GregHowley.com

E3 is wrapping up today. Although somewhat less frenetic than in previous years, E3 is a tornado of media and hype, and liveblogs of the event are ubiquitous. Trying to keep up with Joystiq, Kotaku, Destructoid, and G4 this week has been nearly futile. I suppose it helps that much of the news doesn't interest me, since I've got no interest in Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and I tend to categorize Pokemon with Power Rangers and Elmo. But that's just me.

Still, it was really nice to see updates and trailers on Resident Evil 5, Dragon Quest 4 for the DS, Far Cry 2, and Left 4 Dead. I'm excited for all these games.

Before I go into my five favorite E3 announcements, let me list the two that really disappointed me. Nintendo's big announcement for the Wii is Wii Music, which is just a variation on Rock Band, except you use the Wiimote in new and creative ways instead of having to buy plastic instruments. And if you suck, the game doesn't tell you that you suck. It just lets you hear the bad notes. Sorry, not my thing. If I want that, I'll pick up the actual instrument, thanks. My other disappointment came yesterday when I read about Fallout 3 lacking charm. Apparently, although the graphics and environments are amazing, it's missing what made the first two games so great. Quirky characters, dark humor, and the ability to sometimes not take itself seriously. Examples for each: a ghoul with a small tree growing out of his head, being forced at shotgun-point to marry the girl with whom your character just had a fling, and finding Dr. Who's Tardis. I loved the first two Fallout games, and I loved Wasteland. Too bad Fallout 3 lost its heart.

So on to the E3 announcements that really excited me.

#5: God of War 3 - The first two games were great. And although the series seemed to be getting a bit stale towards the end of the second game, I'm willing to give the third a shot.

#4: Netflix on the XBox 360 - It's true that I don't own an XBox and have no intention of getting one. But how cool is this? I'm a big fan of Netflix, and I think it's a good move.

#3: Ports of XBox 360 games - There were only three XBox 360 exclusive titles that I wanted to play. Mass Effect is already available on PC, so I'll play that when I get a PC that can handle the game. In addition, they announced this week that Dead Rising is coming to the Wii and Eternal Sonata is coming to the PS3. So now there are no more XBox 360 exclusives that I can't play. Horray!

#2: New Games - While not a ton of new games were annouced this year at E3, There were a few that sound really cool. Firstly, I Am Alive, a new survival horror title from the people who brought us Assassins Creed. It takes place in an earthquake-destroyed city (Manhattan or Chicago?) and focuses on character interaction and problem solving. Sounds cool. Mad World is a crazy Running Man-like game. Or maybe Smash TV. Your character must kill as many other players as he can to earn points so he can fight the level's boss. The game is entirely in black and white, except for the red red blood. A strange choice, but it might work for the same reasons No More Heroes did. Lastly, Nintendo announced that new Mario and Zelda games are under development, which is great news.

#1: Nintendo's MotionPlus Controller - This is the coolest-sound thing of all, because better motion tracking for the Wiimote could mean games that we'd initially declared impossible after first sampling the Wii controller. The two titles of which I've heard that will use the new Wii MotionPlus controller are Wii Sports Resort, a sequel to Wii Sports which will include frisbee, jet ski, and "sword play". Better yet, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which will use the new motion tracking to enable real light saber duels. Drool! It hasn't yet been announced whether the new MotionPlus controller will be an attachment or built-in to the Wiimote, but who cares? We're talking light sabers here!