For those who were unaware, the Tokyo Game Show (Japan’s E3) kicked off the 15th of September and wrapped up over the weekend. No bombshells were dropped, but there were some announcements gameplay videos, and trailers shown that put a pip in this niche gamer’s step. So, instead of doing a drawn out article, I’ll touch on just a couple of highlights with links to complete write ups and video. Click the jump to see what’s groovy.

Persona 4: Ultimate in Mayokana Arena
Basically, its a 2D fighting game featuring characters from Persona4. I’ve never played a Persona game, (RPGs typically aren’t my genre) but what really caught my attention was who was handling the coding duties. The masters of 2D sprite goodness at Arc System Works are working their magic on this one, and if it plays as good as it looks (and it should, since these guys did the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series) I’ll be all over this one.

Hit up Gamespot for their hands on write up.

Check out GameTrailers to see the game in action.
Image from Gamespot

Playstation Vita

Japan gets a release date of December 17, 2011. Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 confirmed as part of the launch group of games. My heart says import, but my brain says, “BEWARE–REGION LOCK”. Thats okay, I’ll be up to my armpits in top tier console titles anyway, and my disposable income goes only so far. I can wait for a US release for this geek sexy tech.

Vita Conference Impressions by 1Up
Image by 1Up

Ninja Gaiden 3
If you’ve spent any amount of time here on the Gamerhusbands site, you know that my fanboy-ism for the Ninja Gaiden series know no bounds. As a gamer with 3rd person brawlers as my favorite genre, it is the Ninja Gaiden series that is the gold standard that all other brawlers are measured against.

That said, I’ve got some concerns about NG3. Online competitive multiplayer, Move support, QTE looking gameplay elements, and a supposed Dragon Sword only weapon load out are but some of my causes for concern that this title may not hold to the legacy this series has laid out for itself. Hopefully TeamNinja can bring it–even without Itagaki at the helm.

Yosuke Hayashi talks NG3’s style and focus change at GameTrailers

NG3 gameplay (and soldiers begging for mercy) video at GameTrailers

See the source of Ryu’s curse in “Consequences” TGS trailer at GameTrailers
Image from Gamingunion.net

Cole Phelps - Lie to Him at Your Own Risk

I’ve always been a fan of Rockstar Games.  Heck, GTA IV is the reason I bought my Xbox 360.  I’ve been looking forward to L.A. Noire for a long time.  So when I got early access to the PAX East show floor with my media badge, I made a b-line for the Rockstar booth (just like last year for Red Dead Redemption).  This time Allen and Sam were close behind me.  As we settled down to see what was my first glimpse of actual game play, I noticed a familiar face, the same Rockstar Dev that demoed Red Dead Redemption for me last year.

L.A. Noire is set in 1940′s Los Angeles, taking inspiration from the brutal “Black Dahlia” murders.  Key word there – brutal.  This game is no different, the brutality is up front and in your face – the first case they showed us was that of a woman beaten to death in a park.  When protagonist Cole Phelps and his partner get to the crime scene, the camera pans to a naked dead woman with a severe head wound.  This is not for the feint at heart, not a kids game.  As Phelps, the game stresses you to use your detective intuition to find clues, interrogate people, and evaluate the results.  You may pick up an item and put it down without noticing something unless you turn it exactly the right angle as to reveal a tiny clue.   When interrogating, a person’s facial expressions, tone of voice, mannerisms all need to be studied to determine the value of the information given.  After someone answers a question, you are sometimes asked if you think the answer is truth, and outright lie, or somewhere in between.  If you accuse someone of lying, you need to have something to back it up in order to make your accusation stick.  If you’re wrong, clues may not be revealed to you.

Speaking of facial expressions, L.A. Noire has the most detailed player faces that I have ever seen.  Using a new ‘MotionScan’ technology, Rockstar digitally scanned actor’s faces for use in the game.  The results are obvious.  That being said, this is a huge open world Rocktsar game, an graphically it will not blow you away.  What we saw was a pre-alpha version with obvious frame rate issues.

The other game play mechanics that we have come to know from Rockstar – the HUD, shooting, cover system, driving, open world exploration are all there.  With the polish that I know Rockstar will put into this game, I will be playing this on day one.  Confirmed.

32 games…One Winner. Congrats to Red Dead Redemption for winning the GHR December Madness Tournament for game of 2010 according to the votes by the GHR forum community. Also, congrats to Rockstar Games for creating the game that beat out the rest. Thanks to all who voted, discussed, and lobbied for the games in this year’s event.

The GHR Game of the Year 32 Video Game Tournament has come down to two. Vote here between Call of Duty: Black Ops vs Red Dead Redemption. Voting ends Sunday night and a winner will be crowned.

The GHR Game of the Year 32 Video Game Tournament is now under way. Round Four is now open for voting, vote now between the 2 matchups here. Voting for this round ends Wednesday night (EST) and the Final will commence after winners from this round are picked.

The GHR Game of the Year 32 Video Game Tournament is now under way. Round Two is done and Round Three is up, vote now between the 4 matchups here. Voting for this round ends Sunday night (EST) and Round Four will commence after winners from this round are picked.

The GHR Game of the Year 32 Video Game Tournament is now under way. Round One is done and Round Two is up, vote now between the 8 matchups here. Voting for this round ends Wednesday afternoon (EST) and Round Three will commence after winners from this round are picked.

The GHR Game of the Year 32 Video Game Tournament is now under way. Round One has begun, vote now between the 16 matchups here. Voting for this round ends Friday afternoon (EST) and Round Two will commence after winners from the first round are picked.

The GHR Game of the Year 32 Video Game Tournament is in the qualifier stage which means we need your nominations of games. Any game that you felt is worthy of GOTY should be mentioned in the forum thread here. They will be add to the 32 game list and will be voted on in elimination rounds till one game stands above the rest according to your votes.

32 games…One Winner. Congrats to Batman: Arkham Asylum for winning the GHR December Madness Tournament for game of 2009 according to the votes by the GHR forum community. Also, congrats to Rocksteady Studios for creating the game that made waves in the gaming community. Thanks to all who voted, discussed, and lobbied for the games in this year’s event.

As mentioned in episode 98, the 32 Video Game Tournament from the list of 2009 Game Releases can now be voted on in the forums here. Last year’s winner was Fallout 3, who will take this year’s trophy. This year’s list is made up of user submitted titles. Keep in mind that this whole idea is for fun and should not be taken for gospel in whatever game does win the tournament. All in all please vote on the games for Round FOUR (ends January 3) and the Final Round will commence with the winners of your votes for this week. Thanks and game on.

Just a reminder that I will be starting this year’s Extra Life marathon tonight at 11:59 PM EST. I do not expect all the GHR team to start at this time but it was the time that worked best for me. Most other gaming sites will be starting at Sarcastic Gamer’s starting time of 8 AM EST Saturday. Once again, HUGE Thank You to all involved in supporting this event. You are a hero to people that you do not even know and do not know you. God Bless!

Cancer. Just by reading the word I’m sure you can think of someone that has touched your life in some way that has battled with or currently is battling with this disease. It does not care who you are, your age, or where you are at in life. But you can be a part to help against this viscious killer. Last year we had the awesome opportunity to partner with Extra Life, a charity event started by Sarcastic Gamer in conjunction with the Texas Children’s Hospital to help provide funding for children with cancer. Last year we along with many other communities raised over $120,000! Now it’s that time again where we can be a part of a great cause to continue the fight on these kid’s and their families’ behalves.

On October 17th, the GHR Extra Life Team will join with Sarcastic Gamer and many more communities again by staying up for 24 hours straight playing Video Games.

So how can you help?

To join the team, visit our forum thread here to find out how and to get updated details till Extra Life 2009 kicks off.

If you have any questions, contact Scott (TeeTocks) and I’ll provide you with any help with any of the process. Thanks!

The day is almost here. This Sunday, we will be playing Call of Duty 4 from 8 pm EST to 11 pm EST, for our Community Playdate. We have already had a lot of new people joining the site, and downloading the show. And we have also received a lot of messages asking ‘how do I get into the game?’ Here is the best way. All of our Friends Lists are full, so send us a message that you want to join us in the game. We can then look at your profile from there, and send you an invite. There has already been a lot of interest shown in joining, but we will do our best to make sure that there are enough games set up to try and get everyone in . And as always, Thank You for joining us at GHR!

UPDATE
So tonight is the night! We will have different rooms open to be able to get more people in since the interesting in the Community Playdate far exceeded our expectations. That means we will also limit the games to one or two with who we get into the match in order to get everyone in within the 3 hour time frame. So I’d encourage anyone wanting to game with GHR to ‘room hop’. Here is a list of the gamertags to get invited into:

GHR Maverick
GHR Superman
TeeTocks
Bumblb19
JDsBlackBox
Full Tilt 101
chuckdogg80
Weasel699

Thanks again to everyone and frag ya online tonight!

Don’t forget that tomorrow August 15th is the Rockband for the Arts event. Help raise money for a good cause while you play Rockband2. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Regina Opera house in Brooklyn New York. For more information, please go to www.Rockband4arts.info.

In case you missed it, the GHR Community Playdate was announced on Xbox.com last week :: Xbox.com – GHR Community Playdate Announced

Once again, the date for the playdate is Sunday, August 16th, from 8:00

As mentioned in GHR Episode 76, this August 15th, join Uncle Chas and many others as they play the endless set list in Rockband 2, for a great cause. All proceeds will go to support the Regina Opera House in Brooklyn, NY. For more info go to www.Rockband4arts.info. From there you can register and get copies of the fundraising letter. If you are interested in joining other members from the GHR community for this event respond in this post under comments.

Max Payne wannabe Dead to Rights: Retribution gameplay footage was on display at E3 today. Gamersyde.com is hosting images, and streams of the build in action. In my opinion, the gameplay footage does little to impress, but maybe some additional work could be done before the game’s release–whenever that is. Personally, I’m waiting on the next Max Payne, but check out the video and images and see for yourself.

ShackNews.com is hosting images and a fantastic looking trailer (yeah, I’m a fanboy) of Sega’s/Rebellion’s upcoming Aliens vs Predator game. The trailor focuses on the Predator doing what it does best–stalking space marines.

Of all the FPS games coming, Modern Warfare 2, and AvP top my most anticipated list. I played both AvP games on my friend’s PC, and I can’t wait to see how this one turns out. I only have one concern:

There is a good cover article in the June edition of Official Xbox Magazine where they talk about a Predator ability they built into the game called the “trophy kill”. The Predator can execute a trophy kill upon a subdued prey. The write-up describes them as being more graphic than anything they’d seen recently in a videogame, and would possibly have to be removed to prevent the dreaded AO rating for violence. Its my hope that Sega and Rebellion find a way to keep this game as visceral and brutal as possible–as this would make the game faithful to the world the source material is based upon.

Lego Indiana Jones 2 : The Adventure Continues was announced today. Guess it’s time to finish the last one.

32 games…One Winner. Congrats to Fallout 3 for winning the GHR December Madness Tournament for game of 2008 according the votes by the GHR forum community. Also, congrats to Bethesda for creating the game that made waves in the gaming community. Thanks to all who voted, discussed, and lobbied for the games in this year’s event.

Your votes have decided the last matchup to be: Fallout 3 vs Gears of War 2. Who will win the last matchup and claim Game of ’08 by the GHR community? Get in and vote now before it’s too late, the tournament officially ends on Jan 6th.

Castle Crashers. MGS4. Gears of War 2. Fallout 3.

You’ve voted and now there are four left. Make sure to get your vote in quickly, this round ends Jan 2 at 1:30 AM EST. Will your game win out? THE FINAL FOUR

Round Two is done and here are your winners:

Round Three is under way so vote now because voting for this round ends December 29th!

Round One is done and here are your winners:

Motor Storm Pacific Rift

Round Two is under way so vote now because voting for this round ends Christmas Day!

As mentioned in episode 46, the 32 Video Game Tournament from the list of 2008 Game Releases can now be voted on in the forums here. I tried to put in a good mix of different console titles and had to leave some games out of the tournament that could’ve went in but I got the majority of the ‘hyped’ titles and some that I’ve heard this community say they liked. Please forgive my decision if certain games you felt should’ve made the list didn’t. Keep in mind that this whole idea is for fun and should not be taken for gospel in whatever game does win the tournament. All in all please vote on the games for Round One and next Saturday Round Two will commence with the winners of your votes for this week. Thanks and game on.

November 21, Friday 10PM EST join the GHR community in Game Night…that’s tomorrow.

Look for Gamertags: GHR Superman, GHR Maverick, or Bumblb19 and send an ‘inv’ message to get into the game. Hope to seeya there.

Viva la Meatshield!

Wanna game with the GHR community? Game Night is back so go to the forum thread here and vote for your choice for the game for the night. Dream of sniping Bumblb19′s head off, teabagging GRHSuperman, melee’n TeeTocks, or listening to GHR Maverick snore? Then here’s your chance, see ya there this Friday at 10pm EST.

The Tokyo Game Show for 2008 is upon us. It has been described as the E3 of the far East, and it gets under way at 10:00 AM local time on October 9th (8:00 PM EST on Oct. 8th) and lasts through October 12th. The first two days are labeled “business days,” so I’m thinking we’ve got a better chance of seeing some big announcements during that time period, as opposed to Saturday and Sunday, which are open to the public. Perhaps we’ll get some more insight on titles slated for Holiday 08, and maybe even a surprise announcement or two. Bungie is rumored to announce more information on their upcoming Halo 3 add-on, so we’ll be watching for that to hit the news wires. What else are you looking forward to learning more about this weekend?

Big props to ‘adirtypoostick’ as he joins the GHR team in the 24 hr game-a-thon to raise money and awareness for the cause of pediatric cancer. As stated in a previous blog post and forum post, we are joining with Sarcastic Gamer and numerous other podcasts for this awesome event. So show your support by joining us, giving a donation, or just by gaming with us on Oct 18th as we play games and try to stay awake for these kids.

If you want to donate to adirtypoostick (Derrick), you can do so here.