I apologize for the lack of updates these past few days. Between the obligations of work, a family camp out and father’s day, my free time has been spent entirely in the pursuit of looting guns off of the unfortunate corpses I leave in my wake.

Metal Gear Solid 4 has finally given me a reason to load more than Blu-ray movies in my PS3. I love the changes to the core gameplay that doesn’t vindictively punish me for having a callous disregard for human life. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when being stealthy and escaping the notice of guards can be thrilling, but sometimes I just want to shoot people in the head. (Not real people, Mr. Thompson. I have a firm grasp of the difference.)

MGS4 is both fun and awesome, and is poised to be the second game I’ve played this generation that has lived up to the hype. (see: Super Mario Galaxy.) While my loins don’t tingle at the thought of answers to longstanding questions in Kojima’s oft times ridiculous post-modern military soap opera, I’ve even found most of the lengthy cut scenes to not be horrible, and dare I say, entertaining. Look for a full review by the end of the week.

Because he’s so short, right? Actually, Forbes has an interesting article about how while Nintendo has been crushing what it sees as its major competition (Microsoft and Sony), Apple might be the rogue in the room that Nintendo doesn’t notice until it’s too late. Forbes argues that Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch has perfected both touch interface and motion sensitivity in a small, powerful device. Such technology, combined with the Apple brand might be too much for poor little Nintendo should Apple decide to enter the portable game market.

Earth to Forbes: have a look around. Considering the current economic climate, what parent would seriously consider buying their kid a $300 iPhone so he/she can play games on it? Will there be Pokemon on it? Would it survive being dropped on the driveway while they climbed out of the mini-van? The answer to all of these questions is pretty obvious. And before anyone says, “But it would appeal to adult gamers! There’s millions of those!” Isn’t that the market Sony was aiming for with their slick and expensive PSP? That’s what I thought.

New screens of Nintendo and Tecmo’s upcoming forth installment of the Fatal Frame series have hit the web coinciding with the launch of the official site (Japanese). Who you gonna call? A lithe Asian girl with a magical ghost catching camera, apparently.

Sporting graphics that should make 90% of the other Wii developers hang their heads in shame (assuming they have any shame to begin with *cough*Ubisoft*cough*), Suda 51 is looking like they’re batting 1.000 on the Wii so far.

I made my very first game purchase for my Playstation 3 a few weeks ago (heretofore used exclusively as a Blu-ray player in the Nintendomain home theater.) The game of honor: Grand Theft Auto IV. Reviews were glowing. Hype was unparalleled. Was the game actually any good. After 40+ hours of climbing the criminal underworld ladder Nintendomain is finally ready to pass judgment on Rockstar Games latest opus.

Click to read >> Escape From Liberty City

Tomonobu Itagaki will officially part ways with longtime publisher Tecmo effective July 1, 2008. Apparently the bad blood has been simmering for awhile. Part of his going away party involved filing a lawsuit in May against the company and its president, Yoshimi Yasuda. At the heart of the lawsuit is Itagaki’s claim that promised completion bonuses for their first Xbox 360 title, Dead or Alive 4, were never paid. When questioned about the bonuses, Tecmo told him to shut up or get lost. Being the industry rebel that he is renowned for, Itagaki decided to call their bluff and promptly leave… two years later.

Obviously the completion of Ninja Gaiden II was the proverbial ‘x’ on the calendar for Itagaki. In a statement to fans, Itagaki apologized saying, “I truly feel sorry to all the fans of the games I have made. Ninja Gaiden 2, which will launch on the 3rd of June will be the last Ninja Gaiden I will create. I will also never be able to make Dead or Alive 5. I regret the circumstances that have forced me to leave Tecmo, where I had worked for so many years, and I regret the disappointment this will cause my fans. However, I can no longer continue to work with President Yoshimi Yasuda, a man who chooses not to honor promises even when he is able to do so. I truly hope that nothing like this happens again in the future.”

Obviously this is a sad day for Itagaki’s many fans and the millions of teen boys who looked up to him as a role model for what’s cool and as a source of digital breasts.

We’ve got drawers full of old E3 crap we want to get rid of. We’ll send one lucky person a veritable treasure trove of it for submitting their fondest E3 memory. Stories can be either about attending the show itself, or your memories of reading about E3 on your favorite websites or message boards. Entries should be 250 words or less and submitted by 11:59 pm, June 6th 2008. Send all submissions to contests{at}nintendomain{dot}com. (Obviously replace the {at} and {dot} with the real thing.) The winner will be announced on June 9th, 2008!

By entering the contest you agree to allow Nintendomain to post your stories without further compensation. Thanks and good luck!

I just realized that for the second year, the month of May has passed us by with a distinct lack of message board riots and Thursday-tons. I had attended every E3 since 2000 (no, I wasn’t a swag grabbing, Gamestop troglodyte, i.e. part of the problem) and it’s true that the show had become an over bloated exercise in excess. Every year, more and more publishers had to resort to closed door meetings with credentialed journalists, developers and retailers just to get anything done. In that respect, E3 became two shows: one of 100 foot movie screens and nearly naked women for the public (the afore mentioned swag hording cretins) and the other, private rooms built onto the existing monstrosities, or off site hotel rooms for the people that actually needed to be there.

Given the expense involved to put on such a show every year it’s no wonder things were bound change. What we didn’t expect was the pendulum swinging all the way to the other extreme. An E3 that were it not for the press conferences from the big three (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) was completely unrecognizable. This year looks to be even worse, as the show was pushed back to July, several big name publishers have not only dropped out of E3, but the ESA as well, and the show floor has been relegated to the tiny concourse hall of the otherwise cavernous LA convention center. This might well be the last E3 we’ll see for a long, long time. Therefore I thought I’d share with you my favorite personal memories of the previous E3s I was fortunate enough to attend.

2000 – Metal Gear Solid 2: The game that had people lining up just to watch the teaser trailer. Before anyone knew about vampires or blond sissies named Raiden, this was the game that proved what the PS2 was capable of.

2001 - Wheel of GBA! While it was only a few weeks from launch, the fact that Nintendo was giving away brand new GBAs to a few lucky contestants in their own version of wheel of fortune was pretty damn awesome. I wasn’t lucky enough to win won, but my consolation prize was a white foam replica that still sits above my desk to this day.

2002 – Metroid Prime. Doubters be damned, Retro pulls of the impossible my demoing a 3D Metroid game that still felt like Metroid and still looks gorgeous by today’s standards. My good friend Anthon (aka Mario Party Ringer) won a Wavebird for me that year as well.

2003 - Half-Life 2. In a room near the top floor of The Standard hotel a few blocks from the convention center, Valve first unveiled its Source engine and the sequel to arguably the best FPS ever created. I sat in with a bunch of guys from Lucas Arts and all of us were left with our mouths agape.

2004 - Dodgers vs Cubs. Bottom of the 7th, Dodgers second basemen Alex Cora has an epic at bat against Cubs pitcher Matt Clement where he fouls off 14 straight pitches before pulling one into the right field bleachers for a home run. This was the least eventful E3 I attended, even with the DS and PSP premieres and the Legend of Zelda trailer. What I remember instead was catching a great ball game with Jeff from Stupid Gamer.

2005 – The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess turned the back of Nintendo’s booth into a Disney Land attraction. E3 also decided to let certain members of the press onto the show floors early every day and the crowds were still ridiculous. Luckily the accommodating staff at Nintendo’s booth were willing to let those that asked really nicely skip the lines.

2006 - Wii! While the PS3 finally had real games to show, the Nintendo Wii by all accounts was generating the most buzz. The last day of the show finally allowed for some free time to check it out for myself. At least that was the plan until I encountered a line that wrapped entirely around the west hall that by all estimates meant not stepping foot inside the Wii demo area until two or three days after the show closed. Thankfully, I was with Jeff from Stupid Gamer whose smooth talking ways got us in the backdoor. My only regret: not going pee before we got in.

My all time greatest memory - Meeting Shigeru Miyamoto. Twice in fact, and while neither was a formal interview by any stretch, the inner geek in me was more than a little excited to be face to face with the legendary designer and grab a quick autograph! This is probably what I will miss most about E3; the chance to meet some of the truly amazing individuals from the industry, even if it’s only for a moment.

Cracked just posted a pretty weak list of the top five ways the gaming industry is screwing you, the consumer. While I don’t necessarily disagree that the items on their list are bad, I do think there are for more egregious attempts to part we gamers from our hard earned cash. Their list:

1. EA selling Battlefield: Bad Company upgrades for real-world money.

2. Blizzard’s Warden Client is snooping on you

3. Activision faked its Call of Duty 2 commercial

4. EA creating a mini-monopoly

5. Gamespot giving good reviews for paid advertising space

Blizzard’s Warden Client is hardly spy are, and really only protects the game from cheaters and gold miners. EA was unsuccessful in its takeover bids of both Ubisoft and Take-Two, EA has rethought its Battlefield: Bad Company upgrade strategy, companies have been using CGI in ads long before Activision (we’re looking at you Square-Enix) and everyone knows now not to bother reading Gamespot.

After thinking a little more about it I have come up with my own list of how the games industry is screwing you much more subtly. The list after the jump.

More…

The guys over at Stupid Gamer are giving away a free game for the winning entry of their “We suck at graphic design so please help us make a banner for our site” contest! Head over there for more details.