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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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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.

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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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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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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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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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

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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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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

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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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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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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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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:

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The 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)

Subscribe via RSS

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Editor's Note: Just wanted to highlight the latest news about the Bitmob community podcast, which now has a name. Sounds like you guys already have a way for people to submit short segments, but I've heard good things about houndbite.com, too! -Demian

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Hello once again fellow Bitmobbers! I'm back with the second round of updates on the Bitmob community podcast. We've been doing a whole lot of research, emailing, twittering, and other online interactions trying to set up the best possible show for everyone here. We're still working on nailing down a lot of things, but there is some information that I'm happy to share with everyone today.

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who responded so enthusiastically to the last post with ideas for names, segments, and overall suggestions. Also, to all the staff members that took the time to encourage us and give a little advice, you are showing exactly why the idea for this podcast came into existence. So without further ado, let's end this whole nameless podcast routine!

The Bitmob community podcast will henceforth be known as Pixel Revolt! (Unless anyone has issues with it, in which case we can definitely change it.) Suggested by Brett Bates, the name Pixel Revolt embodies the excitement and energy of the community which we hope to capture, as well as references the Bitmob name. There has also already been a twitter feed set up for the podcast @pixelrevolt.

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