Giant Bomb.com has been the only thing on my mind lately. That site is seriously going to be awsome and I urge everyone to check it out. The potential is really limitless and give it some time and it will become the biggest and greatest source of knowledge of anything gaming related ever. The user response has been mad and everyone from everywhere are adding pictures, comments, descriptions and information about everything that has ever existed surrounding games. The knowledge of the united gaming world are poured into this one giant encyclopedia and it makes me really excited to be a part of. Its so much fun to contribute to the whole by diggin up your favorite stuff and adding everything you know about it. Lately Ive been putting some time into Dungeon Keeper and it seems Im the only one doing it so soon enough I have created the whole Dungeon Keeper gamespace by myself.

Ive started to add characters and been digging around for screenshots everywhere. But theres constantly more stuff I want to do and when Im not on the site Im always thinking about more stuff I could do there. I have to start adding locations like Plunder Island or Duskwood or add more demons from the Dungeon Keeper games. Maybe write up a big description for Quake III Arena. The way forums are handled are also really neat where you can start threads about anything when you look it up. The layout as a whole is really fresh. There has never been anything like Giant Bomb before when it comes to games and again, the amount of information that will be in here a couple of years down the line is just completely and utterly mindblowing. Also, it was really fun to listen to the latest Bombcast and hear just how excited the guys are about the launch. Feels great!
In other (not so important news) I bought "Go Go Break! Steady!" today for XBLA and im really enjoying it. The blending of Rythm games into other genres are really something that has become a big deal lately and the puzzle/rythm combo here works really good. I guess the Break dance music can become very annoying at times but gameplaywise it really works. I guess the artstyl3 is kinda neat too. Also decided to start playing through some older good games lately so I blew through Mass Effect a second time and I have now started on The Darkness. Mass Effect is totally worth playing through several times. I feel there are sooo many choices in that game that can be made differfently every time.
So Ive at least created a profile on Giant Bomb. I dont know if it will actually replace my Gamespot profile yet but at least its there. Its http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/Jimbo_N

Alright. So E3 is officially over and I can finally spend those ~8 hours a day NOT watching live coverage. Anyways, its time to roundup my picks for what really stood out to me and what I cant wait to play this fall 08 / spring 09. Of course there were alot of really nice games there and many more than those that I list here deserves attention but these are the absolute best that I will preorder or have already preordered and that I am itching to play so bad I really want them tomorrow. So in no particular order, lets go!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe

I have said it before but lets say it again. I LOVE Mortal Kombat. Its one of my alltime favorite franchises and even when I didnt know anything about this upcoming game I was pumped to play it and pumped to know more about it. After E3 I have seen alot of actual fighting going on. I have seen enough characters and I have seen Scorpions no.1 fatality being used. I know they have alot of polish to put on the game before shipping it but I could take it as it is right now. The game looks awesome. Fighting looks so extremly brutal and these metagames that are put in looks like so much fun to play. The Spirit of MK is most certainly still in there and Scorpion looks like he is still my good old Scorpion and thats all I really need. Has the potential to become my alltime favorite Fighting game. Very high hopes for this one! And yea, Ed Boon confirmed he will be recording the voice for Scorpion again. Everything is well with the world!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fable 2

I am probably the most hardcore Peter Molyneux fan you can find. I have followed him and his way of gamedesign like a noble servant since Dungeon Keeper and I still hold this man as the most interesting person you can listen to and one of the greatest genious minds in the industry. I felt so glad that he recieved a round of applauds when taking the stage on the GS Live coverage. Fable 2 looks better and better for everytime I see it. The polish is really getting to a superb level by now. The game is from a design standpoint one of the most beautiful games I have laid eyes on and I am completely mindblown by all the features that are put into the game. Thinking over what is possible to do in this game it looks like a game I can very well be playing years and years from now and still having fun. I love the open, simulated, huge world, the great story, the character development and the smooth take on combat. I am now fully convinced that the dog will be awesome and I really CANT WAIT to start exploring this stunning gaming world and really sink my soul into this masterpiece. In the meantime I have both Black & White 2 and Dungeon Keeper installed on my PC to keep me afloat until then.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gears of War 2

When Gears 1 was released I was pretty sure the Unreal 3 engine was pushed to the max. I see now that wasnt the case. The improvements made the the engine for Gears 2 are astounding. The game looks so good its once again up there competing with the likes of MGS4 for the best looking game ever. Cliff Bleszinski must be the most interviewed man on E3. I dont know how many interviews I have seen with him over the last couple of days but hey, its always a pleasure to hear what he has to say so I wont complain. Gears 2 is really shaping up to be so badass that the word "badass" isnt enough anymore. By the time Epic is done with this one it will be one of the most brutal actiongames money can buy. The demo they showed at E3 was enough for me to completely fall in love with Gears all over again. Before E3 i knew it was going to be good since it was the sequel to one of my alltime favorite games but seeing what they showed at E3 was really the match that ignited the bomb in me. Yea, Gears 2 will rock my world just like the first one did without feeling old or repeated. They are really taking the game to new heights on every level.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resistance 2

I cant really say I liked the first Resistance. It was an OK shooter but nothing more. It felt kinda uninspired and grey. So my interest in Resistance 2 has been mild to say the least. But E3 really opened my eyes for this title. R2 really sold me on the scale. Thats really whats its all about for me here. Its the insane scale. From the hundreds of crazed hybrids running at you to the enormous flagships hovering over San Fransisco to the feeling of a whole country beeing "harvested" by huge war machines taken straight from War of the Worlds. But the one that really made me go "Alright, im SOLD" was the fight against the Cloverfield monster that they demoed during the press conference. That was one of the biggest "Wow" moments Ive had lately. The feeling and scale of that battle completely made me jump out of my chair. Getting picked up by the monster and thrown through a frikkin glassed in walkway onwards to another building to continue the fight. Wow.
Its kinda funny. The Nintendo and Sony press conferences were kinda direct opposites of each other. Nintendo decided to just lay back and rest on their sales advantage. They spent alot of time just talking about how much they have sold and about how much their approach to gaming succeeds and spreads over the sexes and ages. They continue to show lifesyl3 videos and pictures (wich im soo tired of now. I swear if I see one more payed C actor wave around with a Wiimote and smile im going to....yeah..you know what) and continue to spread the message that has been Nintendo since the Wii launch. The whole thing is kinda worn out by now and it feels like I dont wanna hear the same thing yet again. The whole presentation felt kinda uninspired and they didnt really show anything that really caught my interest. Animal Crossing I can live without and I can see no use for the room microphone whatsoever.

A DS version of GTA cannot possibly be anything worth spending money on and I dont think composing music with your Wiimotes is nearly as fun as they tried to make it look. To top it off this horrible soccermom on speed was on stage for the most of the show. I cannot remember her name (probably because I WANTED to forget her) but she was AWFUL to listen to. She was disgusting to both listen and look at totally overdoing both bodylanguage and voice to the extent I wanted to turn it off. She was so obviously faking her whole "OMG IM SOO EXCITED I LOVE PUPPIES" charade it really became painful to watch. I am a big Nintendo fanboy but somehow I just feel that Nintendo feels kinda uninteresting to me at the moment. I guess a DS version of Spore has the potential of become neat tho so Ill keep my eyes peeled for that.

On the other hand we have Sony who put alot into making the Press Conference feel interesting and fresh. Loads of TV screens and a superb lightshow combined with cool music and awesome transistions. The stage felt fresh and the decision to make the statistics part of the presentation into a Little Big Planet level was a masterful move on their part. They showed off alot of games in between wich kept it moving along nicely and most of it was OK to listen to. The game that stealed she show for me was Resistance 2. The gameplay footage of the huge boss that they started the show with was reaaaally impressive. I was literally rocking back and fourth in my chair at how cool that bossfight seemed. Ted Price went on stage and talked a bit about "Scale" and I can only agree. What impresses me the most with Resistance 2 is the scale of everything, from huge monsters to many monsters. Sony made a decent impression and I have faith in them for the coming year.
GoW3 confirmed for real, Infamous shows great potential and I will have to play through R&C Future sometime soon so that I can play "Quest for Booty" when it comes out. I dont know if I will ever use Sonys OR Microsofts movie download service but I guess its neat that its there. The thought of finally breaking and buying a PSP also crossed my mind on several occasions during the press conference. Its kinda wierd that I dont have one yet seeing as I always buy every console out there.
Alright, first off, the Microsoft Press Conference. Ill have to say, it was a really strong showing of Microsofts future. I am very impressed with the press conference as a whole (maybe except the overload of gamespot just at the start of it and not showing the live performance of Lips, but thats on the gamespot side of things.) Fallout 3 looked really good, Im sure they have good ways to go on that game but from what I saw it looked like a nice blend of Oblivion and Fallout that cant go wrong. Fable 2 looked even more awesome than last time I saw it and even more so than before its one of my top titles for this year. Peter Molyneux didnt say as much as I thought he would but maybe thats for the best when all the Molyneux haters start their fires. The game looked way more finished than the last time I saw it with more layers of polish to everything. I almost jumped off my chair when Peter said "oh and one more thing, its out in October" before exiting the stage like it was nothing. I didnt expect the game to come out before christmas to be honest with you, so awesome news!
The new dashborad looks insanely smooth and the integration with the Avatars looked phenomenal. I can really see the success of those already. Microsoft has taken alot from Nintendo but that only makes me happy. Sure, the new layout will take some getting used to but I have no doubts it will feel extremely nice after a while. On top of this the announcement that you can convert Rock band 1 disc songs to Rock band 2 was great news aswell as the news of the big Media Marketplace blowout. A couple of very strong XBLA titles was announced AND, the superbig one, FF13 comes to Xbox 360. I honestly couldnt believe what I was hearing. I never in my wildest dreams thought Microsoft could actually buy Final Fantasy 13. I cant even begin to imagine how much money Microsoft must have thrown to Square Enix for this one. I thought this was a PS3 secure title. This is really huge news and it really took me by surprise like the last reveal on a Press Conference should do.

In other news I downloaded and played the Too Human demo today. I have been pretty sceptic about the whole game. The long development cycle and the mediocre character and leveldesign. The game havent looked like much fun on videos but let me tell you, its a WHOLE other experience to actually be playing it. The Hack N Slash gameplay feels supertight once you get used to the control and the little I saw of the story in the demo actually engaged me and made me want to see more. The seamless transitions between enviroments without any loads or pauses whatsoever really created a flow in the gameplay that few games can do this well.

The amount of character customization and weapons seems limitless and its very fun to play around with. The lootmaniac in me awakened after I found my first rare drop and it didnt die out until the demo was over. Graphics are mediocre sometimes and plain out stunning other times and music felt very epic and well composed. The strongest impression the game left on me was that it is a perfect example of a game that should be played and not seen. Its plays extremely good and it was a very nice surprise to see both the gameplay and story hold up. Characters were interesting and voiceacting was very solid. The game felt overall pretty immersive with plenty of chatter between the soldiers by your side and alot of atmospheric effects. Im not sure if I will actually pick it up but its no longer impossible that it might actually happen.
Ever since I heard this song in the beginning of the summer when randomly watching MTV one day its been stuck in my head and I cant stop listening to it. It seems impossible to grow tired of this song and the more I listen to it the more I want it in Rock Band. This Electropop duo from England has come from nowhere and sprinted straight into my music heart. I Just had to spread the awesomeness! Because not only is the song awesome, the style of the drummer is priceless in the video.

My Recent Reviews
"Masterpiece"
Takes the artform to new heights. A stunning gaming evolution and a work of art you will remember forever. Continue »
"Mixed reactions"
A very entertaining and very solid actiongame but it completely lacks any kind of personality. Continue »
"Rocks"
A well directed, well produced, over the top stylish actiongame with insane combos and some of the best bossfights ever. Continue »
"Revolutionary"
Frustration, some clumsy design choices and extreme technical issues stands in the way of the PS3 version of skate. Continue »
"Instant classic"
The best Marioadventure to date, the best platformer in the history of gaming and one of the best games ever made. Continue »



































