Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down: E3 This Far…

E3 has been well kicked off thus far and new and exciting news is constantly being thrown at all of us. Here’s just a few features I thought were worth mentioning.

<br><br>THUMBS UP: Project Natal<br><br>

This is Microsoft’s first attempt at combining motion tracking and gaming into one entity to this degree. Microsoft is known for extending themselves everywhere they possibly can and diving into territory other companies have already started. That being said, we couldn’t expect them to pass up on one of the greatest innovations in gaming history.

So far, the response has been outstanding and it only takes one view of any Project Natal video to see why. The motion doesn’t play on the screen as a fixed route meaning whatever you do, the character on the screen doesn’t the exact same motion. Plus there are many, many more features that can be used with Natal and we can expect Microsoft to continuously build on this idea.<br><br>THUMBS DOWN: No News on Half-Life 2: Episode 3<br><br>Valve Software is known for keeping their fan’s in the dark but this takes it to the extreme. Valve has clearly stated that HL2: EP3 is making progress. Many people were expecting Valve to finally deliver more much more info on the game but instead diverted their focus on Left for Dead 2. L4D 2 is exciting and good news, don’t get me wrong, but many die-hard Half-Life fans were generally disappointed. And, like last time, no mention of the game coming out for PS3.

THUMBS UP: Video Game Live

Video Games Live is a traveling concert started by two gaming composers: Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. Tommy Tallarico has composed for many games including Prince of Persia and Advent Rising. Jack Wall has composed a good number of games too including Splinter Cell and co-composed for Mass Effect.

If you haven’t heard about the program by now, VGL is a concert compiling music from many popular games including Halo, BioShock, World of Warcraft, Oblivion and even older arcade games like Tetris. A concert is going to be performed at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, CA Because this performance falls on a night of E3, special guests from Japan and Europe are expected to be at the concert.

Do I really need to say more? Yes, Tom and Jerry are getting an MMO developed by Typhoon Games. Sure, everyone loves that bickering pair but this just takes it too far. The famous cat and mouse have had multiple video games created about them in the past but how far can this MMO really go? We’ll just have to wait and
see.