So today began with waiting in line for THREE HOURS to see the 3DS. It was actually kinda worth it because I didn't see any of the stuff in the press conference because I didn't see the press conference. Pilotwings, Star Fox (supposedly), Kid Icarus, MGS3D, and Paper Mario were huge surprises, seeing OLD games in 3D was a big surprise, and the ability to turn it to 2D was GREAT. There was a trailer for Tangled there since the machine can also play movies, but I doubt I'd use the machine much for that.
Toward the end of the stay in the 3DS area, I checked out a weird little target game that was basically like the Eye of Judgment PS3 card game. Really neat little tech demo. Then I turned around and saw Matt Groening right there. He stuck his hand out and we shook hands. He reminded me about Futurama starting soon and we talked for about a minute. Afterward, I did what I never do and asked if I could take a picture of him, and he said his son Abe would take a picture of us. So that was really cool.
Then I played Zelda. Eh... hm. It's going to take some getting used to. I like the running, but the sword stuff should be a lot more lenient. Also, my arm was getting tired faster than it ever did playing Twilight Princess. The cel-shaded effect is pretty nice, but apparently they're still going to improve on it. I had problems using items since they all work in different ways. The whip was cool though. Unfortunately, I think the demo area was really JUST a demo area, so I didn't get an idea of the actual level design they might try. It was basically: go here, kill boss. Thanks for playing! Here's your shirt.
While waiting in line for Zelda, I saw James Rolfe. I did another thing I never do and yelled out "James!" He turned around and I just gave a wave. He smiled and saluted and headed off toward the Nintendo items area.
After that, I played Donkey Kong Country Returns. It's all right. I like Diddy's hover, but I'm not sure about the two hearts for each one. Waggling to roll felt wrong to me too. I did like how the game uses the background and foreground though. I think it was done in Jungle Beat, but I can't remember.
Then I played Sonic Colors, which the booth guy said wouldn't have any extra stuff outside Sonic levels. Sonic's powers aren't really all that bad either, although only one of the two I saw really seemed to do anything. I noticed there were a coupled different paths to collectible items, so some exploration and platforming is encouraged. The DS version is basically a different game with the same themes for the levels, because it's 2D.
While I'm on the topic of Sonic, the last game I played today was Sonic the Hedgehog 4, but only the first act. It's okay. I think they have the weight down, and there's some cel-shading stuff that makes it look less like polygons, which was nice. There was a pretty clear difference in the style between the two Sonic Colors games and Sonic 4. I'm not saying any one of the three will be good or great, but Sonic 4 felt more like the oldschool Sonics, while Sonic Colors felt like a continuation of the Sonic Adventure brand and Sonic Colors DS felt like it was continuing off of Advance/Rush, where both were more about speed.
I played Epic Mickey to find the sidescrolling platforming segment they had was extremely short. I was disappointed. The guy working there said there were 40 levels like it in the game though, so they probably get longer/more difficult. The 3D stuff was from an intermediate level in the game. I didn't see the erasing/creation function with the thinner/paint working really superbly. It was pretty straightforward and didn't allow for much experimentation. The level I played actually reminds me a little more of something out of Banjo-Kazooie.
Checked out Vanquish after a longer-than-intended wait. Game's really stylish, and I love zooming around on rockets, and I LOVE the slowmo shooting while zooming around on rockets. There was a huge fucking boss fight at the end of the demo, but it had lost a little luster for me after I'd watched so many others play it before I had a chance.
So... that's it. Zelda and 3DS ate up a LOT of time. 3.5-4 hours I should have to do way more stuff tomorrow on top of the two extra hours we're getting anyway. I definitely want to check out Metroid, Kirby, and Golden Sun, and see what's over at the Sony booth, because I totally missed their conference today too (although I heard there was a new Twisted Metal so that's definitely on the list too).
Oh, and I checked the UbiSoft booth... no Rayman. Darn.
Pictures/videos coming soon.
Disney Booth:
Tron!
Lightcycle!
Mickey!
3DS:
Line starts here!
Line starts here? Well that's not so- MOTHERFUCKER
Teal 3DS
Red 3DS
Purple 3DS
Burnt Orange 3DS
Case, game card, and charging station
Totally NOT a video of Metal Gear Solid 3D