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Warriors Orochi 2 (PSP)
• Publisher: Koei
• Developer: Omega Force
• Release Date: August 25, 2009
• What We Saw:
Like all of the Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors titles before them, the Warriors Orochi series throws hundreds and thousands of enemy soldiers at your stalwart warrior and tasks you with kicking all of their armored keisters. This time around, there’s 2-player co-op and competitive play, though my demo only included a single player stage. I was flooded with ancient ass-kickers on a snowy battlefield, left to fend for myself using my transformable hero. You have a basic and a charge attack, as well as the ability to switch your hero on the fly.
• What We Think:
Danielle: The action was smooth and speedy, and the PSP performs beautifully under the weight of so many little warriors onscreen. I definitely took a whupping, so it’s a more hardcore experience than it is a massive-scale button masher. Fans should be pleased (especially with the multiplayer modes), and there’s a metric ton of content, but you will likely need to know the difference between Benkai and Gyuki to really get the full experience from it.

Wet (360, PS3)
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Developer: Artificial Mind and Movement
• Release Date: Fall 2009
• Screenshots
• Trailer
• What We Saw:

A2M tells us that Wet is a, “High-octane popcorn movie,” and the hands-on demo we watched certainly lived up to that billing. Using a conventional third-person perspective, follow the exploits of Ruby, a Problem Fixer, who hires herself out to whomever can pay to clean up the sort of big messes that require the use of fists, guns and swords. (And we all know how often one needs a sword in modern day society.) The title, which is short for wetworks is derived from the fact that the work for which Ruby is hired is bloody.

Lest you thing this is just a new spin on typical Lara Croftian T&A tropes, Ruby appears to be much more the strong, suitably clothed female character we should expect from these games. At least, we can hope that ends up being the case. The gameplay emphasizes dexterity and acrobatics. Don’t expect to move from covered position to covered position when playing as Ruby. Instead, as you execute various moves, the camera automatically goes into a slow-motion mode that allows you to target enemies and the environment as Ruby contorts herself into every possible position to make a kill or avoid being killed herself. Wet is expected to take about 10 hours to complete.

• What We Think:

Todd: There were a couple of games at E3 this year that featured gun-toting kick-ass female characters (Bayonetta comes to mind) and it’ll be interesting to see how well Wet does against its competition. Certainly the cinematic action is there in spades and the adrenaline junky factor is high. In the past that’s been a recipe for success and it’s not hard to see it working here.

Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Nintendo
• Release Date: July 26, 2009
• What We Saw:

We spent some hands on time with the sequel to Wii Sports and played archery, sword fighting and basketball. There are a dozen games in all, with golf and bowling returning from the original, only updated to support Wii Motion Plus. Nintendo isn't doing anything to mess with the original's visual style so the game sports the same, cheery, colorful look as the first one. The three games we played were very fun, even if I'm terrible at basketball and the games we didn't play all look interesting. The new Wii Motion Plus add-on makes a huge difference in the sword fighting game, allowing for responsive strikes and blocks. All in all, this game looks to match the fun and success of the original and act as a nice showcase for the Motion Plus add-on.

• What We Think:

Brandon: I loved the original Wii Sports and with so many more games in Wii Sports Resort, ranging from ping pong to flying toy airplanes, I can't wait to try them all out. Even basketball, which I was terrible at, looked like it could be a lot of fun once you got into a rhythm and figured out what you were doing. Archery was intuitive and fun, with a nice blur effect for everything but the target you focus on. Swordfighting was probably the best though, responding to all of your blocks and strikes as you worked to knock your opponent off of the stage and into the water. Hell, I'm even looking forward to the updated bowling despite being downright medicore at Wii Sports bowling. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Nintendo is on to something with this whole Wii Sports thing.

Danielle: This is Wii Sports on steroids. Everything that was fun about the first game – the sense of competition, the visceral sensation of motion, the dopey/cool graphics – is turned up in the sequel. It’s as good a showcase for Wii Motion Plus as the first game was for the Wii Remote – though I’m not entirely sure it will have the staying power of Wii Sports. After all, it’s not as revolutionary – and it’s not coming packed in with a brand-new console.

Wolfenstein (360, PS3, PC)
• Publisher: Activision
• Developer: Raven Software
• Release Date: August 4, 2009
• Trailer
• What We Saw:

We had a closed door showing of both the opening cinematic from BJ Blazkowicz's latest trip through Nazi-land and a trip through one of the levels. BJ has a magical amulet thingy this time around allowing for the ability to slow time, see in the dark, put up a shield and travel through an alternate dimension to make his way through walls. The Nazis are naturally interested in this amulet and will set up nullfiers that take BJ's magical powers away, meaning that he'll have to rely on good old shooting. Enemies ranged from Nazis to mutated, er, things that worked with the Nazis. You know, typical Wolfenstein.

• What We Think:

Brandon: Well, it was pretty, except for the constant water droplet effects on the player's POV which was terribly annoying. Maybe BJ was wearing a scuba mask the entire time, I don't know. Honestly, it looked like your basic shooter with magical powers to go along with all of the other shooters with magical powers we've seen in the past months. Raven makes good games, so I don't doubt that there will be more to it, but if there is, I sure as hell didn't see it.