[In the final ever instalment of 'Bell, Game, and Candle', a GameSetWatch-exclusive column by writer Alex Litel, he follows up the the NSFW Reggie Fils-Aime E3 keynote to provide a sneak peek of other important bombshells to be revealed at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles next week.]

E3 2009 scoops? Sure, I've got plenty of them. Here's what's really being announced at the LA Convention Center (or thereabouts!) in just a few short days:

Star Wars: Chewbacca Origins: A Bar-Mitzvah and A Baptism: Even though I’m not a fan of Star Wars, I have seen all of the movies, and I’m pretty sure last year’s hit game Star Wars: Chewbacca Origins contradicted everything I had remembered about the films. And as many of you know, it turns out that Chewbacca was a typical kid growing up in Cincinnati in the early 1970s that accidentally tripped into his neighbor’s time machine and ended up in the past in a far-off galaxy.

This downloadable expansion episode tells the story of the half-Jewish/half-Christian twelve-year-old Chewy attempting to manage and deal with having both a Baptism and a Bar Mitzvah to prepare for. The content, which is dated for September, will be a timed exclusive for the Xbox 360 until early next year.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - "Other E3 Surprises Spoiled Before Their Announcement"" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular-ish GameSetWatch-exclusive column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. In this edition, he returns from a three-month hiatus to provide the NSFW first of two exclusive E3 bombshells.]

Firstly, I would like to say welcome to all of the dweebs and non-dweebs who have to be here because their place of employment fired the dweebs.

Also, I would like to tell some jokes.

What is an item on the menu of a hip-hop-themed hot-dog stand? “Kanye Wurst”

What rhetorical question does a runner ask to inspire sympathy? “Have you ever jogged a mile in my shoes?”

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - "An Obtained Copy of Reggie Fils-Aime’s E3 Keynote Speech"" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch-exclusive column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. This time, he writes a response to Hilary Goldstein's editorial about Resident Evil 5.]

For what it seems like to be eons, the question of “What is the Citizen Kane of video games?” has been wondered by the gaming-journalism-industrial-complex’s proletariat and its bourgeoisie.

Can it be possible that Orson Welles’ seminal 1940 pièce de résistance of cinema of the same name, a film about the rise and fall of a media magnate Charles Foster Kane—played by Welles himself—loosely based off of the life of William Randolph Heart, can be a scenario where gameplay is existent?

One would logically think the best we could be hoping for is a strategy simulation based on the newspaper industry intertwined with the grandiose profoundness of Kojima-style storytelling and romantically lengthy filmic extracts.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'IGN Reviews Citizen Kane: The Video Game'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch-exclusive column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. This time, he writes about the first game is looking forward to since Imagine: Party Babyz.]

INT. UNIVERSAL STUDIOS BACKLOT - DAY

A handful of creatives are presenting their pitches for one of the first productions of the newly independent DreamWorks' first productions—a film adaptation of the video game Noby Noby Boy.

Brett Ratner
I am more than infinitely qualified for this film: I am currently working on an adaptation of the hypersexual interactive Greek epic God of War, and I have a compendious knowledge of the American condition. My vision would not stray much from the thematic overtures established by the monumental American cinematic zenith Rush Hour 2, but it would also be intertwined with the familial histrionics of The Family Man, Money Talks’ cunning economic satire, and the perfected, thrilling exploration of an altered psyche from Red Dragon.

Michael Bay
My love for Noby Noby Boy roots in that it shies far away from the evergreen trend of increasingly convoluted reasons for killing people in occasionally exotic locales that a healthy portion of video games are boggled down by. There is a genuine opportunity here to accurately portray the parochial chaos that comes from a biological anomaly and really make a cogent study of the communal, intrapersonal and environmental effects that arise from such. Most of all, there is a sincere probability of ambition unobstructed by formula and unadulterated by malfeasance; I am adverse to profferings, but this provides a ceaselessly fascinating thematic query that I hope to tackle.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'Noby Noby Boy Is Rich'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch-exclusive column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. This time, he tells a horror tale of what happens when games become a socially accepted as an artistic medium.]

As you may have read, I recently traveled a few months to the future, but I did not really venture beyond the couch where I typically type my illustrious prose and MacBook Pro (which has the Time Travel widget I use for temporal exploits) I typically utilize to type my illustrious prose.

Going to a couch three months in the future is hardly time travel; it is more like hibernation for the lazy, asocial sorts.

And since this is a Mac, the widget was sadly only limited to two options— “Williamsburg” and “Silver Lake”—because people assume only hipsters use Macs (not true, shallow people verisimilar to hipsters like me and Bay Area residents use Macs too).

By the way, I chose “2019” because I was curious to see how accurate those predictions from the Superstruct are. And as a semi-Angeleno, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in the accuracy of Blade Runner.

The process of time-travel is relatively simple: set the options, click “ok” on the widget and wait a few minutes (and don’t shut or disconnect or interrupt the computer, otherwise you might mess up your keyboard and get permanently stuck in the famed white room where Mark Mothersbaugh is on loop).

Yes, in the future you have to carry around the computer if you care to get back, but one does not have to keep the laptop open.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'A Primer on the Future of Games as Art'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch-exclusive column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. This time, he is here with his own year-end round-up.]

Here is my contribution to the reflective canon, a look back at the best in things said in press releases in this fine year.

Over the past few days, I have scoured through more than 1,500 press releases, and I am certain that I have found the very best of the best.

Also, I should probably note I have excluded Mark Jacobs, as his contributions are so far and beyond anyone else that his inclusion would simply turn this into a countdown. In his absence, the top quote will be awarded an award with his namesake.

(Really, including statements like "We want any and all interested players to be able to join the ranks of Order and Destruction, regardless of location or language. The battle between Realms can only get better as more warriors join the fight for the Age of Reckoning." or "In three days the real battle begins -- we have declared September 18th the 'Day of Reckoning,' and WAR will soon be upon us!" would make things unfair.)

The Mark Jacobs Award for Corporate Communicative Achievement

“The game All Star Cheer Squad was designed with the growing number of girls on Wii and Nintendo DS in mind. We strived to deliver an authentic cheer experience for those players and believe this partnership with CoverGirl is a unique opportunity to do just that. The CoverGirl brand and its spokespeople are instantly recognizable among our target demographic and will further immerse players in the competitive cheerleading world.”
Jim Huntley, director of global brand management, THQ

Expressing approval of indoctrinating imperfection into malleable minds without inciting even the slightest indignation in the blogosphere is nothing short of top-flight cunning. If I could give this award to more than one person, I would give it to all the those in the industry—seemingly universally male—who have used their empiricism to speak on the interests of young girls. But I cannot, so I honor the sheer epitome.

Read on for the next, uhh, 49 quotes:

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'The Top Fifty Press Release Quotes Of 2008'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. This time, he borrows from the EA/Take-Two saga to fulfill his entrepreneurial aspirations.]

Dear Brash Entertainment Proprietors:

I am writing to you to formally express my interest in acquiring the name “Brash Entertainment” and to propose a transaction in which I would acquire the exclusive, perpetual rights to the “Brash Entertainment” moniker for $300 in cash and, in accordance with the advice of my financial adviser, a dozen cookies from a bakery of your choice (value up to $25).

This proposed nomenclatural transfer would infuse some much-needed liquidity to pay off mounting debts you are facing. Based on the recent sale of the majority of likewise financially addled Midway Games for $100,000, my calculations show that this offer provides a delicious premium of more than 50% on the fair market value of about $200.

To sidestep the imminent corrosion of value, I believe the quick conclusion of this transaction is in the best interest of the both of us. Hesitance will prove disastrous for the both of us in today’s troubled economy and presents a serious obstacle to our respective future business endeavors.

I also believe that the proposed entitlement exchange would eventually create additional value the name would not acquire otherwise with my plan to create a Brash Entertainment that combines the best in independent film properties with the best talent in independent gaming that targets an audience thus far untargeted by gaming companies.

The initial lineup would include game versions of Academy Award-nominated drama Half-Nelson, cult horror flick Stay Alive, mind-bending thriller π, heist comedy Bottle Rocket, and crime drama Hard Eight—and these titles would be distributed through cheap, accessible download services. The low cost of licenses combined with the low cost of entry and low development cost would create a high margin opportunity.

Considerable time and resources have been put forth in developing this offer, and I have personally approved its disclosure. My offer is not contingent on any financing requirement. I have completed a thorough review of Brash’s prior and once-future output and am prepared to progress immediately on a transaction with no impediment to either party. Given recent reportage that indicates a dearth of professional activity, I feel it is fully reasonable to expect a reply by the close of this business week on Friday, December 4, 2008.

Sincerely,

Alex Litel
Extraordinary Professional

[Alex Litel can be reached at alexlitel@gmail.com and occasionally found at alexlitel.blogspot.com. He does sympathize with developers and publishing staff affected by the Brash situation, so don't start.]

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens - or doesn't happen - in the game business. This time - he travels into the future to bring back press releases.]

EA Signs the Legendary David Lynch for Three Game Deal
Auteur behind Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive to elevate the plane of interactive entertainment

Electronic Arts today announced that cinematic legend David Lynch will bring his unique talents to the development of three original games. Lynch will lead development of the games with a team at Pandemic Studios in Los Angeles, the same studio recently released open-world title Mercenaries 2: World of Flames and the forthcoming The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. Lynch's acclaimed works include Oscar-nominated classics such as Mulholland Dr., Blue Velvet, and The Elephant Man. He is presently devoting his time to an array of multimedia projects.

Under the agreement with Asymmetrical Productions, EA will co-own the intellectual properties and the game franchises will be co-developed, published and distributed worldwide by EA. The relationship between Lynch and EA includes efforts to extend the game franchises into theatrical motion pictures. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“The sheer promise of technology has struck me as a bellwether of innovation; for that reason, I am excited to be entering a new medium and proving it capable of handling a scathing, soaring complexity,” said Lynch. “By taking the more arduous road of creating computer games without the use of computers, I believe that we will set an inspirational precedent for interactive narratives.”

The collaboration will also give Lynch unprecedented control over the marketing and publicity of the games, offering an imaginative experience prior to the release of the game certain to intrigue Lynch fans and gamers. Starting today, fans will find a clues embedded within Lynch’s daily weather forecast at his website davidlynch.com.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'Press Releases from the Future'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens in the game business. This time - a conversation probes advertising, relationships, and the non-gamer's perception of games and gamers.]

A few days ago, I was ambulating about a metropolitan hotel after hearing word of an advertising summit (my curiosity especially peaked following a Mad Men binge) and noticed an eight-foot-tall hovering, cerulean being clamoring claims that he is “an advertising legend” to the concierge. This occurrence terrified yet intrigued me; I felt I had to talk this person.

Upon closer examination, I noticed a proximate nametag that said “Cory Van Starsdale” and “Massive Inc,” the in-game advertising subsidiary of Microsoft. I thought to myself, “Hey, I have found the topic for the next ‘Bell, Game, and Candle,’ which means I do not have to actually play a game.” Still slightly quaking, I approached Cory and asked if he would agree to an interview. I thankfully received a rather enthusiastic “yes.” What follows is a transcription of our discourse.

Hello there. Would you like to start by introducing yourself?

My name is Cory Van Starsdale, and I am an immaculate world-renowned world champion visionary of vision.

Would you care to qualify that statement?

I am a world-renowned world champion visionary of vision. I invented and won all the Olympics; set the records in all of them. To this day, my records have not been broken.

When was this exactly?

The 1999 Newark Fall Olympics.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'The Most Egregious Tale Ever Committed to Word Processor'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch column by writer Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens in the game business. This time - a sociopolitical analysis of recently released Wii platformer de Blob is abound.]

For the past week or so, I seem to be reading the financial crisis into everything I watch, hear or play—Annie Hall, Dear Science and even de Blob¹ suddenly have an acquired meaning. This might have some psychological significance, but I would attribute it far more to the topic ‘s ubiquity in present news cycles. Last Thursday, I waggled my way through Chroma City Uptown level of de Blob, where I transformed financial institutions² into music halls. Something that was merely an ironic happenstance at the time—financial institutions are becoming so valueless that they might as well be music halls.

The next day I went back to that Uptown level and realized that you were transforming a private entity (a financial institution) into a public one (a music hall). Of course, private proprietorship to public proprietorship is one of the definientia of communism.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'Monochromatic Musings'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is, in normality, a regular GameSetWatch column by game commentator Alex Litel. However, for this edition, he has invited prominent hockey mom and Republican vice presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin to share her thoughts on Will Wright's new game Spore.]

Firstly, I would like to thank the video game web site Game Set Watch for giving me the opportunity to review the new video game Spore. When not encumbered by politics, I like to enjoy leisure time by doing things like hunting, snowmobiling, fishing, praying that Bristol Bear doesn’t do anything else moronic (note to me: remove this from final draft), drinking, and other Alaskan activities.

Much like I have challenged and changed political machinery—namely, the state GOP, which is more corrupt than my old hard drive (that is a geek joke)—up in Alaska, Spore challenges and changes our suppositions of what exactly games are. Your machine does not just immerse you in the traditional game experiences of hunting or racing or bowling or fishing, but fantastical experiences of imagination grounded firmly in the reality of science.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'Sarah Palin Reviews Spore'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch column by game commentator Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens in the game business. This time - a [verbally NSFW] discussion with a unicorn and a fundraiser foray provide insight into earthly troubles.]

“Oh fuck, Alex, I already have to deal with enough fucking demos; I don’t need different species to come into the fucking equation…. Wait, ‘unicorns,’ are you on 2C-I? (By the way, I must clarify my mention of 2C-I is not at all informed by any actual experiences I have partaken in.)”

“Slow down there, Machiavelli, you know that Sharon wants to have children, and the sailor is not as revered an occupation as it once was. Also, I do not actually know what ‘2C-I’ is, but I’m going to guess it is recreational drug and not automotive nomenclature at its most mundane.”

“Unicorns aren’t real.”

“I know; before Wii Sports, you would have said women over thirty were not a real demographic.”

“Isn’t it a bit demeaning to compare women to unicorns? And there’s no empirical evidence suggesting that unicorns are real. Alas, this industry is so counterintuitive to creative visionaries; I have great ideas like poaching Diablo Cody to bring Variety’s ‘slanguage’ to the twenty-first century and a daytime talk show strip hosted by Shalom Auslander.”

Unicorns

As Machiavelli pointed out above, unicorns kind of do not exist; thus, I took from the Ailes school of journalism and pretended that they do (obviously, the Ailes school of pretending, like that done in preschool, entails no research).

I searched far and wide for a unicorn gaming; I almost was about to just give up and just go for the Shetland pony in Creswick that watches television. But then, I discovered a gaming unicorn named Roger, who agreed to let me interview him.

Me: Hello there, would you like to start off by telling the readership a little about yourself.
Roger: Well, my name is Roger, I am a 23-year-old unicorn who is unemployed, dropped out of college, and enjoys media.
Me: I see. What games have you played recently?
Roger: While…about a week ago, while playing I was playing that artsy Adderall advergame—The Unchronological Undertaking of Stopwatch Strauss—with the puzzle pieces and the time-travelling, I discovered I had adult attention-deficit disorder.
Me: It is called Braid; I think I should say it is not an Adderall advergame. Do you really have adult-attention deficit disorder or were you saying that to be clever?
Roger: Yes, I played Oblivion, but I never understood what was actually occurring at all.

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'What Kind of Game Would Unicorns or John McCain Play?'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular GameSetWatch column by game commentator Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens in the game business. This time - he ponders about seeming arbitrariness of adulation.]

In a clip from the preschooler-targeted television series Dora the Explorer, a map hops out of the backpack of a girl named Dora and rolls out to show a rolled-up map inside the map affirming fifteen or so times in song that "I'm the Map." The map follows his cantillation with an exclamation that Dora and her monkey Boots need to get to the big piñata, and he knows the way to the big piñata. (From what I understand, Dora's royalties are stored in the big piñata, and the map is demanding a cut of the royalties in exchange for his expertise.)

Elsewhere, in the Middle East of 2014, wheeling and dealing of protracted, ham-fisted exposition is going on at the 41st Annual International Chain Smokers Summit—the number of assertions that "war has changed" because of a move towards "war economy" because of "PMCs" employing "nanomachines," with the linguistic gait of Dan Quayle channeling Irwin Corey, would put the map's re-affirmative tendencies to shame.

Elsewhere, in contemporary metropolitan mimicry, an Eastern European immigrant with an immaculate command of English bursts on the scene where he attempts to avoid getting burst in an adventure filled to the brink with trite, ham-fisted exposition: "the American Dream is great," "the American Dream is not what I imagined," "am I losing myself?" and "shit, the American Dream is incompatible with my set in stone world-weariness."

I have a hunch if Penthouse and Pynchon was associated with or if the Bee's Knees of NYC emblem adorned the cover of Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure instead of Marc Ecko's name, reaction would have been less insolent and more praiseworthy. Sure, Ecko could have been a little more artful in his statements, but this column is about his game that the ostensible hardcore had decided against prior to Ecko's comments, not Ecko himself. (Also, not playing a game and complaining about it is no different than someone else doing the same.)

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'In Defense of Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular new GameSetWatch column by game commentator Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens in the game business. This time - trips to North Carolina and Los Angeles reveal ineffable truths about the human condition.]

As a young person in this twenty-first century, it is requisite that I participate in some sort of counterculture; that is why my vice of choice is cosmopolitan patience - I love to wait and spend most of my time doing such. These waits could be anything from a David Sedaris book signing to vampire bingo. In addition, there is also the occasional wait related to video games and thus I am here today to share the two most memorable (and possibly only) gaming waits of the first half of 2008.

North Carolina

It is an early February night and, as I do every night, I check out the following day’s “Buzz Waits” on LineWire; I notice something sizzling in a peculiar place—Cary, North Carolina. Being an impolitic fiend, I book the next flight to Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Eight or so hours later, I come out of my cotton tent and notice I’m in front of an office in front of some guy carrying a Huey Lewis & the News duffel bag and wearing sunglasses and a Cosby sweater. Then I began panicking because I was certain that I had indulged in some sort of hallucinogenic; it was an utterly rubbish wait, perhaps the worst since that midnight screening of The Terminal.

“Hello there, my name is Kudo Tsunoda,” said the man behind me. “What is your name? I am trying to get the names of everyone here at Epic before I enter the building.”

“Oh, I’m Alex Litel, enthusiast of enthusiasm,” I responded. “Where would I happen to be?”

Kudo told me I was at the headquarters of Epic Games, developers of the Gears of War series, and even though I was not an Epic or Microsoft employee, he insisted that I accompany him into his meeting “to ensure that the deciding is not corporatized and actually reflects the interests of the common gamer. Also, I really have not played Gears of War because I am not so hot on the kill-fests with contrived narratives.”

Continue reading "COLUMN: Bell, Game, and Candle - 'Tall Tales About Anticipation and (Not Much) Accomplishment'" »

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['Bell, Game, and Candle' is a regular new GameSetWatch column by game commentator Alex Litel, discussing stuff that happens in the game business.]

I, self-described all-around interactive aficionado Alex Litel, am here to deliver a definitive debriefing on the “hot stuff” to look forward to at this week’s E3 Media & Business Summit that will occur at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Downtown Los Angeles. You may not have heard of some of these games before. Well, now you have.

The Panic in Needle Park Game: A few months ago, I copped some hazel named The Panic of Needle Park from my balloon Netflix. I must admit that I only cooked sixty-three percent of the hazel, but I assume Bob and Helen kick their habits and open a detective agency or bakery. If this is the case, Epicenter Studios is bringing us Sam & Max with humans in place of the dog and rabbit or Cooking Mama sans kitsch. In the improbable instance I am incorrect, I imagine this is a cross between the 2005 version of Narc and that one mission in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 where you collect pink elephants.

Sam Mendes’ Yellow Lasers: Nintendo heard the monotonous shrills of gamers all over the globe demanding more mature titles for the Wii and DS and took action by beaming a bunch of money (via Bluetooth) to Sam Mendes in exchange for his help in crafting what the fact sheet describes as “the most mature work to ever grace the medium.” The game, developed by Retro Studios, “captures the sincere and unadulterated thematic language that has put Sam Mendes at the forefront of British people creating media about America.” The trailer I am not supposed to be telling you about is wicked confusing: a cheerleader in clown makeup engages in racketeering solely because she is bored. Also, according to an insider source, the game involves lasers that are yellow. And by insider source, I mean the title.

LEGO Dog Day Afternoon: Finally, Warner Bros. purchase of Traveller’s Tales appears justified with this unique take on one of the studio’s most famous and acclaimed pictures. The unique charm of TT’s past LEGO adventures has been retained, but the game’s action is primarily “non-verbal communicative gameplay” more along the lines of a mute, cute Façade than block-busting. Seeking to the maximize the value of LEGO Dog Day Afternoon, the game will depart from the film by depicting the robbery in real time in the frame of fourteen hours as actual event occurred and featuring “more than four hundred endings.”

A&R: BioWare Austin’s highly anticipated massively multiplayer game takes place not in the dungeons or far off planets of some established intellectual property, but an industrial netherworld in pragmatic, allegedly irreversible crisis. You obviously assume the role as one in the earthly field of Artists and Repertoire in a dynamic mirror of the real life music industry. Will you go with an indie or major? Will your heart be in it? Will you sink to avaricious depths? Will I stop asking rhetorical questions? It is up to you.

You’ve Got Mail Basketball II: Rebounds Deleted: When Gameloft put out You’ve Got Mail Basketball last year, they brought absolute joy to the three people who wished Nora Ephron would somehow involve herself with basketball. This is obviously the sequel to that game, but the real noteworthy quality about You’ve Got Mail Basketball II: Rebounds Deleted is that the man at the forefront of Anglo nasality—Ira Glass himself—provides color commentary. Yeah, I too had the same “like, wow, this auditory combination is really going to be awkward in a way that is, you know, unprecedented in this medium” response as when I read that The Coup were doing the theme song to MX Superfly. Then, I heard some Ira’s commentary and realized he is simply reading lines written by Nora Ephron.

Madden NFL 2009: A lot of people were puzzled when Electronic Arts announced that they were eschewing the football in favor of "an interactive experience" based on an unfinished and unpublished science fiction novel by Sinclair Lewis for Madden NFL 2008. Then a number of those people played Madden NFL 2008 multiple times, and had little clue on what was happening in the eighty-seven hours or so they spent playing the game, but it was indulgently phantasmagoric. The finale of the game with Milt’s three-hour speech was ethereally didactic, albeit incomplete, and closed with the unforgettable "I snort periphery and I reject superlatives from." I'm happy to report that this year's iteration explains who Milt rejects superlatives from and that acclaimed composer Steve Schnur—whose cacophonous, rough score was primarily why last year’s title was remembered so fondly in the ears of gamers—returns to soundtrack this time around.

In addition to these future masterpieces, there is also the crop of titles announced at E3 that are certain to be “innovative and creative” with the ability to “not just thrill the ‘casual’ and ‘hardcore,’ but attract new demographics to gaming.”

[Alex Litel can be reached at alexlitel@gmail.com and occasionally found at alexlitel.blogspot.com.]

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