This has kind of been a secret-side project of mine that I’ve been working on for quite a while. While it may not be OMFGNinja’s, it’s still a good series of videos for starters, or if there are a few techniques that people may not have thought of for the veteran Spy players.

Engineer Excerpt:

For Part 1, click here.

As many of you know, and as new people are coming to our site, we’ve been under construction for a bit, and I’d like to introduce myself.  I’m the new webmaster here for the site, and it’s been my privilege for the last couple of weeks to getting myself familiar with the site, and with the underlying coding.  And as older subscribers can atestify, the site has gone through some major changes.

I’m glad to be a part of this team now, especially since I’m an old school gamer myself, cutting my proverbial and actual teeth on Atari, Commadore Vic 20, and Nintendo, as well as pc in the beginnings.  So I grew up programming, playing video games, and watching anime and cartoons, like many of you readers.  I’ll not only be working on the website, providing maintenance, and upgrades, but I’ll also be one of the cadre to be writing on here, and with so much retro game knowledge, and cutting edge games (when I can afford them), I find myself fitting in with the staff just fine.

So, here’s a little bit about me:

First game to ever play: Gorp-Commadore Vic 20

First computer: 8086

First time on the net: 1994, I was dialing up bbs, with a 14k max baud..

First Major Computer Game: Masters of Orion

Systems currently owned: First Gen PS3 (So I can still play ps1 and ps2 games), Xbox 360, PSP, PC; Vic 20 & NES(in storage)

Favorite All Time Game: Soul Calibur Series( sorry, they are all good…)

Second Fav: Megaman!!!

Favorite Song from a game: Tie between Zelda and Portal’s Ending Credits song

So, I’ll be looking forward to working with the site, and writing all sorts of reviews, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll see you at a convention!!!

Another E3 event over and done with, and many people are left in awe of what’s to come for the future of gaming. I’ll be honest, this year’s E3 was great, but I don’t think it lived up to it’s expectations; motion control and 3D seemed to be the main gimmicks featured this year. Let’s get things started with a recap of each of the “Big 3′s” press conferences:

Sony:

Portal 2, Killzone 3, Infamous 2, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2… just to name a few of the trailer highlights. I guess I’ll make a separate post that contains all of the trailers mentioned here: there’s going to be quite a few.

The true crowd pleasers were Portal 2 and Metal Gear Solid: Rising, another Hideo Kojima masterpiece in works… only that it’s not direceted by Kojima, but Mineshi Kimura, who’s done tons of behind-the-scenes work on the other MGS titles.

While Portal 2 has many new features- the gel, tractor beam and vacuum tunnel to name a few- there was one thing in particular that turned me off immediately; Wheatly. Wheatly is your “sidekick”. Think of him as a talking Companion Cube, except I wouldn’t think twice if I had to throw him into the incinerator at the end of a certain trial. Also, as unbelievably successful as the first Portal was, it doesn’t need a sequel. You see, there’s this game called Half-Life 2: Episode 3 that Valve SHOULD be working on, but I feel it’s going to join Duke Nukem: Forever in the world of excellent games that never were.

Well… at least I still have my TF2 hats. Thanks Valve, the Mac Earbuds look stellar on Spy.

Metal Gear Solid: Rising, although a kind of “broken” trailer (cinema-title-game-slo-game-slog-game-slogan-game-tilte-watermelon), showed the Metal Gear Solid series taking not a step, but a giant vault away from the traditional hide-stealth kill-sneak tactics of the originals. Kimura says there will be an emphasis on stealth, but this is Raiden… come on. Look at that sword.

To make things a little more complicated than needed, MGS: Rising is set between the events of MGS 2 and MGS 4… Here, allow me, before you hurt yourself:

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (Metal Gear Solid)

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Yep, try and play them in order… I dare you.

On a hardware standpoint, Sony released more info about PlayStation Move. I’m not going to talk about it because motion control has already been done before, and I think this will be a projected flop. Reminds me of a Wiimote with a cue ball on the end.

Microsoft:

Speaking of projected flop, Xbox Kinect; it’s like PlayStation’s EyeToy meets Wii Motion Plus meets Dance Dance Revolution without the controller. Well, while it looks like some weird year 2062 rabbit ear antenna, it’s way less dorky-looking than the PS Move controller.

Killzone 3 was one of the highlights of MIcrosoft’s conference. I can’t say I was too impressed: of the footage that was shown, most of it took place in some sort of armored jet pack, where the HUD occupied 40% of the screen. The game is also going to be in 3D, which is just what I need. I won’t be able to see what I’m shooting at, but at least the HUD will have some virtual depth to it.

Halo: Reach… Yeah, I trust you already know about it.

Nintendo:

WHAT?! NINTENDO IS THE ONLY ONE TO NOT FEATURE MOTION CONTROL- oh, right…..

Well, after two years of people shaking there heads at Nintendo, their redemption year has finally come. Third time’s a charm.

There are two things that I can always say about Nintendo; they aren’t afraid to take risks, and they were the first to figure out the simple rule that “If something unexpectedly cool and new happens with an old formula, work with it”.

While everyone else was messing around with motion controls (which was ironically laughed at when Nintendo came out with it a few years ago), Nintendo was brewing a technological hallmark in their lab: the Nintendo 3DS. I wish there was some way to do the 3D-without-glasses effect some justice, but pictures don’t really work all that well. Oh well, the 3DS has made some changes beyond that of the DS and all of its variations, with the inclusion of a joystick, a widescreen display top-screen, two camera lenses for taking real-world pictures in 3D, and a 3D depth adjuster in the form of a sliding bar.

The debut game for the 3DS was something no one expected- nor heard of these days- Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Pit has had cameos in other games, the most recent being Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but he hasn’t appeared in a stand-alone game since 1991.

Kid Icarus isn’t the only series to be pulled from Nintendo’s vault: Retro Studios is currently developing a nice little game called Donkey Kong Country Returns for Wii. If you need a refresher, Retro Studios was the developer behind the groundbreaking Metroid Prime series, proving that not only could a game be taken from 2D to 3D, but it could be taken from a 2D side-scroller, to a 3D first-person adventure game, and STILL be awesome.

Back to the 3DS for a minute. While we’re on the topic of Nintendo’s classics getting taken out of the vault again, did you ever wonder what StarFox 64 would be like in 3D? That’s one of the many titles that are being remade for the 3DS’s launch.

In the visual department, Kirby’s Epic Yarn definitely turned some heads. While it may not be as flashy or processor-ending as games like Crysis 2, it gets plenty of awards for originality. Epic Yarn is like watching the designs on your childhood blanket come to life. It’s……cool. Strange, but down right cool.

Warren Spector’s presentation of Epic Mickey was a little vague; most of the time spent was about the usage of paint and paint thinner to affect the environment, but he did feature a level based on the classic Steamboat Willie cartoon.

There was much speculation over what Nintendo was working on for the next Zelda: Were they going to show it? Was it going to be for console? What art style was it going to be in, the cartoony Windwaker or the more mature and gritty Twilight Princess?

Yes, yes, and a strange mix of both.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was definitely a surprise; listen to the crowd when you watch the live feed trailer. I’m sure most people wanted to see another Zelda game in the style of Twilight Princess, but the series is notorious for trying new things with each title. Sword control has been changed: strikes are dependent on how you swing the Wiimote. As in, swing the Wiimote up from left to right diagonally and Link will strike in that same direction.

Skyward Sword was designed to be a Zelda that anyone can enjoy. Well, I can see that, yes. The style I’m not to sure about: it looks good, but it’s like the middle child of the console Zelda games as far as visual presentation.

I’d talk about the Indie games and PC, but I feel this post has gone on long enough.

Guess you’ll just have to wait for Part II…