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SILVER HORSE AWARDS OTAKU Gaming Insurrection editors pay tribute to five games that have contributed to the Contributing Editor Brandon Beatty industry. GI’s first-ever awards highlight and examines politics in manga in his honor games that have brought review of the first volume of “Eagle.” something to the table. PAGE 24 PAGE 12 Third Quarter 2010 SonySony MicrosoftMicrosoft NintendoNintendo One of the greatest and biggest shows on Earth comes back for its yearly showstopper in Los Angeles. Get the scoop on the upcoming games from E3 from GI’s editors. editorial Gaming luminaries put names with game faces CRY OF WAR sk any hardcore creative elements they come touched a nerve with millions gamer what their fa- up with. around the world. vorite titles are, and Designers come a dime a If you consider yourself a se- A they're just as likely dozen these days, or so it's rious gamer, you should know to give you a favorite designer said. who these people are, what as well. Shigeru Miyamoto. Hi- The four names mentioned they've done and what they're ronobu Sagaguchi. Nobou Ue- previously have achieved going to do. They are that im- matsu. Will Wright. Those rock star status in the portant. names are synonymous with industry. For every game that comes Lyndsey Mosley video games and their respec- Through their works gamers out that's astoundingly bad, tive franchises: Mario/Zelda, have gone to different king- there's another that revolution- ContactContactContact: editor@gaming Final Fantasy, The Sims. For a doms, defeated villains bent izes its genre if not the indus- insurrection.com gamer, they are usually part of on world domination and com- try. the fab four and I'm not talking pleted routine events in char- Don't forget the names be- What I’m playing: about John, George, Paul and acters' daily lives. hind the revolution. Super Mario World (SNES), Ringo. The imagination and creativ- Super Smash Bros. Melee I'm making the case that the ity present in all of these Lyndsey Mosley is editor of Gaming Insurrection. Contact her by e-mail at (GameCube), Borderlands designers are just as impor- games don't necessarily ex- [email protected]. (Xbox 360) tant as the characters and ceed anyone else but it has contents Columns Features Usual Suspects Cry of War ..…............….2 E3 2010 roundup....3-7 What We’re Playing ….. 8-11 From the Dungeon ........8 Silver Horse Awards ..12-17 Retrograde ….…..…... 18-21 Otaku ….………….........24 Tech Geeks ………….......22 The Strip ..….………….23-25 Save the date ….....…28-30 staff this issue GAMING INSURRECTION Editor Lyndsey M. Mosley Associate Editor Jamie Mosley Contributing Editor Brandon Beatty Website www.gaming insurrection.com Blog www.gaming insurrection.com/GIforum Jamie Mosley is GI’s associate editor. Mosley researches and writes the quarterly The Strip D&D feature Sage’s Chronicles and regularly contributes to the magazine’s features www.gaming and Editor’s Weekly Podcast. Jamie resides in North Carolina with his wife. insurrection.com/TheStrip ContactContactContact::: [email protected] YouTube What I’m playing::: Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360), Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 User: Gaming Insurrection (PC), Borderlands (Xbox 360) Twitter @GamingInsurrect Brandon Beatty is contributing editor for GI. Beatty writes reviews and the quarterly Otaku column for The Strip. He resides in his hometown of Columbia, S.C. ContactContactContact::: [email protected] What I’m playing: Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition (Genesis), Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES) 2 STAFF WELCOME TO THE E3 2010 CIRCUS! Gaming Insurrection brings Microsoft you the developments from gaming’s biggest event! The Xbox 360 maker Hear the crew’s shows off Kinect thoughts on Sony this year’s Page 5 extravaganza in 3D titles, PSP and GI’s annual Move present podcast! united front Page 4 Nintendo feature feature Past franchises and 3DS seal the deal Page 6 What the editors thought Important developments hlight from Sony Sony's press conference wasn't too exciting. It was strong with a united hig top attack on multiple fronts: PlayStation Move, 3D titles, PSP and exclusives. Big While they didn't excel on any one front, they were at least decent with all. The strategy was a little varied and having Kevin Butler make an appear- ance was helpful for morale. It seemed that just when the conference be- gan to drag, Butler's emergence to give a speech to the crowd about the The PlayStation Move brand re-energized everyone. He's a boost to Sony's marketing as well as will be available in morale. bundles and a I thought the conference met key objectives for Sony and interesting standalone package in titles were announced to keep things fresh. No embarrassing gaffes of North America on years past reared their ugly heads. Sony needs more years like 2010 at future E3s. Sept. 19. The device will be available in Lyndsey GradeGradeGrade:Grade B+ Europe on Sept. 15 and in Japan on Oct. 21. Photo courtesy of So ny.com Photo courtesy of IGNIGNIGN Sony's press conference was also extremely entertaining. I Killzone 3 will be fully compatible with Move at the periph- felt that every single ad that Sony placed during the confer- eral's launch and will be available in February 2011. ence were of Super Bowl quality. The PlayStation Move seems to be a great attempt to get couch dwellers to get 1. 3D titles coming more involved in the games. Most notable games for me were God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Twisted Metal and Portal * Motorstorm Apocalypse 2. * Killzone 3 PLAYSTATION * Sly Collection Grade:Grade:Grade: A * Gran Turismo 5 * Crysis 2 sony sony MOVEMOVEMOVE * Mortal Kombat Jamie * MLB 10: The Show Prices and release dates announced for peripheral Photo courtesy of Sony.com * Bundle (controller and wand) - $99 Gran Turismo 5 will be * Controller only - $49.99 released Nov. 2. Sony basically made a positive impact with * Navigation controller only - $29.99 2. PlayStation its conference. Compared with other confer- * PlayStation 3, Move bundle and game - $399.99 Portable ences in the past, Sony actually showed its full * Release date: North America, Sept. 19; Europe, Sept. 15; Japan, Oct. PortablePortable potential in gaming. Also, they brought out 21 More than 70 games announced for the handheld for the holi- good games such as Heroes on the Move, the day season this year: Ace Combat Joint Assault, Gravity Crash, Sly Collection and Infamous 2, which made me Eye camera and wand with three sensors will capture 1:1 fidelity Madden 11, Patapon 3, Tetris, The 3rd birthday extremely excited about the PS3. Kevin Butler's appearance at the press confer- Games that will take advantage of this feature are: ence ignited the crowd and energized the com- * SOCOM 4 3. PlayStation Plus pany's fan base. The Sony-Coke partnership also * Madden 11 This is a new level of the PlayStation Network service. Free con- turned heads. The PSP announcement of more than 70 * Sorcery – Action-adventure game coming Spring 2011 games coming was also a morale booster for the company. * Tiger PGA Tour 11 tent for subscribers with discounts on priced content, much like And finally, the accompanying ad campaign featuring Marcus * Heroes on the Move -Featuring six Sony heroes Xbox Live. The service will be available as of press time and and Butler was brilliant. prices announced are $49.99 for one year and $17.99 for three months. Brandon Grade:Grade:Grade: A+ What the editors thought Important developments from Microsoft Big top highlight I thought Microsoft had a strong showing with the newly named 1. Xbox 360 Slim Kinect. A grab bag of games showed off The slim down version of Microsoft's current console will feature what the system add-on could do and the built-in 802.11n WI-FI and a 250 GB hard drive. Consoles will be special things that make it a viable com- in stores as of press time and will cost the same as the original petitor with the other motion-control sys- Xbox 360. tems. Two of the most impressive things for me were the hand-and-voice activated fea- tures for the console and the ESPN on De- mand partnership. The announcement of the 2. Xbox Live and ESPN partnership Xbox 360 Slim wasn't exactly surprising and none of the games The cable sports provider and Microsoft have teamed up to pro- otherwise really appealed to me other than Metal Gear: Rising and vide more than 3,500 live events in HD to the service. Live Gold Turn 10's potential racing game using Kinect. Overall, Microsoft had to differentiate itself from the competition and I think they users will receive access for free. achieved it through their lineup of Kinect games and exclusives. Lyndsey Grade:Grade:Grade: B Photos courtesy of 1up.com1up.com1up.com Kinect, Microsoft’s motion sensor add-on for the Xbox 360, will be I feel that Microsoft press conference was very well presented. available on Nov. 4. They seemed to try to capture everyone's attention, not just specific groups. The Kinect was innovative. It's games allowed you to get up and move. Being able to have conversations with your Xbox 360 is most impressive. Notable games for me were Gears of War 3, Fable 3, Dance Central and Ubisoft's Your Fitness: Evolved. The most no- table feature was ESPN On Demand. Grade: A KINECT Grade:Grade: KINECTKINECT The name revealed for Microsoft's motion sensor project. Games that will utilize this device are: 1.