I've never been too proud to follow the crowd, so I figure I'll wade in with my thoughts on the mighty E3.

Microsoft

Presentation : More than a bit reminiscent of last year, MS' plan seems to be lay back, showcase the Big Titles, and let those and XBL carry the load. Not exactly a bad plan, just not a very forward-thinking one.

The Games : On one hand, I finally have a release date for Resident Evil 5. On the other hand, it's next friggin' year, barring anymore delays. From what I'm seeing, it'll be worth it.

Fable 2 releases in October, the same month as Saint's Row 2....why must the gaming gods torment me so?

Gears of War 2....um.....yep, that was Gears of War all right. OK, I admit it, this game, which will probably set records this November, isn't exactly high on my radar. Maybe when I finally get around to playing the first game, I'll feel differently.

Banjo-Kazooie and Portal 2 on XBLA? I need more MS Points STAT!

Guitar Hero World Tour sounds OK, but the wifey and I decided to cast our lot with Rock Band, and so far, it looks like we made the right decision. I like that a majority of the songs from the first disc will be uploadable to the new game, not to mention still being able to use all my downloaded songs.

The small glut of RPG's is heartening, but I'm getting a bit tired of all these games looking the same what with their effeminate heroes and rag-tag group of sidekicks, and the sketchy backgrounds, and the what-not. Yes, I know my beloved Eternal Sonata suffered from many of the same pitfalls, but the stylistic presentation saves it big time. Not overly excited for Final Fantasy 13 either, sorry.

System Upgrades : How did Micosoft get so successful when this company apparently can't keep a secret for jack squat? The long-rumored Avatars were revealed, as bloggers around the globe scrambled to be the first to type "Mii Too". I kid, I kid. I can see the beginnings of MS attempting to counter Sony's Home here, but I don't think we'll see anything along those lines until later on.

I do like the upcoming partnership with Netflix, however. The wifey runs her laptop with Firefox, which doesn't get along well with Netfilx's Media Player for whatever reason, so it'll be nice to start taking advantage of the streaming movies option.

Overall : I wasn't blown away, I wasn't disappointed. Microsoft did pretty much what was expected of them, which I guess is disappointing in itself.

Nintendo

Presentation : Nintendo rulez!! That was basically the battle cry of Reggie as he pimped the Wii out pacing the competition, and made many oh so subtle jabs at "imitators". At least it seemed like everyone was having fun up there, or at least pretending they were.

The Games : I don't give a hoot about the latest Pokemon or Guitar Hero On Tour malarkey. But GTA on the DS? Consider me extremely interested. I hope we get some more info on this soon.

Animal Crossing finally comes to the Wii. "City Folk" though? Kind of a lame title, but I get how it fits into their theme. The Wii Speak could be interesting, but I think I would've preferred a headset. Hopefully some 3rd party publisher will step up. The wifey is uber-excited for this, and so am I, as we still play our copies of Wild World.

Wii Sports Resort and the new Wii Motion Plus look interesting, but I can't shake the feeling that next year, Nintendo will release a brand new Wii-mote incorporating its full range features. Still, I'll probably pick this up if I can find it in stores.

I got no interest in Call of Duty 5 for the Wii, Clone Wars could be promising for the long-awaited Lightsaber duels, and Raving Rabbids will be fun. As for Wii Music, I remember last year I scoffed at Wii Fit, saying I didn't think it would be a big as Nintendo was hoping, and I was soundly proven wrong, so I am officially flip-flopping and proclaiming that Wii Music will be huge.

System Upgrades : .......um......moving on.

Overall : Was that it? Seriously? No big A-List titles announced, no huge surprises? I mean, yeah, GTA was pretty big, but nothing else? This was more of a rah-rah, we're #1 fluff piece than anything else. Major disappointment here.

Sony

Presentation : Despite the speaker sounding like he was about to pass out from nervousness, Sony came out swinging, but I couldn't help but notice they constantly went back to touting the success of the original Playstation and the PS2, as though trying to remind people of their past triumphs.

The Games : I gotta be honest, that boss in Resistance 2 might have sold me on the game. That was damned impressive. LittleBigPlanet continues to draw me in as well, but I could care less about Gran Turismo TV. God of War III on the other hand? Dear God, yes.

Resistance on the PSP looks interesting too, might have to check that one out. The quasi-game of Ratchet and Clank on the PSN is exactly the kind of thing XBL needs to be doing. DC Universe looks like it has potential, I'll have to keep an eye on it.

So was all we're gonna see on Home?

System Upgrades : PSN leaps, leaps I tells ya, into territory XBL has already staked out by finally launching their video store. The ability to actually purchase the movies and upload them to your PSP is nice, and i expect this will kill off the zombie-like UMD market once and for all.

The new focus on a renovated 80-gig system doesn't do much for me, as I already have a line on a 120-gig laptop drive to swap out. Meh.

Overall : Well, Sony's in there fighting, I can tell you that much, but they needed a big, show-stopping announcement to throw down the gauntlet, so to speak, and they gave us nothing.

To wrap up this marathon post, I gotta say in terms of getting any awesome surprises, E3 kind of let me down, although I do like getting more info on the games we know are coming. Hopefully the big 3 can pick it up next year.

Very good, Sega developers. Upon seeing the ending for Condemned 2, I withdraw my copy of Date Movie and instead offer a hearty thumbs up. See, I'm not that hard to please. I'm not asking for some 45 minute, Final Fantasy-esqe ending, just a neat little tie-up of that particular story arc, and a glimpse of things to come.

I haven't written up a proper review for some time, so I figured I'd bust out a small, quasi-review for this game.

* NOTE! SOME SLIGHT SPOILERS HERE FOR CONDEMNED 2!! *

The Good

The Ending : After being bent over the barrel that was Assassin's Creed's ending, this was like a refreshing drink of cool water. Ethan faces and defeats his personal demons and accepts his role in the fight against the Oro cult, the hint of "people in high places" being a part of the Oro is paid off, and we even get a look at the Big Bad of the next, and probably final, installment. Well done.

Melee System : I could not heap enough praise on the melee system of the first game, and even more so with the beefy upgrade given in the sequel. Add in a much larger selection of weapons with which to bludgeon your foes, and you've got some good stuff.

Guns : I always liked in the first Condemned that guns were a precious commodity. Indeed, in real life, you simply don't find spare ammo for an assault rifle just lying around. Add in that if you were lucky enough to have some of that ammo, one, maybe two shots was all it took to bring down an enemy. In C-2 (easier than typing "Condemned" over and over), guns are more plentiful (due to there being more gun-toting baddies around) and, if you choose to, gunning down unruly thugs is easier than ever.

The Story : Takes elements from the first game, expands upon them, answers some questions, raises some more. This ain't rocket science Jethro. Seriously though, even though it takes awhile for things to get moving, once the narrative starts it doesn't let up. Re-inserting SKX is a nice touch too, as I felt he was sorely underused as a antagonist in the first game.

Forensic Goodness : The most interesting aspect of the first game, aside from the combat, is given a big ol' boost, as you actually have to use your brain as opposed to having the game hold your hand through the sequence. Good stuff.

The Bad

Guns : "Now hold on Razo," you may be saying. "You just praised the availability of firearms no more than two paragraphs ago!" True, I liked that guns were more readily available for those that chose to play that way. What I did not like, however, was having a gun thrust into my hands at various levels (the SCU office, the Hunting Lodge, etc.), being dropped into a level full of soldiers wielding assault rifles, and going about my merry way.

Yes, I do realize that you don't have to use the guns if you didn't want to, but it's tough to engage someone in hand-to-hand combat when they're shooting you in the face from across the room. If I wanted to play a traditional FPS drenched in spooky atmosphere, I'd play FEAR.

Multiplayer : I haven't dipped into multiplayer too much, if only because it's kind of difficult to find anyone online, but seems amazingly tacked on, as if someone at Sega passed down the memo that kids are into online multiplayer these days, so be sure to include that in the game.

*&^$-ing Collectibles : And so, my old nemesis has found it's way into Condemned. yes, I know the first game had them too, but there were far fewer than here, and they had a lesser impact if you chose to ignore them. Now, Sonic Emitters, Antennas, Responses, and Forensic Sequences all count toward a end-of-level score that dictates what manner of upgrade you recieve. Ye Gods.

Final Verdict - Despite a few grievances, I officially label Condemned 2 as a must-play game, especially if you enjoyed the first game. And if you didn't, go pick it up cheap somewhere, go on and get it! Don't make me use this....

I accept I'm weak, picking up the "EA Happy Family Triple Fun Pack" of games (Cars, Open Season, & Fuzion Frenzy 2) from my arch-nemesis Target. Come on people, it was only $14.99, that's $5 a piece! I'm not made of stone! Don't judge me!

Open Season was first on the chopping block, as I was hoping for a decent game to lazy my way through in my post-4th of July haze. Actually, considering all the slams I've read this game getting, it ain't that bad. Certainly it's aimed towards children, and thus almost insultingly easy, but it served its purpose well. 1000 Gamerscore Points for roughly 5 hours of playing is a decent trade-off.

A few days previous, I finished off Assassin's Creed, with a lone Templar standing between me and total domination. A wonderful game I recommend to all, but that ending makes me want to hunt down Ubisoft's development team and force them to watch Epic Movie or something. I realize this is a growing trend in games these days, as everyone wants their games to be a trilogy or series, but for crying out loud, at least throw me something resembling an ending here.

Finally, in an effort to salvage my gaming dignity, I popped in Condemned 2, looking to take out my aggression on some insane transients. Despite loving the first game (although again, what the &%& was up with that ending?), I deliberately held off from this game for awhile so I could "forget" the melee combat system, as it's been given quite the revamp, and the demo kicked my ass a bit. After doing some training, I've gotten the hang of things and started busting heads. So far, a great game, building on everything that made the first Condemned memorable, like a good sequel should.

They just better not whiff on the ending, 'cause I've got a copy of Date Movie with Sega's name on it.

Tuesday brought about more movie goodness by way of the Almighty 50 Cent Bucket, so the wifey and I battled out way through a throng, a veritable throng, I tell you, of children to see WALL-E.

Dear sweet merciful God. This movie is great. I laugh at those critics that predicted that Kung-Fu Panda would be the dominant children's film this summer. WALL-E will blow Panda out of the water, gently help it to its feet, then slap it down again before making disparaging remarks about its momma. WALL-E has bumped Finding Nemo as my favorite Pixar film, which is no small feat. I can't heap enough praise on this movie.

On the PS3 front, I booted up the monster yesterday, all rearing to go to download Update 2.40 so's I can check out the new fangled Trophies, and I get nothing. I fiddled around with my machine for 15 minutes, thinking something had to be wrong somewhere. I finally gave up and played Assassin's Creed on the 360. This morning, I see Sony has temporarily pulled the update due to it potentially bricking systems. Yeesh. I'm not in any great rush for the update, though, as apparently only one game has Trophy ability at this point, and I have no interest in it.

In gaming, Assassin's Creed is nearing completion, as I only have one more mission to complete. I've managed to snag most of the Achievements along the way, except for the "Kill 25 guards in 1 Fight" one. I've read a good way to get this is to lead a pack of guards through town, picking up more along the way, but I keep getting down to one or two guys that flee my awesome fighting skills before I can lure more victims into the fray.

I'm thinking I may tackle Condemned 2 next, as the wifey found a strategy guide for a mere $3.99 with which to aid me in my merciless bum pummeling. Once again, I find myself in a position where I'd like to clear some room on my game shelf, gathering trade-ins to offset the cost of the Fallout 3 Special Edition.

Taking advantage of our local theater's "50 cent bucket night", the wifey and I saw The Happening last night. I have some thoughts, but first, I thought I'd take a look at some of M. Night's other works. I've always had an interest in the guy, I admire the cojones of a man who calls himself a "modern-day Hitchcock".

WARNING! THERE WILL BE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS BLOG!! YE BE WARNED, SAYS I!

The Sixth Sense - I never saw this until it released on DVD. Somehow, I was able to avoid finding out the patented Shyamalan "Big Twist" for all that time, although I heard about the Twist in a general sense, so i figured it was either Bruce Willis or Haley Joel that was a ghost.

I thought it was a good movie, although certainly not "The Best Suspense Film Ever", or whatever tagline the media had attached to it. I will give it points for being the hardest of the "Big Twists" to figure out unless you know what you're looking for.

Unbreakable - A vastly superior movie to Sixth Sense, my favorite Shyamalan film, and a sadly overlooked movie when people compare superhero movies. I could fill a blog on just how awesome this movie is, but I promised mini-reviews, so I'll just say I likes it and move on.

Signs - Again, I found this movie to be better than The Sixth Sense, and I thought it did a much better job of building suspense. The build up to seeing a grainy, home movie shot of one of the aliens had the whole theater gasping. That there's some good stuff. I will say that the ending was poorly executed though.

So these aliens, who apparently mastered intergalactic travel, couldn't be bothered to research that the planet they plan to take over is 70% covered with a substance that is deadly to them? And while they have the leg strength to leap on the top of a two-story house, a locked door is a major deterrent?

I do have to admit though, that I like the underlying philosophical current of the film, when confronted with signs, what do you see, coincidence or miracle?

The Village - I think I may be in the minority here, but I kind of liked The Village. It was predictable as all hell (Like most people, I had the "Big Twist" generally figured out the minute I saw the first trailer. Plus, it's fun to see all there serious actors ham it up with bad Early American accents.

Lady in the Water - Ummm, I think the less said about this movie, the better. I can appreciate that Shyamalan was trying something different to break away from being "The Big Twist Guy", but that genie's already out of the bottle.

So finally, we come to....

The Happening - First off, let me say that, while kinda cute, I wanted to repeatedly slam my fist into Zoey Deschanel's face every time she appeared on screen. The girl only has two modes of facial expression in this movie, "Wide-Eyed Terror" or "Eye-Rolling Amusement". Bah! I did, however, like the casting of Mark Wahlberg as, well, basically a big dork. Quite the departure for him, and it worked well.

As for the whole "Killer Trees" thing, I actually liked the concept of nature striking back at mankind, and this could even be backed up scientifically as something that could actually, maybe, kind of, not-really-but-you-never-know, happen. I will again say, that it's pretty easy to figure out this "Big Twist" (although I guess it's more of a "minor twist"), as Shyamalan was pretty much beating people over the head with it.

As for the much ballyhooed R-Rating, aside from an incredibly few graphic suicide scenes, it was pretty much a bust. It seems like Shyamalan did the barest amount he needed to to get that R-Rating, then called it a day. I hope the sure to be Unrated DVD shows the goods, 'cause I was pretty disappointed there.

All things considered, however, I liked the movie, mainly due to Wahlberg carrying the movie on his back, which I didn't think he had in him, and some very good scenes with John Leguizamo. I think if Shyamalan had delivered on his R-Rated promises, this movie might've had some legs to it. I don't regret paying movie theater prices to see it, but for the rest of ya'll, I say wait until DVD.

The wifey's b-day is Monday, but we'll be doing the partying this weekend. My exhaustive search for a Wii Fit finally paid off a few days back, so she'll be excited. Of course, if she'd told me she was interested in the game months ago, I could have reserved it, had it in my hands, and saved myself some stress. Ah well, you only get one birthday a year, right?

After my last blog about oo many games, some might be curious as to Assassin's Creed showing up on my Gamer Tag. Um, well...see, a friend of our's father had bought it for her nephew, but he already had it, and they themselves didn't care for the game after trying it, so I bought it from them for a cool 20 bones.

I like this game. I like it a lot. I was always interested in it, as there was a huge amount of hype surrounding its release, and the positive reviews seemed to bode well. I've read some reviews that this game could easily be Ubisoft's tech demo for a Batman game, and after only a few missions, I can definitely see it myself. The first time I climbed a View Point and watched the camera pan around my squatting assassin, I thought "It's Batman". It's a very good game on it's own merits though.

I'll try to balance this with Burnout Paradise, as I think I might be getting the hang of tag teaming games, which will come in handy this summer as I finally try to clear out some of my backlogged games.