AWKWARD ZOMBIE

E3's more or less over and nothing really changed for me. I went in excited for the Witcher and Bam Ham and that stayed the same, nothing else really caught my eye. I don't care about the big 3 nor do I have an opinion about who 'won', I skipped most of the dick-waving.

I'd say Nintendo won, even discounting what they announced, the way they presented the games to gamers with Treehouse sets a standard I hope other companies will follow next year. It was a lot better than watching someone shakily handle a camera while recording offscreen footage with people talking over the game or reading journalism articles glowing about the games being the second coming of Jesus. I still didn't get hands on with the games, but those in-depth looks and demos were pretty nice, and the fact that I didn't go to any major gaming site in order to wade through 100 20 word articles for more information on games this week is a plus in my books.

This is what I want to see of the big three next year.

Also, I hope tournaments like the Smash Invitational become a regular thing for E3 week.

I have to say Splatoon has the first interesting, actually new (afaik) gameplay mechanic I've seen in what seems like forever. Unfortunatelty, I doubt the shooting element is going to be solid enough to give the game lasting appeal.

Nintendo got me interested in Bayonetta which I never thought would happen so that's a win in my book

I feel like putting Pac-Man in Smash is really pushing it. After the reveal I started thinking "You know, a few more third-party characters and this'll basically be Nintendo All-Stars: Battle Royale."

It is Nintendo All Stars, though. That's bodaciously it's Japanese name. Sony just stole it and didn't bother localizing at all.

Huh, I didn't know that. Still, I feel like Pac-Man's addition to the roster is where Nintendo starts pressing up against the boundaries of who they can include in the game without it breaking over into PlayStation All-Stars territory in regards to putting characters they don't even own in it.

I mean, Bamco is helping them make the game, so...

I think because Namco and Capcom are working on the game they get carte blanche on putting characters in

In that case, I think they could have chosen a character from a series that has had a continuous stream of support for it over the years rather than Pac-Man. I get that Pac-Man is iconic, but his inclusion seems like a "safe" choice rather than someone such as a Tales character, like Lloyd Irving or Yuri Lowell. I also would have loved to see Klonoa despite the lack of titles he's had in recent years.

I also think a weird character like Klanoa or someone from Tales of would have been cool but I think they sorta had to put the iconic character in out of a sort of obligation. Although Klanoa would have been super appropriate since he's basically Kirby in the way of being a "Dreamdweller."

Pacman is the most iconic character from Namco that has had lasting appeal. He's essentially their mascot and one of the oldest gaming icons out there.

Currently we have 3 third party characters, and if Snake comes back, that'll be 4, which is just 2 more than we had in Brawl. And we're getting a lot more Nintendo characters compared to the amount of third party characters.

I don't think we have to worry about them diluting the amount of first and second party Nintendo characters too much.

Honestly as long as they keep the third party characters as like, solo-reps for their company, I don't really have a problem. Sonic is a great rep for Sega, just as Mega Man is for Capcom, Snake for Konami and Pacman for Bandai-Namco. Now, when they add Ryu or something I'll be annoyed.

I started thinking about how Klonoa would play and I think he would've been great. His Wind Ring could let him capture projectiles or other fighters and throw them into others or downward in the air to give himself an upward boost. His ring also transforms into a sword for close range fighting. He'd be more of his own character than Pac-Man simply spawning a ton of sprites from his game and other old Namco titles to use.

Erm.

The Japanese name translates as "Great Melee Smash Brothers".