The E3 2009 Top 10 List

We're still recovering from the long (but awesome!) week we spent in LA covering E3 2009. There was a lot to get excited about, but there was even more stuff not worth paying attention to. There's no point in sifting through all the news to find the cool stuff, which is why we've created the E3 2009 Top 10 list. Here's the best and most shocking moments from E3. And as a bonus, we'll even throw in an eleventh entry into the list.



Halo Reach - Apparently the franchise hasn't exhausted its supply of ideas (though some would argue against that). We went to the Microsoft press conference expecting to hear about the well-known Halo: ODST game coming up and were completely surprised by a teaser for Halo: Reach, which might be a squad-based game. Consider us intrigued.

Sony's Motion Control System - This barely makes the list, mostly because this was the year for unveiling motion controllers. Sony demoed a prototype controller that laughably resembled a scoop of glowing ice cream on a black Wiimote. But as silly as it looks, it performs well and appears to be more accurate than Wii controls. We're anxious to see what developers can do with it.

Milo - This is another one that's borderline because it's not so much amazing as it is amazingly creepy. We saw a demo of a new program that can use Microsoft's Project Natal (see below) to interact with humans in a freakishly realistic way. Milo can recognize your moods through voice recognition and facial recognition and react accordingly. Unfortunately, in the demo, this resulted in Milo whining about his homework and a poor human having to help him. Shouldn't it be the other way around? You know, computers helping humans with homework? Anyway, we want to see how Milo can advance the field of artificial intelligence.

PSP Go! - This one makes the list more based on the pre-show hype than the actual excitement over the announcement of the PSP Go! by Sony. The PSP Go! is a smaller, slide-out version of the PSP which forgoes the UMD storage. Basically, it's notable for fixing the problems that should have been fixed in the PSP and having a smaller form factor.

Final Fantasy XIV - The announcement for Final Fantasy XIV was just as unexpected as the one for Halo: Reach. Fans lining up to see the Final Fantasy XIII trailer were surprised when another clip loaded afterwards, and then stunned when a new set of Roman numerals popped up with a new logo. FFXIV will be an online game, too, making it even more anticipated by Final Fantasy fans.

Mass Effect 2 - Talk about knowing how to make and game AND promote it right. We loved the first Mass Effect for its excellent story, dialog and game design. When we were shown a demo run of the game, we were delighted to find that ME2 has improved on all those areas. But then they fast forwarded to the end of the game (uncommon in game demos, as you can imagine) and showed us the character's death at the end. They explained that choices in ME2 will be based on actions we took in the previous game (you can load your saved game from the first ME) and it will be very important to make the right choices in ME2 to avoid that death scene. Either way, the story will continue in the third installment, but they emphasized that they "don't expect you to survive Mass Effect 2." Cool.

Dragon Age - This is another RPG that impressed us greatly. More excellent game design and story construction. We went in jaded by the trailers showing bloody fantasy battles accompanied by nu metal rock raging in the background. We anticipated a schlocky swordfest but were surprised by an impressively intelligent game and a fun combat system. This one just might be a hit.

Metroid: Other M - The Metroid series sure is a haggard one, but that didn't stop the crowd from going wild when an unexpected teaser trailer at the Nintendo press conference revealed our old pal Samus Aran kicking butt in a mechanized suit. Other M will go back to a third person viewpoint and, from what we saw, it's going to look good.

Xbox Downloads - The gaming industry is finally transitioning away from boxed software to a download structure, thanks in part to Microsoft's goal to get rid of discs. Now you'll be able to download full games (and movies and TV shows and more) from major titles directly to your Xbox 360. It can't happen soon enough.

Star Wars: The Old Republic - This game was going to make the list anyway because of our nostalgia for both Star Wars and BioWare, but it has since moved up the rankings because of what we saw and heard at E3. Not only will SWTOR be fully-voiced, meaning every character has a voice actor tied to it, but the gameplay is solid and the story is solid. It's much more than any MMORPG that has come before because the emphasis is on carrying out a coherent story for every character, like an actual RPG, instead of just having a bunch of quests to accomplish. We're really anxious to see this one go live.

Project Natal - Microsoft stole the show at E3, hands down, because of their announcement of Project Natal. We were skeptical at first because it just looks like a glorified Eye Toy like the Playstation has had for years. But when they started to demo the Project Natal motion controls and we saw how accurate that simple camera was, we were stunned. The applications for this kind of technology are too many to count, and we really are excited to see some gameplay that isn't restricted by the limits of the hardware in your hand. This may sound like hyperbole now (and it could turn out to be so if Microsoft botches the launch), but Project Natal could very well change the entire gaming industry.

For more on E3 and the games announced there, check the blog:

E3 Day 4 Roundup

E3 Day 3 Roundup

Tuesday: Offical Day 1 Roundup at E3

Roundup: Day Pre-1 at E3

Ubisoft's R.U.S.E. is Touchscreen Ready, Cool Looking