E3'08, My hopes and dreams

Here is my list of games that I hope will be at E3 that we know about and what games I wish would be there.

• Banjo Kazooie Three (360) - I have loved all the Banjo Kazooie games and now with the third one finally announced I'm looking forward to actually seeing more footage as well as some on foot action.
• Rock Band 2 (360) - I'm mainly excited to see the track list and how it will work with the previous title especially with the announcement that all previous downloaded songs (and potentially the original songs from the first one) will work .
• Half-Life Episode 3 (360/PC) - After the conclusion of Episode 2 and the realization that the portal gun will make an appearance will appear in Episode 3 (well the plot of two seems to lead to that conclusion) I'm very excited to see the conclusion as well as if it's packed in with any other games (including potentially Portal 2, or Counter Strike)
• Resident Evil 5 (360) - After a single trailer and my love of the series I really can't wait to see more gameplay information and footage.
• Bioshock 2 (360?) - I find this extremely likely to be announced especially considering that Take Two made the first one so I expect the next one will be announced at this E3.
• Dead Rising 2 (360?) - Capcom has made it quite clear that Dead Rising will have a sequel the real question is when and I figure this E3 will be the one.
• Red Dead Revolver 2 (PS3?/360?) - I almost forgot about how excited I am for this game, although there is no actual evidence it exists besides a trailer for a "Western Themed Game" by the developers of Red Dead Revolver I am very exciting for any quality western game of which Red Dead Revolver one was one of the best.
• Alan Wake (360) - I have no idea what this game will even look like but it's been announced for around 3 years now and I'm still excited for it for a number of reasons, first off it has a dark scary feel to it and a plot that seems very promising and secondly it's made by Remedy who gets props from me for creating one of the greatest games of all time, Max Payne.
• Sadness (Wii) - So this game is one based off of terror and from the brief trailer it looks amazing, in reports the game has been stated to be the scariest game ever and reacts to what it knows will scare you, I am very excited to hear more.

Those are my predications and my hopes for new footage or announcements so we shall see when E3 comes around.

Most anticipated games at E3'08

I thought I would share the games I'm looking forward to most that are going to be shown, or that I hope are going to be shown, at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo.

• Viva Pinata 2 (360) - I very much enjoyed the first one and with a sequal, let's hope it only gets better.
• Chrono Trigger DS (DS) - I never played the original but I have heard all the hype this game has gotten so it seems worth while to check out.
• Animal Crossing Wii (Wii) - This games hasn't been confirmed at all, but I'm assuming it might, and I hope it does.
• Rock Band 2 (360) - I loved the first, and with this being the first game to have cross game DLC, I cant wait to see what new stuff will be added.
• Prince of Persia (360) - I loved the Sands of Time trilogy and this one just looks insain.
• Soul Calibur IV (360) - I'm a huge fan of this series and though the addition of Star Wars characters makes me cringe, I'm still looking forward to it.
• Mirror's Edge (360) - This game looks very interesting and super cool. With the latest trailor out, it just seems that much better. I'm quite intrigued with this whole "change the way we look at first person" aspect.
  

So those are mine, they're in no specific order but I know sooner or later I will be picking these up, some as soon as September. Chris is to be posting his list up in the next few days.

Coming Soon

As I am still on my vacation and have no solid computer access, I won't be able to update for another week or so (as you can see this place has been a little dead). Though I'll let you know what to keep your eyes out for when I return.

• DragonBall Z: Burst Limit review
• Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core review
• No More Heroes review
• The DOG island review

E3 will also be following shortly when I return so we will be posting some of our choice news and thoughts on it. We also plan to start out podcast in the next few weeks.

Checked off

From that list I put up a few days ago of the games I got. I've gotten a few of them so far. As you know, Burst Limit. Also, Chris got me Crisis Core yesterday, that was nice of him. Last but not least, I picked up No More Heroes today. Surprisingly it was only $30 so that's pretty cool.

Now I'm currently looking into a nice DVD rack/shelf to put all my games on so they're closer to me when I'm on my couch. Getting up and walking to the shelving unit is to much work.

Canada gets the shaft again

It seems that once again, Canada will be getting something later than the US. It must be becuase we're so far away from that country.

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit is out today, apparently not for me though.

Update:
So I phoned my local Eb Games again and the guy there said he might have a chance to hold a copy for me tomorrow. We shall see how things go tomorrow.

Dear god

Don't buy Bionicle Heroes, I'm not even sure if it was worth $5.

Looking into currently

Here are the games I'm currently gonna try picking up in the next little bit.

• The DOG Island (Wii) - Apparently it's an interesting game and super cute. My local Wal-Mart has it for only $30. Seems like a good investment. The opening cut scene contains not one, but two pirate dogs.
  
• No More Heroes (Wii) - I've wanted to pick this one up for a bit. It'll be nice having a M rated games for my Wii finally. Also it has the whole "no one knows about it" vibe that I like.
  
• Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (360) - Finally a Dragon Ball Z game thats not Tenkaichi. I hates that series. I'm not into the 3D fighting thing they did, the 2D style from Budokai was MUCH better. Budokai 3 remains the best anime fighting game still. We shall see if this passes it.
  
• Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core (PSP) - Been wanting to grab it since it came out. I've always been a fan of the FF series and though I never finish even the first disc of 7, I still really liked it. I should really go back and finish that game...
  
• God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) - This right not isn't the most important, hence it's last on the list. I really enjoyed the first one, and I need to still pick up the second one.

It should be noted that this list isn't in any order.

Update:

• Microsoft Points (360) - I want some of these for more Rock Band songs and more importantly, The Penny Arcade game. I hear its good and quite funny, especially if you read the comic, and I do.
• Wii Points (Wii) - I wanna pick up Lost Winds, even though it didn't get the best reviews (I think GameSpot gave it around a 6 or something). Though it looks interesting. Also theres some new ones coming up later I'm interested in.
  

New Prince of Persia trailor

You must check this out! It looks amazing.

Definitely made me think I should be preordering this as soon as I can.

Why I love HMV

After feeling I was done with the nonsense of EB games' preorders and just general annoyance with their practices I decided to move on from them for my video game purchases. That is when HMV kicked in, as I hope many of you have noticed, the physical based music industry is currently floundering thanks to downloads and digital media so HMV has had to move into selling games and so far I am very impressed. Unlike stores such as superstore they get their shipments day one and all available at the right price unlike some other places that are still charging $70 despite our rising dollar. So I hoped to finally test them on preorders to see how well they would work. Now I would like to state that I feel preorders are mostly unnecessary because unless the game is going to be very rare or the preorder bonus seems worth it to you (see: Big Daddy figurine) you will find many copies of that game either way.

However I also felt the need to check how well they work at preorders to see if it is as good if not better then EB games. It was mainly on a whim though, I noticed a sign advertising a free shirt with a preorder of GTA 4 which I though was terribly lame and I'd never wear it but a fairly larger preorder bonus none the less. I went up to the counter and the young woman there looked at me like I was crazy when I asked to preorder the game, although she knew what it was she had no idea how to do it. However I feel this was mainly a problem with a new thing being introduced so they were unaware on what to do, but after a quick call to another employee it was resolved. So I was surprised at how it worked, first no deposit was required at all they just special ordered it for you and you pay it all when you come in which was great and they keep all your data in the computer if you have ever ordered anything from them before which although EB does it's still pretty handy for a newcomer to the preorder business. So I left with a new respect for them but not fully expecting to get the shirt (not like I really cared).

So on launch I walked in and promptly got my copy with no hassle, I walked up told them my name and got the game and to my surprise I actually got the shirt (albeit way to big but hey). All this work that HMV has apparently put into this has surprised me and I am very impressed with them so, keep up the great work HMV I will be preordering from you in the future.

GH cups at 7-11

So it seems that there will be Guitar Hero branded cups now coming to 7-11 in the future. I'll probably check out the various stores near my house to see if they have any. I'm personally looking forward to this new flavor thats going to be associated with all this. Knowing Canada though, I won't get it, duh.

These cups will have codes on them that you can use to enter contests to try and get a copy of the Aerosmith GH, Xbox 360 consoles or you can win Microsoft points. It also seems that there will be huge vans driving around to specific branches with playable GH on them that you can partake in. Along with various 7-11's giving away GH: Aerosmith posters.

If any of us here at GJ come across any in our neighborhood, we'll make sure to capture some of the stuff on camera and upload the images here to you.

For a full article check here.