Here are some ground rules: do not post anymore “tips” about alleged cheaters.  I really don’t have the time to investigate em all.  What you can post are actual cheaters who were busted and had their gamerscores reset.  Fair enough?

This means that I will be deleting posts that make accusations, but I’ll allow posts that spread the word about a cheater getting hit with a reset.

Now, onto the topic of the moment: we know GOW2 cheaters were busted, but exactly how many of em were slammed?  Post xbox.com profiles to people who were recently zeroed out!

And finally – thank you guys for the support and encouragement to get this site back up from off the ground.

If the interest is high enough, we’ll bring it back!  Thanks!

The controls seem simple and intuitive enough, using the analog sticks and a single button to accomplish 90% of Faith’s acrobatic moves, but fortunately, EA will be including a tutorial level at the beginning of the game to ease players into this new world of first-person acrobatics. Every move is basically context-sensitive – but incredibly natural.

The beauty of the PS3 version of the game lies in the use of the Sixaxis controller. On a balance beam or pipe, keeping Faith’s balance requires the use of the Sixaxis, and gamers can even tilt the controller forward and backward during certain moves (i.e., to soften a landing).

An interesting point to note is that while Faith can wield firearms of various bad guys, Faith’s acrobats may only be performed when she does not have any weapons equipped. And in addition to her physical abilities, Faith has a “reaction time” which is akin to the Matrix Bullet time.

As I was watching the game being demoed, I was concerned as to whether this game would be far too linear for a next-gen game. Fortunately, it was clarified that while there is a single objective per “level,” there are various paths a player can take to get to that objective. Taking those alternate paths will reward the explorers to finding all of the “collectibles” spread through the game’s levels.

Speaking of the levels, the game does not only take place on rooftops. In one level that was shown, the level was inspired by the infamous Tokyo Sewer System – it was dark, grimy, and dangerous.

In any environment, Faith is equipped with her skills. No, she’s not a super-human with mutant abilities, but she is highly athletic. From the start of the game, to the very end, you will have the same set of acrobatic abilities to perform all the leaps, grabs, and melee attack moves to meet your objectives. As it was explained to us, Faith doesn’t “level up” her abilities through the game – but the gamers “unlock themselves” and will grow in their abilities to control Faith.

Unfortunately, EA was mum on any online plans for the game.

The save point system is designed to be very forgiving, and the promise of very quick load times definitely sounds welcoming.

Mirror’s Edge is filled with chases, combat, and puzzles, and brings a unique perspective and natural-feeling controls and definitely is one game to watch out for.

Mercenaries 2

We go to check out EA’s latest offering in the Mercenaries franchise, and there are a LOT of things to be excited about. Let’s clarify a few things first though. Mercs 2 is not a game that will have you playing deathmatches over Xbox Live. Nay, Mercs 2 multiplayer extends to only a 2-player co-op mode over Xbox Live. That said, the game is still a monster – and will take you about 60 hours to complete all 100% of objectives and missions. As for the aforementioned co-op, your buddy can jump in and out of your game at any time.

The world is much huger than the previous Mercs game. The world stands in at four times the size of the first game’s, and there are more weapons, vehicles (water vehicles!), and air strikes for you to bring complete destruction to the visually impressive world. When we played a demo of Fallout 3 here at E3, we were really impressed when we shot at and detonated a “mini-nuke,” causing a nice little mushroom cloud to form. During the Mercs 2 demo, we witnessed a “Holy Crap” moment when a full-sized big-daddy nuke was detonated. A quick note had to be jotted in the notepad – “I saw a NUKE explode – HUGE.”

But the main “theme” of the game, if you will, as iterated by the devs is driven by one simple question: “Can I?” For instance, “Can I blow that up?” “Can I drive that?” Just use your imagination – the answer is a resounding “YES!” Quite a tall order for a game (even Battlefield: Bad Company had limits) to accomplish, but after seeing persistent building damages, hijacking of vehicles (quick time events), and yes, that huge mushroom cloud, we’re thinking – “YES!”

Dead Space

A lot of games this year started to get lost, simply due to the fact that there are a TON of games being developed. The titles start to all sound the same, and they soon start to blend into each other. Finding a unique game that stood out from the crowd seemed like a challenge. Then we walked into Dead Space.

We’ve seen survival horror games. We’ve also seen games set on an alien world, with aliens. But we haven’t seen a game that uses devices so cleverly as to convey such a compelling gaming experience in this genre. There is no HUD. You have no BFG. And when you die, it’s such a visceral and brutal moment, you’ll WANT to see how you end up getting ripped apart.

As previously mentioned, you won’t be getting the Big F-ing Gun. Instead, you’ll get – mining equipment. There’s a cutter originally purposed for cutting through rock and stone, and you’ll be using said cutter to employ “strategic dismemberment” to off the baddies and aliens. This isn’t the type of game where all you do is go for head shots. The uglies that seek your death will play dead, and run away and come back to finish the job. And all you have are quarry cutters (which are upgradeable through the game), your strength (yes, pick up limbs for melee attacks), and your bullet time “stasis” mode to help target enemy weak points. Let’s not forget to mention the suit – which is also upgradeable.

With regards to gameplay, we saw some really frantic scenes, where you’ll have to try to aim when your character, Isaac, is lying on his back (aiming is more challenging when you’re being thrown around the room by your feet – fancy that). And there’s also the ability to walk up certain walls. The devs’ option to limit your access to resources like ammo and health may seem like an artificial way to increase the difficulty of the game, but let’s face it, you’re going to be a lot more careful before turning every corner when you know you’re running low on ammo.

This incredibly graphic game will satisfy you with about 13-20 hours of single-player only gameplay – but more importantly, will scare the devil out of you.

After our appointment with EA, we decided to try our luck with Microsoft. Prior to E3 starting, we had made arrangements with tons of developers and publishers for demo times and appointments. Microsoft unfortunately didn’t have any slots left for us – and even when we went to their room on Day 1, our request to check out their offerings was rejected.

On the morning of Day 2 however, Wiseguy and I were welcomed with open arms. We’re not exactly sure who to thank for the red carpet welcome, but there are a lot of great people working at Microsoft and Edelmen we know helped us in various ways to get us to the games. Suffice it to say, Microsoft blew me away…read on to see why:

MICROSOFT

You’re in the Movies

So what do you normally do when you get a group of friends over? Right now, the game of choice for us is Rock Band. Scene-It for the Xbox 360 comes a close second, and yes, we’ll quite often bring out some good ol’ board games. This Holiday will bring you the next level of Game Night with a game that combines Mad Libs and Charades, and uses the dust-collecting Xbox 360 video camera peripheral.

Basically, up to four players (don’t worry, there are only four players allowed in the game, but anyone can step up to the camera and go nuts) will perform various tasks (like running in place, acting scared, or riding a scooter) on camera. The game will then compile several of those clips into a trailer for a B-movie. The payoff is so totally worth looking like a dork and pretending to act like you know kung-fu.

The game really is fun – but we were concerned as to whether the Vision Camera was responsive enough for a lot of the fast motion requred by the game. We’re happy to report that even with this “early-ish” build, the game ran without a hitch!

As an added bonus to the game, you can take those campy movie trailers featuring you and your friends (if you only have one friend, there are stand-in, pre-recorded actors to fill in) and upload them to the internet. What is more, you can take over as director in Director Mode to edit and create your own movie trailer. There are TONS of movie themes (like Giant Bug Attack, Zombie, Kung Fu, etc.) for you to play around in.

Halo Wars

One of the most highly anticipated games is a total departure for the franchise. Halo Wars takes the FPS game into an RTS. Set 20 years before the events of Halo 1, you will take command of either the entire UNSC, or the alien Covenant race. The bad news is, since the game takes place so long before Halo, there won’t be any appearances (cameo, or otherwise) by Master Chief or Cortana. The good news however, is that this means there were TONS of Spartans running around the galaxy! That’s right – you can build multiple Spartans (they’re considered Special Forces) to bring ruin to the Covenant.

The menu system is radial, and it works. It’s not cluttered by any means, with only eight items in each menu. All buildings and units are upgradeable through researching, and some units are upgradeable multiple times. For example, Spartans can be upgraded a few times, giving Spartans different weapons like a flamethrower, and yes, even the laser cannon (!), and Warthogs get upgraded with additional firepower (more seatable weapons).

Controlling the game was very intuitive. The d-pad acts as your quick look to jump to either your base, your units, the battle, or the Spirit of Fire (see below). Simple button clicks will select units or groups, and will command them to movement or to attack. It really is easy to play.

This game is simplistic in its resource system. There is no “farming” going on – you produce energy via your supply pads, and the number of units you can have is determined by how many power plants you have. There are also supply crates strewn throughout each map. You won’t be spending time scouting for resources, so that means you’ll have more time to decimate your opponent.

We didn’t see anything different about the vehicles and units in Halo Wars from the Halo trilogy, which might annoy some Halo purists. This means that no technology has changed from the events of Halo Wars to Halo 1. But honestly, who wants to play around in a universe without the Warthog, or without the Scorpion Tank? Just know that you have at your disposal virtually every vehicle and unit from the Halo FPS trilogy (including additions, like airborne units). We also learned that there will be “hero” type units in the game, but we couldn’t get any additional info on that.

So about those Spartans, yes, they look and move just like Master Chief. They can jack enemy vehicles, and when they occupy a Scorpion Tank for example (you can never remove a Spartan from a Tank once you put him in it), that tank gets a special attack, but more importantly, becomes much deadlier and tougher.

In addition to your units and base, you also can call upon the power of your planet-orbiting ship – for the UNSC, it’s the “Spirit of Fire.” The ship isn’t seen on the screen, but when you activate its menu, you view the map from a very high top-down perspective (the regular camera view and controls work beautifully, btw). In the ship menu, you can order a carpet bomb, a mega blast, or even a heal/repair blast for your own units. Just keep in mind each of these abilities require time to reset for repeat usage.

Halo Wars has the fog of war deal going on, which is pretty much par for the course. But we were curious as to how there could be a fog of war with the Spirit of Fire hovering above the planet – our answer was refreshing – there’s no big reason for this. A lack of a fog would kill the gameplay. Simple as that.

We were told that the single player campaign will take players all over the galaxy, with multiple environments to battle in. The devs were not allowed to specifically discuss any of said environments, but in the map we got to play, there were animals roaming around called “Thorn Beasts,” which we proceeded to run over with our Scorpion Tanks. Definitely not Earth.

The Covenant apparently acts and plays very differently than the UNSC (no one got to play as Covenant), and when we pressed the issue, the Covenant was described as “religious zealots” with possible suicide attacks. And when we asked about other races in the game, we were told that while there are only two races (UNSC and Covenant) in the game, the devs told us that “there are other elements we’re not allowed to discuss.” Can you just imagine the possibilities?

We simply cannot wait for this game to be released. It places you into the Halo universe, and allows you to play with every unit, as if you were playing around with toy soliders. Multiplayer is clearly going to keep everyone playing this game for months with co-op and competitive gameplay. The visuals are stunning, the explosions rewarding, and the only thing left to consider is a promised “epic” storyline. Next year can’t come soon enough.

The New Xbox Experience

When we heard the rumors of a new dashboard coming, we just didn’t believe them. The “Blades” work just fine, and with updates, we’ve seen organization of content improve upon the navigation of the 360 dashboard. At best, we expected some additional re-arranging of content. Instead, Microsoft did something so daring, and so bold – they gave the dashboard a complete overhaul.

The new look makes the Blades look like they were designed by Playskool. Indeed, the new look looks a heck of a lot like Apple’s Coverflow UI.

Reflections of all the panels and even the theme look gorgeous, and everything moves so elegantly. The one thing about Playstation 3′s UI that is so enjoyable is its elegant movement (despite its overly complex design). The 360′s new dashboard is visually appealing, and intuitive in its practicality. The “channels” load up quickly, despite it still being a work in progress.

One thing that was missing from our demo of the new dashboard were advertisements. We were promised that ads would not be intrusive upon the user experience (i.e., it won’t block your theme), but we can’t see where in the new dashboard ads could fit in. Only time will tell, we suppose.

In addition to the new dashboard, the Fall update will also unclude optional hard drive installation for ALL 360 games. This feature will work for every single 360 title, even games with multiple discs for faster load times, and quieter operation. That 120GB drive is going to start filling up quick.

Another feature we’re looking forward to is the ability to use any internet-capable device (such as a mobile phone or the PS3) to browse and download the latest Xbox Live Marketplace offerings. One caveat however, is that in order to immediately begin downloads, your 360 must be on. Otherwise, your downloads will be queued up for download the next time you power on your console.

The partnership with Netflix is truly a godsend. Yes, you must have an Xbox Live Gold account, as well as a Netflix account, but both services are completely worth the small costs. The library of titles available to watch instantly include recent TV shows (like the Office) and older films. There are some new releases available as well, but hopefully more studios will release newer titles for instant view down the line.

Lastly, the new Avatars look great, but we’re going to have to hold off on our judgment until we see how filled our dashboard gets with all of our friends populating it, and to see whether we can really create good likenesses.

Look for the new dashboard to hit “late Fall.”

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Hopefully, you’ve already read my previous preview of this phenomenally fun game. I got to play around with it a little bit more, and while I don’t have much more to add to my preview, I must say that this game is simply magical.

LUCASARTS

Star Wars: Force Unleashed

Since covering the game at the Star Wars Convention last year, we have been absolutely amped for this title. And now that we know the plot for this epic episode in the Star Wars canon, we can barely contain ourselves.

Star Wars has capture imaginations since 1977, and just like the cartoon-short series, “Clone Wars” from a few years ago, Force Unleashed will re-invent the Star Wars universe. The Force when used by the Dark Side is a crushing, obliterating, and splintering. The graphics and audio help you really feel huge steel doors being warped and bent by the Force. You can really experience the feel of crushing an AT-ST like a tin can. The “feel” of the game is as compelling as the storyline.

The game’s intro movie sets the tone of an immense drama. Visually breathtaking scenes tell you from the get-go that this game is bigger than any of the Star Wars films themselves.

As for gameplay, using combos of lightsaber and force attacks will is so satisfying, especially since the game conveys the idea of “force unleashed” with every nuanced movement. These combos will result in death and destruction, and in turn, you are rewarded with more points to upgrade your force powers.

Enemies are thrown at you as fodder, but make no mistake, there are some very tough non-boss enemies. Armed to the teeth, and equipped with tough armor, some Stormtroopers in groups, will cause you to employ strategy or face death. Boss battles also require a level of strategy, but mostly, you’ll want to avoid being hit, and damage the boss enough times to engage the quick time event that will result in a finishing move (like the aforementioned crushing of the AT-ST).

There are also puzzle elements to the game where you will have to use the force to pull/push objects to open appropriate doors and steps, or to deactivate energy fields.

Here’s hoping that we get a huge variety of environments (Felucia looks awesome, but will we get a snow level?) and that the supporting cast does not detract from the already compelling storyline. Oh and please let the Bull Rancor fight be awesome!

Day 2 Stories

So in the middle of the day, a group of Xbox MVPs headed to the Marriott to participate in an interview set up by the good folks at Microsoft’s Community Team. Little did we know that we were about to get interviewed for Japan’s version of the New York Times. Fortunately, the journalists and their translator were very cool, and made us feel quite comfortable. We talked about our histories with gaming, what our day jobs are, and what games we were currently playing. These questions we expected. The journalists however threw us some curveball questions, asking us to compare the different platforms – and although I love the 360, I had no qualms in talking about what I liked about the PS3 and the Wii. I said that I love gaming best on the 360, movies on the PS3′s blu-ray player, and exercising on the Wii.

After the interview, we were surprised with an invitation to be interviewed by the Japan Xbox Live team for Japan’s Inside Xbox. The nerves kicked in, and while we were told what questions they were going to be asking us, we had about 10 seconds to think about what our answers were. I was first up to be interviewed – and before the camera started rolling, I asked whether I should speak slowly – “very slowly” was my instructions. Watching the video now, I am afraid I sound like a dumb version of Al Gore. And in hindsight, I should have threw in what little Japanese I know, like, “konichiwa” and “arigato,” and I probably should have thrown up a peace sign too, just to show the Japanese gamers that I’m down with Japanese culture…oh well!

It was an exciting afternoon, and it was really fun hanging with other MVPs as well as the Gamerscoreblog crew, despite me making a dork out of myself.

Oh and here’s a link to the vid, courtesy of Godfree from Gamertagradio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Jj1ih5zfg

Edit: Post updated!

Day ONE of E3 was a day of epic proportions. Truly amazing, but mainly because of the stories and memories I will take away from this year’s E3.

Capcom was nothing less than amazing. The folks there were incredibly hospitable and so accommodating, despite us requiring two separate appointments through the day to get to see everything. They even were nice enough to let me wear the Bionic Commando arm prop for a picture (I hope Wiseguy gets em up quick!)

Street Fighter IV: This game handles like a dream. The graphics and animation are just astonishing, and all of my worries about operating in a 3D space are completely relieved. This is a flat game space that looks awesome. Each of the characters have different gameplaying origins, so to speak – they play like they do in different versions of Street Fighter. Basically, the Capcom team took the best of all the Street Fighter’s souped it up, and blended em for this game. Awesome. Fortunately, they had sit-down arcade units for us to play the game out – but unfortunately, I don’t really know how it feels with a measly Xbox controller. Here’s hoping there will be a compatible joystick concurrently released.

Bionic Commando: I saw a playthrough of a city level – with buildings partially demolished – a city in ruins. The graphics were colorful and astounding…as the Bionic Commando was swinging through the air with his bionic arm, anytime he flew through dust or smoke, the screen was dirtied for a few moments. The arm looked mechanical, yet organic – kinda like Akira’s monster arm in the anime classic. It was the gameplay elements though that really impressed me. Unlike Spider-Man, who swings from a webline connected to nothing in particular (clouds or an airplane, maybe?), the Bionic Commando has to connect to something to swing, whether it be a ceiling, a railway, a ledge, or anything that is in the world. Your arm is not just a mechanism for travel – it’s a weapon. Use it to pummel enemies, or draw them to you. The arm, with a 20 meter reach, is your ultimate tool. The arm itself is not an upgradeable component in the game, but you do gain abilities as you progress through the game. And though we didn’t get to see any, the promise of huge bosses you have to scale and pick apart to expose weak points makes me really excited for this title.

Bionic Commando: Re-armed: This remake of the classic Nintendo game was built from the ground up, using the new graphics engine used to power its big brother (see above). This translates into an incredible and rich-looking take on the game we all know and love. Not only are the graphics upgraded, but your abilities are also upgraded, with the ability to grab barrels to block enemy fire, and the like. The plot of this XBLA title takes place 10 years before the aforementioned retail title, and owning both the XBLA and the retail versions allows you to unlock classic costumes for the retail game. A huge addition to this game is 2-player co-op, where you can have a friend on the same console, or over Xbox Live jump in and out at any time. With co-op, killing bosses becomes strategically different, requiring both players to use your combined strengths and tactics to defeat them. I’d have to consider this title to absolutely one of the best XBLA arcade titles to be released since Pac-Man Championship Edition.

Dark Void: This is the jetpack game you’ve seen and read about, and it is far more than what you’d expect at first glance. Set in the Bermuda Triangle, the hero is equipped with a jetpack (which is upgradable through the game – you only start with the ability to hover) and can arm an assortment of human and alien weapons. The game uses destructible cover mechanics, but not just on the ground. As you scale huge cliffs, you’ll be using rock outcroppings and layers of the cliff as cover for the aliens above. This gameplay mechanic of vertical combat has never been done before – and when you get quick time events (like when the ledge you’re hanging from gets blown away or when you jetblast your way to pull an alien to his death) in the mix, it’s a pretty amazing experience. The story will take you through canyons, jungles, and alien worlds, along with huge boss battles that take place in the skies above. The flying animations and graphics are really dramatic, and if you were disappointed in Iron Man’s flying – you will find relief here (and yeah, you can jack alien ships). Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer planned for this title, but the single player looks robust enough to justify a purchase of this high-flying adventure game.

Resident Evil 5: The evil is more real than ever in this next-gen survival horror game. A lack of resources (ammo and health) is made up with the lethal and incredibly efficient help of your AI partner. Getting swarmed by zombies? Hit a button for help – and your partner will come guns-a-blazing. But the game definitely retains the difficulty of managing your movement versus killing vicious zombies. Be prepared to make the choice of flight or fight. During my time with the game, I was easily surrounded by zombies (who are all realistically rendered), and I ran out of bullets. When I finally died, my adrenaline was flowing and my blood was pumping. Definitely not for the feint of heart!

Codemasters: Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising
We saw an in-depth movie presentation about the next-gen installment of Operation Flashpoint. This time, Codemasters wanted to bring gamers into a realistic setting (so realistic that each and every building on the battlefield, an island off the coast of China, is there in real life), with ultra-realistic weapons, vehicles, and tactics. In this game, we’re not given a shiny, Hollywood-ized look at war. War in this game is gritty, and harsh. Playing this game, we’re told, can be looked at as by some as an anti-war message.

From the preliminary footage we saw, the huge open fields and spaces are grounds for realistically-portrayed devastation. Explosions aren’t huge fictional fireballs of death. They’re lethal clouds of dirt, smoke, and rubble. Battles are fought at night and day, and the entire island is 134 square miles, and apparently, it could take you 4.5 hours to traverse on foot.

The game’s realism is even implemented into how your soldier draws his weapon. It’s all done in real-time, and putting together a javelin missile takes just as long as it would take in real life.

We’re looking forward to seeing some actual gameplay from Codemasters, and hope that it lives up to the huge expectations we have after seeing their video presentation.

Warner Brothers was another awesome host. We were treated with Batman Lego figures, and were given intimate demos of two amazing games.

Project Origin: If you’ve played F.E.A.R., the paranormal FPS on the 360, then you will be delighted to hear that Project Origin takes everything you loved about it to the next level. You can now equip up to four weapons, there is a new regenerative health system, and you can cook grenades and sprint your way from cover to cover. The destructible environment was pretty damn awesome (seeing a wall being blown into cinder blocks and rubble and a theater sign get torn asunder left me well, in awe). You can also shoot grenades out of the air – and as luck would have it, in our demo presentation, we saw a grenade by chance, strike another grenade in mid-air, detonating both in the air.

My absolute favorite aspect of the game though was the “powered armor” vehicle. It’s basically a badass mech, armed with chain guns, and missiles. If you want a cure for the average FPS, this game is going to be it.

Lego Batman: Let’s face it – the Lego video game series has been wildly successful in bringing the best characters to life in the cute, Lego style and humor. Lego Batman is no exception. With the litany of characters (Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Joker, et. al), you will never be able to put down the controller, especially in light of the new Dark Knight film. I honestly cannot find any reason why anyone should pass up this one.

Day ONE stories:

So, we headed to Vibiana, an old church (now used as a venue for such events) in the heart of Los Angeles for Activision’s press briefing. When we got there, we were treated to a really swanky time. Not only was the church interior lit with moody spotlights, the garden area was our reception area, with lavish drinks and appetizers to help us all get into a good mood after a long day at E3. Activision seemed to have spared no expense with this event (reminded me of the Gears of War launch party at the Hollywood Cemetery).

After having some top notch drink, food, and chat with the movers and shakers in the gaming community, we all headed inside to grab our seats for the briefing.

As I walked in, I walked by a gentlemen I found oddly familiar-looking. I swore I had met this man before. Incidentally, he had the same puzzled look about him. So we did that thing where you politely approach the other person out of courtesy – and tried to recall where we could have possibly met. He asked me if I’d ever lived in the Bay Area, and I had not – and we determined that we both were at the Microsoft Press Briefing just the other day, but that was not the place we met…or was it? We decided we didn’t quite remember, and that we’d probably remember as soon as we parted ways. Before we did however, I asked the guy for his business card, to help jog my memory. I took it without looking at it, thanked him, and went on my merry way.

Lo and behold, as I was walking away, I looked down at the card in my hand, and it red, “Kai Huang,” President and Founder – Red Octane. Another kick-in-the-head moment for me. It turns out that he presented Guitar Hero: World Tour at the MS press briefing the other day, and he probably remembers me from the briefing since I sat in the front row, directly in front of him – and I was far too air-headed to remember him. So Kai, if you’re reading this – I’ve made a fool of myself, and I apologize for that!

At any rate, Activision’s presser was awesome, as you might have read – but the Guitar Hero: World Tour presentation was the coup de grâce. The feature list alone makes me wickedly amazed. I mean, while some companies tend to release features in a trickling fashion from one game to the next, Red Octane turned the amp to 11 by providing a system that has unlimited possibilities for gamers and musicians alike. Trust me when I say that this game will revolutionize music gaming as we perceive it today.

After the fantastic Activision presser, we headed to the famous Saddleback Ranch bar in Hollywood for Bethesda’s reception. Nothing was cooler than hanging with other Community members, Bethesda folks, and even Luke, from Bungie. Nothing – that is, except for seeing Wiseguy becoming good friends with the manager (enough so that the manager personally brought Wiseguy a carafe filled with beer). And of course, nothing beats hanging with the Frag Dolls, who were dressed to kill.

So that was E3 Day ONE. It was a long, but amazing day.

DAY ZERO

So Day 0 of E3 is over, and boy am I exhausted! My day started early, at 5 AM to hit the gym. After my workout, I headed to the LA Convention Center, for Microsoft’s Press Briefing. There, I’d meet up with Wiseguy, Spaceghost, and other Xbox MVPs.

But before I met up with anyone else, I went to the registration area to pick up my ESA badge. I must have been far too excited for my own good because I somehow found myself in the Exhibitor Registration line without realizing it (oh and Peter Molyneux was in line at the same time). Here’s how the conversation with myself and the counter gal went:

Me: Good Morning!
Her: Hello, may I please see your I.D.?
M: Sure – here it is…
H: Thank you, it will be just one moment.
M: <thinking: why aren’t they taking my picture for the badge like they are for everyone else? Hmf>
H: Here you are sir <hands me badge>
M: <takes badge – and realizes that I’m holding Shane Kim’s badge in my hands…run???>
M: Umm…this isn’t me.
H: Oh sorry sir – are you an exhibitor or attendee?
M: Woops – I guess it would help to read the signs – sorry! <kicks self repeatedly for not keeping the badge>

So after passing up the possibility of having the ultimate all-access badge, I proceeded to wait in line to get into West Hall for the Microsoft Presser.

After a little bit, Wiseguy, Spaceghost, and other MVPs showed up, and then we waited some more before the doors opened, and we were welcomed by a very dark and huge room – with neon green lines/lights leading to a huge wall with the words “Jump In” emblazed on it.

Before I continue, I want to add that a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of participating in a little pre-E3 video that Microsoft was producing. Turned out that the video was to be featured as the intro video for the MS Presser. Tony, the producer of the vid sat next to me during the briefing, and I have to say, it was rather embarrassing seeing myself up there. But I digress…

So you all have seen/read/heard all the details of Microsoft will be bringing to the Xbox 360 platform. I must say, despite all of my fears of this year’s MS presentation bombing due to lack of anything interesting, I was really excited about what MS showed and announced. But you all don’t need to hear about what I think about this stuff.

It was great sitting there, with the audio blasting my eardrums (little did I know that the volume would be nothing compared to EA’s briefing’s volume), and the throngs of media personnel torn at continuing to ride the “Hate MS” wagon, and actually being jazzed at all the cool stuff.

Any lack of applause during the briefing should not be confused with a lack of glee, because most of the time, everyone was hammering away at their laptops with thoughts of what they just saw.

At any rate, I definitely thought MS brought out some great things to show the world today. Only things missing were anything related to Halo…

…which brings me to my next story…Witchking and I were walking out of the Hall when we run into some Bungie guys (wearing Bungie shirts, no less). When I asked them where the heck Halo 4 was, one fellow joked and insinuated that I had not paid attention during the briefing, and that I missed the announcement. I pressed him and told him that I was up in Bellevue for the Halo 3 launch and met him up there – and asked him for the real story.

No joke – he said curtly that they had something planned, but it was scrapped at the last minute. I wasn’t sure if he was upset my inquisition, or whether he was telling us the truth about the matter. But my gut tells me that it’s the latter.

Witchking, Wiseguy, and I headed to Langer’s for lunch afterwards…

That’s it for now – I’ll update this thread throughout E3 with vids! I promise!

Go ahead and peruse through the Watch List, and use the search box to look up the posts we featured any of those Confirmed Cheaters in. Meanwhile, we’ll be pouring over those tips you all have been submitting for the past few weeks.

Oh and just a heads up, but we’ll be at E3 this year and you can count on us bringing you coverage from the biggest gaming show of the year!

According to MGC.net, he played 29 games, had a total Gamerscore of 25305 out of 25805 possible, and unlocked 901 out of 928 total Achievements. This information is as recent as May 6, 2008, so it might be possible that “H e M p II” enabled his privacy settings and then did a lot more cheating after May 6. What is also interesting to note is that the earliest record of him playing over Live is on September 13, 2007 – so this Gamertag is not a “new.”

We’d love to hear the info you folks dig up…until then, here are the details on this Confirmed Cheater:

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?GamerTag=H+e+M+p+II

Dishboy09 is the same. He has a lot of hacked score. Its very obvious.

And “Delirious” noted:

Has anyone noticed Dishboy09? He has loads of hacked games like MDK and all acquired offline.

Our readers sure know how to spot em! But one curious thing they both missed can be found in his recently played games list:

Do you see something wrong with that picture? Yep, it looks like “DishBoy09″ has his hands on a game that doesn’t hit the shelves until next week (June 24, 2008). And we’re pretty sure if one were so inclined, a self-motivated person could dig through the leaderboards for this particular title and dig up a few more time-traveling cheaters.

Here are the links for the profile pages for “DishBoy09″:

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0&GamerTag=DishBoy09

Edit: We’d like to add that it is entirely possible that “DishBoy09″ actually has a review copy of the game – if he actually received it from the publisher.  But somehow we doubt that.