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E3 2009: Sony Press Conference
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We live streamed Sony's E3 2009 press conference today, courtesy of G4TV and Justin.tv. But since it's over, you're out of luck. Or rather, you are until we embed an archived version of the presentation, which is coming soon.

UPDATE: Here it is.

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E3 2009: Nintendo Press Conference
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We live streamed the hell out of Nintendo's E3 2009 press conference from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM PST. Or rather G4TV and Justin.tv did, and we embedded the hell out of it. Here's the archived version for posterity.

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E3 2009: Fanboys Rage Against Metal Gear, Hideo Kojima
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Editor's note: I had to laugh at this. I can just picture all these keyboard-samurai, white-knuckled with outrage. Must be tough to live your life according to some arbitrary man-boy Bushido. -Demian



Who needs to write a real post about Metal Gear when you can just highlight comments from around the globe?

I think a multi-platform Metal Gear is an excellent idea [Demian: I think Metal Gear Solid: Rising may actually be a 360 exclusive, or perhaps timed exclusive]. But apparently some people disagree. Here's what they think in response to the latest episode of the Kojima Productions Report podcast.

I particularly like the "XBOX360 is a dead console!!!". Oh, and the guy that wrote a poem. Word.

UPDATE: See below.

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Video Blips Special: E3 Trailers Day One
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The E3 madness has begun. If you're having a hard time keeping track of everything, don't worry -- we are, too! So we're compiling the best demos/trailers released today. Hit the jump to see 'em all.

• Microsoft's Project Natal makes you look like a joystick. Nintendo feels flattered.

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E3 2009: Joel McHale Delivers the Ha-Ha's for Ubisoft
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The Soup host Joel McHale livened up an otherwise low-key Ubisoft press conference that had a bit too much casual (OK, we get it...Imagine and Petz rule the world!) and not enough hardcore (mainly because we already saw the awesome Splinter Cell: Conviction demo earlier in the day at Microsoft's presser, and Ubisoft didn't show any Assassin's Creed 2 gameplay).

He's the latest in the line of comedians that game publishers bring in to entertain the nerd press, from (good) Kevin Nealon doing an SNL Weekend Update-style news segment for Sega and the Dreamcast to (bad) Jamie Kennedy interviewing developers for Activision.

McHale, as expected, got the crowd laughing. Some of highlights:

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20 Ways to Make Metal Gear Solid 5 Successful
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Editor's Note: Hearing the news about Metal Gear Solid: Rising reminded me of a cool story from a couple weeks ago that got buried far too quickly. What do you guys think about Matthew's ideas for the next Metal Gear? Where's Raiden!? -Greg


The biggest fear we all harbor about the Metal Gear series is that it won't be allowed to die gracefully, that it will be drawn out and milked for all its worth. Perhaps we should have more faith in the ability of Konami and Kojima Productions to remain faithful to the series. Or, perhaps, after some less than glorious outings on portable platforms, we should not. But there are some very strong points that anyone who is developing the scenario and game design for Metal Gear Solid 5 (or whatever the next main-series Metal Gear game will be called) should consider. Following are 20 mostly detailed points. Some are things Kojima Productions should do with the next Metal Gear; some are things Kojima Productions should not do. Some are things they would never even consider doing, some are things that would never happen in a million years, but have been included just to make sure. You can’t beat 100 percent. [This story originally posted on my Metal Gear/Kojima Productions blog, Metal Gear Scholar]

How to make the next Metal Gear awesome:

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Rhythm Hell (And How You Can Win This Game)
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Editor's note: Poor Brett Bates. We gave him a copy of Rhythm Heaven and it ruined his life. Now he'd like to give you the game, so it can ruin yours. It's like the monkey's paw of Bitmob! -Demian


 

[Update: Sorry, folks, the contest is over. Congrats to Toby Davis!]

As some of you may recall, I won Rhythm Heaven in a contest last week. At the time, I thought that my winning was a wonderful thing. I mean, a free game! Who wouldn't be excited about that? But what I didn't realize was that Rhythm Heaven sprang forth from a circle of hell so heinous that not even Dante himself would venture into it. It's bar none the toughest game I've ever played. Worse, it kicks your ass and then lets you know how much you suck.

Rhythm Heaven starts out innocently. The first level simply makes you flick bolts in a factory to create some sort of widget -- in retrospect, I'm thinking maybe an iron maiden? -- in time to the beat. On my initial try, I struggled to perform the proper flicking action and failed. Fair enough: it often takes time to acclimate to the controls of a new game, especially when the game is stylus-based. So I gave it another shot. This time I felt more in step with the beat, but I still messed up a few times. Failure. I tried again. Epic fail. Tried again. Fail again! Finally, on my fifth attempt, the game grudgingly informed me that I was "just OK" and could go to the next level. In response I leapt off the couch and pumped the air with my fist. "Hell yes!" I shouted. "I'm 'OK'!" I don't think I've ever been so excited for someone to tell me I'm merely average.

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E3 2009: The Official Bitmob Q&A
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Hello Bitmob readers. My name is Paul Gale, and I'm one of Bitmob's official moderators. As you all know, E3 is around the corner, and with that I would like to offer you my services. During the three days of E3, if you come back to this article, you can ask me any question you can think of about anything going on at the show, and I will personally do my best to answer it.

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E3 2009: Ubisoft Press Conference
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We've replaced the Ubisoft E3 2009 press conference live stream with this archived version, courtesy of G4TV and Justin.tv.

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E3 2009: Microsoft Press Conference Awards
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OK, some technical difficulties prevented us from live-blogging the Microsoft conference, but we all took down some notes about our best, worst, and other notable moments from this morning's event.

Shoe:

Best Bit: I'm not a big music-rhythm gamer, unless it's bursting with weird personality (see: Parappa the Rapper, Patapon). But The Beatles: Rock Band stirred up something emotional inside of me. The trailer started with the young Beatles belting out raw tunes inside The Cavern and continued all the way through the band's trippy, psychedelic years. I never wanted the clutter of Guitar Hero and Rock Band in my home before, but now I can't wait to sing, strum, and drum with the Fab Four.

And to top off a great video and demo, the real Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr came out on stage to a roaring crowd, to say a few words about their game. I rarely get star struck, but today, a gaming press conference nearly made me cry.

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E3 2009: Xbox Games On Demand, Avatar News
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Games On Demand
After the main Microsoft conference, GM of Xbox Live Mark Whitten announced the Games On Demand service coming to Live. Games On Demand launches in August with 30 titles, including Mass Effect, BioShock, Oblivion, and Assassin's Creed, with new titles added every week. You'll be able to buy and download these with a credit card rather than Microsoft $pace Bucks. Mass Effect was listed at $20 -- Whitten said On Demand prices would be the same as retail.

Halo 3: ODST avatar costume
ODST costume'd avatar with RC Warthog.

New Avatar Crap
Whitten also announced that game makers can now award players with avatar items for in-game accomplishments. These items include regular clothes as well as full-body costumes and props. Whitten showed a Halo 3: ODST costumed-avatar with pom-poms and also a remote-controlled Warthog.

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E3 2009: EA Press Conference
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Please find enclosed the EA press conference from E3 2009. Thank you.


Watch live video from G4TV - LIVE at E3 2009 on Justin.tv

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E3 2009: Microsoft Press Conference
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We've swapped out the no-longer-live stream that used to be here with this archived version, which should prove significantly more exciting in the long run.


Watch live video from G4TV - LIVE at E3 2009 on Justin.tv

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E3 2009: The Beginining
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We're here, and Monday morning at 10:30 in the AM PST we'll be at Microsoft's press conference for E3 2009. We plan to have a live video stream of the presentation embedded on Bitmob, accompanied by a live blog. Which, come to think of it, might be a little bit redundant, but we'll see how it goes! The Nintendo and Sony conferences on Tuesday will get the same treatment.

We encourage Bitmobbers to post E3-related news and commentary to the Mobfeed this week (like PJ Lantieri's PSP Go! write-up) -- please tag your stories "E3 2009" (without the quotation marks). We may not be able to promote a whole lot of it because we'll be busy attending and covering the show ourselves, but we'll do our best. Should be a fun time.

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The Search for Arcade Boy
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Editor's note: We're a little late to the party on this post, considering it's already been picked up by Kotaku, but just in case you missed it.... -Demian


Some of you may remember a post I wrote on Bitmob recently about a makeshift 'arcade' in the Himilayan hill station of Darjeeling. Called The Highest Arcade in the World, the story recounted a Street Fighter Alpha 3 battering I received at the hands of the arcade's Indian owner, referred to in the story only as ‘Arcade Boy'.

As a result of that post a mysterious benefactor contacted the editors at Bitmob and offered to send a Dreamcast and a box of games to the arcade. They in turn contacted me and asked if I could arrange it. I would love to, I replied, but there was just one problem....

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PSP GO! Footage Leaks
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PSP Go!Editor's Note: Although we'd really prefer it if users used their real names here before we promote their stories to the front page, "MinorNelson" did dig up something cool, right before E3. Also, Justin Dennis points out leaked images from Eurogamer. -Shoe



PSP Go! footage leaks early, along with video of the new LittleBigPlanet. Also mentioned: watching TV shows on the PSP Go!, the new Metal Gear, and Gran Turismo. The speaker also states that it will not replace the old PSP.

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Post-Game: Wolverine
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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE We get the feeling that if someone were to throw a Wolverine Fastball Special at Dan Vondrak, he wouldn't try to dodge it. The project lead on X-Men Origins: Wolverine at developer Raven Software isn't stupid (we don't think, anyways). He's just not afraid to take things head-on.

That's the vibe we got when we interviewed him about Raven's latest, which has drawn a fair amount of praise from gamers and the press -- a rarity for movie-licensed fare. But no game's perfect, and when we questioned him about some of Wolverine's shortcomings, Vondrak was more straightforward with us than we were expecting.

Read on for his thoughts on the influence a certain bald-headed god has had on his game, why quick-time events suck, and a seemingly out-of-place World of Warcraft Easter Egg....

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EGM Is Alive...But Does It Truly Live?
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First things first: I think we can all agree that no magazine, least of all EGM, deserved to die with Hugh Jackman's horrifically ugly blown-up mug gracing its cover.

But secondly, let me say that I wish Electronic Gaming Monthly founder Steve Harris nothing but the best in his new (old) venture, and this blog in no way represents the opinion of Bitmob's staff as a whole. And I have no inside knowledge on any behind-the-scenes wheelings and dealings -- like all of you, I've only read Harris' press release and former EGM editor-in-chief James Mielke's 1UP blog on the subject. But the reaction to this news, from Twitter to gaming sites to gaming message boards, has been surprisingly optimistic and almost universally positive. My reaction's a little different -- and it's partly because of my personal connection to the magazine.

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EGM is Back
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I'm serious.

See http://www.egmnow.com.

UPDATE: No, we don't know who will be working on this yet, but here's a lot more insight from James Mielke, the last Editor-in-Chief of "EGM then."

Full press release after the jump:

egmnow

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Mobcast Episode 004
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MobcastThe first of our E3 episodes is up. And this E3-in-preview show is just the beginning. Check back throughout the week of E3 for more episodes, including special guests!

Bitmob.com - Mobcast #4: Bonus episode this week. The Bitmob.com crew brings you an E3 preview show, but with the Mobcast spin. 5 guys, 5 topics. Dan "Shoe" Hsu, Demian Linn, Michael Donahoe, Greg Ford, and Robert Ashley talk E3 memories good and bad, Nintendo getting in gamers' good graces, E3 predictions, and more.

Zune Link (must use Internet Explorer)

Direct Download (right click save as)

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