More E3: Nintendo delivers while Sony and MS play catch-up

Though I haven't owned one of their consoles or played one of their games in a long time, it seems like Nintendo clearly won the war of the press conferences. While Microsoft and Sony were busy parading around their slew of motion controlled nonsense, Nintendo actually delivered its fans info on pretty much everything and anything they could want to hear. Let's get into it:

-Nintendo officially revealed the 3DS, yet another new handheld device only this one does 3D. I was never much for handheld gaming and I've never been one to geek out for 3D but my mom always told me if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it...so let's just move on.

-Nintendo also offered info about new games from nearly all of their flagship franchises such as "The Legend of Zelda: The Skyward Sword," "Kirby's Epic Yarn," "Donkey Kong Country Returns," and 3DS remakes of "Paper Mario," "Starfox 64," and "PilotWings." Oh yeah, and something about some game called "GoldenEye?" I dunno, I've never heard of it before.

-Sony showed off a bunch of stuff for its new motion controller titled "Move." At least it wasn't filled with awkward white guy dancing but Sony and Microsoft seriously banking on these motion controllers is pretty dumb. All the people who were wowed by motion controls already bought and stopped playing their Wii years ago - do they think the hardcore gamers that make up their consumer base really want to play FPSes (or any other real game [read: not designed specifically for motion controls]) using their Move wand instead of a traditional controller? I'd hope not but everything I'm seeing seems to indicate otherwise. That Move gun shell doesn't give me high hopes either - seriously, Sony, why not just make a Super Scope 2.0 already?

-OMGWTF David Jaffe, you lied to me! A new Twisted Metal!? And it's PS3 exclusive? Damn you, Sony! I might actually buy a PS3 now. (Yes, I'm aware of how crazy that sounds - "You didn't buy a PS3 for MGS4, GoW3, inFamous or Killzone...but Twisted Metal is what pushed you over the edge?") They also showed off a mode for the game titled "Nuke," which is for those gamers who think straight up deathmatches or capture-the-flag games don't have enough insane objectives to accomplish. In "Nuke," players are split into teams of two - the Sweeth Tooth Gang and the Doll Face Gang. At the start, each gang tries to capture (a.k.a. tie to your car and drag) the other side's leader and take them back to their base to sacrifice them (a.k.a. tie them up to a big f'n rocket). Players need to protect the teammate doing the sacrificing and once the opposing leader is strapped to the rocket, players need to protect the rocket as it is guided (assumingly by the person who did the sacrificing) into a giant statue of the other teams leader. Still with me? Good, because you need to do that THREE times to win a match of "Nuke." I don't know how much time I'd spend in that mode but after seeing a character tearing around on a motorcycle throwing chainsaws as well as a new helicopter vehicle, I feel like I pretty much have to play it.

-Dead Space 2 looks out of control awesome. I need it now. Same with Fallout: New Vegas.

-Bungie confirmed the addition of the Firefight mode in Halo: Reach. They're adding even more customizable options for Firefight this time around, stating you can change your weapon loadouts and armor modifiers, Covenant enemy types, health and level of aggression, etc. They also added a new armor class (for those of you who are familiar with the classes from the Beta) called the Medic. This class offers a shield which is a precursor to the Halo 3 Bubbleshield. One last note I saw on Joystiq, Bungie stated that the Generator Defense game type in the Beta was actually a test for Firefight - those sneaky bastards.

-How could I forget - Portal 2 gameplay! If you thought the original had some mind-bending puzzles...you ain't seen nothing yet. Also, Valves Gabe Newell announced that Portal 2 will also be landing on the PS3 as well as PC and Xbox 360.

-Marvel vs. Capcom 3 looks pretty slick. I have a ton of fond memories playing MvC2 on Dreamcast back in the day and not-so-fond memories of getting screwed out of a ton of money by GameStop when I sold them my copy of MvC2 for PS2. I'm not a big fan of fighters anymore, but the huge roster of playable characters with crazy, colorful and over-the-top powers is too much for me to resist.

-Though I don't have a clue what it's about (if anything at all), Eric Chahi's Project Dust looks pretty neat. I haven't played a world-building game in a loooong time - it's probably been since Black and White or even Populous (the spiritual predecessor of Dust) - but since it's coming to PS3 and 360, it's definitely one to keep an eye on.

That's all for now (I think), but hopefully there will be plenty of new announcements coming in the next few days. Also, I'm still playing UFC Undisputed 2010 (it took me waaay too long to finish Red Dead Redemption) and I'll have my review of that up sometime before EA's MMA game comes out (that was a joke, it'll definitely be up before then).