gaming.” Sony is always so snarky. And he wraps it up.


Come back later this week for a posting of various trailers and games that weren't announced during the big conferences.

E3 2009 - Nintendo

Nintendo is first this morning. Finding it hard to get excited. Last year they were so disappointing. I don’t really know what they’ll have this time. There’s supposed to be a core announcement (ie: a Mario or Zelda…and hopefully not just the new Zelda DS that’s already been announced – Spirit Tracks).

It was stormy all morning, but it’s calmed down now. If it gets nasty again later, I can just unplug the laptop and keep going.

Watching some G4 blabber.

Is the Nintendo DS(i) going to remain the dominant handheld? What’s going to beat it, the iPhone? Hahahaha. I think Nintendo is safe. iPhone may have good games, but it’s not a gaming platform.

Silent Hill 1 is getting redone for the Wii (also PS2 and PSP). Developer assures that it won’t just be a port or something, but will be a different game.

“Stop announcing stuff for soccer moms and 5-year-olds” G4 says. No kidding.

They’re running some trivia up on the screen, which you can see over at Kotaku. Some are really easy, some are a little hard.

And here it goes. Here’s Cammie, all in white (she was in black last year, yay fashion). She’s talking about how big video games are (as big as home video, etc). Now she’s mentioning that gamers aren’t the only players anymore, but your uncle or some random lady play games too now. Leap forward in game control and surprises in places you thought there wouldn’t be any left.

Talking about the biggest game icon now, sounds like Mario. Yup. Video showing the history of Mario…sort of. Really short. Moving Mario into the 4th dimension is the next surprise. New Super Mario Bros for Wii.

Treehouse Group guy mentions it’s not just more levels, etc, but more players. Four people are playing Super Mario. You can run around on your own or do cooperative actions (like carrying each other to reach higher places). It’s classic Mario, just with co-op play. Some new items, like a propeller suit. If the lead player gets too far ahead, everyone else…falls off the screen? Not clear if that’s a “death” or something. Cammie didn’t do so good: “This is why I make my living selling games not playing them.” Holiday 2009.

She says even Mario isn’t big enough to attract all consumers. Talking about Wii Balance Board/Wii Fit. Wants to make Wii fit easier to use – Wii Fit Plus. Helps develop a work out routine (sounds like what Ubi and EA were talking about yesterday with their programs) with a personal trainer. Adds some new activities. Choose programs to target specific body parts (like Ubi’s), and keeps track of calories (like EA’s). There’re also some fun games to play too. So Ubi and EA answered with their products, and Nintendo is basically countering with similar programs. Fall 2009.

Here’s Reggie Fils-Aime (Pres Nintendo of America). He’s talking about mainstream appeal just like Cammie was. Interface is the primary component. OK he’s talking about motion plus. Makes a game feel and play more real, not just look more real. Getting gamers off the couch (which the regular Wii mote didn’t really do). Fancy video that isn’t really showing anything. Ping pong player, basketball player, and a swordsman are waving a Wii mote around like a paddle/ball/sword; now an archer, golfer. Basically it’s showing that it’s like you’re doing the real thing. Microsoft’s Natal, if it works, will take this a huge step further.

Bill Trinen is back to demo with Wii Sports Resort (déjà vu, they pitched this last year). A Mii is skydiving and he’s moving him in the air with the ‘mote. A big group of Miis is falling in formation, and the parachutes open and you land in the Resort. Now he’s showing archery. It’s already loads better than Wii Play, which was the last game packed with a remote. Sports Resort will come with the Motion Plus add on. He’s using the ‘chuck as the bow string and the ‘mote is the bow in your hand. He’s bringing Reggie out to play some basketball with him. Bill “You shoot the ball at the hoop; you now that this is, right?” Reggie, sarcastically: “Yes, I do.” They’re being a little snarky about each others abilities. Shooting 3 pointers. You raise the remote and shoot like you would a real basketball.

Reggie is talking about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10, which will use motion plus (they will be packaged together). So will Grand Slam Tennis (also from EA like PGA) and Sega’s Virtua Tennis. “This new game in physical reality will have you muttering the same bad words you do in real life.” Red Steel 2 will be playable ONLY with motion plus (there ya go, have to have it to play). More 3rd party games were sold for DS and Wii than other platforms (really?).

Talking about RPGs, the story goes on inside your head. It’s a Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles game. The Crystal Bearers. Looks good. Also coming to the DS – oh this is the Kingdom Hearts game. This I WANT. Good looking trailer with Utada singing Passion.

“Bowser really does suck. And I mean that in a good way.” LOL Reggie. It’s called Mario & Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story; it’s for the DS. This fall.

A legendary RPG name is on its way back to portables. GOLDEN SUN DS! AWESOME. It looks great. 2010. Have to get that.

Cammie is back to talk about the DS and innovation. She’s talking about James Patterson (a mystery writer). Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion – an interactive novel for the DS. I don’t read a lot of modern novels, and I don’t read any mystery, so I don’t know what this will be. But it looks OK.

New intellectual property from Ubisoft – Cop: The Recruit. About an undercover New York cop named Dan. He used to be a street racer, but got arrested, so now he works for the force. Racing and shooting.

*sigh* Girly fashion game for tweens and women in their 20s. Style Savvy for the DS. It’s the Japanese game Girls Mode.

Nintendo DS = diversity, Cammie says. “Something for everyone.” She’s talking specifically about the DSi now. Video of mostly a bunch of girls and a couple guys talking about the DSi. Personalization is the difference between the DS Lite and DSi. People don’t just consume, they create and share. Flip Notes Studio, an animation program, is coming this summer. Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again will be the first to let players design levels from the ground up. Available only as a download June 8th. Wario Ware DIY lets people design their own games from scratch. Cammie is better when she’s bubbly and smiley; she’s kind of subdued today. This summer you can upload DSi pictures onto Facebook. “No Nintendo DS creation is more anticipated than….Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks.” She didn’t give a release date for that.

Video “Everyone’s Game.” Another montage of random stuff. And here’s Satoru Iwata (global Pres.).

Aw isn’t he adorable with his heavy accent (he is). Talking about globalization and audience expansion (which he says people think is falling). Talking about targeting “Maybe” players to get new players. 149 people in US, Japan, Europe who “might” play video games. For every 2 people playing there’s 1 more waiting to play, he says. Those who never played games in the past will never play games in the future, he says. He says that people assume games are too complicated (I think that’s what he meant). But if they lower the bar they won’t satisfy skilled players. There’s a big gap between the experienced and the novices. Wants to use New Super Mario Bros, Wii Fii and Sports Resort to help bridge the gap; they’re “everyone’s game.” But he says this might not be entirely convincing. So he has one potential answer. Wii Vitality Sensor.

It’s like a pulse taker you put on your finger. …. So, this is for…what? It goes hand in hand with Wii Fit, I guess. He says it can help with greater relaxation. Traditionally video games give increased excitement and stimulation, but it will not be long before they help people unwind or even fall asleep, he says. Again…what is this going to do? …. Uh well…. Huh. That was…odd. He didn’t really give any real example of what would be done with it.

Cammie is back with more Mario news. For the first time ever, she says, a second full 3D title will appear on a single Nintendo console. It looks a little like Mario Galaxy. Um, OK a lot like Mario Galaxy. Exactly like Mario Galaxy. And it’s called Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Reggie is back. He’s naming off all the things they just announced. “But I’ll be honest, I read the blogs too. And I’ve been a gamer myself for a long time. I know there are still people out there listening: OK great, but I want more.” And he says this is usually associated with 3rd party titles. A new IP from Sega – The Conduit. Retails in 3 weeks. It’s a FPS with aliens. Capcom – Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles. Leon, Claire, Steve, with some classic RE action. These are all really short trailers that aren’t showing much. Dead Space Extraction from EA.

What about Nintendo itself, says Reggie. Could a new edgy game be coming. A fresh look at a franchise. Team Ninja and Nintendo. That looks really nice. Looks great actually. Metroid: Other M. Samus is kicking some ass. Flips back and forth between 3rd person and platforming. 2010. Nintendo is delivering this year. But…where’s Miyamoto? Big finale? Zelda console maybe?

Reggie is talking about their goals of making everyone gamers again. …. No Miyamoto? A Nintendo conference without Miyamoto???? Wow. That was it. Sony is later.

E3 2009 - Ubisoft

Ubisoft now. Last one of the day. Tomorrow is Sony and Nintendo.

Ubi is opening with a mix of game shots – Ninja Turtles, Avatar, Rayman, etc.

The Soup’s Joel McHale? Whyyyyyy. I can’t stand this guy’s show. His kids are distracting him from his gaming time…which is funny, but…. Man I really don’t like this guy. Why is he introducing Ubi games? It’s basically a stand up comedy routine. He’s going to introduce someone but is joking about how he can’t reveal the name for whatever silly reason. And here comes the CEO, Yves Guillemot. Very heavy French accent, a little hard to understand.

Talking about…media conversions. Bridging the creative talents. I’m feeling bad because I can barely understand what this guy is saying. It sounds like he just said they created Bill Gates. Oh, now he’s talking about U Play. Allows consumers to create content to share. U share, U win, U help (will let someone help you if you get stuck in a game), and U shop. That’s cool. Launch at the end of the year for Assassin’s Creed, Splinter Cell and Avatar. Creating bridges with Lightstorm and Fox. Probably going to see some Avatar footage later.

Oh, there’s been a merger of talent. They’re going to work with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg for Paramount’s Tin Tin (?). Now he’s talking about exploring technological break throughs (Wii mote, DS, iPhone).

Redsteel 2. Rayman and Shaun White, big sellers. Now talking about using cameras and microphones. Sounds like what MS was showing off during their conference. Wanting to be mass market, expand the gaming market, etc.

Managing director Yannis Mallat is here to talk about (in a much easier to understand accent) shaping the industry. Achieving true content convergence with Ubisoft digital arts. He’s talking about their work on movie special effects. Like James Cameron’s Avatar. He is thrilled to announce today that they are “devlahping” over 100 shots for the film. Ubisoft Digital Arts working on real time engines with pre-render technology (like AC) for movies. Assassin’s Creed 2 short movies….live action? For promotion. That sounds awesome, I can’t wait. Is Ubi trying to be the new WETA Digital? Ubi is becoming a full 360 (degree, not Xbox) development company (meaning branching out into many technologies and media areas).

James Cameron is here. Wow, there is some serious star power at E3 this year. He’s here, of course, to talk about Avatar. Every time I hear about this game I always think “The Last Airbender.” He’s talking about how when he first created this 15 years ago he was told it would be impossible with the current technology, so now he’s out to try again. He’s describing the film’s setting and characters – a forested moon called Pandora. Avatars are hybrid human and…the race they’ve created (which I can’t spell…Navid maybe, Navee). ….Good gracious he’s going over the whole freakin’ plot of this thing. I’m glad he’s excited but uh, leave us some film to watch, you know? Took him 9 years to develop some of this film technology. Sounds awfully impressive. How ‘bout showing us some? No, now he’s going on about picking the right video game company (Ubi, obviously). James, dear, we don’t have this kind of attention span (or I don’t anyway). Talking about developing a game both similar to and separate from the movie. Boy, 2 years of this, 4 years of that. This movie/game must be freakin’ amazing for all the time being sunk into it. Talking about working together hand in hand with Ubisoft to develop the game and film; some back and forth aid. Oh the movie is in 3D, so he wanted to get Ubi to make the game in 3D and…they went for it. Man, Cameron is really long winded. How about some footage of this amazing film/game? No…but he is telling us the game won’t contain movie spoilers (it comes first). And on and on and on. He’s getting a little repetitive now. Demo available this week. OH FINALLY. I have great respect for him but geez! That went on forever.

And here’s Joel again. ….. Wait all of that and no footage, WTF? Joel is afraid of the French guys. So, did they bring this guy in to tell jokes to wake them up after Cameron’s loooooooong speech? Too bad he’s not that interesting either. He’s talking about Redsteel 2 and Wii Motion Plus. FINALLY a trailer of something. A guy is swinging the Wiimote around (big sweeping motions) while the character in the game slices up some baddies. Graphics look good. He’s having a sword fight with a bad guy now, switches to a gun, and blows him away.

Creative director, Jason Vanderburg (that is NOT how it’s spelled) for RS2, with the lead designer. They’re going to do a live demo. Character is being dragged on the ground behind a motorcycle and you have to dogdge various things, like oncoming traffic and burning barrels. Neat looking cut scene, looks a little cell shaded. Some first person action with the sword. It’s mapped 1:1 with the Wiimote. So like Twilight Princess but way more movements and more precise, and it also measures the force you swing with. You can quickly switch back and forth between sword and gun. Looks like he’s moving the character around with the nun chuck. “We really believe that hitting things is fun.” Like doors apparently. Oh that was rad. He threw a guy up in the air, then jumped up and slashed down at him. This is really cool looking; it’s very responsive as well (and 60 frames per second, Jason says). Game will be bundled with Wii Motion Plus at launch.

Joel again. Blah blah lame attempts at jokes. More Shaun White is coming. Ought to work with Tony Hawk to use that skateboard peripheral, but then, they have the balance board with the Wii already. The new Tony Hawk game will be a good competitor for this.

Soccer, Academy of Champions. And here’s…Pele, a big time soccer player apparently. Some technical difficulties here. Joel jokes “The game does much more than this, right Pele?” Pele asks Joel if he speaks Portuguese or Spanish while they try to make the trailer work. Pele jokes that he doesn’t speak English (oh so this girl is his interpreter). Pele is doing really well with English for someone who can’t speak English. Oh, now he’s not speaking English anymore. Pele is happy to be there. Pele is talking about how important soccer (futbol) is to him. Joel shuts up (hooray) and lets the guy talk. Pele talks about how important children are. And now he’s talking about the game in general, and how happy he is to work on it. And now the trailer. Rated E for “comic mischief.” It looks like it’s about kids at a Harry Potter type school for soccer. It’s exactly like Harry Potter for Soccer. Clearly something meant to be cute and fun for kids than a serious soccer game.

“The only guy back there not speaking French” jokes Joel as he unfortunately takes over again. Talking about reinventing a successful product. Introducing…producer and creative director for Splinter Cell – Alex Parizeu and Max Beland, with French last names I can’t spell. Saw Splinter Cell earlier during MS’s conference, minus the adorable French guys. But that’s OK, because it looks totally bad ass. Oh the targeting thing is called “mark and execute.” It looks like it works really well. Joel is super excited, he seems to be a fan of the series. Max is going to play a demo. This is all the same stuff from earlier today. Sam is on his own in this one, looking for his daughter’s killer.

Joel is back making more bad jokes. Evolving interfaces. What is this? Ruse? Something about commanding armies, so probably a strategy game. Two way too intense guys are fighting a battle with a navy assaulting a beach. It’s a cool looking trailer; they’re moving their pieces around on a tabletop screen (not how the game works but it’s a neat effect). It’s a RTS. Joel makes more bad jokes.

Joel said “the industry’s fastest growing category: casual games.” NOOOOO. *sigh* A single guy claps for his “game packages are hard to open” joke. Sr VP of marketing Tony Key. Says he wanted to present the biggest seller. Asked the audience what the biggest seller was; I think someone said “Petz.” It’s Imagine. Oh joy. Pokemon, Imagine, Brain Age, Petz, Mario Kart, DS top brands. *sigh* Ubisoft tween games 2.0. Ugh geez. Tony says everyone wants to copy Ubisoft. By making games for little girls? Well EA had a whole to-do about them, so maybe so. *bangs head on table* Blah blah blah blah. Oh look, take a picture of yourself with your DSi and give yourself a makeover. Make crappy jewelry with your DS then order it in real life! The stars of Petz 2009. It has stars? Oh they’re hamsters or something. Teach your pets to become super stars! Oh it’s a new tween brand – Style Lab. Tony is definitely a sales guy, he’s pitching this stuff hard.

“What is the fastest growing genre over the last 12 months.” Fitness apparently. Felicia Williams, lead content designer, working with cameras in games. Sounds very similar to what EA is doing with Active. Tony makes a bad joke about the camera adding 10 lbs. What camera do they keep talking about? The MS camera I guess? Burn! She’s saying you shouldn’t have to use balance boards and wii motes, but your own personal exercise equipment or nothing at all. She basically said “all those others are not realistic and they suck.” Theirs is called Your Shape for the Wii…with a camera (so they’re competing with Wii Fit and EA Active). So not the MS camera. What camera? I guess…OH there we go, lol. It comes with the game. It scans your body, then you select the body area you want to work on, and it tells you what to do. A very chipper girl demos the game in a video. Why are all these fitness games on the Wii? Wii Fit, EA Active, Your Shape, all on the Wii. Where the market is I guess; lots of families have one.

Joel is back agaaaaain. Introducing Rabbids Go Home and Adrian Lacey. PLEASE stop making the Ryan Seacrest jokes Joel. Adrian runs out pushing a Rabbid in a shopping cart, and being chased by another. Boy Adrian is EXCITED. So you use shopping carts to collect stuff and build things. This is a cute trailer. A Rabbid jumps out at some poor kid grocery shopping. Havoc ensues and the Rabbids steal everything from cars to clothes from the humans. Now they’re gonna demo the game. Adrian is doing some jokes about Rabbids invading the Wii mote or something. He is way too into this. Bunny abuse is perfectly legal, as this guy throws a Rabbid around a closed space. You can customize your own Rabbid that will appear in the game and in cut scenes. Alright, I’m way bored now. It’s kind of funny, but I’m not really interested. You run around, collect things, run over people. You can also customize your cart. Did he just call it a “Wiimoot?” The Rabbids knocked an engine off an airplane and attached it to their cart for crazy movement. Ah, they’re done

Joel came back to introduce Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and NA Pres. Laurent Detoc. Another French guy. Oi, how long had I been sitting here? Boooring. He’s introducing some Game Arts people in the audience. Trailer. Leo and Shredder. Splinter and April. Mikey and Don. Play anyone, it says. Fight everyone. Have a brawl. It looks like Smash Brothers with Turtles. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash-Up. Those graphics are…not that good. Sept. 22.

Big titles? OH OH a sequel to a multi award winning title. It’s No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Now I want my boyfriend to shut up. He keeps making sarcastic comments and I can’t hear anything, lol. OK he went away. Anyway, I wasn’t at all interested in No More Heroes the first time so…I don’t really care this time either. Here is Tetsuya Yamiguchi (Mizuguchi?) (in the audience). Uh…so they said “Hey we’re making No More Heroes 2 but we’re not telling you anything about it.” Oooook.

Assassin’s Creed 2 now. Seriously this game is looking way sweet. “We are going to unveil something very, very surprising to me. I could not believe the quality of the visuals.” Oh? SHOW US. Yes, I know you sold millions of them (over 8 to be exact). November 17! Yay. Here’s a trailer. 1486 Venice, Italy. It’s a Carnival. Some guys in masks are standing around. And here he comes. Fireworks going off. Stabbed in the face! Er, neck. Blood gushing out. And there’s Ezio with a slow smile (oh he’s handsome, yay!). And another smirk as he stabs some guy with a pole. He’s jumping around (btw, you can swim in this one). This is gorgeous. OH YEAH. Yeah you don’t diss on his momma. He will stab you. He shot the blade out of his glove. Kick ass.

Good way to end the conference, with a bang. That was pretty much totally boring. Nintendo and Sony, tomorrow morning.