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Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360)
• Publisher: Microsoft
• Developer: Bungie
• Release Date: September 22, 2009
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
We got to sit down in the Bungie booth and play 11 minutes of Firefight, a survival-based cooperative mode that has you fighting wave after wave of invading Covenant. Similar to Gears of War 2’s Horde mode, you’ll hole up with your buddies and fight until either the ticking clock or your pool of shared lives reaches zero.
• What We Think:
Mitch: No dual-wielding, health recovery, or X button equipment? Yeah, Halo 3: ODST isn’t quite the same Halo 3 you’ve been addicted to for the last year and a half. And if ODST keeps up what it has going for it, even I’ll be making the jump – and I don’t really like the Halo games. Firefight is a cool way to cooperatively fight against endless waves of enemies, and because you’ll need to pick up new weapons and manually refill your health at med stations, it’s an entirely different kind of Halo. The new VISR ability highlights your friends and enemies with colored outlines, making it easier to see in darker areas and pick off groups of baddies.

Hardy Boys: the Hidden Theft (Wii)
• Publisher: Dreamcatcher
• Developer:
• Release Date: Fall 2009
• What We Saw:
Just like the previous Agatha Christie Games on Wii, Hardy Boys is a point-and-click adventure that relies on careful observation and puzzle solving. It looked almost identical to the previous title.
• What We Think:
Danielle: Oh man, this looked just like the Murder Under The Sun game I reviewed for the Wii – janky and slow. Again, I really think these franchises are aimed at older folks – people with patience and a familiarity with the property. Plus, it’s difficult for me to think of a Hardy Boy’s game without giggling at my inner mental picture of the South Park “Hardly Boys” sketch.

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (Wii)
• Publisher: Natsume
• Developer: Marvelous Entertainment
• Release Date: September 2009
• What We Saw:
It’s pure Harvest Moon (that is, an RPG with a central focus on farming), with an added focus on collecting and “taming” pets. I saw all sorts of cute critters – though my demo was limited to a quick 5-minute session. I was introduced to the tricks system – each pet can be taught activities Nintendogs-style, and each species (pandas and penguins are on the list) has its own little bag of tricks.
• What We Think:
Danielle: This game made me feel old. It’s obviously aimed squarely at children – and a mash up of the pet simulator genre with harvest moon RPG makes perfect sense for this market. It’s cuter than a thousand beanie babies covered in rainbow sprinkles, and just as headache inducing if you aren’t into that sort of thing.

Harvest Moon: My Little Shop (WiiWare)
• Publisher: Natsume
• Developer: Natsume
• Release Date: Q3 2009
• What We Saw:
Like Harvest Moon meets Cooking Mama, My Little Shop is a hybrid restaurant management/cooking sim. I saw this one with a group of enthusiastic Harvest Moon fans, who were excited to note that most of the characters in Clover Town are from older games in the series. Basically, gameplay is split between deciding what items to stock in your little juice bar and a series of Cooking Mama-esque cooking minigames. You take orders from your little buddies, make their food, and earn cash/points for being a great barista.
• What We Think:
Danielle: As a WiiWare game, this has serious potential to be a fun little diversion for kids (at a much friendlier price than the other titles in the series). Still – I can’t help but think that the HM license is getting milked worse than the cutesy cows providing your ice cream – what’s next, “Harvest Moon: I Have Carpal tunnel from Playing Too Much Harvest Moon”?

Harvest Moon DS: Sunshine Island (DS)
• Publisher: Natsume
• Developer: Natsume
• Release Date: August, 2009
• What We Saw:
The most traditional and hardcore of the Harvest Moon games on display, Sunshine Islands is much more about farming and story-based RPG play than about making carrot juice. I saw a quick demo wherein the super-deformed hero ran around harvesting veggies. I was also told that unlocking new areas allows you to access new materials/animals/plants to work with – including gem mining operations. I was also promised some pet action and animal befriending, though it’s less a focus this time around.
• What We Think:
Danielle: The best bet for hardcore gamers in Natsume’s booth (unless you’re still psyched to play Afrika), Sunshine Islands looks cute, fun and meaty enough to last awhile. I’ve always had a soft spot for the original concept behind HM, so it’s good to see a title that’s still true to the farming fun. Pets be damned – I just want to farm some veggies!

Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming (DS)
• Publisher: Natsume
• Developer: Natsume
• Release Date: July 2009
• What We Saw:
Frantic Farming is a Harvest Moon themed block puzzler – you match veggie-themed tiles and collect the garden fresh goodness. There are 12 characters with storylines, and a big mystery to solve (why so many vegetables?)
• What We Think:
Danielle: Well, this might be the first all-veggie HM game – and it’s a cute, simple looking puzzler for the younger set. Frankly, however, there’s no way that this game could possibly topple Planet Puzzle League – so unless you’re a HUGE Harvest Moon fan, you’ll probably be able to find something else to entertain yourself.

Hearts of Iron 3 (PC)
• Publisher: Paradox Interactive
• Developer: Paradox Interactive
• Release Date: August 2009
• Screenshots
• What We Saw:
Just like East India Company, we got a nice hotel lobby demo of the game from Paradox so we had a chance to get a look at the third game in this hardcore epic scale turn based World War II series—about a 15 minute tour of the new features.
• What We Think:
Bill: Well, I think it's impossible to even remotely discuss Hearts of Iron 3 by seeing a 15 minute demo. This is most likely the most hardcore game on display at the entire show so a 15 minute showing means I am basically paying lip service because it's going to take a long, long time to truly get a feel for the nuances that make this game what it is.
What I can say is that the interface, one of the biggest issues with previous versions is significantly improved. It's a lot easier to see the info that you need and the game is loaded with handy tool tips, map modes, shaders, mini maps, and notifications. There's a lot of new diplomacy options, etc. Still, it's going to take a long time to get a true feel this one mainly due to its staggering scope. Thankfully we have a playable build in hand and a full preview is forthcoming.

Heavy Rain (PS3)
• Publisher: Sony
• Developer: Quantic Dream
• Release Date: TBD 2009
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
David Cage, the writer and director of Heavy Rain, showed off two segments of his team’s upcoming adventure game. Both played out more like a film than a game, as is obviously the intent, but the presentation of Heavy Rain is so unique, the characters so fleshed out, and the narrative so complex that it could easily achieve what Cage is aiming for: a paradigm shift in design that makes us think about the games we’re playing.
• What We Think:
Mitch: I had seen the first of two levels that Cage demonstrated prior to E3. “Mad Jack,” a segment starring an FBI agent investigating the whereabouts of a serial murderer, was a brief action sequence showing off the fast pace of Heavy Rain’s storytelling. To give an idea of the game’s substantial consequences, Cage let the investigator die at the hands of a seedy junkyard owner, appropriately called Mad Jack. Since the game has four playable characters that you’ll switch to between chapters, the agent’s death doesn’t lead to a game over screen. The story carries on without him, proceeding with his death and disappearance as a potential plot point. The sequence featured a fair amount of fist fighting, which played out via contextual button prompts – if an X button icon flared up over an object during the cinematic storytelling sequences, the character could interact with it, using it as a means to escape or attack. Because the “quick time events” are continuous, they don’t feel like a tacked on way to get involved with something you’re seeing. The potential for the story to splinter in any number of directions had me wondering what could have happened if he had done something different every time a prompt popped up.
The second part of the demonstration gave me a better idea of how Heavy Rain actually played. You’ll guide your character with the left stick, using R2 to walk them forward. Like an old point-and-click adventure game, you’ll explore the world and chat with the people in it. Following a journalist named Madison through a nightclub, the second bit was infinitely more impressive than the first. Madison’s goal to get the attention of the sleezy club owner resulted in going to the bathroom and changing her look. Rather than go through dialogue trees or piecing a puzzle together, you’ll take part in menial tasks like putting on makeup, unbuttoning Madison’s shirt and tousling her hair to sex-ify her person. It’s a very real part of the experience, as are the characters’ believable conversations. Madison’s eventual seduction of the owner led to trembling fear when she was forced to strip at gunpoint, for example. The awkward dirty talk beforehand really made me care about Madison – she was obviously uncomfortable around the man, giving her an air of realism. I was relieved when she made it through the situation unharmed, which I fully did not expect when I walked into Cage’s demo.
The game really does play out like a movie with button flashes, but Heavy Rain’s approach and execution makes it feel more worthwhile. Your decisions and actions determine a substantial chunk of the story, and whether you live or die through it is going to be absolutely thrilling.
Todd: My biggest hope for this game is that it doesn’t get stuck with the blatantly inaccurate level of being a game based on Quicktime events. The demo I saw is much more than that. No, what should make or break this game is the strength of the narrative. If the story can successfully draw players in, the gameplay is not going to get in the way.

Homefront (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
• Publisher: THQ
• Developer: KAOS
• Release Date: TBD 2010
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:
We got a closed door viewing of THQ’s upcoming resistance movement shooter set in small-town USA (the demo was, anyway). Unlike THQ’s Space Marine, the demo at least had the devs playing the game even though we didn’t get our hands on it. It was a demonstration presentation using pre-alpha code.
The demo itself showcased a lot of explosions. You are part of a resistance – a nameless foreign country has invaded the United States. The story involves North Korea but developer Kaos wasn’t giving up a lot of story details. In the 10 minute gameplay demo we saw our hero leave a house which doubled as a cell base, grab some weapons and help his buddies kill a lot of bad guys. This was all happening in a suburban landscape which is a nice change of pace. Then the Goliath was called. This unmanned 6-wheeled tank is controlled by scoping an infra-red laser onto a location and basically telling the Goliath to kill whatever is there. And in the demo it did just that in spectacular fashion.
• What We Think:
Bill: As crazy early E3 demos go, this was one of the best. But it’s also a classic case of a company showing you exactly what they want you to see because the game is still so far from being ready. That isn’t THQ’s fault, but it’s way, way, too early to get excited about it. Just because a game has a slick looking E3 demo doesn’t mean the game itself will end up being any good at all. But – damn…stuff blew up good in that demo. But it’s still so early that very few details were revealed. When I asked about multiplayer the answer was, “We will have multiplayer.” Thanks for that.
Brandon: Stuff blows up real pretty in this game; however with no details on story, pretty explosions may be the only thing the game has to offer. The sun dappled suburban setting works really well, especially when people start dropping from gunfire, setting up a very jarring juxtaposition and there's an unmanned combat vehicle that you can have bust through walls which is always good. Did I mention the pretty explosions? Binky like when things go boom.

Huxley: The Dystopia (PC; Maybe 360)
• Publisher: Ijji
• Developer: Webzen
• Release Date: TBD 2009
• Screenshots
• What We Saw:
Remember Huxley? It popped onto the radar a few years back with promises of sending FPSs into the vast realm of MMOs with 100+ players and NPCs duking it out in three-way battles among Sapiens, Alternatives, and Hybrids. Then it vanished, perhaps drawn into the void of an alternate dimension. Huxley is back, and like any good sci-fi tale, something happened to it along the way. It has become a free-to-play, online shooter with micro-transactions to pay for new outfits and buffs to non-combative elements like XP and in-game currency, and all I played were a few rounds of jump-strafe deathmatches.
• What We Think:
Brian: Considering how touchy the subject seemed to be, and blatantly excluded from the presentation, I am convinced that the MMO portion of the previously touted 100+ player battles is dead. Huxley offers experience points, accumulated skills like invincibility and double-jumping, and deathmatches against the A.I., which were called “PvE.” None of these features really qualify Huxley as an MMO though, nor do the five stages currently available. Huxley is competent enough as a FPS, but doesn’t yet offer enough to challenge the likes of Unreal Tournament.