Alrighty, here's the deal. Coming into this E3, I was really only excited about two things: what Nintendo would announce and what new information people would be able to gather about CTDS. I heard before the expo even started that a demo of the game would be available for play at the SE booth/arena. So I knew it would only be a matter of time before some tasty morsels of new information about the port would surface. And surface they did. A lot of my questions have been answered, thankfully. And now, I'd like to share all this information with you all, in case you guys haven't been scouring the internet as I have, looking for any bit of new info on the game that you can. My sources include IGN, 1UP, and DS Fanboy. GS is missing from the list only because by the time they got around to posting their preview, I'd already seen the other sites' previews. No harm done, I suppose, but to tell you the truth, it's really starting to annoy me that GS is so consistently behind on providing updates on DS games. I see everything they post days or even weeks before they post it, thanks to the sites aforementioned. I doubt fans of the consoles have this problem. /endrant

Sorry about that guys. I don't know what got into me. Getting back on track, here's all the new information I've found. If you've already seen it before, great. Please don't be rude towards me for posting "old information", if that seems to be the case for you. I've already experienced plenty of that. In any other case, I hope this makes your day.

- The anime cutscenes from the PS1 version are included.

- The touchscreen displays an automap of the room you're currently in that will show more of itself as you explore the place.

- You can also use the touchscreen to move Crono, much like you were able to move the guy from Dragon Sword and Link in Phantom Hourglass.

- Battling can also be done using the touchscreen by navigating through a series of menus. The actual game will still be on top, I believe.

- There are revisions/expansions to the dialogue. For instance, in the Super Nintendo version, when Crono's mother awakens him at the game's outset, she keeps it short and to the point, saying, "Ah, Leene's Bell makes such beautiful music! You were so excited about the Millennial Fair that you didn't sleep well, did you…? I want you to behave yourself today!" Now she is a bit more chatty, saying, "Dear me, I forgot how beautiful Lenee's bells sound. You must have been so excited about the Millenial Fair that you couldn't sleep last night, could you? Well, you had better not let that giddiness get you into any trouble. I want you to behave yourself today!"

- There are two meters visible directly beside your character. The orange meter on the top shows your health, and the green meter on the bottom charges while you get ready for the next attack. You can see the names of the enemies that you are battling on the touch screen.

- The game can be navigated entirely by using the stylus.

- A single-screen version of the game, just as it appeared on the SNES, is planned to be included on the cartridge.

I think all that remains now is for us to get to see some dual-screen gameplay vids to see all this information in action (oh, and seeing what the multiplayer and WiFi options will be). As it stands, I'm a little unsure and confused. I mean, have they altogether replaced the battle menu that showed your characters' names, their bars, and how much HP and TP they had left, replacing it with two RTS-like bars? Another question I have is whether or not it's possible to start up a NewGame+ file using a different version of the game than the one you initially beat the game with.

I still can't get over the absolute failure that was the Nintendo press conference this morning. I mean, who did they think they were talking to? The casual gamers? I can tell you right now that there were no casual gamers in that theater, and there were no casual gamers watching the conference live via the internet. How do I know this? Because casual gamers don't even know what the heck E3 is. So basically, this morning, Nintendo tried to sell casual products to their years-loyal hardcore/veteran fanbase and now what you have is everyone all over the internet firmly stating how utterly disappointed they were by Nintendo's performance. And rightfully so. Nintendo missed the mark bigtime. Hardcore gamers are not going to get all-out excited about (no offense, Nintendo) casual crap. The casual gamers are not going to know about the casual crap until it appears on the shelves. And so, all this morning did was piss off a whole lot of people. Myself included.

Thank goodness I know that there will be no cessation of great titles coming for the DS. It's just that, I really wanted to hear about a NSMB2, or a new Metroid, or a new Donkey Kong.

EDIT: My E3 2008 emblem hasn't fully updated yet. They seem to be going with a 3-in-1 design this year and so far, my emblem only shows that I watched the Sony PC. I'm not bitter or complaining...it's just that I hate when glitches occur on this site and I wouldn't want my emblem to never update because I would always know that it was supposed to have more to it. Anybody else missing parts of their emblem?

So I watched the entire thing, from start to finish (yay GS for getting their **** together), and I have to say that it was rather underwhelming. I'm very disappointed, actually. It seems I psyched myself up way too much. That was an hour that would have been much better spent continuing to read the Star Wars novel I'm currently reading (The Courtship of Princess Leia, for those who want to know).

As a DS owner, the conference was pretty lame. I could care less about more Guitar Hero. I could care less about another Pokemon Ranger. I could care less about the Spore Creatures game. GTA: Chinatown Wars intrigues me, but at this point, I have the feeling that it's going to turn out just barely mediocre. I think back to my GTA3/VC days, and I can't imagine a translation of Liberty City onto the DS. Surprising news, sure, but I think in the end it will be a disaster. And unless I missed something, that was it. No NSMB2, no new Metroid, no new Zelda. No Kirby Superstar Ultra footage. Not even any new Pokemon Platinum footage. And why the heck not?

Because they focused much more on the Wii and its upcoming applications. I say "applications" because I could hardly consider Wii Sports Resort and Wii Music to be games. Do they have objectives, a difficulty, and/or a story? No. They're applications, designed to be fun and entertaining ways to utilize the motion sensor technology. Big whoop. I know for a fact that if I owned a Wii, I'd have been more than frustratingly disappointed. Nothing interested me. At all. And you can't go blaming that on the fact that I'm 22. I'm sure that if they had announced another Zelda or a new Star Fox, I would have become immediately jealous and started to drool.

I just don't get it. It was a really lame, underwhelming conference. Reggie claimed before and at the start of the conference that Nintendo was striving to prove that they could still cater to the hardcore, veteran gamers out there while still trying to reel in more casual gamers and keep those casual gamers already reeled in interested and gaming. Well, after this conference, I definitely didn't get that impression. There was nothing hardcore about anything they showed, and all I saw was catering to the casual gamers. Apparently, casual gamers don't want to play "actual" video games.

I'm really sad now. And pissed off. Nintendo has always been one to blow my mind during E3, and as this was the first time I've ever seen it live, I was really hoping to pop out of my seat with elation at least once. But instead I just lay there, waiting the whole time for something remotely interesting to show up, until it was over, at which point I wished I hadn't even sat down to watch it in the first place.

Either Nintendo honestly had nothing really substantial to show us and tried to play up what it did have or I witnessed the start of the fall of video games as I have come to know and love them.

One can hope, right? Well, as long as that is still the case, here's what I'm hoping will be announced at next week's expo (for the DS).

New First Party Nintendo titles

NSMB, LoZ: PH, MPH, etc. They're all great, but they came out a while ago. The DS is clearly not dying any time soon, so I really feel that Nintendo should continue to support its own handheld in the form of a second wave of hits. A NSMB2, perhaps? A New Super Mario World, maybe? How about a 2D/3D Metroid game, in the sty1e of NSMB but just like Super Metroid? I could always go for another Zelda game, only this time, please not in the Wind Waker sty1e. I just think that Nintendo should do this. The DS is the most popular, best-selling handheld ever, and it deserves continued software attention from its creators. It's not like this would be the first time multiple games in these series were released on the same system. The NES got three Mario platformers, the SNES got two, and as far as Zelda is concerned, both the N64 and the Gamecube each got two. It can be done.

Mario Sports titles

So we have Mario Hoops 3-on-3, but that's it. How about a Mario Soccer DS or a Mario Golf DS. Or a Mario Tennis DS. Or a Mario Baseball DS (I'd definitely buy this one). I'm actually surprised some of these haven't already come out. I don't know what Nintendo is waiting for. The multiplayer capabilities would be there in spades, of course, but you'd have a really great single player mode too. You'd also have a great roster in each game, especially now that they're including such cool folk as Dixie and Funky Kong. They'd just be really great games.

Donkey Kong Country 4 OR a DKC Trilogy collection

Okay, I know the former is completely unlikely, but it's still nice to dream. On the other hand, the latter option could certainly be done. Fitting all three DKC games onto one DS cartridge, keeping the games exactly as they were on the SNES (none of that crap they added/changed for the GBA ports). I'm happy the GBA ports exist, but they're really just average for me. If this was done, and done right (key condition), it would make me and I'm sure a lot of other people happy. Cause think about it, a direct port, done right, with all three cl@ssic games on one cartridge. Mmmmm.

Super Mario RPG DS

Now here's an even bigger stretch. But, following the coattails of the announcement of CTDS, I feel this is definitely possible. Many people would love to have a portable version of this game, myself included. It's great because it can be beaten in a day, if that's all you do for that day. Such a non-ridiculous length for an RPG is perfect for a DS RPG. I'd rather see it as a direct port, though. It looked amazing back in 1996, and it'll still look great now. I think it'd go great in a collection with Partners in Time and Paper Mario DS (at this point, still just rumored).

The worst thing that could happen next week is that I'd be underwhelmed by the announcements, content-wise. I suppose that'd save me some money, but it'd just be sad. I want all of these games I've listed above, really badly. It's not like I'm the only one who does.

EDIT: Well, it appears I spoke too soon. No SMRPG DS....yet.

No, I'm not going to talk about portable ports/remakes again. Instead, I'm going to put my reputation as a seemingly sane individual on the line to reveal the following brutally honest truth: I enjoy listening to video game soundtracks, so much so that more than 60% of the 10.5GB on my iPod is video game soundtracks. It all started fourteen years ago when I got my best friend Sean's mother to make a cassette copy of Sean's copy of the DKC OST CD. Since then, in both CD and mp3 form, my collection of video game music has grown to a possibly incriminating size. I love it. It sure beats getting incurable cravings for particular video game tunes.

Just cause I'm sure some of you are curious, here's a list of all the soundtracks I have on my iPod (as fellow gamers, I'm sure you'll appreciate, rather than laugh):

Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Banjo Kazooie, Brave Fencer Musashi, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong Country, Donkey Kong Country 2, Donkey Kong Country 3, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Mega Man 7, Mega Man X, Mega Man ZX, Mega Man ZXA, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (the SNES version), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Myst, Riven, Myst III: Exile, Myst IV: Revelation, Myst V, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Pilotwings 64, Super Mario 64, Super Mario World, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario RPG, World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade, Yoshi's Island

Thanks to the recent news of CT DS and the weight of said news finally setting in, the CT and CC OSTs will soon be joining this list.

And btw, that's not everything. I've got other soundtracks, just not on my iPod. Like, Mario Paint and Goldeneye 007 and Kirby Superstar.

Well, what about you? What's your take on video game soundtracks? Do you own any? Do you listen to any on a regular basis, perhaps on your own digital music device?

This morning, I woke up to find the best gaming news of the last three or so months waiting for me, top article, on DS Fanboy (everywhere, minus 1UP, is faster than here). It turns out that after years of rumors, Chrono Trigger is officially being portified for the DS and will be released in time for the holiday season! As I've never owned a copy of the original SNES version but do own the slow-as-molasses version that came as part of FF Chronicles for the PS1, this couldn't be better news. I don't agree with all the hardcore fans of the game that it's the all-time best RPG ever, but I do believe it's one of the best I've ever played.

This led me to spend the day thinking about why some people love ports and remakes while others despise them, sometimes to the point of hating the companies for making them. I mean, ports and remakes can be good or bad, innovative or a step backwards, just like original titles so what's the big deal? Here, we have Square Enix to "blame" for the upcoming release of a port. Heck, we've got them to blame for FFIV DS, which is only weeks away, as well. To some, it seems as though Square Enix is all about the remakes these days, tossing them out into gaming stores around the world more than they are new, original titles. Well, there's a reason for that, if that's even the case (currently, I see more new and original titles being released by the company for the DS than remakes). Square Enix is releasing all these ports/remakes because their big titles (ex: FFXIII) take years to make and they would simply run dry financially and/or temporarily fade into the background if they didn't keep releasing games. They do need money to continue making the big ones, after all. You wouldn't want the development of FFXIII to just stop. Likewise, it wouldn't exactly bode well if Square Enix just disappeared off the radar for large chunks of time, while we the public waited for the big titles to come out. There almost needs to be a constant flow of games. What I think helps Square Enix and sets it apart from other companies that try to employ this same course of action is the fact that their ports and remakes are typically as high quality as the originals. You can't go wrong (though there have been some exceptions). Not only are they just as hyped as the originals (perhaps even more), but the additional content they include only adds to the incentives towards purchasing the new versions. Sure, it stinks when they keep re-releasing the same games over and over again (ex: FFIV), but that's when it becomes each gamer's own call. For me personally, I've never felt like I was being forced to purchase multiple versions of games. I never bought the GBA ports of the FF games, and I never finished FFIV on the PS1, so FFIV DS is an automatic, no question purchase for me. Thinking outside of Square Enix, DKR DS was also a no-brainer, though that, regrettably, turned out to be a bad port. It's always up to you, the gamer, whether or not you want to purchase the ports/remakes. They're there for anyone. Newbies, people who only own one really old copy of the game, people who own every version ever released thus far. You can't blame the companies for the re-releases. You can only blame yourself for either being so in love with the game or series, or being really easy to persuade. At least Square Enix seems to have a solid reason for what they're doing.

Now, getting back to Chrono Trigger DS. I think they finally listened to all the fans' clamoring. But not only that. I think there's something awfully suspiscious behind why we're just finding out about the port now when it's going to come out in less than half a year. This may be about more than just supplying Square Enix with more necessary funds and satisfying the fans. It is my belief that there's a third Chrono game around the bend. In this scenario, Chrono Trigger DS is serving a dual purpose as both fanservice and as a refresher for fans and newbies alike. Sure, I could be completely wrong, but if I am right, I won't be surprised.

Overall, my opinion of ports and remakes has been one more of positivity, excitement, and gratitude than annoyance. Many people find ports and remakes to be companies' way of making easy cash, milking nostalgia for all its worth. While from one perspective, that is certainly the case, other perspectives provide more logical answers. Let's take the conversion from console to handheld. It is a very valid reason alone to create ports/remakes. So, let's take all the Super Mario Advance games, the DKC ports, DKR DS, and FFIV DS, for instance. The main draw here is that gamers would now be able to play some of their favorite games on the go. For me, that doesn't mean in the car or a train, but just being able to grab my ports/remakes and play them anywhere I feel like is sweet enough. It's as great for me as it is for those that do play in cars, trains, or buses. And let's not forget the fact that any of the following only makes it that much sweeter: improved graphics, improved sound, new content. This is the reason why most gamers will buy ports/remakes (besides portability), and companies know this. They know the ports/remakes are most likely wanted. They just like to make us beg a whole lot first.