August 2nd and 3rd were a real rush. MS came to NYC to show off their holiday lineup of Xbox and Windows titles. The venue was a studio in midtown and was shrouded by a black velvet curtain - literally. Hidden up 3 floors accessible only by a large cargo elevator, Microsoft's little gaming utopia was booming. Samsung LCDs lined the walls with over a dozen xboxes set up next to them. Representatives from each company were on hand to walk the press through some of the demos or to try and keep them out of trouble on their own gaming missions.

The theme of the event was "Naughty & Nice". Nice was held on Wednesday - this showcased all the family-friendly E rated titles. Naughty was on Thursday. This is where the big guns came out with their M rated titles. Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!

On Wednesday, I checked out Lego Star Wars, Viva Pinata, Lumines Live, Pacman, the vision cam with video chat and photo capabilities. They also had demos of Test Drive, Age of Empires, Flight Sim 10, Zoo Tycoon 2, Sonic the Hedgehog, Madden 07, NBA Live 07, Tony Hawk's Project 8 and MSN Messenger (yes, at the event, it was still called this).

Lego Star Wars:Let me tell you something - this game had me in tears. I am a huge fan of Star Wars and I know this is the second lego release for the franchise but this one deals with episodes IV, V and VI which are the best movies, period. I played co-op with Godfree from GamertagRadio and we had an absolute blast. It was a good chance for me to check out a game that would not usually even catch my eye in the store over the FPS titles.

The controls were extremely easy to pick up (big yay for kids) but the gameplay wasn't so easy to figure out. There were a couple of instances where we were running around trying to find a path with no real clues. It involved a lot of exploration, teamwork and logic skills to pass through the levels. In this respect, I would definitely recommend it as a game parents will want to play with their kids. Also, parents who loved the Trilogy will be able to enjoy the story as they're playing along side their children. Not to mention it's just hilarious. There's something about the way the characters build things that cracked me up every time - uh huh - small things entertain small minds, I know.


Viva Piñata:Viva Piñata is still one of those games that makes me raise an eyebrow when I hear it mentioned. I think it could possibly be a sleeper hit but with the online functionality and accompanying merchandising and cartoon series, I think it could go far.

The idea behind Viva Piñata is to create an eco-system where you raise crazily colored piñatas and cultivate the land encouraging more to call your your farm home. It's definitely a sim-type game because everything you do in your world affects the personalities of your "animals". Hit them and they get mad, smash open a sick one and others of the same species will be reluctant to join your space, feed them good things and they will be happy. One of the coolest things is that you can mate your piñatas. Get two of the same kind together when they're really happy and bam - they do the mating dance and give you babies! There is no death in Piñata land, either. If one of your guys gets too sick to heal, he will simply return to the wild. This will strip him of any customizations you've applied but it does skirt the issue of telling timmy why his starved wherm turned to dust.

You can also accessorize your little guys with anything from Candy cigars (yes CANDY cigars) to sunglasses, hats and shoes.

An interesting concept for the game is the social aspect. You will eventually be able to trade piñatas online or even send your friends mystery gifts. Call it a piñata virus if you wish because you will be able to send friends offensive piñatas as well as good ones. Of course you will have the ability to accept or decline any gift but you won't be able to see what your crate contains until you've unleashed it on your land.

As said before, there will also be a cartoon series released to compliment the game. The creators of Pokemon are behind this cartoon so they certainly have the experience. Is there a Piñata lunch box or backpack in the future? Only time will tell...

Upcoming Arcade Titles:

Lumines Live:

If you owned a PSP, chances are, you owned Lumines. One of the things I got excited about during the Xbox press conference in May was that Lumines would be released on the 360. Lumines is a puzzle game similar to tetris that can be played against time, against the CPU or against your friends either online or on the same console. The idea of the game is to get rid of as many blocks as possible by making combinations of four in a square pattern. While it may sound like a fairly boring game, the visual beauty and techno music really keeps you going. If you challenge the CPU, the characters it throws at you can be quite bizarre. They appear to mimic psychadelic origami puppets.

Luckily for me, I got to re-challenge Godfree to a match and redeem myself from my dismal showing at E3. We went head-to-head for a couple of rounds. Once I decided that maybe it would be better to use the D-Pad instead of the thumbstick, I started to kick ASS. The games were still very close, though. I believe we both were pretty even by the end of our match. I was challenged by other attendees after Godfree left to do an interview and may I say, I ended up going 7 - 0 against everyone. BOOYAH! :: head inflates ::

Pacman:

Yes my lovelies, we are indeed being treated to a re-release of one of the best arcade titles ever - Pacman! Who would have thought that a game where the hero was based on a pizza with a slice missing would be such a hit? And such a hit that it would be resurrected on a state-of-the-art gaming maching like the 360? Well, it is coming and it has lost none of its original flavor. Everything feels the same except the controller...Hopefully now, caloused fingers are a thing of the past.


Coming Next - Day 2 - Rated "M" goodness