I don’t know about the last twenty years — I haven’t been paying attention to console releases that long — but I agree that Fall 2009, while still exciting, has felt less stressful than at least the last four Falls.

This is the saddest story that I read all week. I just wonder if the moment was really as sombre as the writer conveyed it.

I forgot all about New Super Mario Bros. when I wrote my plans for Fall ’09. It looks amazing; add it to the list.

Assuming they aren’t just glorified advergames, Flash games made by a major developer could something great.

Moments later, zombies burst through the window.

Just as The Phoenix Wright Files was chocked with fan-service and silliness involving fan-favorite characters from the Ace Attorney games, so is The Miles Edgeworth Files. If you aren’t prepared for absurdity such as Edgeworth going to extreme lengths to keep Pearl Fey from being exposed to the sad ending of a TV movie, or seeing Edgeworth fight a bear while armed only with Pink Princess Chocolate bars, look elsewhere. Or just skip those stories, because there’s plenty more where they came from. Over twenty, in fact! Many of which have obviously been written with the swooning fan-girl in mind, but any fan of Ace Attorney should still be able to appreciate even the most frilly stories. Not every entry in The Mile Edgeworth Files is a stranger to seriousness, though; the very first tale in the manga concerns Edgeworth considering ending his career in prosecution. The legendary “frienemy” relationship between Miles and Phoenix is also spotlighted throughout the book.

That is to say, if you’re a fan of Ace Attorney — and especially if you’re looking forward to the upcoming Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth game — you should definitely pick up Official Casebook Vol. 2: The Miles Edgeworth Files.

Bullet-point highlights from the Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft conferences. My favorites from Microsoft: Crackdown 2, Alan Wake. From EA: Crysis 2, hooray! The Saboteur looks rad. And Ubisoft: I am stupid amounts of excited for Splinter Cell. Rabbids make me sick.

Sequels! More Mario looks good.

Price drop? Aw. Really, though, I was glad to see Final Fantasy XIV will be coming to PC in addition to PS3 just as XI did.

Brink is the game that I most wanted information about when going into E3. I haven’t made up my mind on S.M.A.R.T. yet (it’s explained in the video embedded below), but I think it may make more sense within the context of the game. I hope we get to see some gameplay soon. I’d also like to know what Bethesda’s involvement is with this project; they haven’t said much, only Splash Damage has. I’ve got a feeling Bethesda may just be publishing on this one.

Unbeknownst to me until very recently, a manga based on the Ace Attorney series of video games have been coming out in Japan since 2007. Fortunately for us fans, Capcom has a hit on their hands and in September of 2008 they, along with Del Rey Manga, brought it to the western world under the name Official Casebook Vol. 1: The Phoenix Wright Files.

Seemingly taking place some time after Trials and Tribulations (the third Ace Attorney game), The Phoenix Wright Files consists of twenty short stories, with each one featuring a new creator or creative team and a unique glance at the happenings that take place before, after, and during a case. Since an entire trial is never depicted ad nauseum, expect most of it to be a behind the scenes look at some of Phoenix and Maya’s more non-pertinent-to-non-superfans everyday activities that you miss out on in the games. Since there’s a different artist for every story, expect to see some interesting interpretations of your favorite characters’ appearance (chibi Edgeworth and Von Karma are a sight to behold). The creators also appear to be fans of the video game series as the back of the book contains personal messages from them accompanied by a drawing of their favorite character. I found this to be a nice touch. Also at the back of the book is an untranslated four page preview of Volume 2 of the Ace Attorney Manga: The Miles Edgeworth Files.

I enjoyed reading these stories immensely. The Ace Attorney series is by far my favorite Nintendo DS franchise and this manga collection did a lot to enrich my love and appreciation for the game’s characters. I’ll recommend that any fan of the games gives it a read, but I’d advise you to wait until you’ve finished the first three games as minor spoilers are sprinkled throughout; the writers definitely assume that you’ve played through them by way of references and guest appearances. The cover price is $14.95 in the US but it can be had for $11.95 at ScifiGenre.

In my original article I mentioned that THQ is bringing it to Wii and DS sometime in 2008. The Wii version dropped a week or two ago and seems to have been met with critical success. It’s currently the 17th highest ranked Wii game on Metacritic with an average score of 82. Worthplaying gave it a 90 and said “It is a rare game that can appeal equally well to both the casual and hardcore crowds, yet de Blob does just that.”. EuroGamer had a grim comment that I hope won’t turn out to be true, “Probably the best and worst thing about de Blob is that it’s got ‘Destined For Cult Status’ written all over it.” GamePlayer felt De Blob worthy of a perfect 10 saying that it is “The first third-party Wii game that would have Mr Miyamoto bowing in awed respect.” Nice.

Reviews aside, the purpose of this post is simply to remind you about De Blob and its roots as a student project on the PC. While the breadth of its gameplay has evolved significantly during its transition to the Wii, its whimsical spirit and aesthetics appear to have stayed intact. Check it out on PC and consider giving it a look if you happen to own a Wii. The DS version looks like it’s going to bake a bit longer before it’s ready for consumption; it’s the version that I’ll be giving a try.

I have been wanting to write a post addressing certain issues for quite some time, but I could never collect my thoughts well enough to put together a case to present. So during this year’s E3 I made a point of listening to responses from both the gaming community and the gaming press via forums, comments, blogs, and podcasts.

It is apparent to me that the press is not happy about where E3 stands as an event. I haven’t been able to discern whether or not if, overall, they are dissatisfied as games journalists or simply as gamers, but I am not sure that it matters. I don’t know that they have much reason to be upset either way.

Maybe it’s because I am not the type of person who enjoys being a part of a huge crowd and a big to do, but I never saw the point of the spectacle made at past E3 events during its “glory years”. I just wanted to know about games. That kind of spectacle is obviously in the past now that the show has become an invite-only event for press, but there is definitely an outcry lamenting the passing of the old show’s format. Many complaints are from the very people that were the most vocal in wishing for a smaller, more controlled show after 2006′s event. Now they don’t see the point in flying out to LA in the first place because there isn’t a party with booze, skydivers and tits around every corner. Things like that aren’t going to exist without public attendance, and with public attendance, the press isn’t going to be able to cover games, which is what they’re there for in the first place. Remember two hour long lines to get a shot at a Wii station? I was never there, but I remember watching people over a live stream online. It didn’t look fun. Most people had lost their voices by the end of the week. I almost felt guilty for consuming the news being delivered to me over the web.

Now the show floor is docile. The press can make their appointments and get to see and/or play most of the games that are there and they don’t even sound like they want to swallow a bottle of pills during their wrap-up shows at the end of the week. Unfortunately, those shows are riddled with complaints about how Microsoft can’t decide on their target demographic. Well, guess what? they’re running a business. They want to sell consoles to anybody that they can. I personally don’t feel ignored by Microsoft. They showed me Gears of War 2. They have Halo Wars coming as well as another alleged Bungie Halo project. They even shelled out for Final Fantasy 13. I’m still being catered to, so I’m perfectly alright with them making an experimental Banjo game as well as Lips.

I hear complaints that Sony is playing catch-up with shooters, movie downloads and community features, but a few months ago I heard the same people complaining that they WEREN’T playing catch-up. I can’t defend their other business practices because frankly, I’m a long way away from purchasing a PS3 for use as a gaming system, but give them a break when they deserve it.

I hear complaints that Nintendo is targeting the casual market exclusively. Really, who didn’t see that coming? Cover the games for what they are like you’re supposed to; Nintendo isn’t doing anything unexpected. Everything deserves equal coverage. Just like Nintendo’s entire market isn’t just casual players, your website and/or magazine’s entire market isn’t just the hardcore. Don’t alienate our parents. You’re trying to maintain and grow a reader-base just as much as the big three are trying to maintain and grow a player-base.

Maybe I’m being too much of an idealist when I think everybody should just be happy with what we get. That we should just take it in stride. Or maybe I’m just not as offended as everybody else seems to be because I enjoy the openness of the PC platform for much of my gaming time and only visit consoles for games in very specific genres. Either way, I have to say that, as a consumer and a person who has been gaming every day for the last 18+ years, I am walking away from viewing E3 coverage very excited for the future. It doesn’t matter to me that a bunch of executives made asses of themselves on stage while trying to make their games seem fun, innovative or exciting. I’m not reading or watching to be entertained by men in suits or to see a party going on that I can’t or don’t want to attend. I don’t care how empty the show floor was or if there was little to no general public awareness of the show outside of the building due to lack of “signage”. Why would they waste money making their presence known? It’s a press event; “signage” would just attract the very public that they are trying to keep out. Maybe that causes the event to be not so worth the mainstream press’ time, but if we have to use tits and skydivers to get their attention so that we can attain some kind of artificial feeling of legitimacy, we’re doing something wrong in the first place. There’s a deeper problem.

Or maybe it really is the fault of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Maybe they should cater only to the limited market that is the “hardcore” or “otaku” crowd. It has kept them afloat financially up to this point, but I’d personally rather see them maintain the balance that they’ve been struggling to hit by appealing to a casual audience as well. Let them perfect that. I want to see the market expand. That’s the ultimate way to obtain legitimacy, if that’s what we’re after.

But if we go that route, do we really even need E3? I say yes. It’s important to have a press-only event so that blanket coverage is possible. Rapid-fire coverage is a fun time for consumers. If all of the game companies’ “megatons” aren’t revealed there, that’s okay. Something always gets revealed that wasn’t supposed to. This year we had a KOTOR MMO and a new Pikmin game. No Kid Icarus? Most of the press were meeting rumors of the revival of that franchise with a resounding “meh” during the lead-up to E3. Afterwards, Nintendo is chastised for its absence. I’m willing to wager that if it had been shown the response would be “tell us something we don’t know”, just as the responses Microsoft received were due to their leaks. We have unrealistic expectations, people.

I don’t think I am wrong in saying that our own press has become a little bit jaded and that their priorities have deviated. I feel like the current attitudes are doing our industry a bit of a disservice, but I also don’t think the gaming community is helping matters much by jumping on the bandwagon. I want to ask everybody to reflect on what I’ve said here as well as our industry, our hobby, and our culture for a moment and ask yourself what you really think about where we are right now and where we’re heading.

The video is of an interview with two developers of a Nintendo DS application called KORG DS-10. It’s a full-blown synthesizer for your DS that allows you to create entire songs that you can output to external mixers and even save to the flash cart. As I am a huge fan of 8-bit music and especially music that is generated using GameBoy systems (pornophonique, anyone?), this application is quite relevant to my interests! I have read in a couple of places that this will be coming to the States at some point, but in the video they are unsure. I don’t know who to believe, but I’ll import it if I have to. I’m pretty sure it’s coming out in July.