E3 2012: home viewing guide

Once again, it's that time of year to gaze upon the oracle of gaming-to-come, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). My NeverEnding Story of trying to get inside is still being written. The gatekeepers to the kingdom of gaming (the E3 committee Sphinxes') have thwarted even my most “Atreyuian” moves towards the gates.

Nevertheless, E3 2012 is happening June 5-7th with major keynote addresses starting on Monday, June 4th. You're viewing choices have grown (slightly) this year over last, with more network choices and dedicated streams over the Internet. Televised on Spike TV and sister Viacom Media Networks, including MTV2; MTVU; VH1; Tr3s: Música y Másand will all air the coverage simultaneously. Check your local listings for their correct channels. The Microsoft keynote will be airing for the first time on XBox Live through an app called: Playbook 360. I’m starting to wonder if by attending E3 you actually risk not seeing everything; and the best move may be getting all the information in one massive media download.

It's interesting to ponder what's in store and its affect on how the industry is fairing. E3 has high expectations associated with it, namely first look at new consoles. While I personally don’t think we will be seeing any new hardware besides the Wii U, there are some highly anticipated games we can expect to hear about.

The Gamedae E3 2012: Home Viewing Guide is below.

rift: planes of tolara by zoidberger

PLATFORM: PC

RELEASE DATE: 03/2011

DEVELOPER: Trion Worlds

ESRB RATING: T (for Teen)

Progress: Lvl 50 Bahmi Cleric-Warden

Unpolished features, massive bugs and server crashes are all things we have come to expect when a new MMORPG hits the market. In a genre dominated by what is actually available and working at launch, Rift stands out as being 100% playable on day one. The game play in Rift is not revolutionary, in fact you can make the point that is has nothing new to offer. What developer Trion Worlds did was take already existing facets from multiple MMOs and improves on them; Rift proves that a game new to the genre doesn’t need to reinvent it to be great.

fragger

PLATFORM: PC
RELEASE DATE: 6/2010
DEVELOPER: Armor Games
ESRB RATING: NA

Progress: 100% (Normal Difficulty) 

I stumbled upon a late night gem. Fragger. I know some of you out there are internet game skeptics, but some of them are fun, even if fleeting. If you’ve got 30 minutes or an hour to spare, you can play and probably beat this game. (Well on normal level difficulty).

portal

PLATFORM: PC
RELEASE DATE: 10/2007
PUBLISHER: VALVE
ESRB RATING: T

Progress: 11 of 19 rooms

Have you seen the movie The Cube? Portal is a puzzle game that looks like that movie and plays as a first person shooter; the only thing, is you're not really shooting anything. Set in the mysterious Aperture Science Laboratories, Portal has been called one of the most innovative video games and offers gamers hours of unique gameplay. The story begins with you in a room, with a voice telling you that your taking part in an experiment, that your job is to make it through the puzzles that are set before you. The gun you see in the banner above is your Portal Gun which you acquire almost right away. The Portal Gun enables you to create portals which are imperative to traverse through the different rooms, each with their own unique puzzle. Of course I'd heard of it, read some stories about it but just never played Portal myself. That is, until last week when developer Valve decided to give Portal away for free for a limited time; and before you ask, both PC and Mac editions are available.