We liked Wet at E3. We liked it a lot. We recognized it as a gutsy project back then, and that’s just what it was. The unfortunate thing about gutsy projects is that they sometimes don’t turn out as you like. The Wet we played at E3 — and the demo, released last month — felt like an arcade game. The action started immediately. You shot and stabbed people, and then you shot and stabbed more people. A little story was mixed in, but the emphasis was the shooting and the slicing. By and large, this is how Wet does start out. However, when you’re actually playing through a poorly designed level with non-intuitive navigation, it’s harder to appreciate that action.

Beyond the navigational issues, the first “level,” of Wet is fun, and it really brings you into the game, leaving you wanting more–then it all stops. Instead of continuing the action, getting bloodied up, and listening to Eliza Dushku, the voice of Rubi,‚  tell some Asian cowboy to suck his own [this is a coarse and vulgar game, mom] we’re thrust head first into … an hour-long tutorial, in Rubi’s “boneyard hideaway,” made up of “challenges” like an obstacle course. There are some serious ADHD issues going on here. The game spends the first 10 minutes teaching you how to perform Rubi Malone’s acrobatic moves. Then you get 15-20 solid minutes of action. Then an hour of boredom. Then the game starts up again, and it really seems to get good again when Rubi makes a cargo plane blow up midair and is falling to the ground. But you’ll spend another hour, or about 50 of your unlimited “lives” trying to navigate through a maze of plane parts, boxes, and miscellany, because if anything hits you, you die. Considering this is kind of a short game with a sliver of story as is, that seems like time wasted.

The game is about a gun-for-hire who agrees to find a wealthy man’s son, but when he finds the son and brings him back, he kills the son and sends a sword-swinging goon to kill you.

The game has diversity. The acrobatic moves are edgy, and there’s a good mix of swordplay and shooting. There’s a great mix of gameplay styles — walking/fighting, jumping, acrobatics, vehicles and even the aforementioned free fall from the sky. The pace picks up with “rage mode” where everything goes red and Rubi starts killing everything in sight. The problem with “rage mode,” however, is that it’s much harder to navigate through the already puzzling levels with the screen all red. And you don’t get any additional health. You die just the same as you would normally. The “rage mode” we played at E3 put Rubi in a more enclosed space where she just went nuts and started swinging the sword, killing dozens of baddies like they were nothing. It felt more like a bonus level at E3, but it’s actually a much more difficult gameplay style in the actual game.

The cinematic elements are good. The game’s post-modern feel is matched perfectly with cutscenes featuring 50s drive-in “let’s go to the refreshment stand” montages.

But essence isn’t the problem. Neither are the graphics or the voice acting, also featuring actors Malcolm McDowell and Alan Cumming. It’s straight gameplay that hurts Wet, nothing more.

The game should be more intuitive. The acrobatic moves are fun, and it’s awesome to slide down a ladder shooting baddies in slow motion. It’s even more awesome to jump from moving car to moving car on a freeway while shooting baddies in slow motion. It’s wicked awesome to slide under a pipe and catch a baddie with an uppercut of your sword. But the acrobatic nature of the game means you’re going to fall a lot, but rather than die and wait for the load screen to start the checkpoint over, the developer should shoot you right back to where you fell from and let you keep playing. Nothing kills momentum and fun like bad platforming, and Wet has its share of that.

The game gets lost in bursts of fun, followed by waiting, followed by more bursts.

The Blast Factor: The frustrations don’t always outpace the fun. Wet is a good game that’s fun to play in moderation, but the sum of the its parts just isn’t enough to make you want to keep playing for long.

WET is available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 for a retail price of $59.99

Ok people listen up. E3 was a blast this year. We all know that. While the crowd was huge, and a lot larger than last year, we know that you were all sitting at home reading the stuff that the Blast Games team was firing up like so many chaingun rounds.

We’re cleaning up the Blast Newroom over the next few weeks, and right away we found a few things (like porn).

We have official E3 t-shirts for Wet, Rogue Warrior, and Red Steel 2. Do you want them?

Well we’re gonna make you work for’em.

You need to review something. A video game released in the past two months that we somehow haven’t reviewed yet. A rare peripheral. A brand new PC game would be great. Write us a 400-700 word review with a 1-10 rating. We’ll PUBLISH the best reviews in Blast and the best three reviews will win these rare pieces of cloth. First place gets choice, second, and so on. Reviews must be your own work and not be published anywhere else.

How do you do this? Register as a Blast user — it’s FREE and takes 30 seconds and post a comment on this story with your email address. We’ll be in touch.

LOS ANGELES — Two of the four main characters in Heavy Rain were playable at E3 this year. The first is Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler who has been asked by local police forces to investigate the case of The Origami Killer. The second is a sexy photographer named Madison Paige.

Here’s a look at both:

LOS ANGELES — Majesco is primed to make a run for the money with two potentially huge platformer games coming out in A Boy and His Blob and Flip’s Twisted World.

Flip takes a platform concept we saw a bit of in the latest Paper Mario iteration and just blows it out of proportion. This is a very, very difficult looking game. Even the demoer had a difficult time staying alive in the game and not plummeting to the character’s death.

In Flip’s Twisted World “It started as an ordinary boring day for Master Fulcrum’s apprentice, Flip, when he messed with the wrong magic artifact and got sucked into the crazy universe inside. Now he must fight and puzzle his way through five topsy-turvy worlds to return home and put everything back before The Master returns.”

This is a game that literally forces you to think outside the box, since the entire game world is one big cube that you have to flip around to your advantage. The goal is to get through fully 3D levels by manipulating the world. By flicking the remote, a wall in your way becomes a path to freedom and a bottomless pit becomes a useful corridor.

There are also two play styles. You can use the Wiimote and nunchuck or plug in the Gamecube controller for more traditional play. Each gives a unique challenge.

There is something very “Mario” about this game. Maybe it’s all the coins, castles and lava?

The only downfall to Flip’s Twisted World is that it’s not scheduled for release until January. It would be the perfect, wholesome holiday season gift.

LOS ANGELES — A Boy and His Blog was one of the most frustrating in a long line of frustrating NES games. That’s not to say it was a bad game. It was a great platformer designed by Pitfall!’s David Crane, but it was a game that was nearly unwinnable. If you missed one thing over the course of the game, you couldn’t beat it at the end.

“Blob” turned 20 this year, and nobody has touched the franchise since the original until now. Majesco and WayForward are developing a brand new Wii title due out this fall.

Majesco is known for taking something small and turning it into a big deal, (ever hear of Cooking Mama?) and they are poised for a real winner with ABAHB.

Story goes that when Blobolonia is threatened by an evil emperor, the blob comes to earth looking for help. Instead, he finds a young boy. Help the blob dethrone the evil Emperor that’s terrorizing Blobolonia and establish a friendship with the blob that will last a lifetime.

The Wii version, which we got to demo at the Majesco meeting room, looks and plays very true to the original. You feed the blob special jellybeans which turn it into a ladder, a hole, a canon, an anvil, etc, to creatively help you get though the platforms and enemies.

The result is 40 levels of classic video game play.

This is a totally new game, with a totally new development staff, but we talked to Sean Velasco from WayForward during the demo, and he really seems to have kept true to the original. Even the artwork feels retro.

LOS ANGELES – Oh hell yes.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo is back. It’s better. It’s … over. Damn.

While it still wasn’t the spectacle of the 90s, the conference was easily three times bigger than it was last year, and there was some actual news this time.

Here’s what we took away from the conference this time around:

BEST GAME
Uncharted 2

The first Uncharted is still one of the best games on the Playstation 3, and that’s not a knock on the console’s library either. This sequel looks to improve on the gameplay of the fantastic original, while also including a brand new multiplayer mode–one we will have impressions of for you in the near future.

BEST WII GAME
Super Mario Bros. Wii
Nintendo
Q4 2009

Mario is back. This new four-player side scroller is the first game to remind us of the good old days since the good old days, except now, with that multiplayer involved, it gives you a reason to want to punch your friends in the face.

BEST XBOX 360 GAME
Mass Effect 2

Bioware is promising a darker, more developed game than the first, which is saying something considering how well-done the original was. We’ll need to see it for ourselves, but what we saw was impressive.

BEST PLAYSTATION 3 GAME
Heavy Rain
Sony/Quantic Dream

This is a sleeper, but IGN also recognized the potential for Heavy Rain by nominating it for Best of E3/Best PlayStation 3 game. Blast got to play a demo, and we were thoroughly impressed by the control, decision-making abilities, dialog, and visuals. This is an excellent-looking game.

BEST MULTIPLATFORM GAME
Rogue Warrior
Bethesda Softworks
PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Fall 2009

Rogue Warrior looked great in a demo, and nothing is cooler than getting to play out the experiences of a real life badass navy seal voiced by Mickey Rourke. This game is full of pure action, explosions, and a great mix of stealth and offensive firepower.

BEST SPORTS GAME
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Wii with MotionPlus
EA Sports
Nintendo Wii
June 8

Wii MotionPlus adds an amazing new dimension of reality to games, but nowhere was it more noticeable than in the latest Tiger Woods game. You have to position your wrists straight and do a full swing with follow-through. The MotionPlus makes you get off your couch and actually do stuff, and where better than at a virtual Bethpage?

BEST MUSIC GAME
The Beatles Rock Band
Harmonix/MTV Games
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Fall

With The Beatles Rock Band, Harmonix officially takes back the music game genre, eclipsing Guitar Hero and coming out from its shadow. Beatles Rock Band will feature the most recognizable songs in history from the most recognizable band in history.

BEST PC GAME OR MMO
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Lucas Arts

This ambitious massively multiplayer game promises all voice acting and no text dialog — thousands and thousands of lines of voice acting. And it’s Star Wars.

BEST PERIPHERAL
Mad Catz Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster
$299
September 2009

Mad Catz had Fender build them a real guitar, and instead of strings, they wired buttons into it and unleashed it for Xbox 360. It uses no dongle — it’s compatible with Xbox 360 wireless technology. It’s a real guitar, with wood and a shiny finish. If you like to play fake guitar, this is as close to real as it gets.

GUTSIEST PROJECTS

Heavy Rain
Sony/Quantic Dream
PlayStation 3

We’ve been looking forward to this one for a long time. From the same team that put together Indigo Prophecy comes Heavy Rain, a psychological thriller adventure that’s more about story and drawing you in than it is about shooting endless bad guys.

Wet
Bethesda Softworks
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Eliza Dushku is awesome.

M.A.G. Massive Action Game, 256 player online multiplayer
Zipper Interactive/Sony
PlayStation 3
TBA

Second year in a row for M.A.G. on the gutsiest projects list, and it still stands. This game is either going to be huge or a huge disappointment.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game
Ubisoft
December

This is one of the first video games from a movie that stands on its own merits.

Biggest letdown: Atari. Where were you this year? One word kids: Ghostbusters. Or is that two words? Either way, with the failure of some recent releases, it’s the best chance for Atari to impress this generation. Despite a hell of a showing over the past year, the company hasn’t been able to blow up. Ghostbusters should sell millions, given it’s on every console, so let’s hope that’s a step in the right direction.

Marc Normandin and Bradley Ouellette of the Blast staff contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES — Sega once had a quirky arcade cabinet called Brave Firefighters, but since then there really hasn’t been much attention paid to the genre of firefighting, which has been surprising, given how easily a major developer could have utilized the Nintendo Wii controls to profit by a quick and dirty firefighting sim.

They didn’t bite, so it took a small new developer called Epicenter Studios to bring the fire hose to the Wii.

Game design partners Nathaniel McClure and Bryan Jury are both former Call of Duty producers who wanted to tackle this genre for years.

“We wanted to have the action, and we wanted to do the excitement but get rid of the violence. Let’s save people instead of killing them,” said McClure in an interview with Blast.

The guys set out to create a fun and challenging video game while trying to be true to real life. They brought on a 27-year veteran California fire captain and several career firemen to consult on the game while bringing the developers’ own action game experiences to bear on this untackled genre.

“It’s been tricky balancing the realism and hardcore aspect with the fun,” McClure said. “We have a lot of action that will pull in the more hardcore gamer, but the difficulty efforts can be really insane. I challenge anyone to do expert mode and blast through it.”

My father is a firefighter, so I was dying to grab a Wiimote and attack the flames.

The game has nine levels, ranging from a simple house fire to an entire amusement park ablaze (there’s even a TV news studio fire) and the fire is completely organic. It will react and respond differently each time you play. You can point the nozzle directly at a hot spot or turn on mist mode to attack a larger area, depending on how your fire is spreading.

The game is hard. It is a good mix of timing your Wiimote actions with bluntly pouring water by the gallon from your 3″ attack line. But it’s not just about the hose. You’ll be caught in tight spaces with nothing but a handheld extinguisher, and you’ll be using various tools for car accident extrication and prying open doors.

“There are plenty of mini game collections out there. We really wanted to make an adventure game,” said Jury. “It’s single player, with a story mode. You’re a working firefighter (in) a fake LA kind of city.”

The adventure game motif shows well with voice actors from “Backdraft” and television’s Rescue Me.

While playing the game, you’ll have objectives like rescuing trapped people or killing power to an electrical fire. In between, you’re free to roam and focus on putting out the flames around you.

It’s a great game so far. Real Heroes Firefighter is the first potential hit in the fire genre, and it’s fun to boot.

The title should have been multiplayer, which could have been accomplished by adding an arcade mode where you and a friend compete to see who can put out the most flames.

Jury and McClure said they’re hoping the firefighting genre takes off, allowing them to develop more games like Real Heroes.

“This is our baby that we’ve been working on for years now. (Multiplayer) is definitely our goal — put it online, everyone rushes to the firehouse, you know?” McClure said, “It’s got a lot of potential. Hopefully the consumers will agree and we’ll go from there.”

A portion of the proceeds from this game will go to benefit the Firefighter Cancer Support Network.

LOS ANGELES — Last year, except for all the pretty publicists, the only booth babes at E3 belonged to Nyko, which had their customary red-wigged bombshells.

This year, with the Electronic Entertainment Expo being 3-5 times bigger, there was, we experienced, a return of the phenomenon known as the booth babe.

These are not gamers, but the girls are expected to know just enough about the product to direct expo-goers to the nearest adult.

There was one glaring exception: The G4TV miniskirt girls. They were idiots. They made idiots look smart.

They popped over to The Beatles Rock Band booth and took over one of the mini stages so G4TV could shoot a promo of hot babes playing The Beatles Rock Band. The MTV Games guys made sure to set the game to “no fail mode,” which is fine; it’s a promo video.

But what made me keel over laughing, and what I just can’t get G4TV get away with, was when — and did I mention this was at THE BEATLES ROCK BAND booth? — one of the girls (the drummer in the pics) screamed to the entire room, “YEAH Let’s do Guns N’ Roses!”

The room went silent, followed by laughter.

Viva la booth babe.

LOS ANGELES — Heavy Rain is the very definition of a sleeper. While most of the focus was on The Beatles Rock Band, and Assassin’s Creed 2, and some of the well-hyped sequels discussed at E3 this year, one of the best playable games at the expo was Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain is the latest work of cinematic adventure by French developer Quantic Dream, the studio behind Indigo Prophecy, the best adventure game of the 21st century so far.

I first heard that Quantic Dream was collaborating with Sony for a PlayStation 3 exclusive about a few years ago, and I pushed my contacts at Sony Computer Entertainment America for answers, only to come up empty. So I forgot about the game for a while, and going into E3 I really didn’t have it on my mind.

Then I saw this cinematic, dramatic, dark, dreary, realistic adventure game being demoed at Sony’s booth, up some stairs, above the audience, appointment only.

So I played through a demo of Heavy Rain, which is currently in the alpha stage of development.

The game is definitely dark and mature. It combines exploration with cinematic, and instead of drawing your machine gun and blasting everyone in sight, you have to make conscious decisions and make certain movements with the controller or push certain buttons with split second reflexes to determine gameplay.

I died three times before getting past the first few minutes. After getting the hang of it, it was easy to see how decisions and even simple conversation points could dramatically change the story.

Controls are unique. It’s not a shooter or a fighting game, so buttons usually used for firing a weapon or punching or kicking are open. Thus, you actually use a trigger button to move your character forward. It actually feels strangely natural.

The entire game is voice acted and very well animated with lots of detail and ambiance.

When it was over, I told Sony’s Alex Armour that the game reminded me of a PC title called Indigo Prophecy. He smiled and said “yeah, it’s the same studio. The CEO is right over there. Do you want to talk to him?”

Yes.

Read the next page for an interview with Guillaume de Fondaumiere, the Co-CEO and executive producer of Quantic Dream

LOS ANGELES — Sitting through demos, not being able to put your hands on a game, can be a bit rough. But sometimes you get a movie-like experience that makes you drool.

And then sometimes you get (fake) protesters.

We got to experience both with Dante’s Inferno, Electronic Arts’ latest attempt to show off its recent creativity.

“Inferno” takes you to hell, in an interpretation of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s epic, “The Divine Comedy.”

It’s a third-person action game that cycles you through a tour of the afterlife as you descend, sin by sin, through the the nine circles of hell.

You assume the role of Dante, who descends into Hell after returning home to find his beloved Beatrice murdered, with Lucifer seducing her soul into the underworld. Dante sets out to save her but has to face down his own demons first.

You get to use two very different weapons: a scythe that Dante steals from Death, himself, and the Holy Cross, given to him by Beatrice. The cross lets Dante use spiritual powers and spells as you progress through the game.

Watching the gameplay, Dante’s Inferno looks a lot like God of War with crazy combos and giant enemies you have to get past. One thing I liked was that Dante gets to tame and take control over some of his larger enemies, like a giant demon that can lay waste to most smaller enemies.

EA’s Visceral Games studio is behind this title as it prepares to put out Dead Space: Extraction, which I loved.

EA was criticized for staging fake protesters at the event. They were even saying “we’re not against video games, just Dante’s Inferno.”

By the way: This version corrects our incorrect reporting that the protesters were real.

Blast Magazine staff writer Bradley Ouellette contributed to this report, also from Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES — Red Steel was a game that was kind of easy to trash. It didn’t have great control, and it suffered a massive identity crisis by not knowing if it was a first person shooter or a sword fighting game.

But lots of hardcore gamers and some reviewers saw the title’s potential at the time, and Red Steel 2 looks like an excellent choice for Wii gamers when it comes out… “soon.”

Playing through an E3 demo of the game, which is designed specifically for and will come bundled with a Wii MotionPlus, it’s easy to see why people held out some hope.

The first thing I noticed about Red Steel is that you really have to give it a mighty swing. You have to really hack and wave your arm around to do what you want to do. The MotionPlus control is amazingly accurate. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised with how much more responsive the MotionPlus is than just the remote.

I got to tackle some obstacles, like slicing through a mighty thicket of bamboo or using my katana to whack open a metal door. Then I got to tackle some punk bad guys.

I guess “punk” is the most accurate way to describe them.

This is a weirdly stylized game. It seems to be set in the wild west, and your player has a pistol and a katana. So do the bad guys, and some of them are armored. You’ll have to slice through that too.

It was fun using the sword, and the pistol is a nice backdrop in this game instead of the main focus. The MotionPlus lets you effectively block attacks and then make quick counter moves.

The best part about this game is that you’re not just going through the Wii motions. This isn’t Wario where you can sit on your ass and fake it. You really have to get up and move to be effective in this game.

The comic book styling of the game and the lack of gore “" no blood or severed limbs “" also makes it suitable for most ages.

Even with just this brief glance into the game, I feel like Ubisoft has a winner. Red Steel 2 gives some much-needed tender lovin’ action to the Wii. Check out the E3 trailer below for a glimpse of what Red Steel 2 looks and plays like.

LOS ANGELES — Blast was very fortunate to have the opportunity to sit down with Alex Rigopulos, the CEO of Harmonix Music Systems, and discuss the upcoming Beatles Rock Band game and the future of the music game genre.

Blast: So, The Beatles. It must feel good.

Alex Rigopulos: It feels incredible. This is a band that’s been close to my heart personally since I was a small child. So this is really a dream project for me and a lot of people on the Harmonix team in a very big way. For a lot of us it’s still very surreal that this was able to happen at all. So for us to unveil the game to the world today is a big deal.”

Blast: I’m not going to go into inter-corporate politics but does it feel good to have this coup for your company over your biggest competitor Activision?

AR: This band’s music is incredible and for us as, I’ve said a number of times in the past, we make music games, but we consider it to be music first and games second. We really consider what we do in this category to be making new kinds of music experiences and to let people experience music in a new way, and this music is so rich and so beautiful and so joyful that to have an opportunity to take that to an interactive dimension to the first time is an honor and a privilege and something that the development team has been delighted about since the very beginning.

Blast: Personal favorite Beatles song?

AR: Well first of all there’s no one favorite just because it’s changing constantly, and it has changed constantly over the course of this project as well. One of the real pleasant surprises of making the game and what will be a real pleasant surprise for people playing the game is just that everyone has heard these songs hundreds of times in their lives, and you think you know this music but when you start learning to play the drum parts of the baselines, you discover all these little details and hidden gems in the music that you never noticed before.

I have this experience with Taxman which is one of the very first prototype songs that we developed early on that we built into the game in interactive form. The first time I played it I was playing the bass line and I started playing the bass line that I know and was familiar and was kind of bouncing and having a great time playing and there’s this one moment in the song in the bridge learning into the guitar solo that all of a sudden the bass line goes crazy and starts running all over the place, and that lasts for just four bars and then falls back to the old bass line that you know. And in all the hundreds of times that I heard that song I had never noticed that insane moment in the bass where Paul just started going crazy.

And its fun to play and its an amazing little moment that I had never heard before. I think that’s a big part of what we’re giving to the world is people are going to find all these hidden gems in the music.

For me, going back to the original question, discovering those hidden gems has been changing my favorite Beatles song through the duration of the project.

Blast: You must have met Paul and Ringo over the course of this…?

AR: Yeah many times. All four of the principles (including Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono) were very creatively engaged in the project from the very beginning. So yeah they were integrally involved in every step of the project from conception to fine tuning the details at the end.

Blast: What was it like working with them?

AR: “It was completely surreal. These are titanic figures, right? And they also made some of the greatest art that I’ve experienced in my life, so to actually be in a creative collaboration with them its just stunning. Its intoxicating. But what was most surprising to me as how engaged they actually were. They weren’t just making kind of superficial comments. They really got the vision. They helped us craft the vision, and they were really focused on details as well. They held our feet to the fire and were pushing us.

It was very much with their help that we got there. It was surreal and incredibly invigorating to actually be in a creative collaboration with these titans.

Blast: It could have been very easy to make this a simple game. You could have made an extended track pack, you could have done this quickly and easily if you wanted to. How important was it for you and for Harmonix to add the level of detail you’ve done with this game?

AR: The Beatles, themselves wouldn’t have been interested in just an expansion pack. That was clear from the beginning in the early discussions, but that was great as far as we were concerned because that’s not what we wanted to do either. This music is so special that it calls out for special handing.I dont think for us we would have wanted to do it any differently. This is a once in a lifetime opp to work with material like this.

Blast: Your company has come a long way in the past few years. The Rock Band franchise has really taken off. Where do you see the franchise and the company going in the next 5-10 years?

AR: That’s a big question. First of all we’re going to continue to advance just on the content. We’ve already put 700 songs and growing on the Rock Band platform, and while that seems like a lot, and it’s a ton in the historical standards of video games, it’s still the tiniest sliver of this incredible music that’s out there and it’s a big part of our ambition over the coming years to fan out as broadly as possible to just get more content on the platform.

That said, there’s also the feature aspect and we want to continue to get new kinds of play and let people interact with the music and engage with the music as well. We still have a lot of ideas of how that might be accomplished on the Rock Band platform, but we also have a lot of new ideas brewing about fun new types of music play that would exist in entirely new games as well

Blast: Anything you can share with us?

AR: Not today. There will be a time for that.

Blast: Are there any bands you have not worked with yet that you’d like to?

Well there are the obvious. We’re talking to everybody all the time right? That’s just the nature of what we do, so we’re considering all kinds of options.

Led Zeppelin is a band that is another that everyone loves and everyone asks for ,and you know, U2 is another big band that a lot of people love and a lot of people ask for. All the obvious candidates.

Blast: Are any of those on the short timeline?

AR: Nothing imminent or announcement worthy.

Fallout and Oblivion creator Bethesda Softworks took some time out of their E3 day today to reveal some details surrounding their upcoming collaboration project with Splash Damage, Brink.

Due out Spring 2010 for Xbox 360, PC, and PS3, Brink is an immersive first person shooter that somehow blends single-player, co-op, and multiplayer into one helluva game in which your character can be fine tuned throughout.

The story of Brink surrounds the fact that a‚  man-made floating city, made up of thousands of islands, dubbed the Ark is simply put, on the brink of war and preparing for the worst. After 25 years of social unrest, the people of the ark have had enough, and it is up to you and the character you decide to play, to determine the future of the city and its human race.

Compelling? Yes, especially given the fact that Bethesda is behind it.‚  The Fallout and Oblivion series’ were pretty well crafted if you ask me.

Take a look at the first screen shots from the game to be revealed and head on over to BrinkTheGame to learn more.

LOS ANGELES — When James Cameron took the stage at the Los Angeles Theater on Broadway at Ubisoft’s pre-E3 briefing, big news just seemed to happen.

His upcoming film “Avatar” was deemed technologically impossible when Cameron wrote the film treatment 14 years ago. Even in the 21st century, the movie has taken four years of development for its December 18 release.

The movie will be epic. It’s a mix of live action and computer graphics technologies that were invented for this film. It’s set in the 22nd century, on a distant moon where humans have come into conflict with a native race.

Oh, and, it’s also in 3D.

Of course there’s going to be a video game for this kind of movie, right? But here’s the kicker: The game will be released before the movie and feature an entirely original plot.

“Games derived from movies, let’s face it, sometimes have kinda sucked,” Cameron told the crowd, “and I didn’t want anything associated with ‘Avatar’ to suck.”

So Cameron’s people gave Ubisoft complete access to the film’s CGI database and has been working closely with the game developer.

And it’s worked out well. Actually, Ubisoft has been able to create its own items and vehicles for the Avatar world, some of which are now being incorporated into the movie.

According to Yannis Mallat, president of Ubisoft Montreal, the game developer put together more than 100 shots that will be in the feature film.

“Our expertise has come full circle,” Mallat said. “Avatar is using groundbreaking technology, and the result is truly spectacular.”

It’s perhaps the best synergy of movie and video game in history.

“They’ve developed the game properly. It’s a fantastic game,” Cameron said.

The game will also be in full stereoscopic 3D. Cameron, who calls himself an avid video gamer, said it was the first time he’s ever been scared in a video game.

“I set out with Ubisoft to create the ideal model for how a game and a movie could be co-developed … with neither one being the red headed stepchild of the other, and I believe that we’ve done that,” he said.

Even with just one of the Big Three holding their press conference yesterday, there was plenty to talk about, with Microsoft the first to unveil Hideo Kojima’s new multiplatform Metal Gear title, as well as their potential solution for motion control/bringing down society with Skynet application, Project Natal. Here’s a roundup of our first day of coverage, for easy perusal:

• The first 10 songs in The Beatles Rock Band are…
• Tony Hawk shows off Tony Hawk: Ride
• Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2 announced
• Modern Warfare 2 DLC details
• Microsoft owned Big Park and Epic Games show their goods
• Forza 3 arriving this October
• Halo: Reach announced, ODST shown, dated, detailed
• Twitter, Facebook, last.fm, updated Netflix on the way to Xbox Live
• Halo 3: ODST branded Xbox controller first look
• Meet the case of Left 4 Dead 2
• Alan Wake is indeed alive and arriving spring 2010
• Final Fantasy XIII coming to Xbox 360 in spring 2010
• Halo 3: ODST is a full-priced game
• Ubisoft will reveal Red Steel 2, Avatar
• Project Natal, what we know so far
• The Old Republic MMO features all voice acting, no text
• Electronic Arts media briefing chock full of games
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising trailer
• Electronic Arts to publish All Points Bulletin
• What Tecmo is bringing to the show
• No More Heroes 2 to support MotionPlus?

Famed publisher Tecmo unveiled games to be shown at the company’s booth at E3 tomorrow and Thursday today and from the looks of the list, will have something for fans of all genres including the digital only XBLA/PSN contingency.

PS3- Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Quantum

PSP- Undead Knights

Wii- Family Fun Football. We already know some about this one.

XBLA/PSN‚­-Fret Nice, Puzzlegeddon, NBA Unrivaled

Blast will be lurking around the show floor tomorrow, so stay tuned for our coverage!

LOS ANGELES — We’re about an hour away from the Ubisoft press conference, but two big, big reveals just surfaced from a source briefed Ubisoft’s lineup:

According to the source, James Cameron will be on hand to talk about the video game adaptation of his film “Avatar.”

Also, details will be announced about a new Red Steel 2, a totally revamped sequel to the 2006 Wii game, which got poor reviews for its bugs and plot flaws despite an interesting control scheme.

We’ll see how this pans out in an hour.

Finnish developer Remedy began work on Alan Wake in 2005, and as it stands today, half-way through 2009, many thought the game went the way of the dodo.‚  Extinct. Gone. Forever.

But no, revealed this morning at the Microsoft media briefing was the man so many thought was lost, to never be seen again.‚  However, a lengthy trailer, in its glorious entirety was shown to media types this morning and needless to say, we could not be more excited.

That said however, we didn’t see too much.‚  Only dark, ominous locations, a third person point of view, and the flashlight wielding Mr. Wake himself traversing scary landscapes.‚  The game is promised to “see the light of day” spring 2010. You know, unless it gets delayed or something.

It seems like just yesterday that Valve released their horrifyingly addictive Left 4 Dead first-person-shooter experience, but believe it or not, a sequel, announced this morning is alive, breathing, and on the way later this year for Xbox 360 and PC.

The game takes place this time around in the southern reaches of the United States, namely Savannah Georgia, in and around the bayou, and all the way to the painful ending in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

With Zoe and co. nowhere to be found in this sequel, what four zombie-killers will we have the opportunity, no, pleasure to play as this time around?

Valve didn’t drop any names just yet, but have a look at the poster below to see the group in their movie-poster style shot.

The guy on the very right bears a striking resemblance to the Scout from TF2, but could be just a coincidence, or plain wrong on my part.

Prepare to drop, as Bungie showed off Halo 3: ODST today at the Microsoft media briefing with brand new, never before seen in-game footage from the game and details surrounding Halo: Reach, a brand new IP‚  from the Seattle-based developer.

A Bungie developer played through what looked to be the opening cinematic from the title, set weeks before Halo 3, with a single ODST, or Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, falling from space, to the city of New Mombasa.‚  Once landed, the Bungie employee spoke to how the narrative will unfold.‚  He stated that the story will be told in a “unique way,” and one that will move freely around many members of the ODST clan.

You’ll visit the past, or flashbacks from the eyes of many ODST’s in order to solve the puzzle of New Mombasa and get out alive.‚  We were shown “The Rookie,” the first new playable character, but we were also taken inside the body of “Dutch” in another mission.

New features include 2 suppressed fire weapons, a see-in-the-dark visor and a new, urban setting perfect for raising hell in.‚  We were walked through a scene in which a bridge, full of Covenant scum, was obliterated with a couple shots from the Spartan Laser.‚  Bad ass? Indeed, can’t wait to see, and hear more from Bungie throughout the week.

Halo 3: ODST arrives on shelves September 22, 2009.

However, what you’re most likely much more interested in is Bungie’s latest endeavor, “Halo: Reach.”‚  Officially announced today, Reach is mostly under wraps at this point, but from the trailer we were shown, all signs point to a Halo 1 prequel, as a planet, most likely the Spartan home of Reach was destroyed as readers of the novel can confirm.

Interestingly, should you purchase Halo 3: ODST you’ll be granted beta access to Halo: Reach’s multiplayer component.‚  These signs seem to indicate that Halo: Reach is not simply Halo 4, rather a staggering revision, in mechanics to the series.

Halo: Reach is likely very far away from release, but Bungie has claimed fall 2010 to be the season and‚  year.‚  We’ll see.

Microsoft unvieled what they’re calling the “definitive racing game” this morning at their E3 media briefing and from what was shown and talked about, they might just be able to back up that lofty claim.

Confirmed additions to the title include a new game engine that allows the title to run at a blistering 60 frames per second, 400 cars from 50 manufacturers, the ability to scan the gorgeous environment from the driver’s seat, and a new video editing feature to help bolster the games determined effort to reacha new level of social interactivity within the genre.

The producer of Forza 3 was on-stage promoting his game with a fire red and gorgeous Audi, a playable vehicle, resting behind hilm in a mass of billowing fog.‚  Quite the scene indeed.

Customization is paramount in Forza 3 as each and every car will be fully, fully tailorable to really whatever your mind can conjure up.

Forza 3 will hit shelves this October, or so promises Mr. Producer man.

LOS ANGELES — The first 10 songs to be officially confirmed for The Beatles: Rock Band were unveiled this morning at the Microsoft media briefing the day before the official start of E3.

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr also graced the stage to promote the game featuring their likenesses, however their showing didn’t add too much to the experience.

Furthermore, the album “Abbey Road” will be available in it’s entirety shortly after launch and the tune “All You Need is Love” will be exclusive to Xbox Live with the proceeds to be given to Doctors without Borders.

I saw her standing there.

I want to hold your hand

I feel fine

Day Tripper

Taxman

I am the walrus

Back in the USSR

Octopus’s garden

Here comes the sun

Get Back

John M. Guilfoil contributed reporting from Los Angeles.

In surprise-destroying nature the long rumored, and now near officially confirmed next installment in the PSP hardware line, the PSP Go, was revealed last night via an early leak of next month’s June issue of Qore.

Sorry Sony executives, now we just won’t be surprised when we hear and see you unveil your latest mystery product next week at E3, but that doesn’t mean the handheld isn’t intriguing.

The PSP Go will eschew the UMD drive in favor of digital downloads via the built in 16GB of flash storage, has built in Bluetooth, ‚ is 43% lighter than the PSP 3000, and will not replace the PSP 3000 on retail shelves when it releases in fall 2009.

Best of all, in the leaked video we see LittleBigPlanet, the PSP version in action, as well as the confirmation of a new Metal Gear Solid portable version on the way!

Official specs, images, and video (sorry for audio clipping and out of sync-ness, it was a leak what can you expect?) below and we’ll be damn sure to bring you more details when Sony officially announces the system next week in Los Angeles.

• 3.8-inch display (resolution is undisclosed)
• 43 percent lighter than the PSP-3000
• 16GB of Flash storage
• Bluetooth built-in; supports handset tethering and BT headsets
• No UMD drive
• Memory Stick Micro slot
• New Gran Turismo, Little Big Planet and new Metal Gear Solid ‚ on the way
• Full PlayStation Network support (movie and TV rentals / purchases)
• Integration with PlayStation 3 (works the same as the PSP-3000 does)
• Sony views each of its products as “10-year lifecycle products,” so the PSP “needs to live on.”

via Endgadget

Pandemic Studios’ released what they’re calling the E3 trailer for their latest project, The Saboteur today, and is a pretty thing to look.

The Saboteur is a uniquely stylized sanbox-type game where you play as Sean Delvin, a street-tough Irish race car mechanic turned driver in 1904s German occupied France.‚  You’ll be killing a lot of dudes in this game and if you can’t wait to see what that’ll look like.‚  Take a gander at the video below!

We’ll have our hands on The Saboteur at E3 next week, so check back for our initial reactions to what looks to be a uniquely intriguing title.

Once again, Blast heads west for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, otherwise known as E3, the highlight of the video gaming year.

Boston’s Online Magazine is going to Los Angeles to bring the news back home.

Editor John Guilfoil and gaming reporter Bradley Ouellette will be ardently working for four days, mainly getting drunk and playing games, to keep you, our loyal and necessary readers, updated.

We do it because we love you.

Click here to see all of Blast’s E9 2009 coverage.

It’s about time that Jump Start tapped into the Wii demographic to sell their brand, and that’s just what they did with today’s announcement of a partnership with leading education-based video game publisher Knowledge Adventure to bring “Jump Start: Pet Rescue” to the Wii.

Dubbed the first pre-school Wii game, Pet Rescue looks very accommodating to the little ones with its bright, colorful, and simplistic art style, complemented by the happy reactions of all when the cute little pets find their way back home.

Don’t believe me?‚  Have a look at the screens below and stayed tuned next week when our own John Guilfoil heads to Los Angeles for E3 and chats it up with developers!

With E3 2009 nearly upon us, rumors are flying high, emotions are flaring up, and our wildest hopes and dreams will soon either be validated or painfully crushed.‚  What will we learn this year about the pastime we love so much?‚  Who will be the winners, the losers, and the face-palming failboats of the show?‚  Will we see a PS3 price cut, an Xbox 360 motion controller device, or a Wii Zelda title?

The answers to these epic questions will be answered in just a couple short weeks, but for now, we’ve compiled the hopes, predictions, and thoughts regarding E3 2009 from Blast’s video game contributors for your reading pleasure.

John M. Guilfoil — Editor-in-chief (attending this year)

Last year was my first E3 after dreaming about going every year since 1998 when I started reviewing video games. I would read about it in magazines and talk to other reviewers about the spectacle of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. I still have an old CD-ROM issue of Interactive Entertainment magazine where they talk about going to E3. In its old form, it was larger than life.

Then I went last year.

Blah.

It felt like an investor’s summit. There was no energy. No excitement. And worst of all, there wasn’t any news!

Now this year the hype is back, and the energy feels high. I’m finding myself more pumped for my second visit than my first.

Last year was the year of music games — even Disney brought a music title to the mix. I get the feeling that the focus is on multiplayer and massively multiplayer online games. Nexon has already unveiled a new mode for their 2 million-user Combat Arms. Fallen Earth is showcasing some interesting, Fallout-esque visuals.

I also am confident that we’ll see both a new Mario and a new Zelda announcement. Nintendo has to pull a rabbit out of its ass this year after making the biggest splash in the belly flop contest that was last year’s E3. I feel like Microsoft is really comfortable with their lead, so anything huge from them would be a surprise. It’s Sony that I can’t make a call on. We’re at the end of PS2, PSP is still flat, and PS3 is trying to get momentum.

I like to scope out the little guys. Last year I liked what I saw from D3.‚  I’m curioius about what I’ll see this year from smaller developers.

Majesco — I’m a sucker for retro — is showing off a new “a boy and his blob” game, which I’m excited for.

Biggest question mark: Atari. I crowned them in Blast and in the Boston Globe with some of the best potential games of E3, and I have no idea what they’re bringing this time around, despite repeated inquiries. Either way, I still root for them.

Marc Normandin — Games Editor

Supposedly, this year’s E3 is supposed to be more like we as gamers want it to be, rather than the mostly boring financial meeting it has become. That’s great news for those of us that enjoy the slow drip of gaming news, and should also mean that the show should have more megaton announcements for all three of the big guns–Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

Sony and Microsoft will continue their struggle to control the future of gaming in HD, and there has been a lot of loud whispering in regards to motion-controlled options for both the PS3 and the Xbox360, so expect to hear something about that at the show. Sony went big last year with their show, displaying many games that blew us away, but at the same time, did not even release during 2008–expect to see more of those games in detail, given this is the next year’s show. There’s also this year’s big PSP lineup, which was mostly teased earlier this year, with little in the way of additional info coming forth since. Microsoft has been quiet with their published exclusives lately, so it seems like the time to announce one (or three) is now, at the show. Personally, I feel like they need to. Yes, they have the momentum in a way due to the larger install base and the back catalog of games, but as the PS3 releases more self-published exclusives and receives some of the very good to great 360 games with additional content or fewer bugs‚  (Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia, the “exclusive” Fallout 3 DLC), Microsoft may start to see their grip loosen.

Nintendo needs to make up for last year’s show. It isn’t that it was as horrendous as some made it out to be–there were some neat things that came out of it, including the soon-to-be-released Wii Motion Plus–but the fact that they claimed the “core” audience would be happy–an impossible task that many are taking notice of–was their downfall as far as expectations go. They have been very tight-lipped about what is going on at the show this year, which makes wonder if they have something up their sleeve. Expect a lot of attention on the Wii, given the DSi has been the focus for the past year or so. Pikmin 3, which was informally announced last year, would go a long ways towards healing some wounds, were a vtrailer or gameplay video to surface. Same goes for a new Mario, Zelda, etc., or a new “core” IP. IGN has been saying that Retro Studios (Metroid Prime) has something in the works that will rock all of our socks off, so maybe E3 is when we will see that unveiled.

Eddie Makuch — Gaming News Reporter

First off, I cannot fathom a more exciting and alluring event for fans of the video game sector than that of the E3 convention.‚  Thousands of video game journalists as well as publishers and developers will flock to Los Angeles in the beginning of June to finally reveal what has long been rumored as well as catch fans and journalists alike completely off guard with the perennial unbelievable announcement.

As a disclaimer, I would classify my specific thoughts as on the more wild side of we are likely to see, but are not impossibly farfetched, at least I think so.

Sure we’ve heard rumors of a PS3 price cut, or even a total “slim” redesign, but will Sony cave and take an even further loss per console as a good PR move?‚  I have this rumbling in my gut that is telling me Sony has geared up and will show up hard at E3 with some head-rolling announcements.‚  However, what I feel is more likely than a PS3 price cut/redesign, is that of the official announcement and reveal of the latest PSP model, complete with the eschewing of the UMD drive as well as larger screen, touch functionality, and more effective internet capabilities. If 2009 is to be the year of Sony, a new PSP and some significant and exciting PS3 information absolutely must be shown.

On the Microsoft side of things, I strongly believe they’ve got some mammoth tricks up their sleeves, including possibly the long rumored Xbox 360/Zune hybrid.‚  No I do not expect the “Zune 60″ to have phone capabilities, as Microsoft already has a firm grip and devotion to their Windows Mobile user base, rather an entry to the portable gaming and music sector.‚  Someone has to fend off the iPhone don’t they?‚  I feel if correctly implemented, with the best the Zune has to offer combined with the untapped Microsoft handheld gaming, fueled by XNA possibly, the “Zune 60″could truly be a force to be reckoned with.‚  On the more believable side of announcements I think Microsoft will show off Halo 3: ODST because really, what is E3 without more Halo?‚  The overarching theme for the Microsoft showing at E3 2009 I believe will be not only the slew of new titles but also the company’s further involvement in the Xbox 360 as a home entertainment device, whether that be a revolutionized Netflix service, or any number of social networking capabilities (Facebook, Twitter) made available on the Xbox 360 itself.‚  The goal is to keep us plugged in as much as possible right?

As far as Nintendo is concerned, I am hoping, praying, and crossing my fingers for a new Zelda Wii title as well as more information regarding Spirit Tracks for the DS.‚  Nintendo President Satoru Iwata stated last year that the core Zelda teams are hard at work, but is it time for a new Wii Zelda?‚  I just don’t know.‚  While I would absolutely love more Zelda, I don’t believe it would be out of the realm of possibility to see another Mario platformer, but where do they go next if space is the final frontier?

Also, as is long rumored, the Netflix service may finally find its way to the Wii console, which would quell any fan clamoring for a DVD drive. ‚ Overall, I do not expect too much from Nintendo at this year’s showing, but I think they’ve got to address the core, at least a bit more than last year.

As a pre-show wrap up I believe a scary thought surrounding this year’s show is that of major announcements and reveals being turned to white noise based on the sheer volume of parties involved.‚  If we do end up seeing a high number of spectacular reveals and announcements from every company they won’t feel as important, and this frightens me.

Chase Gharrity – Games Correspondent

My prediction for Microsoft is their unveiling of the highly rumored motion sensing device for Xbox.‚  However, instead of being just an add-on, I think the folks at Microsoft will be presenting a look into their next-gen system.‚  The new system will have full body motion sensing capabilities, offering a gaming experience unlike any other.‚  Furthermore, I foresee an extended look at Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and a preview for Fallout: New Vegas complete with Xbox-exclusive DLCs.

Nintendo will also look to ruffle some feathers with their motion sensing technology.‚  Because it seems to be so trendy, I will predict that there will be an announcement and preview for Pikmin 3.‚  No new Zelda or StarFox titles will be mentioned, but I do expect a new Pokemon version or two to be announced for the DS.‚  Also, be on the lookout for some cool new Wii controller add-ons for upcoming games.

Unlike Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony will stay away from any motion sensing announcements.‚  Instead, Playstation fans should expect some news regarding a nex-gen PSP (Perhaps with cellular phone technology?‚  Maybe Netflix movie streaming via WiFi?).‚  Also, I predict a massive price drop for the PS3 and some exciting upcoming game announcements, previews and demos.

Stephen Greenwell — Games Reviewer

The Anticipated: Like any other geek with a pulse, I’m very interested in seeing what Square Enix is up to with Final Fantasy XIII, and there is always the chance that they’ll use E3 as an opportunity to formerly announce the sequel to The World Is Not Enough… Please? ‚ Pretty please?

The Dreaded: Well, now that Duke Nukem Forever’s status is back to canceled (this month), I suppose we don’t have that to kick around anymore, Nixon-style. ‚ I will instead add my voices to the many worrying about all the shovelware and generic casual gaming crap being developed for the Wii. ‚ At some point, people are going to get overwhelmed by all of the shoddy games being produced, and I’m worried that actual good, engaging and simple games – for example, what the new Punch-Out seems to be – will be forced out by the maddening crowd.

The Random: Looking at the floorplans for E3 is a fascinating example of how high school social dynamics repeat themselves throughout life for me. ‚ Atlus is my favorite company, but Nintendo’s booth is six times as big, with a fire aisle… And Sony has two booths as big as Nintendo’s. ‚ Gamespot does not make games and has a larger booth than Atlus. ‚ Square Enix just bought Eidos, but both have booths. ‚ And has a bigger booth than a dozen small gaming companies.

There you have it, exactly what we are expecting out of this years’ show, but what about you?‚  How do you see the convention going down?

ijji.com, the seven million user strong hardcore gamer hot spot revealed its total E3 lineup today including Huxley: The Dystopia, Soul of the Ultimate Nation, and a brand new unnamed World War 2 (ugh) first person shooter.

For the first time, journalists, including our very own John Guilfoil will be able to go hands-on with Huxley, an Unreal Engine (so it looks, sounds, and feels like Gears of War) built FPS complemented by MMO style character development.

The aforementioned Soul of the Ultimate Nation is an epic fantasy MMORPG that ijji will first show off at E3, because honestly, we don’t know much about it.

And wrapping up ijji’s showing at this year’s trade show the company will debut an unnamed WW2 shooter set before the finish of the bloody war where gamers will be granted the opportunity to choose a side and wreak all out war.

My apologies if the above reads as not very descript but it is only so because publishers are waiting for the show to go into full detail, which in turn will leave us with a clusterf*ck of information to take in, digest, and relay to you.‚  But fear not, for we will.

Vogster Entertainment, a new publisher in the video game sector, revealed the titles they’ll be showing off at E3 today.

The fledgling publisher is stressing variance in their approach to the market as they are hitting on both home console and portable gaming devices at this year’s show.

Unbound Saga for the PSP is based on the popular Dark Horse comic of the same name and is an arcade style, side-scrolling brawler that looks damn impressive and addicting based on the debut trailer.

Unbound Saga

CrimeCraft for PC is a ground breaking fusion of first-person-shooter, MMO, and RPG elements, classified as a PWNS or Persistent world Next-gen Shooter.‚  I like this idea very, very much and again, from the looks of the trailer, should be on all of our radar screens.

Crime Craft

Robocalypse: Beaver Defense is a mod of sorts of Tower Defense, and arrives of WiiWare complete with a narrative written by a SpongeBob Sqaurepants writer and a deranged beaver intent on destroying humanity as the main antagonist.‚  Oh WiiWare, because of you such games are possible.

Beaver Defense

And finally, Robocalypse: Mobile Mayhem is an iPhone/iPod Touch real time strategy and humor fused title that is both fast paced and friendly.‚  Ahh so many genres crossing at once!!

Again, we’ll be at E3, reporting on everything that goes down.‚  Start the countdown, we’re mere weeks away.

E3 2009 is directly around the corner, calmly awaiting our arrival.‚  And yes, Blast will be in Los Angeles for the show in early June with our eyes widened to the ungodly amount of information we’ll be assaulted with and our fingers ready to pound away and relay you the information gathered in the three short days we’re in town.

The show is two weeks away, but we already have breaking information.‚  What do we have for you?

How about a lengthy list of never before announced titles, products, and food (yes food), to be shown at next month’s convention?‚  You’re in luck, because we have just that.

Note: the full list is impossibly long and we’ve made the executive, but also informed decision, to show you what is likely to be the most exciting.‚  However, we are not always right, actually I am often wrong, and the full list can be viewed, in PDF form‚  mind you, here.

Atlus U.S.A will be showing off the following titles, Droplitz, Persona: SMT, Devil Survivor, Class of Heroes, Steambot Chronicles Battle Tournament, and the hotly anticipated Knights in the Nightmare for Nintendo DS.

Here’s where it gets awesomely interesting.‚  Gamer Grub is bringing grub 2.0 to the show packed full of vitamins and nutrients supporting “cognitive function” and comes in four flavors Pizza, PB&J, Chocolate and Wasabi.‚  Hell yes, Wasabi. Count me in.

From Majesco Entertainment comes Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2010: The Biggest Loser’s as a sequel to the absolute runaway hit original.‚  Not for me, but maybe for you.‚  Also from the publisher comes A boy and his Blob the revision of the NES classic for Wii.

MTV Games is coming to the show in full force with The Beatles: Rock Band, the widely coveted music game from the famed studio and will certainly be a hotspot on the convention floor in June.

Performance Designed Products has the Gametrak Freedom, the Wii-mote type motion controller for the Xbox 360 and Squeeballs, the first game compatible with the accessory on hand, and also is likely to be the center of mass excitement.

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment is also coming to the show with guns blazing, but by guns I mean, guitars, and by guitars I mean LEGO inspired guitars.‚  That’s right, WB will be at the show with LEGO: Rock Band, the first truly family friendly title available in the genre, and we’re excited to say the least to play this one.‚  Also from WB comes the first showing of Lord of The Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, also a family oriented take on the franchise with what WB calls a “colorful rendition of Middle Earth.”‚  I always thought the LOTR universe was a scary, bloody place, but who knows, this might work with promises of action, sword fighting, lancing and archery.

Well, there we have it, you saw it here first, the above titles and other goodies, once previously unannounced will grace the E3 floor in just a few weeks and we’ll bring you all the hot action as it unfolds.

Excited about learning more gory details regarding Capcom’s Dead Rising sequel at E3 early next month?‚  That’s too bad because this darn Swine Flu issue has the Capcom Osaka team hunkered down in influenza-stricken Japan.

The Japanese government has issued an advisable restriction to all citizens on international travel, and a trip to Los Angeles to promote a video game apparently is not in the company’s best interest.

And according to gaming blog site Kotaku, the situation is being handled as such:

“Our Capcom guys are not coming to E3 because of the Japanese government restrictions,” said Capcom’s Chris Kramer, Senior Director, Communications and Community. “The company is taking the advisory very seriously.”

You might be thinking, “Hey, isn’t Blue Castle, the Canada based studio working on Dead Rising 2?”

Yupp, you’re right, but not completely.‚  See, Keiji Inafune, executive producer of Dead Rising 2 and his minions are overseeing production, albeit from thousands of miles away in Japan, and will not leave the island nation.

But certainly someone from Blue Castle has enough knowledge to demonstrate the title to journalists at the show, right?‚  Nope.‚  According to Kramer, “Dead Rising 2 is the only game we won’t be able to showcase at E3, because it’s at an early stage of development and the team is not comfortable having anyone else demo the code.”

This is hardly a deal-breaker for the power of E3, because really, DR2 is not a ground breaking IP.‚  We’ve played it before, and the next iteration will be different, but we’ve got time to see it before its to be determined release date.

Blast has reached out to Capcom for comment and will update when we hear back.

Via Kotaku

The Entertainment Software Association, the group putting on the massive E3 convention in just a few short weeks have released the floor plans for the 2009 show and just as you’d expect, tons of video game companies are showing up to show off their wares.

Nothing too exciting to see here, just publishers, developers, and booth babes abound at the LA convention center.

Personally, I have‚  never been more excited for a gaming show, and for some reason believe that heads will roll after the big three publishers unveil their plans.‚  Time will tell, for now enjoy these floorplans.

West Hall

South Hall

Larger images at the E3 2009 page at the ESA website