Nasty Navi

Although there's a lot to look forward to in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, I'd look forward to this soon-to-be-released 3DS title a lot more fervently if it featured a foul-mouthed Navi like the one depicted in the drawing below.

This nasty Navi was drawn by ever-bearded artist Drew Green, by the way. To see more of his creations, check out his blog, deviantART gallery, Flickr photostream or tumblog.

Yeesh

I just finished watching Microsoft's E3 2011 press conference. I wasn't impressed.

How unimpressed was I? Well, during the first third of the conference--which focused on creatively-barren sequels like Forza Motorsport 4, Gears of War 3, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, a Halo: Combat Evolved remake and Modern Warfare 3--my face looked like this:

Don't get me wrong, none of the above-mentioned games looked bad. In fact, all of them looked quite good graphically. That said, their gameplay didn't appeal to me in any way. Of course, I've never been an FPS fan or a fan of racing games that aren't called F-Zero or Mario Kart, so I guess that shouldn't be considered a surprise.

The first third of Microsoft's conference wasn't a complete wash, though; Mass Effect 3 looked nice enough (although the voice controls via Kinect seemed a bit pointless), as did the next entry in the Tomb Raider series.

What did I think of the last two-thirds of the conference--which, aside from the oh-so-shocking (or not) last-second reveal of Halo 4, focused on Kinect titles? This photo does a pretty good job of summing up my thoughts:

Admittedly, Dance Central 2 looked cool. Also, the Wii Sports rip-off Kinect Sports: Season Two looked acceptable. (Laggy, but acceptable.) Other than those two titles, though, the Kinect portion of the conference was filled with yeesh-inducing announcements--like Lionhead's carriage-driving simulator, Fable: The Journey, and the laggy (there's that word again), on-rails Kinect Star Wars.

Will Sony's presser, which takes place later today at 5 pm Pacific, or Nintendo's, which starts tomorrow at 9 am Pacific, be less yeesh-worthy? I sure hope so.

My PS3 'to buy' list just grew a bit longer

In a way, I think it's funny that I bought an Xbox 360 instead of a PS3 just over a month ago, as there are many more PS3 games--including 3D Dot Game Heroes, Afrika, Disgaea 3 and 4, Siren: Blood Curse and Valkyria Chronicles--on my "to buy" list than there are Xbox 360 ones.

That situation was made even funnier last week thanks to a few rather scrumptious PS3 game announcements and releases.

Case in point: The PSN release of Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls. Full disclosure: I've never played a Wizardry game before. Hell, it's worse than that: I know next to nothing about this hallowed series of dungeon-crawling RPGs.

That said, I want to play Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls. Badly. Desperately. Why? Well, although I know it's a bit superficial of me, but I really like how it looks. Also, it reminds me of Etrian Odyssey--although I realize this game is quite different from that DS release.

Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls isn't the only recently released or soon-to-be-released game that has me jonesing for a PS3. Another is Sony's ICO/ Shadow of the Colossus Collection. (Check out andriasang.com for a pic of the Japanese "Limited Box" version of this release as well as a trailer.)

As for the Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill and Zone of the Enders "HD Collections" that the folks from Konami will soon be bringing to the PS3--I have to admit the only one I'm even somewhat interested in is the Silent Hill compilation. (I'd be much more interested if it included the series' first and fourth entries, too.)

Really, all of the above is just my long-winded way of saying I (still) want a PS3. Of course, I also want a Master System (or maybe a Mark III), a PC Engine LT, a Saturn and a Sega CDX. I guess I'd better win the lottery soon if any of that's going to become a reality, eh?

The LEGO Pokémon you've been waiting for

OK, so it's really the LEGO Pokémon I've been waiting for--but I guess that could go without saying since this is my blog.

Anyway, the LEGO Pokémon that anyone with an ounce of taste has been waiting for is Filip Johannes Felberg's LEGO Scraggy (below).

As you can see in this photo, Felberg's latest batch of LEGO Pokémon creations includes three other Pokémon Black/White characters: Dwebble, Purrloin and Venipede.

To see more of his blocky reimaginings, check out these blog posts or Felberg's Flickr photostream.

My hopes and fears for the 'big three' at E3

E3 2011 is upon us. Well, as of Monday. Anyway, I'm excited. I'm also a bit wary, as I've been through the ups and downs associated with such events many times over the years.

So, what am I excited about and what is making me a bit wary--or, rather, what are my hopes and fears for the "big three" at this most awesome of gaming events? Well, here are my hopes:

Microsoft--Honestly, I'm not expecting much from Microsoft. You know they're going to show a bunch of "hardcore" games and a bunch of Kinect titles. I have little interest in either. I'll be perfectly happy, though, if they announce even a few wow-worthy XBLA titles.



Nintendo--As of now, this event is all about Nintendo for me, as I'm curious to see what they have planned for the 3DS and the Wii successor, currently known as Project Café. Regarding the latter, I'm looking for the company's latest console as well as its launch software to wow me like the Wii and Wii Sports did at E3 in 2006. Also, I hope Nintendo announces a few more Wii releases. I'd love to see the new Kirby, The Last Story, Rhythm Heaven/ Tengoku Wii and Xenoblade all brought to North America, but I'll be happy if even one or two of them come our way.

Sony--Will we finally get a release date and release price for Sony's next portable, which seemingly is going to be called PS Vita? I hope so. I also hope we get a peek at some of the stellar first- and third-party games that surely are being planned for the system.

As for my fears for the "big three" at this E3, here they are:

Microsoft--I fear they're going to expend most of their energy on so-called hardcore and Kinect games and ignore XBLA.

Nintendo--I fear they're going to completely drop the ball on the DS and Wii. I know the 3DS is now the company's focus in the portable space, but there are plenty of DS and DSi owners out there who aren't going to upgrade anytime soon and who would still like to play some new games--games like the Lemmings-esque Kirby title that's going to be released in Japan this August or the fourth entry in the Professor Layton series. As for the Wii, well, Project Café, or whatever the console ends up being called, isn't going to hit store shelves until next summer, if not later. Why not localize a few--or, even better, all--of the as-of-now-Japan-only games mentioned above in the meantime?



Sony--I fear that Sony is going to wait too long to release the PS Vita in the US--it has to hit store shelves before Christmas, in my opinion--and slap a price tag on the system that's far too high given current economic conditions. The system is likely to find success in Japan regardless of price thanks to its rabid fan base and games like Monster Hunter, but its future is much less certain in the States. If it's not priced competitively with the 3DS, it's going to have a hard time faring any better than its poorly received predecessor.

We'll find out in any of my hopes or fears will become reality on Monday and Tuesday of next week, by the way. Microsoft's press conference will begin at 9 am Pacific on Monday, with Sony's occurring later the same day, at 5 pm Pacific. Nintendo's press conference, on the other hand, will start at 9 am Pacific on Tuesday.

All of the above-mentioned conferences will be streamed live on GameTrailers.com, by the way. I'll certainly be watching them. Will you?