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Xbox 360's Project Natal isn't even out yet, and it's already huge.

During E3 2009, journalists, developers, and even Hollywood celebrities got wind of the secret demonstrations Microsoft was giving to select individuals and were pulling every string they could find to get in. Even Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto went to the secret area of Microsoft's booth and got a private VIP demo.

Demian and I got to give Natal a go, and we came away extremely impressed...and neither of us are of the easily impressed variety....

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Abstract: The online community at NeoGAF.com focuses its attention almost exclusively on videogames. The conversations can be indecipherable to outsiders, even those familiar with videogames. This passionate group of fans is one of the most influential in the industry. During live events, specific threads provide insight into the reactions of the community. It is the intention of this study to reveal their real time reactions to such an event, Nintendo's E3 press conference held on June 2, 2009.

Methodology: In order to chart these reactions, I assigned a score to each comment. If a comment was optimistic or positive, it scored +1. If it was negative, it scored -1. NeoGAF time stamps each post to the minute, so for every minute interval during the press conference, the sum total of response scores were charted.

A Positive Remark: Any remark that was positive in nature, either optimistic for events that may happen within the conference or approving of events as they happened. These were restricted to the actual conference happenings.

A Negative Remark: Any remark that was negative in nature, either pessimistic of what was to come, or disapproving of events as they happened. These were restricted to the actual conference happenings.

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Earlier this week, Miyamoto revealed to the press a new Zelda for Wii that wasn't shown at E3. Below is the concept art that we saw (man, that would've made for one beauty of an EGM cover). If you need a giant 3531x5000 version to wallpaper your gaming room with, click here.

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A lot of things impressed me about the Modern Warfare 2 demo: the great blizzard/snow effects. A snowmobile chase that would make Bruce Willis blush. That tense climb up the ice-covered mountain with a pair of ice picks....

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We all know what a big deal God of War 3 is. But it's actually a small deal, too. A bunch of small deals.

Fans will get plenty of skyscraping titans, grand environments, mythical creatures, and vicious combos -- just as we'd expect. But they'll also be getting a lot of little features that may not be back-of-box bullet point material.

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Our final E3 podcast is chock-full of guests and entertaining stories involving food. Enjoy, and wish us a safe trip home.

Bitmob.com - Mobcast #6:

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Our final E3 podcast features Electronic Arts' and former 1UP/CGW editor Jeff Green, 8-4's and former EGM editor John Ricciardi, and Turn 10's and former EGMer Che Chou alongside Michael Donahoe and Robert Ashley. They talk more thoughts on the big show, whether Twitter killed E3, and John recaps his chat with the people behind Metroid and Team Ninja.

Zune Link (must use Internet Explorer)

Direct Download (right click save as)

Subscribe via RSS

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Yesterday, I discovered THQ fancy one killing weapon over all: big ol' swords. The two games I checked out Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and Darksiders: Wrath of War both feature characters who lug around unrealistically large weapons. Practical? Nope. Cool? You bet.

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"Mark my words, five years from now every racing game is going to have rewind."

Turn 10's Dan Greenawalt, on one of Forza 3's new features, the rewind button. Full Auto was the first driving game I can remember that gave players a do-over via rewinding time, and Forza 3's definitely the first sim game to adopt it. Think it makes the game too easy? Greenawalt noted that that's what everyone said when the 'restart race' option first appeared in driving sims.

"Physics is my happy place"

Which helps explain Forza's relentlessly comprehensive physics modelling. Greenawalt said Forza 3 now even takes into account tire sidewall deformation when cornering.

"If you're a racing game and you're not running at 60 [frames-per-second], you're not a racing game."

I'm not going to argue. Although it does clash with what the Forza team was saying back when Forza 1 was 30fps....

"We've got a game that makes a race car driver sweat, but it's playable by a six-year-old."

Greenawalt's concerned about the accessibility -- or maybe inaccessibility is a more accurate term -- of driving sims. Forza 3's driving aids include an 'auto-brake' option; combine that with the usual traction control, ABS, and superimposed driving line and staying on the track isn't too hard, as long as you don't mind the computer's help. Turn all those things off if you're already pro (though you might want to leave the ABS on).

"Your level sucks."

Greenawalt's a big fan of UGC (user-generated content, we like that at Bitmob, too), but not such a fan of track editors. Because building a good track is hard as hell, and you probably don't know how. Designing liveries, tuning, and video editing is hard as well, and Forza 3 will help you find the best community-created content by letting players rank the most talented producers. Along with the above three disciplines, photographers and 'social coordinators' will also be recognized and sorted into their own leaderboards.

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We just left a behind-closed-doors demo of the upcoming "Project Natal," codename for the Xbox 360 camera/motion detector/voice recognizer/Minority Report-is-reality device Microsoft introduced at its E3 press conference this year.

Guess who's in the next group following in after us to see Natal? Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto himself, along with NOA Senior Manager of Product Marketing (and frequent on-stage demo guy) Bill Trinen and the rest of his Nintendo entourage.

We couldn't see Miyamoto's reactions to Natal, or if he got a chance to play any of the demos (the human Breakout seen at the press conference and a Burnout Paradise tech demonstration -- more on these later) himself, but just his apperance in this private area of Microsoft's booth got everyone there buzzing.

Wonder if he broke out in a sweat from jumping around in front of the camera -- or from seeing what it's capable of.

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I always feel bad going through Nintendo's booth during E3. PR always puts us press guys in front at the demo stations, ahead of people who've been legitimately waiting for a while. Sorry all you folks in line who had to let me cut, only to watch me whiff my three-point shots in Wii Sports Resort, which probably only made you angrier.

I just couldn't get Resort's three-point contest down, which officially makes me a worse gamer than Nintendo of America President and COO, Reggie Fils-Aime, who played this just fine during the Nintendo's E3 press conference.

I felt like I was releasing at the top of the jump. I felt like I was "reaching in a cookie jar on a shelf" (as my basketball-playing friends like to put it). I felt like I should've seen a nice arc and heard a gentle swoosh. But instead...

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Editor's Note: Andrew should start a new new website where he does game-industry coverage exclusively in limericks. Wait, forget we said that. Keep it on Bitmob! Don't miss his equally hilarious Microsoft recap and Nintendo recap. By the way, if you don't recognize the names/references below, they're probably 1UP.com editors. -Shoe

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Once a trail blazer, now following a trail
Sony's new console forms the market's tail
A leaked trailer here
A handheld rumor there
And now no news left to tell

Uncharted 2 features Nathan with gun
Locked into a Gears of War fun
How is the shirt?
Does he act really hurt?
Who cares? There's no roadie run

Zipper flips off Sony abusers
And made the doubters look like losers
So many on MAG
With no framerate lag
But does PSN have that many users?

Kratos returns in God of War 3
Matt Leone can't hold his pee
Red paint and knives
And demi-god strife
New? No, still has QTEs

Square Enix then startled the room
FF Eleven's death now looms
With FF-Fourteen
Mielke ruptured his spleen
Now his future child is doomed

Final Fantasy was still not even done
Number Seven joined in on the fun
No remake is here
Slash fiction fans shed a tear
No cell processing for Tifa's tight bum

Kojima delivered a special treat
For fanboys that fawn at his feat
MGS stays with Sony
Kojima's not phony
Although he still suckles at Microsoft's teat

The Last Guardian's trailer was a bust
Already inspired an art gamer's lust
Looks like Ico
With Colossus's Shadow
Their blue balls now ready to bust

Motion control was the theme of the week
And Sony showed plenty of cheek
They thought they did the trick
With their new waggle stick
But pundits say "That's not so l33t"

Did Kaz Hirai's new PSP come to save?
A road to DLC will it pave?
No more discs
A calculated risk
If dead, Shane will spin in his grave

Nursery Rhymes

Sony had a little plan
Little plan, little plan
Sony had a little plan
To offer motion control
And everywhere the market went
Market went, market went
And everywhere the market went
Sony was sure to go

Sony made Home, which was a "game"
So huge it incited laughter
Sony fell down and broke its crown
And Home came tumbling after

Hideo Kojima stabbed PS in the back
All Kojima's fans called him a hack
All the Metal Gears and PSPs
Can't negate Microsoft's exclusive fees

Trico, Trico, little star
How I wonder what you are!
A short trailer is all we know
Looks suspiciously like Ico

Sony, Sony, quite contrary,
How does your install base grow?
With Gran Turismo, and Resident Evil,
Yet another PSP, this one called Go

Author's Note:

I apologize. This must be stale,
But for the sake of symmetry,
I gritted my teeth and set to work
And now I've completed all three

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Editor's Note: More limerick awesomeness from Andrew We-Wonder-If-That's-His-Real-Last-Name. Also see his: Microsoft recap, Sony recap. -Shoe

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There once was a company from Japan
Who had the casual market in hand
They left the hardcore
Wii Fit is a bore
Now Girl, age 12, is the average fan

Four-player Mario is unveiled
"The next hardcore title" it's hailed
PR spokeswoman Cammie
Her delivery uncanny
But in the game she actually failed

Wii Fit Plus was on display
Housewives thought it was okay
But they don't know
That it's just all show
And their cellulite won't go away

DS RPGs were aplenty
Because grinding is very trendy
There was no shock
And no excited talk
Because we knew about them already

The DSi and popular Facebook
Are now in connected cahoots
Snap and upload
But what of friend codes?
Pedophiles will finally get a look

Super Mario Galaxy was quite the hit
It made the executives all shit
Another core title
From Nintendo's idol
But they ask "Can it be like Wii Fit?"

Then President Iwata ran amok
With his replacement for the nunchuck
The Vitality Sensor
Electronic relaxer
And everyone asked, "What the Fuck?"

But there was one last game to reveal
One with some hardcore appeal
Team Ninja's "Project M"
It's Metroid again
Third or first person, what's the deal?

Haikus

Cammie Dunaway
She's slick, PR spokeswoman
Needs Style Savvy

Reggie shoots the ball
Keeping it real for the peeps
No! White men can't jump

Third parties win
So claims Nintendo's research
Shovelware still reigns

C - O - P Recruit
New open world DS game
Generic, thy name

No Miyamoto
He's still very embarrassed
Wii Music nightmares

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