Xbox 360

Some may remember that after the commercial failure of ambitious titles like Psychonauts and Advent Rising, the folks at Majesco were in a great deal of financial trouble, at which point they decided to stay well away from risky, expensive projects. This business strategy would seem to suggest that the company would most likely resort to publishing primarily handheld titles and perhaps some Wii software, and indeed, most of their E3 lineup this year was headed to one of Nintendo’s game systems.

With impressive new titles like Crysis and Mercenaries 2 being shown off in EA’s booth at E3, one might suspect that something like Half-Life 2 would seem like old news. However, while the core of Valve’s re-release of the game, simply titled The Orange Box, may be a game that’s now a few years old, they’re packing so much content into The Orange Box, including new stuff, that it’s renewed interest in the old game.

After seeing the game a few months ago, I was interested in seeing how the game has progressed while at this year’s E3. I have to say I was disappointed. Certainly the game looks decent and the gameplay is well on the way to emulating the Hitman franchise with a co-op style, but the little to no improvement that I saw doesn’t fill me with hope.

Another look at Mass Effect brings more revelations. In case you haven’t been paying attention, each of the cutscenes in the game are rendered not only in the game’s engine, but also happening “real time” as well. The allows the player to interrupt a conversation to cut it short and move on with the story, or perhaps even influence things a certain way. This branching story path is what we were shown.

Fans of Katamari Damacy on the PS2 and its follow-up titles probably have a pretty good idea what to expect from the upcoming entry in Namco Bandai’s goofy, weird, Japanesey and irresistibly fun series. While it’s headed to next-gen platforms (the Xbox 360 initially, and later the PS3), the gameplay, controls, and goals haven’t changed a bit. Even the graphics don’t seem to have taken the power of next-gen to heart (which is actually probably for the best, considering the series’ signature blocky presentation). Yet, even amidst such a tremendous lack of significant change, players who fell in love with the earlier titles still have a lot to look forward to.

What would you get if you crossed Devil May Cry, God of War and The Legend of Zelda? If you ask the average gamer, the answer would probably be along the lines of “pure awesome”, but it seems like the folks at THQ and developer Vigil Games are banking that it also adds up to “the next big hit”, and after seeing DarkSiders: Wrath of War in action, it seems like it has a good shot.

I think it’s safe to say one of the more highly-anticipated titles at E3 that everyone wanted to get their hands on was EA and developer Harmonix’s upcoming music-rhythm game Rock Band. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Harmonix’s last project, Guitar Hero, was a runaway success, as was the sequel - despite requiring an expensive peripheral. Maybe it’s because Rock Band seems poised to be the only title capable of dethroning Guitar Hero as the ultimate music-rhythm franchise. However, a lot of it probably has to do with the way the game lets you rock out your way, however that may be.

Xbox 360 owners point to Devil May Cry 4 as a sign of a shift in the industry, with the title now hitting both the PS3 and Xbox 360 while previously it was a PS3-exclusive, hinting that it’s possible that other big-hitters like Metal Gear Solid 4 may also someday reach Microsoft’s console. PS3 owners seem quick to point out that the game is still hitting their platform of choice, and the recent multiplatform announcement doesn’t change the fact that they’re getting the highly-anticipated title. However, regardless of which side of the fence you reside on, Capcom’s E3 demo of Devil May Cry 4 makes it perfectly clear that you’re in for a thrill ride that’s sure to be a must-have title.