And/Or

In the mind of NeoGAF, that closed-circuit discussion fora of the elite and enthusiastic of gaming, the “Game of the Year” at E3 wasn’t a multi-million-dollar high-def extravaganza but a little DS game with a big database: Scribblenauts. It just goes to show that it isn’t the size of your data but how you use it.

The post crowned champion comes from Feep:

I had played all the big titles at E3. Private showings of God of War III, Heavy Rain, Alan Wake. But at 4:00 on Thursday, I was wandering around the show floor, wondering what else I had to see. I saw a small little booth for “Scribblenauts!” in the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment section. I mean, who goes to that booth? But I remember hearing about it on GAF, and so I decided to check it out.

Best game of E3? Without a fucking doubt. Anyone who says otherwise did not play Scribblenauts. Best game of all time? Jesus Christ, I don’t know, maybe. It’s a game that challenges your IMAGINATION. No other game has ever done that.

So listen to this story. I was in the early levels; I didn’t quite have an idea of how ridiculously in-depth the database was. I was summoning things like ladders, glasses of water, rayguns, what have you. But I reached a level with zombie robots, and the zombie robots kept killing me. Rayguns didn’t work, a torch didn’t work, a pickaxe didn’t work. In my frustration, I wrote in “Time Machine”. And one popped up. What the fuck? A smile dawned on my face. I hopped in, and the option was given to me to either travel to the past or the future. I chose past. When I hopped out, there were fucking dinosaurs walking around. I clicked one, and realized I could RIDE THEM. So I hopped on a fucking DINOSAUR, traveled back to the present, and stomped the shit out of robot zombies. Did you just read that sentence? Did you really? I FUCKING TRAVELED THROUGH TIME AND JUMPED ON A DINOSAUR AND USED IT TO KILL MOTHERFUCKING ROBOT ZOMBIES. This game is unbelievable. Impossible. There’s nothing you can’t do.

Holy fucking shit.

Obiter iConsole, market forces NeoGAF, Scribblenauts

Check it out — the new backdrop to The Tonight Show is a dead ringer for the Mushroom Kingdom:

This is… inexplicable.

Obiter Culture Conan O'Bowser

A few key titles and the incorporation of new tech and tricks is cause enough to dust off the old DS (and/or excuse the indulgence of purchasing a new DSi). Leading the charge of this mini-renaissance are a couple of innovative titles either newly released or on the near horizon:

• the augmented reality gameplay of Ghostwire
• the gorgeous style and whiz-bang new stylus tricks of Golden Sun DS (the trailer (demonstrates a gorgeous aesthetic that falls somewhere between FFVII and a 3D realization of the SCUMM engine)
• Brilliant new strategy gameplay in Atlus’ latest release Knights in the Nightmare
• FPSploitation with Duke Nuke’em Trilogy: The Critical Mass
• Scribblenauts!

And now to make an appointment with my personal shopper at Electronics Boutique…

Obiter iConsole DSi, Duke Nuk'em, Ghostwire, Golden Sun DS, Knights in the Nightmare, Scribblenauts

MS finally unleashed its master plan for domination of the home living room entertainment center at E3 this year. Content pipeline? Check. Direct digital downloads? Check. Tastes great less filling? Word.

The announcement includes:

• Full retain games available for digital download on demand (and with direct credit card purchase instead of using MSPoints)
• 1080p instant-on streaming of video content
• integration of XBLA with Facebook, Twitter and Last.FM music streaming
• the Movie Party system that lets you and a couple of friends share a movie together in glorious Hecklecolor through a sort of virtual Mystery Science Theatre 3000 setting

Fun features that, along with the gaming, makes for a pretty compelling one-stop digital entertainment hub sure to give Sony, Nintendo and Apple a run for their money. Of course, iTunes is still trumps for the breadth of its video content. As an Xbox owner, I hope that MS will up the ante in this department to make it a truly competitive product.

And in other respectable news for the Xbox:

• Rare’s Perfect Dark is coming to XBLA this winter
• A free pseudo-MMO kart racing game called achievements Achievement Unlocked Acquaria addiction aesthetics App Store AppStore augmented reality Castle Crashers classics Criterion Collection design DICE DSi editorial Eternity's Child freebie Gabe Newell gamer tags Ghostwire iConsole iPhone Jonathan Ive Left 4 Dead market forces Merchant Ivory metagaming MMO Nintendo DS Orioto Pac-Man paint piracy remix ScaryGirl Scribblenauts Sims Sony PSP Spore Steam streaming content Stupid Fun Club Vollee Wil Wright World of Warcraft