Summer Wrap-Up: Games, Glorious Games!

So for part one of my two part Summer Wrap-Up blog (yes you may cry because summer is coming to an end) is going to be about the video games and tidbits that have me excited for the rest of this year and the next. First, a very brief opinion of E3, then on to an awards ceremony of games that interest me with a brief description for each. Let the Rant commence!

E3: The big winner: Microsoft. No dumb graphs or charts. Just big announcements, some expected, others not. Project Natal definetly turned some heads thanks in part to the bottom of an avatar's shoe and a weird kid named Milo. Crackdown 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 were shockers, as was the addition of Twitter and Facebook to Xbox Live. The biggest announcements by far were both Metal Gear Solid: Rising and Halo: Reach. In other conferences, Sony actually did a great job of putting out games that enticed gamers to try out the console (albeit the lack of a price drop would have been appreciated). Nintendo did a lackluster job of bringing hardcore games to their system (Mario is not enough and only Metroid impressed). EA and Ubisoft failed miserably. Too much about tween girls and James Cameron.

Games I want to buy:
Batman: Arkham Asylum - Play the demo. You will be blown away.
Halo 3: ODST - I was skeptical about this at first, but new gameplay, Firefight, a multiplayer disc and a beta invite to Reach is too good to pass up. Check it out.
Brutal Legend - Waiting for the demo, but it looks fantastic already.
Modern Warfare 2 - A sequel to one of the best FPS of all time. Nuff said.
Assassin's Creed 2 - A visionary sequel with a bunch of new elements to eliminate the repetition.
Mass Effect 2 - You should already know why I want this game...
Dante's Inferno - God of War comes to Xbox.
Brink - Think Mirror's Edge meets Battlefront.

Games that would entice me to buy a PS3 Slim:
The Last Guardian - Stunning.
Uncharted 2 - Badassery.
God of War 3 - Badassery cont.
Metal Gear Solid 4 - Yes it's old but amazing.
Fat Princess - Flamio Hotman!

Games that need to go die in a fire:
Games for tween girls - just why?
Music Games - Cuz every house needs 20 crappy plastic peripherals that do the same thing.
Hannah Montana - Cuz it garnered way too much adult male applause at the Sony Conference...
Motion Capture Games - Ultimately, still a mere concept that is no where near being cool or fun. The fact that Nintendo is now failing in sales (down 60%) shows that folks just aren't interested at moving around their living room like a goon. New ideas should be in software, not hardware.

Stay tuned for my follow-up to this blog: the best and worst movies of the Summer. Please comment on my opinion and tell me what you think! Ciao bella.

P.S. about Fable 3: So Fable 2 was easily the biggest "hit and miss" game I've played since Duck Hunter on the SNES (get it? huh? huh? DO YA?!?!?!?). While some parts really pulled at the heartstrings, i.e., my dog crying when I left for the spire and the death of my dog, others really felt hollow, i.e., Lucien killing my sister (aka annoying bitch), really feeling like this is an epic adventure, and the non-existent boss fight at the end. Combat was fun until you became too powerful and they ran out of enemies to throw in there. DLC was also frustrating at times. Now Fable 3 has been announced, but it has some changes that look to remedy some (if not all) of my complaints. Click here to see what I'm talking about.