The closure of half of Io Interactive would have upset Kane & Lynch 2 fans all over the world if there were any. I think I must be the only one that thinks it's brilliant but objectively I am hard-pressed to defend it. I want to call it a diamond in the rough but if that were the case the rough would be the pee-soaked grass around a park bench and the diamond would be glittering shards of a spent Lambrini bottle that was carelessly thrown under there.

Still, despite the cretinous AI, the wonky shooting and incredibly nasty story (Anita Sarkeesian wouldn't know where to start) I have to say that I love it and it's one of the few games I have completed multiple times. It has a sort of vulgar purity which starts ugly and gets worse. There is no glamour or style in the characters or their actions, they are just rats trying not to get eaten by bigger rats. The visual style really cements the grimy street vibe of the whole thing.

Believe it or not but things get worse ... and by worse I mean nakeder!

What is prompting me to write this blog is that now the current console generation is gasping it's last breath it's worth noting those B-list games that may not make a top 10 but might squeeze into a 20. It's strange to me that a title like Mirrors Edge gets a sequel when others like Spec Ops: The Line, Binary Domain or Zak & Wiki are equally worthy. Why is it that a game like Killer Instinct gets an extra life when general opinion seems to think it undeserving? Dark Sector, No More Heroes and Condemned warrant another visit, or even a first if you never got round to them. Have I missed any out?

Despite owning over 100 360, PS3 or Wii games there are still too many more out there for me to even consider the jump to Xbox One, PS4 or WiiU. XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Dishonored are critically praised classics that are firmly on my wishlist but so are Crackdown, Just Cause 2, Child of Eden, Sleeping Dogs, Alice: Madness Returns and a whole host of others. One day I may even finally get round to Psychonauts or The Longest Journey. Here's hoping.

I love the possibility and promise that a new round of fresh TV cabinet hogging gaming powerhouses can bring but there is something exciting about walking past the shiny new cases in my local gaming shop, diving head-first into the bargain bins at the back and leaving with something a little different with change for a fiver. So go get Kane & Lynch 2, you'll love it*.

*All claims regarding the rather excellent nature of Kane & Lynch 2 are entirely the opinion of the author who will accept no responsibility when you realise that Kane (an Lynch for that matter) have the aiming skills of a bear with a hosepipe!

So the dust has settled, and the first volleys of the new console war are over. Microsoft are following up the Xbox 360 with the Xbox One, while Sony are being all logical (who would have thought!) and making the sequel to Playstation 3, the Playstation 4. There has been some controversy, some great announcements and some interesting ideas laid out, and now that E3 is over for another year, I wanted to take a look at what has happened over the last generation, and why I am excited for the new one.

Microsoft

The day before the Xbox 360 launched, I was made redundant from my job at the time. The HR manager said to me What are you going to do now? I replied, Buy an Xbox 360 tomorrow and play games until I find another job, and that is exactly what I did.

I worked at GAME when the original Xbox appeared onto the scene, and when I bought one, it was fantastic. I loved that thing, so I more than happily plonked down for a 360 way back in 2005, and for several years it was my console of choice, my games nearly always going on the Xbox first. Plus, it had Halo, a big plus for me.

Microsoft seemed to be doing everything right, Xbox Live was now an integral part of the system, the games were great, Indie developers were able to hit up XBLA and provide some great, cheap titles and it really seemed like MS were the console maker for the developer community. Thats despite some unfortunate technical hitches with the actual hardware. I am currently on my fourth Xbox 360.

They kept the interface fresh, improving it every year and making it better and better, providing some technically stunning games and even creating XNA to help bedroom coders create a console game easily. It was a fantastic time, but at some point, something changed, and it started to feel as though the company that I spent so many years loving had forsaken me in the name of advertising dollars.

Shortly after that, Kinect appeared. I remember watching the Microsoft E3 press conference where they announced the device, sitting on google talk with one of the guys that worked at the gaming site I was writing for at the time, just amazed. The thing looked so damn cool, and I couldnt wait to get my hands on it, and I did, on launch day no less. This was a mistake.

The first Kinect was a gimmick, nothing more. It allowed them to extend the life of the 360 for a couple of years, but the thing barely works, a number of factors preventing it properly detecting your body and your movements. These were things that should have been known to Microsoft, things that limited the usefulness of the peripheral. I managed to get mine to work in a small room, but I had to stand right in the corner as far away as possible, at night, with the room light on.

The voice commands do work, and at this point are the easiest way to navigate the 360 interface, especially if you want to find XBLA games, or indeed, anything gaming related. This is where they have forsaken me. The Xbox Live dashboard is more an advertising space than anything else, and as a result I havent switched on my 360 in nearly four months. I dont begrudge Microsoft making money, but there must be a better way.

So what about the next generation? Well I have to admit, the Xbox One looks very cool, even if it is a small form factor PC. Hopefully the kinect will work this time, and the dashboard isnt as cluttered with ads. Maybe even games will be easy to find, especially if they are trying to push an all digital future.

Speaking of, Microsoft had a strong showing at E3 with its titles, such as Titanfall, which looks awesome, Project Spark, Forza 5, Ryse, Dead Rising 3 and Sunset Overdrive all looking very cool indeed. They pushed the TV stuff a little too much, but for the way I will be using my Xbox One it could prove useful. I do like the grab to minimize, it looked slick and gave hope that Kinect will work consistently, also providing a case for the whole three operating systems thing.  

There is, of course, the elephant in the room, the whole DRM stuff. It is my opinion that it has been blown massively out of proportion. At the end of the day, it has always been the case that what you buy is the license to use the software, not the software itself. This has NOT changed, Microsoft are simply being more overt about it. I do, however, get why people are annoyed at the whole check in online thing, it should be longer than 24 hours. I do think that it wouldnt be that hard for them to change that limit though, but I have to also give them respect for having the stones to stand up and say most people are connected to the internet in their homes, so our console requires it.

Its a bold move, and remember, everything they are doing on Xbox One has been happening on PC for years with Steam and at this point no one bats an eyelid. I remember the same controversy happening when that system first launched with Half Life 2, hell, even my own uncle, a programmer himself, found it annoying and didnt like it at all. Now he buys most of his games through Steam.

If Microsoft can follow Valves footsteps and offer games at reasonable prices, with great sales and a non-intrusive system then maybe the Xbox One is the future. I am not going to predict that, but I hope they do. Right now, having a title available for download at the same price, or in some cases, more expensive than what I can get in a retail store is just goddamn ridiculous.

The last thing I want to say is that I hope people start using the abbreviation XBO instead of this stupid XBone thing that has sprung up. It makes soooooooo much more sense, at least to me, and slips off the tongue just as well as PS4, which can only be a good thing for Microsoft, who are getting a lot of flak at the moment and need to build consumer confidence and faith.

Well, this post was going to be about all three companies, but Microsoft has certainly been able to generate headlines going into the next generation, so I have had to split it into three, parts two and three coming later this week I hope. If you want to chat about my thoughts on this or anything else, hit me up on the site, or twitter: @optimusprime223.

Well, I do have a blog written up about sex and sexuality in the Mass Effect universe, but Im waiting for a more timely time to post it. Plus, this E3 was incredibly interesting and I would be remiss if I didnt post about it.

The Xbox One

We've had a plethora of blogs railing on anti-consumer policies of the Xbox One (rightfully  so), so I won't waste everyone's time by talking about them again. JustPlainLucas and Kbaily have done great jobs ripping it apart anyway. All you guys need to know is I agree with them. Woo! Come at me Microsheep!

The PS4

This is where I was extremely elated about the conference. Sony listened to their consumers and didnt pull all of the X-Bull being done by Microsoft. Did anyone else find it weird how the thing we all got most excited about (used games having no restrictions) was something we've taken for granted for so long? Our rights were on the verge of being taken away, so it makes sense  that wed get excited over someone protecting them, but I find it ironic that no new feature excited anyone nearly as much as that.

I think the important take-away is that, for once, we can see our voices being heard. It was sort of heard when EA pulled away online passes, but when Sony was being tight-lipped about used game policies until E3, I can only assume they were doing so to see consumer reaction to whatever Microsoft revealed. I think their policy is a result of the backlash against Microsoft, and because of that I love Sony even more.

Nintendo

Here's where most of my thoughts lie for this blog.

Nintendo is doing its own thing again (highlighted by the great decision to not have a keynote this year), which Im really happy about. I always thought it was a bit unfair to put them in the console war with Microsoft and Sony because its pretty damn clear that Nintendo doesnt care about what the other companies are doing. It's relying on old IPs (of course) but they do have The Wonderful 101, which looks absolutely fantastic and like a breath of fresh air into the industry. They also (albeit oddly) have Bayonetta 2, which looks a lot better than the original. There're quite a few strong titles coming out for both the 3DS and (finally) the WiiU this year, which leads me to my next point.

Dont expect a stellar launch lineup for the PS4 or the Xbone. Why? Because it's a console launch. I think the current generation has stayed around for a bit too long, and a lot of people forgot during that long period of time without a new console that a console launch generally does not have an impressive game lineup. Sure, youll get one  or two gems from it (The WiiU had Nintendoland and New Super Mario Bros. U ) but other than those gems youre going to be left with an expensive plastic brick doing nothing more than collecting dust for a few months until the game youve been anticipating finally comes out.

I would like to point a finger at the 3DS, which I did buy a few months after launch even after considering the fact that it did not have a solid game lineup at that point. After getting burned on the price cut a month later (and while I respect Nintendo's attempt at compensation, I'm not playing the games I was given so therefore I have not benefitted), I was quite upset about my purchase and considering selling the system altogether at a huge loss just out of spite. I kept it for the sole reason that I knew a new Kingdom Hearts game was announced for it (I think my user icon makes it very clear that I like JRPGs).

I am so glad I kept the thing. I didnt make that brash and hasty decision to sell the handheld and now I get to reap my rewards, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Luigis Mansion: Dark Moon, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor OVERCLOCKED,  Resident Evil: Revelations, Super Mario 3D Land, Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Mario Kart 8, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward. Those games have given me absolutely fantastic experiences and the purchase of my 3DS was worth it just for those. But wait! Theres more! Coming out this month is Project X Zone and next month we'll be getting Shin Megami Tensei IV.

Well, the 3DS has picked up steam, hasn't it? I wonder if that's because its had time to be out on the market? Certainly the price cut helped move units and once games like Mario Kart, Fire Emblem, and recently Animal Crossing hit people started buying the system specifically for those games. Nintendo's E3 Nintendo Direct showed off a plethora of noteworthy titles coming for the WiiU. Could this possibly be a sign of the WiiU's library growing as a result of being around for longer than 2 months?

Now, Im aware that the WiiU suffers from a low install base (I attribute that to faulty marketing, Nintendo didn't make it clear to its casual base that the WiiU is an entirely new console), but so did the 3DS. What eventually moved 3DS units? Games. We all know how popular Pokemon is, and generation 6, Pokemon X & Y, come out in October. You bet we'll be seeing a lot of people picking up 3DS units just because a new Pokemon game came out.  

My bet is the same thing will happen with the WiiU. Will it win the new generation of consoles like it has the current one (Im going by sales numbers here, because in the end thats what matters to developers)? Probably not. Will Nintendo die and go third party like Sega did with the Dreamcast? Most definitely not. Nintendo is here to stay, deal with it. 

Reviewed on June 15th, 2013
Disney presents a film directed by Dan Scanlon 
Screenplay by Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson and Dan Scanlon
Starring: (voices of) Billy Crystal, John Goodman and Helen Mirren
Running Time: 110 minutes
Rating: G
Released: June 20th, 2013

One of the more understated strings in the bow of animation giant Pixar are the moral lessons that their films provide to audiences. In 2001 Monsters, Inc. introduced us to Mike and Sully, two monsters that were part of a corporation where monsters could travel through teleportation doors and into bedrooms of children to scare them so that their screams would power their operations. Children were also seen as dangerous outsiders until the business learnt that laughter is a more successful for increasing production. Overcoming our fears, risk taking and laughter are lessons that the animation studio itself taught us and embraced on its own.

Pixar have again upheld this optimistic, moral outlook because Monsters University is a celebration of diversity and learning your specialist skills. The film is a prequel to the 2001 film, with Billy Crystal and John Goodman reprising their roles as monsters Mike and Sully, who are not friends but college rivals learning the trade of scaring and hoping to be accepted into the Monsters, Inc.

The film will give parents an opportunity to talk to their children about the subject of college in a positive outlook. In American there has rarely been a more important time to have this conversation. The Huffington Post wrote in April that there had already been thirteen college shootings this year. In 2007 thirty-two people were shot dead at Virginia Tech. Though never short of funding, the American education system also still produces consistently subpar performances. Countering these pillars of fear and tension, Monsters University captures the emotions of college life and then gleefully subverts them.

The core of the film is the friendship of Mike and Sulley, who represent contrasting attitudes in college study life. Mike is hardworking, ambitious and by the book but also small, an outcast and a loner. He wants to be the sole leader. Sulley is unprepared, lazy and coasts off his family name as a Sullivan. He's bigger, more intimidating and popular than Mike and expects everything will come through his natural ability and that he doesn't need to study. After making a bet with Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), they're thrown together into a Scare Games contest, where they reluctantly band together, along with other loners, to complete a series of challenges to stay enrolled in the college.

Each game played against the other rival fraternity houses gives the film a story structure that is not dissimilar to The Internship. Unlike that film though, you actually care dearly about the characters. This is one of Pixar's greatest strengthens, not just as animators but as filmmakers. Each of the hilarious characters, including a middle-aged student and a two-headed dancer, helps to understand each other's strengths and how to use these in the tasks.

It could be viewed as a generic 'be yourself' message but in the context of a college setting its thematically sensible because college should be a place where people learn their own skills and can take unexpected detours and still succeed. For those assuming this is a derivative underdog story, there is a huge point of conflict in this film, coupled with Pixar's trademark lump in the throat moments, as the story shifts into its darker unexpected final act.

The director of the film was Dan Scanlon, who worked as a storyboard artist for Pixar on Cars. He graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and in his first Pixar film as director he has used these visual skills exceptionally. The film is hysterically funny, partly due to the wit but also the number of sight gags on display.

Monsters University itself resembles a proper college, with lecture rooms, dorms and orientation stalls, and uses this detail to reference old college films and campus stereotypes. I liked the variety in the monster designs, like how one of the students had a moustache shaped like a vampire bat or the gothic monster that had spikes coming out of the microphone she was holding. Dan Scanlon also controls the beats of the story so that there are breathing spaces between the challenges and that action sequences are brisk and never overlong.

Hollywood films now are bigger and louder, but with little to say. Monsters University is a rare blockbuster that could teach audiences something. The film is about learning to accept fear and failure, while remaining hopeful about change and growth through our different skills. Pixar's personal talent is that their films are still as simulating as they are funny and creative.   

 Its easy to claim that E3s success this year was due to the heavy showing of next-gen console tech.  Watch Dogs looks awesome and The Witcher 3 seems to be visually unparalleled, and yet it was the drama that ensued that made me want to follow the conference as much as the impressive games did.

            Microsofts great proverbial belly-flops never stopped growing more simultaneously painful and amusing to watch.  The laughable moments accumulated since their revealing of X Box One and just ended today with another statement makes it hard to believe that they actually want their system to succeed.  They tried to act like a bull dog, but came off as brutish and uncaring to their fans, catapulting Sony and Nintendo into trumping position over the Big-N.

            Theres no doubt that the graphical capabilities of Microsofts and Sonys new machines are impressive.  Microsoft showed arguably more graphical gravitas than Sony had and seemed to have an upper hand over their relatively long-time gaming rival.  That was until Sony talked about their price-point and first-party used game support wooing us Play Station fans and winning more gamers over.

            It hasnt been long since Ive decided to go back to my Sony roots, it just feels like home.  I never felt totally comfortable on the 360, with the controller or with the interface (especially the ads).  The 360 offers some great franchises that Ive had a lot of fun with, but playing the Play Station 3 just adds that comforting sense of familiarity that came with years of owning and playing a PS2.

            Thats not only just to say I had some biases going in, but I also harbor a hope that Microsoft does stay healthy.  However, as a coworker said, They didnt just shoot themselves in the foot, they blew their whole [damn] leg off.  Its sad that they seem to succeed by graphical integrity and console features alone.  With higher pricing, 24 hour required internet check in and a broadband-soaking internet service, theres very little reason to go with the big Ms machine over Sonys machine.

            Sony and Nintendo had fun mocking Microsofts conference and their responses.  Microsoft just continued to be the pit-bull, showing little tact when discussing fan-related issues.  It was obvious that somewhere they ran off the track.

            The X Box One has some impressive games, many of them being exclusives.  In a former life, I would have gladly supported their system over the others, but now that Im older and a bit wiser, I know better.

            This years E3 was the best in years, because they focused so much more on games and tech rather than booth babes and swag, at least from what stay-at-homers saw.  The next gen games seem to go back to the roots of why we love to play video games and how our experiences will improve.  Its both a good and intimidating time to be a gamer.  Lets see what happens in the years ahead.

So now that the E3 dust has settled, it's pretty obvious that the Microsoft is being like Sony in 2006. Having an expensive console that's more interested in being a multimedia device and despite backlash from devoted fans, is making cocky and arrogant statments convinced that the mainstream audience is totally onboard.

Now we just need someone to make an Xbox One song like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfmBzllkbUM

As expected PS4 preorders our outpacing Xbox One preorders already and most shockily I've seen are former Xbox fanboys saying "hey I dealth with the constant hardware failures and paying for online play but I'm not putting up with this." And more shocking is despite showing a decent amount of exclusive titles many fans saying "the games look awesome but it's not worth it to put up with all this crap they're doing." There's something seriously wrong if you have the good games and people still don't want it. Those really wanting those exclusives, I wouldn't worry. They'll find their way to the PC eventually.

But there is now the Xbox minority who still want an Xbox One mostly saying "well I don't buy used games. My internet is always connected and almost never goes down. It doesn't affect me. Why should I care?" The problem is you SHOULD care.

Yahtzee, in one of his "Extra Punctuation" articles made the point that game companies will continue to pull crap like this, if we should we're willing to put up with it. It amazes me when the same gamers say "I'd never touch a Nintendo console because of that weird controller" and yet are prefectly fine being penalized for buying a used game, having something watching you, and the fact we still don't know what happens if you don't log online once ever 24hrs. Or the fact that when the XBO's life cycle ends, it will be a brick so all those awesome games can't be revisted.

But it's the "it doesn't affect me" apathy that some are taking, that's the problem. My fellow user Justplanlucas did a blog about how as of right now, the Xbox One won't work in many countries around the world because many countries like the various countries in Africa don't have broadband internet as the standard. Particularly one commenter had the gall to say "you know what else they don't have in Africa? Shoes. I don't think they're worried about game consoles." Ok, Mr. Stereotype, I know the world outside your little gamersphere doesn't matter to you but believe it or not, the US is not the only country where people have nice houses and couches and can afford game consoles. Of course it's widely know that outside the US market the Xbox has struggled and it looks likes the Xbox One is going to continue that tradition. Not to mention troops who took Xboxes overseas to places where they didn't have easy interenet access. Way to support the troops there, Microsoft. Oh and the "they can use the Xbox 360" was a cop out.

The thing is even if you can afford to buy all new games all the time, you never loan games out and have a perfect internet connection all the time, you should care. It's the principle of the whole thing. If we buy Xbox One's we're essentially saying "hey Microsoft we're fine with you treating your consumers like crap. We're ok with having to follow your restrictive rules for gaming." And this will resonate with publishers and developers. Let's face it, why do you think EA wants to buddy up to M$ so bad? The Xbox One is the EA dream machine. Totally explains why they suddenly got rid of their online passes. But if we don't buy an Xbox One as well as don't buy EA games with crazy restrictiveness, then companies will be forced to change their policies. This is not a boycott. We all know boycotts don't work. This is speaking with our wallets. It sucks that we might miss out on an exclusive experience, but there comes a point where you have to make sacrifices to do the right thing or it will just get worse.

I can make a good parallel to this "it doesn't affect me" mindset. For years in the US we talk about how social security and healthcare are a mess and how congress never seems to make any real progress towards fixing either problem. You know why? Because members of congress have a great retirement and health programs for themselves. The problems of healthcare and Social Security doesn't affect them. Why should they care? And many will say the minute they're cushy benefits were taken away, they'd fix this stuff in a heartbeat. But why shoudl they care? It doesn't affect them.

What's that? Lucas isn't doing an anti-MS blog?

Anywho, moving on.

Today, the world is playing this game.

EDIT: It's been pointed out to me that these creatures in the game are not zombies, but living breathing infected. They are zombie-like in nature, so that explains the confusion.  To avoid me having to replace every zombie with infected, from this point on just read zombie as infected.  If anything else is contextually out of place, chalk it up to late night proofreading.

I would be included in that group.  I went to Best Buy today to pick it up, and I've spent a good four or so  hours on it. I will say, as an experience, the game's phenomenal.  Its sense of atmosphere and tension is quite immerserve. I love the graphics and the way the characters are portrayed. And the surprises?  Emotional. Loving the story. 

But.. the gameplay fails to win me over.

It's not a very good stealth game

I remember Tom catching some flak for this in his review of the game, but he's right. The rediculous enemy AI really disrupts the immersion. Enemies have poor eye sight, even the humans, not being able to spot you at the other end of the hall. You're obviously jutting out from a corner, right next to them while they're looking your way, and they still don't see you. Your partners will run right in front of enemies at times, and won't set off their alarms. 

The biggest issue I have with the stealth is the Clickers.  These mutated zombies are supposed to have highly tuned senses of hearing, and the game even tells you they can hear you when you're crouched.  Yet, I can creep right by them moving at full crouching speed and they just keep hobbling about. My AI partners fumble into them; we vault obstacles; I can take a zombie out right next to a Clicker, and its none the wiser.  If I can "hear" them through walls, they should be able to hear us talking to each other from three feet away.  It's just flatout dumb. 

It's not a very good action-adventure game

Now, this is obviously subjective, because some people really enjoy the action; I don't.  I think the shooting's terrible.  Granted, I might suck at it, but I find it not very fun at all to even try to use my guns when the ammo is so scarce, even by survival horror standards.  Plus, the melee isn't the best, and sometimes you can't even escape from getting jumped even when you're prompted to.  

I know this isn't Uncharted, but the the Uncharted comparisions will inevitably be made. Naughty Dog's previous three titles have been Uncharteds, and the way The Last of Us is presented storywise exhibits a bit of an Uncharted vibe, just with a post-apocalyptic theme instead of a treasure hunting one. So, instead of climbing majestic mountains and scaling ancient architecture, I slink through dirty alleyways, muck about in sewers and crawl through dilapidated buildings, all without any climbing (there's the normal hoisting one's self over a ledge, but that's it). This makes the downtime between each action scene less interesting, at least to me. 

It's not a very good zombie/survival horror game

I say this because it really isn't as scary as it should be. I jumped in a couple places, but it was one of those "BOO!" type scares. The zombie designs are very typical, and the Clicker designs are a joke. It's like someone had a bad intern exam of making a Headcrab mask, and put it over a zombie's head. They also wander around sometimes like they were comical versions of themselves, more drunk then they are infected, not to mention the guards that can't make up their minds which way they want to investigate something. Also, there are some freshly turned zombies that just stand in one place, crying, with their head in their hands.  When I first saw this, I thought, "OOOOH!  THE WITCH!" from Left for Dead. Walked right up to it killed it with no problem. 

Don't get me wrong, though, the game's definitely worth playing, and any PS3 owner should add it to their library. I'm just not one of the many people going, "OOH PERFECT GAME! 10" like the rest of the Internet.  The presentation is just outstanding, clearly a product of the Naughty Dog pedigree. The gameplay itself, however, falls short of perfect. Again, I find myself agreeing with Tom McShea.  Poor guy, gets so much hate and outrage aimed towards him when really... he's just voicing an honest opinion that happens to be in the minority.

Now if I can, I just want to talk about AAA games being overhyped. In my mind, this is one of them. It seems that the majority of the gaming populace is too easily wowed with high production values.  All it takes is amazing graphics, full of set pieces and explosions - or in The Last of Us's case, zombies - and halfway decent gameplay to become a stellar game. Too often, they're blown away by the cutscenes and the world and the characters that they don't spend enough time focusing on the game's weaker points. It seems GameSpot's harsher scoring criteria should be adopted by more people, I'm not saying low ball games to just low ball them (and really Tom's score of an 8 is far from low balling), but I'm saying that 9s and 10s shouldn't be handed out to AAA games just for showing up.. 

I don't think many can deny that this year's E3 hasn't been great. If there are any, feel free to speak up. Yet, there's always one or two notable industry heads who have to rattle the cages; often needlessly. I'll stick to a statement that analyst Michael Pachter, the man who predicted The Walking Dead couldn't win Game of the Year, has mentioned over the last few days. He stated that the PS Vita will fail, with claims like: "Nobody cares about playing the Vita on a train."

I don't want to dwell too much on that, other than to state that needless negativity on a viable but underrated product can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, when muttered repeatedly. So, to turn the tide around, please take a look at the great things the PS Vita is doing at E3 2013. All of the clips below are from games coming to the handheld and all look like pretty cool titles. Hopefully, they will be as entertaining as they appear.

Nintendo's E3 showing this year was definitely different, and the reason behind it is not restricted to the fact they decided not to do a conference. Known as a company that knows how to keep its secrets, on an age where information leaks are commonplace, the biggest Nintendo Direct up to this day was marked by - among other things - the fact that there were barely any surprises. On the months leading up to E3, prominent people inside the company stepped forward to assure gamers that a new Mario platformer, the latest installment of the Mario Kart series, and the first showing of the upcoming Super Smash Bros would all be there. And in the end, that was precisely what Nintendo had to show. With the exception of Donkey Kong: Tropical freeze, Nintendo's show delivered precisely what was expected. The lack of a surprise factor becomes clear in the perception that the addition of a new character to the Smash Bros roster - the amazing Mega Man - was the most shocking moment of the event; and although the absence of the unexpected does remove some of the impact, the overall assessment is that Nintendo put on a good, not excellent, show.

It is hard to tell precisely what pushed the company into showing its cards so early, but it likely had something to do with the pressure that the Wii U's commercial woes created within the Kyoto headquarters. Whatever the reason was, it looks like that during the next one year and a half, the Wii U will receive a solid flow of nice games. Mario Kart 8 is a solid rival to Pikmin 3 when it comes to being the system's biggest visual achievement of the early part of its life-cycle, especially if the game is able to hold a similar graphical quality when other players join in for some local multiplayer fun, which has historically been the series' core element. In addition, its twisted tracks will allow designers to pull off some absolutely outrageous and fun courses, whereas its great online component will add a thick layer of value to a game that will likely become the definitive Mario Kart experience and a display of the Wii U's apparently very well set-up online component.

Meanwhile, Super Mario 3D World understandably received mixed reactions. Obviously, much more was expected from Mario's first 3D high-definition adventure, especially after Nintendo did with Super Mario Galaxy. Instead, what we got was another look into the Super Mario 3D Land elements: a game that was the perfect translation of Mario's linear 2D gameplay into a 3D realm. Due to its linearity and stage design, the game will naturally draw comparisons to Mario Galaxy - a battle that it will most likely lose - but it will undoubtedly be a fun game, and the cooperative gameplay will certainly add some fun, and a whole lot of madness to it. Nintendo's wisest move would be moving away from the linear gameplay for a while and go back to something it has not explored with Mario since 2002's Super Mario Sunshine. Not only would it universally delight its fans, which desperately miss some wide-open exploration after the stellar wacky linearity of the Galaxy games, but it would also avoid any comparisons to a duo of games that are ridiculously hard to match. Still, Super Mario 3D World much like - New Super Mario Bros. U - is bound to prove all doubters awfully wrong.

Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze somehow suffers from the same duality that strikes the newest Mario game. Even if it ends up only being a slight improvement over its predecessor, which was arguably the finest 2D platformer on a generation that saw a fantastic come back of the genre, it will already be an unforgettable title on the Nintendo lore. However, the game comes with a dash of disappointment, because it was thought that Retro Studios was hard at work on either Metroid, which needs some help after Other M, or something entirely different. Still the game will be a great companion to Super Mario 3D World, and it is a clear component of Nintendo's end-of-the-year strategy to release games from their famous franchises in easy-to-play form (one sidescroller, and one 3D representation of that gameplay style) in order to move some Wii U units to the audience that made Mario and Donkey Kong so commercially successful on the last generation.

He fourth highlight of the event, and probably the most awaited game of the whole presentation was Super Smash Bros. Though Namco is involved with the project, the game seems to offer very few changes over Brawl - which is a great thing, although it is very early to confirm that. In the midst of a reveal that was known, the big highlight winded up being the entry of Mega Man, a character that was already heavily speculated for the series' most recent installment and that finally joins the fray; and the ridiculously hilarious introduction of the Wii Fit Trainer as a fighter. The biggest surprise, though, is certainly the fact that the game is coming out next year for both the 3DS and the Nintendo Wii U, at least until a delay is announced. Featuring the same characters, but different stages, it is unknown how and if the games will somehow connect, but until more information is disclosed, the daily insanity of checking the game's site for updates can be enjoyed once more.

Other than the big four, a big number of other titles were shown that will make Nintendo fans be very busy with their systems for the next couple of years. The 3DS seems to finally picking up some steam with Mario and Luigi Dream Team, Yoshi's New Island, A Link Between Worlds, and Pokémon X/Y all hitting the system in the upcoming months. Meanwhile Wii U players will delight themselves with the over-the-top mixture of Vewtiful Joe and Pikmin that is The Wonderful 101; the successor to the fantastic Xenoblade, generally accepted to be the finest JRPG in recent years; Pikmin 3 and its gorgeous visuals; and strong third-party multiplatform games: Batman: Arkham Origins, Assassin's Creed IV and Watch Dogs.

The overall impression that this Nintendo E3 leaves is that the company is still lacking in exclusive third-party support, something that Microsoft and Sony will have from the starting point of their new systems. However, while the first party software unquestionably lacks in game-changing concepts or new material, the little tweaks here and there, and the regularly high quality that Nintendo holds as a standard will make all of their software must-play titles. Although Nintendo's systems have been suffering accusations of having little to no software, it feels like the gaming schedule of anyone that owns both a Wii U and a 3DS will be pretty busy from here onward.