Damn! My feet hurt, my back hurts and I am in massive need of caffine (thank goodness for all the free Coke!), but I have returned from a busy, busy day of E3. After ate lunch, I went off to see what SOE had brought to the show. While showing off a few titles, I focused on the most interesting of their PC titles: Pirates of the Burning Sea and The Agency. Pirates of the Burning Sea is actually essentially finished - the developer would have shipped what they have here as the finished product had SOE not stepped in and given them another year to make the game perfect. Allowing you to live out your wildiest pirate adventures in a MMO setting, Pirates made an impressive showing at E3. Custom flags and masts, an ever-changing world that can change between PvP and PvE at any moment as well as an economy that is solely held up by the players, and a battle system that involves much more than just clicking and pressing hot keys round out the Pirates experience I was shown today.

The Agency, a FPS/3rd person hybrid MMO, was shown in true playable form, as it was actually a movie file of the developers playing it that was shown. After a brief breakdown of the gameplay - which includes Operatives that will work for you even when you aren't playing so even when you don't play you won't get far behind friends - we were shown the gameplay video. With stylish graphics that are more over-the-top and unique than realisitc and refined controls, The Agency looks like, if it can captialize on all the genre-pushing ideas the developers have, could be the next big thing. But enemy A.I., gameplay balance and spreading the experience too thin with too many options are concerns I pulled from my experience today.

After that, I went off to the Barker Hanger, which is the closest thing to the old E3 of booths and games that is here. I was able to get my hands-on quite a few awesome titles, but as the media room is about to close (I am always having this problem!), I will short list them for now.

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (WII) - Graphics are above average for a Wii title, the new Zapper controller is comfortable and effective for the gameplay. Not sure how much depth is in this game, but my small taste did perk my interest.

Zach and Wiki (WII) -Vibrant graphics and 3D point-and-click adventure controls seem perfectly suited for the Wii. Gestures are used to interact with the world with more than just clicks. As long as the puzzles and characters stay interesting, this will be a winner.

Hellboy (360, PSP) - The 360 version is shaping up decently, with gameplay that will satify both the hardcore and casual gamer. Interactive environments are fun, combos are varied, graphics are decent though some of the textures could use some work. The PSP version, surprising, looks pretty good, with some really crisp textures. Gameplay isn't as solid though, as it feels a lot like every other beat-em-up on the system.

4 minutes before I get the boot, so I have to cut this short again. Sorry, but expect more tomorrow!

Labels: Capcom, E3 2007, Konami