Most Likely Individual to Serendipitously Be Piloting Your Flight Home Award
Mr. Bicep
Seriously, we wouldn’t have even been surprised.
32X Award For Attempting to Split Your User Base
Nintendo with Wii Motion Plus
I thought this should have been saved for Wii 2 (or whatever), but Nintendo, anticipating motion controllers from both Sony and Microsoft, whipped this thing out of nowhere a day early. Is it awesome? Sure. Is it going to narrowly divide the line between the have and the have-nots? Absolutely. Packing it in with Resort is nice, but what if you want to play a friend in your new game? Oops, better go get another WMP! That’s not even considering the millions of casual denizens who will buy WMP-only titles, only to be disappointed/confused by their inability to play it. Let’s hope Nintendo proves us all wrong, again.
Out of Nowhere Awesome Award
(pic found on NeoGAF forums)
Fat Princess
The rep guiding our demo was telling us how Darkstar made a last minute decision to even show Fat Princess at E3. I can barely comprehend how that was even up for debate, as this game looked like seven shades of win even though it was still six months away from release. They’ve nailed the formula for combining genuine comedy with inspired gameplay; I can’t wait to make all my friends buy it when it comes out next year.
This Game’s Hardness Would Make Hard Man Proud Award As Hard as I Am Award
Battletoads Award for Completely Unnecessary Yet Enjoyable Roughness
Mega Man 9
It’s standard operating procedure to look like a complete fool on the E3 show floor. Whether this is done by playing Killzone 2 for the first time or engaging in a four person what-the-hell fest with the latest Raving Rabbids game usually checks that box. But there was also Mega Man 9 – a game so refreshingly punishing that I must have died twenty times before I beat a level. Really, despite playing I-VI every day in my childhood, you could have sworn that I never picked a Mega Man title up in my life. Did I throw the Wii mote or insult Capcom PR? Hell no, I loved every second of it. Capcom isn’t lemon scenting anything – they’re bringing it completely old school, right down to the near-impossible memorization routines and super cheap baddie placement. I love it.
AC-10 Award
Wii Music
True to form, Nintendo appears to be lining their deep pockets with more casual gold. Who cares if it’s not really a game? The Wii elite are still going to be buying it in droves this holiday season. And you know what? They’ll love every minute they play it – regardless of its objective existence as a real game. Let Nintendo continue to eat unicorn steak while you consider that paradox.
