The longest week in games journalism came to an end today as this year’s edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo closed the books on another year in gaming. My last day featured new games from some big-time publishers, some promising items from some distinguished indies, and my first games of the week for the Nintendo Wii and DS.

Today’s journey began with a look at Lucha Libre, a Mexican wrestling simulation. A delay in the start of the demonstration forced me to move on before it started, but indie developer Slang gets high marks for their booth design: a full-sized wrestling ring, which was supposed to host some actual luchadores putting each other through their paces. My Avault comrades stayed for the demo, and I suspect there will be some discussion of it during their final E3 podcast. I did, however, stay long enough to score a wrestling mask that I’ll no doubt use to scare the kiddies in my neighborhood this Halloween.

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Having the opportunity to attend E3 is something I never thought would happen to me. I love video games and being part of an event like this is just amazing. So once it was official that I was registered and had received my confirmation it was like a high-kick of happiness to the face. When I then learned that I would be attending the event with assistant editor, Michael Smith (my roomie for the week), and the Avault Podcasters, Mark, Billy and Chris, I was totally stoked that we’d all finally get to meet in person.

When I arrived in Los Angles and met up with the Avault Podcasters, we quickly said our hellos and nice to meet yous, and then shot off to Monday’s press preview events. We grabbed some lunch at the famous taco truck, and I have to say they are some of the best tacos I have ever had in my life! Everyone that went to the Microsoft Press conference on Monday received a new Xbox 360 Slim (yeah!), but we didn’t get invited to that one (boo!). Our day was still full, however, as we did attend the EA press event, the Ubisoft press event, and the Activision press event/party/rock concert (which was %^&*ing insane)!

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Another busy day at E3. Perhaps too busy, actually. I thought that I had worked out my scheduling problems for this year’s show, but apparently I still have more to learn. First, to get some unpleasantness out of the way. Activision’s Dan Amrich and I were supposed to sit down for a chat this morning before the show, but we must have gotten our signals crossed, and didn’t manage to get together.

Now to business. After a quick trip to play the multiplayer shooter APB, I had to hoof it to the other end of the building to see developer DTP’s RPG prequel Dragonsang: The River of Time. Set 23 years prior to 2009’s Dragonsang: The Dark Eye, River of Time features a character creation engine that can generate hundreds of classes and races. You control all four of your party members, each of which has their own game-opening story (shades of Dragon Age). Combat is turn-based in this story, which could run anywhere from 40 to 80 hours to complete, depending upon how many side quests you decide to tackle. The PC-only Dragonsang: The River of Time will be available at the end of 2010.

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It’s amazing how beneficial it is to get a good night’s sleep and a decent (if expensive) meal when covering an event such as E3. This morning I emerged from my hotel room with a renewed state of mind and made my way to the LA Convention Center for the first official day of E3 2010. A day that would include an introduction to Nintendo’s future, the return of an old PC developer friend, another entry into the resurgent racing game genre, several free-to-play MMOs, two TV series getting their very own video-game spinoffs, a new stealth-based sniper game, and the celebration of a gaming icon’s 30th birthday.

The day started out with the annual Nintendo press conference, the last one of these we would be taking in (we sadly didn’t get invited to the Sony conference, although I will be visiting their show-floor booth later on in the week). And it quickly became obvious that, of the four press gatherings we visited, Nintendo had done it best. They introduced 11 new games, mostly starring characters from gaming’s past, including Zelda (Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii), Mario (Mario Sports Mix for the Wii), James Bond (GoldenEye 2007 for the Wii), Mickey Mouse (Disney Epic Mickey for the Wii), and Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong Country Returns for the Wii). New DS games included Golden Sun: Dark Dawn and Dragon Quest 9, and mentioned for the second year in a row, Metroid: Other M for the Wii. But perhaps the biggest reveal in the show was information concerning the Nintendo 3DS, the company’s upcoming 3D-gaming device. The 3DS sports a wider upper screen than the DSi, improvements to the graphics hardware, a motion sensor and gyroscope, and a depth slider that allows you to choose how detailed you want your 3D images to be. Most intriguing, however, is the news that the 3DS will have the capability to show full-length 3D Hollywood movies, and the two cameras embedded into the device’s lid will allow you to take 3D still pictures. More than 20 third-party game developers have been signed to provide content for the new handheld, with many of those games promised to be available the day the system is launched (no availability date was announced), in stark contrast to Microsoft’s Kinect (the hardware formerly known as Project Natal), a system for which very little of any import will be available on release day. Lots of smack is talked daily about the Wii being a system for kids and old people, but you wouldn’t know it by the enthusiastic response Nintendo’s leadership received about almost every item they described during the press conference.

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First in line at the airport security station. Hot dogs and orange juice at 8:30 am. Stuck between runways on the tarmac in LA after a near perfect trip. A painful reminder that walking ten city blocks is not a good idea for someone who’s totally out of shape. And to top it off, a Queen singalong with thousands of game journalists and “friends.” This was the preview day of E3 2010.

All in all, much better than last year, when travel and hotel problems got us off to a really bad start. Ironically, we almost ended up at the same hotel this year, and we’re staying just five blocks up the street from there. But one positive experience remains from last year: the taco truck is still there!

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Warning: Those unfamiliar with LOTRO and its past year of updates will think I am speaking like one of the Sand People from Star Wars. This blog post assumes familiarity with the game, not unlike my fellow reviewer’s blog posts about Lost.

Sometimes gamers are their own worst enemies. When it comes to MMOs, some people quickly master the most recent content and demand more because they are bored. I’ve talked at some length before about LOTRO‘s use of narrative to give the game something beyond XP and loot grinds, but today I thought I would share how much I love the flexibility of the game’s mechanics.

Instances like Sammath Gul have great rewards. The Symbol of Celebrimbor alone makes the run worthwhile, but items like the Glass Flask and Ril-Mir round out the loot. Instances like SG are also difficult; while not impossible, players really need to be smart about their class’s abilities. And for new players, following instructions is a must. (It can take about 5 minutes to brief a new player on everything they need to know.)

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Early this season, when the episode titles were announced, my eyes fixed on The End. A title so simple, so bold and so perfect. It told us absolutely nothing except the one unwavering fact – All Good Things Must Come to an End!

After all, we are the rare breed. The fans of a show who knew the exact end date two years ago. There would be no more aimless wandering and wondering once Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse secured the ‘all clear’ to plant their flag on a finale and then begin a 2 & 1/2 year journey toward that final destination. Fans knew that the show would never run on until the ad revenue petered out and ABC halfheartedly pulled the plug, and we wouldn’t feel the sting of an abrupt cancellation that would leave us with five billion story threads tattered and dangling.

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Sundance Digiovanni is one of the founders of Major League Gaming. Since the league started in 2002, it has sponsored an average of five or six tournaments a year, with the scouting combines starting this year. Sundance says the combines are a way to help the amateurs out, and to help them relax when tournaments come around.

When asked what the purpose of Major League Gaming is, Sundance said, “When you are young, it is important to feel like you belong to a community. We have a wide spectrum of both players and fans, and thanks to the digital community, it is easier than ever for everyone to stay connected and play together.” He also said that every two years or so, he sees the community change as the current players age and new ones start emerging. This constant change helps keep things fresh. There is also a strong community of parents, some of whom refer to themselves as “Halo moms.”

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Who can say what the next great professional Major League Gaming team will be? I’m not sure, but I know a team with the heart and drive to be one: Law & Order. “Aiming high” is their team’s goal, according to one of its members. Their next event is in Columbus, Ohio. Having only been together for a short time compared to other teams, they still managed to finish 2-2 in the MLG Chicago Combine this year. Law & Order agreed that one of the main reasons they didn’t go further and get more wins was their not being able to get a coach in time for the combine. They assured me that Adrian Maigault (Poison313) is going to be their coach for the next event.

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It all sounds too familiar. Big talk, ads that have little to do with the final game, and the buildup of overwhelming hype and anticipation. It all sounds too familiar.

I don’t believe any ad campaign for any video game has come close to that of Halo 3. Anywhere you looked, touched, walked or bumped into was something telling you to buy the third and “final” instalment of Bungie’s franchise. It was the first time the gaming world had seen such marketing and promotion, which had normally been saved for the latest overblown Michael Bay blockbuster. There was huge promise, and the expectations were sky high. Everything, apart from the actual game, couldn’t be described in any other way but spectacular (I still have and watch those TV spots on my Xbox 360). But in the end, the final product really didn’t meet the hype that preceded it.

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While most gamers play as a form of entertainment or relaxation, there are others who do it for a living. Professional gaming leagues have been around since the 1990s, giving gamers the chance to prove how good they really are on a national and even global level. When I say “professional,” I’m not talking about people who play a few hours of Call of Duty a month and tell their friends how great their kill/death ratio is. I’m talking about people who actually make money playing video games. They compete in tournaments and win prize money. Some teams are sponsored by big-name companies. Most professional teams even have coaches and matching shirts with their gamertags on the back.

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When we turned the page to Monday, it hit me. In one week’s time, we’ll get the final three and a half hours of this epic tale, and then we’re done. A tough pill to swallow especially after receiving last week’s information download regarding the true nature of the island that almost unanimously fell like a 10-ton crocodile statue. I’ve scoured the web and aside from the blind faithful (every cult has them), you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who really, truly appreciated the episode.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to that and I think I finally hit upon the reason why. It’s not so much what the island is, but how we were told this in such exacting detail. Sure, the cave of light (as rendered on a TV series’ modest budget) looked ripped from Land of the Lost. And we all know this is a visual medium so if you’re going to express a heady sci-fi infused spiritual ideal, you’d better nail the visual as it’s going to tattoo itself to the mainstream psyche.

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When I was in college (way back in the flannel-decked intro to the Nineties) I found that one semester, I glommed onto The Doors’ The End something fierce. As a raging Pearl Jam fan, I think I spied a kissing cousin in Morrison’s moody evocative lyricism and that song bridged worlds to PJ’s heralded disc Ten, which felt more like an anthem of my soul than Nevermind ever did. Maybe it’s because I was a year or two off from really giving off that Teen Spirit scent. Who knows?

Anyway, back then, as I chased down my Journalism degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, I found myself ‘hired on’ as a scribe for the University’s daily newspaper, The Collegian, where I quickly made the jump from hard news stories to the Arts & Living desk. There I could point my pen towards the world of entertainment, which really lit my fire. As a raging film buff, it was one step removed from my dream job destination – screenwriting.

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I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember. I’ve rescued princesses, slayed dragons, captured ghosts and saved worlds. I started my gaming life with a Sega Master System, and I’ve played almost every single console that’s come out since. The only one I missed was the Dreamcast.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “How can you judge a console you never even tried?” I’m not here to judge, my friends, I’m here to learn.

Dreamcast fans will fight tooth and nail to defend their console’s honor. They are the most loyal of fans. I admire that dedication, and I would like to find out from whence it comes.

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A lot to cover today. Let’s get Lost.

You know you’re in for it when “Lost” opens without the trademark “Previously on ‘Lost’.” It’s as if the producers don’t want to waste any time, knowing they have a full docket before them and precious few moments to spill all the details. In other words, it’s time to get down to business.

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