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E3 is, finally, right around the corner and us games journalist types are getting antsy. Because the show is slated to bring back the glitz and glam of the E3s of yore, we might finally be spared another Giant Enemy Crab or Ravi Drums incident. Of course, bringing back booth babes doesn’t necessarily mean that the games that will be unveiled this year will be anything to get excited over. Because my soul is torn between hopeful optimism and jaded pessimism, I will offer here my predictions on what the best and worst possibilities of this year’s E3 might have in store for us.
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Aside from the rather stellar adaptation of Resident Evil 4 for Wii, last Tuesday there was an influx of a couple more Gamecube titles released on the Wii with Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis. Obviously Nintendo continues its profiteering with a trend of re-releasing titles. Of course, none of that holds a candle to the cash cow Nintendo is reaping in with distributed ‘shovel-ware’ and brand marketing muscle ‘casual appeal’ of the Wii.

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As many of you may be aware, the newly created Xbox LIVE Productions creation, Fable II Pub Games, was released to gamers everywhere via Gamestop & Amazon’s Fable II pre-order codes. (The game was also released on the Xbox Live Arcade, where it can be purchased in full for 800 Microsoft SpaceBux, or $10). However, the immediate response by hardcore Fable fans has been starkly polarized — some love the game while others seem to loathe it.

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Being the huge fans of the Guitar Hero series that most of us here at MEGATONik are, we’ve managed to stumble, and I do mean stumble, across the complete track listing for Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. I was pretty leary about picking this edition up because I thought it would be nothing but songs done by Aerosmith, but I’m glad to report that only about 63% of the 41 songs listed below are.
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Let me begin this review of one of this past week’s new Xbox Live Arcade releases with a quick disclaimer. Sea Life Safari, developed by WildTangent Game Studios, is less of a game and more of an experience. The game pits you as an underseas photographer bent on shooting animals with film instead of bullets to provide research material for a crotchety old professor, who then rates your photographs based on different criteria. These three major criteria are as follows: whether or not the animal is in the middle of the picture, the relative size of the animal in the picture (I guess he doesn’t like negative space) and whether or not the animal is doing its special movement, which can be elicited by heaving a glowstick or flare at the animal by hitting the B button. The professor then ranks these pictures on a basis of zero to three stars (three being the best) which are then needed to move on to the next level. This type of system seems natural for the type of game that it is, and the professor’s continual dissidence with you will have you hunting for three star photos for quite a while.

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Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipe of Darkness is the first installment of what developer Hothead Games promises to be a four-part series surrounding the world of the popular webcomic, Penny Arcade. The creators of Penny Arcade, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, took a major risk in jumping their strip from relative cult success to mainstream Xbox Live Arcade media. Has the risk payed off for us gamers? Hit the jump to find out!

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Stubbs the Zombie in “Rebel Without A Pulse” and Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows will both be available on Xbox Live Monday, May 19th for 1200 Microsoft Points each. I’ve never played Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows, so I don’t have an opinion about that release, but Stubbs the Zombie is definitely worth trying.

Stubbs the Zombie is one of the few original Xbox games that I really enjoyed mostly due to the game’s humorous presentation and soundtrack. Stubb’s soundtrack features covers of songs from the 50’s and 60’s by artists such as Cake, Ben Kweller, and Phantom Planet. Few things in life compare to seeing humans fleeing from zombies while listening to “If Only I Had A Brain“.

Do you guys have any experience with either game? Will you be buying either of these when they’re released on Monday? Do you get the feeling that I like Stubbs?

[via MajorNelson's Blog]

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Today, Rare has shown and confirmed that cooperative play will be a feature in the highly anticipated Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. Sadly, there is still no confirmation on whether or not there is an online co-op mode. As it stands, Rare has only said that they hope to have the feature implemented by the time it is released.

In a statement by Rare about the co-op mode:

“The other player will not have full control over the game, and, for example, will not be able to build new houses or other constructions, but with spade in hand you can help with tending the garden thus gaining a form of magic for every useful act than can be used to turn objects in the garden into different things.”

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I don’t know about you guys but I spend a considerable amount of time playing what I (and many other gamers) thought to be a children’s game. To this day I am still trying to get a Roario and an Elephanilla to stay in my garden.

Luckily at MS Gamers Day, Rare not only leaked info out about the new Banjo Kazooie game, but also a game that I will probably be the first in line on release day to get…Viva Pinata 2.

The tentative title for the game is Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise and we were lucky enough to secure a half dozen screenshots to put up. Since this is only the first day of the MS Gamer’s Day event, lets hope that they have even more amazing items to reveal tomorrow.

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