Professor Layton x Phoenix Wright = Mega-Ton!

It was just announced today at developer Level-5's new game-related press conference that there is a Professor Layton and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney crossover game in the works for the 3DS! Kotaku reports:

Phoenix Wright meet Professor Layton. Capcom's lawyer is going to appear in a game with Level-5's famous puzzle-solving sleuth.

Today in Tokyo, Level-5 revealed a Professor Layton and Ace Attorney crossover Nintendo 3DS game currently titled "Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney".

Ace Attorney creator Takumi Shuu will be working on the title, and the game's theme will be puzzles that are full of contradictions. Sounds perfect for a legal puzzle mash-up.

The game is set in Labyrinth City. The background is medieval, and the city is populated with witches. The villain is named the "story teller" and whatever he writes with his pen becomes reality.

The in-game trial is called "The Trial of the Witch", since Phoenix Wright's client is accused of being a witch.

While I've never played an entire Phoenix Wright game (our copy was glitchy and then I got one for my sister and I have no idea what she's doing with it now) I love the character and the Professor Layton games. So this is sufficiently exciting! More than sufficient, even!

This crossover is surprisingly perfect. The art styles are really different but I think the two different series can mesh together well.

I guess you guys have to get a 3DS now! I mean, I was always going to get one, but this helps even more. I think the 3DS could be on its way to becoming the GREATEST HANDHELD OF ALL TIME. I am serious. Exciting!

New York Comic-Con/Anime Festival 2010

I went to Comic-Con/NYAF this past weekend. It was pretty awesome. Yay!

I saw the standard cosplayers; there were so many Lightning's and Yukiko's and Ramona's of different shapes/colors/sizes, it was pretty nuts. But I actually liked a lot of the costumes I saw; it's awesome how much effort some of these people put in, and how much confidence they had, wearing skimpy outfits and posing for picture after picture. I know I took pictures!

I also got to see the first ever New York screening of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya on Friday. I was really excited for that, but man, the other people in the room were obnoxious as HECK. They laughed at every little thing, even if it wasn't all that funny; they applauded everything, too. It was insane. I mean, I loved being around a whole room full of people who I knew loved the same anime that I did, but they were so irritating. This girl we sat next to laughed so loudly and annoyingly, and this guy we sat behind waved to the voice actors who hosted the panel and I think he was dressed up as an InuYasha character or something and it was horrible. Towards the end of the movie -SPOILER ALERT- Kyon (main character) got stabbed out of the blue and everyone started laughing and clapping. How is that funny or applause-worthy whatsoever? They were taking me out of it, and it nearly ruined it for me. I still really enjoyed the movie but I hope I can see it in the comfort of my own home soon.

I wanted to go to the Square Enix panel, also, but it was full. Other things I wanted to do: play the games! Nintendo's booth had Kirby's Epic Yarn, Donkey Kong Country, Wii Party, and some other games that I really wanted to try but I never got the chance. I watched some guys play Kirby for awhile and it looked so gorgeous and cute, though. I really want it! Now.

I did get to play a little bit of Okamiden, but I had no clue what was going on. It did look really cute, though. I got a poster, a little mask-type thing, and some Chibiterasu silly bands from the Capcom area, which was nice. I wanted to play Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and get a poster, but that game was one of the most popular there, and I think you could only get a poster from one of the signings, which I didn't go to. Oh well.

SPEAKING OF SIGNINGS, I am a sucker for being in the presence of celebrities, so you can imagine how happy I was to MEET THREE (KIND OF MINOR BUT OH WELL) CELEBRITIES! :D I met Patrick Cassels, who works for Collegehumor.com, and got his autograph and a picture with him; he was so nice! Then I got a picture with and an autograph from Judah Friedlander (Frank on 30 Rock), which was pretty awesome, too. He told me to "stay sexy." Hilarious. And the best one of all was meeting Scott Adsit (!!!!! Pete on 30 Rock) who was on his way to the Delocated panel despite not really having anything to do with it! I got his autograph and told him that I loved 30 Rock and Moral Orel and once I mentioned the latter his eyes just lit up and he looked at me and said, "Thank you! I really appreciate that!" And then he asked me if I had seen Delocated and I said that I hadn't but I wanted to and he told me to check it out. AND I DID. And it was okay. It had Todd Barry in it which was great because I love Todd Barry. I also love Scott Adsit!! I wish I'd gotten a picture with him, but at least I'll always have the memory.

Even though I'm the cheapest person around I forced myself to buy stuff: tons and tons of pins, a Scott Pilgrim sticker, and a Scott Pilgrim t-shirt. The Oni Press booth had a ton of cool Scott stuff, and I wanted to get the wristbands but they said "July 2010" on them and were from SDCC, so I decided against it. Also, my wrists are too big for wristbands, anyway. ;_; At least I got the shirt! And a sticker! And I wanted to buy a book from there, Hopeless Savages, but it was $20 and I decided against it. They had a nice booth though. Pretty cool times. Oh, and the pins I got included a Pokeball, a Harvest Moon pin, a Spirited Away pin, a TON of adorable Inception pins, and super cute Wallace and Kim pins. I wanted to get Scott but he was sold out. You know, the only Scott thing I got that actually HAD Scott on it was the sticker. Too bad.

On Saturday night we decided to take a cab to the train station, and we managed to get a stretch limo. It was amazing. We went with these two random people we met; one of them was wearing a green suit. They were also amazing. We paid $30 for 8 people to take a stretch limo from the Javits Center to Grand Central. It was -- guess! -- amazing.

So that was my Comic-Con experience. It was tons of fun. I want to go next year. Can next year be tomorrow? Please? I hope I can meet Scott Adsit again and take a picture with him this time! But any celebrity will do. Please celebrities! Come find me and give me your autographs!

Happy Birthday, Super Mario Bros.!

Today is the 25th anniversary of the Japanese (a.k.a. very first) release of Super Mario Bros. on the NES. There are video games before Mario, and video games after Mario. 25 years ago was the day when video games became what we know them to be today: mass market-appealing, well-designed, FUN games.

That being said, I was never a big fan of the traditional Mario games. I had Super Mario Advance; couldn't stand it. UGH, it was hard. I never liked Super Mario 64. SORRY. I did like Super Mario Sunshine though! Although I didn't think it was very good. However, I own and LOVE Super Mario Galaxy, and I love a ton of the spin-offs, too: Mario Tennis, Mario Kart (64, Double Dash!!, and Wii), Mario Party (1, 2, 4) and then things like Super Smash Bros. and the like. (I also own New Super Mario Bros. Wii and I kind of don't like it that much. Although it is fun.)

But even though I'm not the biggest Super Mario fan, it's safe to say that I wouldn't be playing games today without it. So thanks, Super Mario Bros.!

The End of E3/Making a Sandwich!

So today was the last day of E3 2010. This year's show was pretty grand, although most of the really cool announcements came from first parties. Third parties were pretty meh this year, for the most part. But Nintendo was so excellent and announced so much cool stuff that they made up for everyone!

There isn't too much to report from these last two days, but I would recommend you look at this thread from my best friend (next to my kitty cat) NeoGAF. It's hilarious and shows you all the cool moments from E3 in .gif form! Yay.

Oh, and also, um, the biggest revelation of the last two days is that Kinect pretty much doesn't work unless you're standing up. LAME!

So, E3 was great fun. I'm already itching for next year's! I love E3. So. Much.

But now let's talk about Lady Gaga.

After hearing my sister sing it over and over for the last couple of days, I decided that it was time I watch the video for "Telephone." Here it is!



Um, I think I like "Paparazzi" better. But this song is pretty stinking catchy. Things I like in random order: how horrible Beyonce's acting is, the "LET'S MAKE A SANDWICH" part, the cigarette sunglasses, the fact that, according to my sister, that girl whose butt Beyonce's...whoever that guy is to her smacks, the Asian one, apparently says (in her subtitles) "One Piece!", the dancing in the scene right after they kill everyone when they're in that room with all the dead people, and that part when Gaga's bailed out by Beyonce and before she leaves the jail she strokes her hair and gives that little smile and wink. It's pretty funny.

Of course, most people see Beyonce's "Video Phone" as the response or sequel or sister video of "Telephone," so here it is, too.



Both the video and the song are pretty awful. I like the synchronized dancing and Beyonce's many, many weaves. That's about it. I mean, it's catchy, but it sucks. Are you HEARING the lyrics, my darlings? No line in this farce rivals the sheer magic of "STOP CALLIN' STOP CALLIN' I DON'T WANNA TALK ANYMORE." Not a single one.

Enjoy those random, not-at-all-E3-related videos. Try to, anyway. You'll probably like them better if you keep them open in a separate tab and just listen to them.

Gifs! 

"I GOT MAH HEAD AND MAH HEART ON THE DANCEFLOOR!"

E3 2010 Day 2: Nintendo and Sony (Plus a Tiny Ubisoft Recap)

Today started out as one of the worst days of my life, but quickly became one of the Top 10 Greatest Days Ever. Capitalization WARRANTED.

Before we get to the brilliance and excitement that was Day 2 of E3 2010, let us backtrack to yesterday and talk briefly about Ubisoft's conference. It was not too thrilling, save for some surprises (new Rayman AND new Raving Rabbids, MICHAEL JACKSON SINGING/DANCING GAME!). My favorite games were Children of Eden, Project Dust, and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, which I will never play, most likely, but will champion regardless. I also enjoyed Innergy, which is a silly name for a silly game but also too cute for me to pass up. The conference was hosted by Joel McHale from The Soup and that enjoyable but soon to be overrated sitcom, Community. He hosted last year, too, but I think he was much funnier last year. There were a lot of great, mean-spirited quips, especially at the pink-haired guy who demoed Innergy. God, I really hope that's how it's spelled, or I'm making myself look like an idiot.

Now onto today's conferences!

 Nintendo Press Conference: June 15th, 2010, 9 AM Pacific. 

Usually, people are advised to save the best for last. For Nintendo, this was not the case. Not only was this the single greatest Nintendo conference I've ever seen, but it was one of the best conferences in E3 history. It was definitely the best one out of the Big Three (um, spoiler?). Being a going on 10-year-long Nintendo fangirl, I probably was going to be a little biased from the start, but this seriously was excellent. I know a good press conference, people! Trust me.

Not only was this show amazing, but they showed their single most hyped up game FIRST. That would be The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, a title whose presentation came completely out of left-field. When this title showed up on screen, the crowd went wild; it was insane. It was MADNESS. (But it was not Sparta, that comes up in the next conference.) At first you thought that the game was just going to be shown by our guy from Treehouse Bill Trinen, who I love (I love ALL Nintendo people, though), because Shigeru Miyamoto, a man who needs no introduction EVER, was on a screen in some pre-recorded video. But then Shiggy jumps out of a screen. HE JUMPED OUT OF A SCREEN, GUYS. It was excellent.

From IGN. Obviously. THANKS IGN :) Don't get mad at me for stealing your bandwidth!

He proceeded to demo the game. It looked fun, and this is coming from someone who usually cries just from thinking about Zelda (well, specifically Twilight Princess...and Majora's Mask...). The graphical style was lighthearted in a pseudo-realistic kind of way. The game will rely heavily on MotionPlus usage, with players having to move the Wiimote like it's an actual sword; the Nunchuk simulates the sword. While Shiggs said that the game would have 1:1 control, the live demo did not seem to be so responsive. This was probably because there was interference in the crowd (Bill started yelling at people to "TURN OFF DAT WIRELESSSSS." Hilarious); play previews posted online said that the game really was amazingly close to 1:1. Overall, the game looks great. The release date is still ambiguous but my man Miyamoto said it would come out sometime next year. I don't know if I'll pick it up, but it looks good. 

Now, remember: this is only the beginning. Already, Ninty had showed off what many considered to be their biggest game of the show. Man, they were wrong. The biggest game was coming up next...MARIO SPORTS MIX! :D Haha, no. But Mario Sports Mix did look pretty grand. Reggie -- you know, Reggie, the guy, one of the greatest Nintendo dudes -- announced it while talking about the sports games coming to the Wii. This is an arcade-style medley of sports: volleyball (YESSS), hockey, something that looked like dodgeball that could have not been dodgeball (no wait, it was dodgeball), basketball (YAYYY), and others to be announced. It looked really, really fun. I'm excited. I love the Mario Sports games. Especially Mario Tennis. But not Power Tennis. That crud was dreck. Or is it "that dreck was crud"? Either way.

After that, they talked about some more casual games. Now, the previous two years, casual games were the main focus. However, it was surprising that, right after they were done making a big deal out of the previously-announced Wii Party, an unnecessary Mario Party successor, and Just Dance 2, yet another dancing game I can't play with my friend Matt Damon, they just went straight into Golden Sun. Everyone was going nuts. Me? When Reggie announced that the subtitle would be Dark Dawn, I spent much of the trailer pondering the logic behind that name. I mean, how can the dawn be dark, guys? HOW CAN THE DAWN BE DARK? The game looks pretty good, though. It's coming out this holiday season. It's not my top priority, but we'll see. 

Then they went into something that would have been really exciting had IGN not spoiled it for everyone yesterday: a Goldeneye 007 remake, exclusively for the Wii! I really enjoyed how excited everyone got. I've never played it, but everything I've ever heard about the original has been really positive, and I'd be happy if something nostalgic from my past was being remade for me to enjoy all over again. The graphics were questionable but I'm sure it'll be really, really fun, at the least. It's also coming this holiday. It'll be one bizzzay season.

After that came a lot of Epic Mickey footage! It was so cool. They showed an animated cutscene from the game that was STUNNING. GORGEOUS. BEAUTIFUL. I wanted the game ten times more than I had wanted it before after that and the rest of the demo, and I already wanted it a ton. It looks like just a really classic, fun platformer. One thing I love about Nintendo and their consoles is how friendly they are to games that are designed for all-ages. They're not concerned with being "mature" (although most developers just equate maturity with blood and gore), they simply want to have as many fun games available on their systems as possible. This looks to be one such game! It should be great. September, guys! 

After that came probably the most left-field surprise: A NEW HOME CONSOLE KIRBY GAME. OH YOUR STINKING DEITY OF CHOICE. I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. It was the cutest game I've ever seen, ever. Think of the cutest game you know. This game is about twelve times cuter. It was brilliant, innovative, had amazing style, and just looked to be really, really, really, really, really CUTE. It's coming out in fall, like every other amazing game that I want, it seems. I need it. I need this game. It's called Kirby's Epic Yarn, which is a...questionable title, but it doesn't matter! You play as a yarn version of Kirby who can use his yarn powers to stretch things and just generally be adorable and make you want to throw money at him. Geez, man. GEEZ. Kirby, I will thrown money at you any time you want. Name the amount.

SO CUTE.

Next segment was boring. Reggie made reference to some random Treehouse worker named Chico (a girl) who played Dragon Quest IX for 140 hours. Shouldn't you be working, Chico? Not just playing games? AND DON'T GIVE ME THAT "I work at a game company" CRUD. BAD CHICO. So, yes Dragon Quest IX is coming in July (26 days from today). After that we saw a cool new Metroid: Other M trailer with lots of gameplay. Looked good. Comes out August 31. 

Donkey Kong Country Returns was next. It's the first new DK platformer in a good stinkin' long time. It's made by Retro, who did Metroid Prime and stuff. It looked really, really good. I think it comes out next year. Not sure if they said. I really enjoyed the trailer...too bad it wasn't a surprise to me. The Internet spoils EVERYTHING! (Hey, does anyone remember that DK Country TV show from the early 00s? It was...uh. I watched it a lot, but I'm not sure that I would say that that time was not wasted.) 

After that was the big guns. The 3DS! SO MUCH STUFF happened during it, I can't even explain it all. The system looks EXCELLENT. It's a big bulky, but it kind of has to be. The lineup is FANTASTIC. It might just be the greatest game system of all time. I'll post the whole video(s) for you to see for yourself, because it's just way more than my words can explain right now.

Sorry the videos are sized differently. I WANTED THINGS TO BE UNIFORM. Sad face. Well, anyway, doesn't that look AWESOME? So great. It was so EXCITING. System of forever, right there. I wasn't expecting much from the 3DS, but I was completely blown away. Just look at that line-up! It's awesome. Satoru Iwata, you are definitely my guy. You rule. You...you all are the greatest people to have ever LIVED.

Nintendo's conference was so gosh darn good, it's going to be hard for me to talk about Sony at all. I'll try.

Sony Press Conference: June 15th, 2010, 12:00 PM Pacific

Sony is known for their cool montages. There were a lot of them. They were mostly enjoyable, but by the 4th minute of the 3rd one, I started to get a little bored. Regardless, the opening was nice. Jack Tretton hosted, and he made lots of fun digs at Kinect and their Cirque du Soleil promotional event the night before E3 started. Um. Also, the stage was really cool looking. Soon Kaz Hirai came out. I love that guy. Too bad he was stuck rambling about 3D for 10 minutes. It was hard for me to pay attention, especially since I knew now that, well, Nintendo had come up with my ideal 3D solution. But he tried. Then he started talking about system updates that will allow games to be in 3D, and I was fuming something vicious. I HATE SYSTEM UPDATES. They take too darn long!

Moving on. Killzone 3 was shown. Audience excitement level - high. Mine - low-ish. Pretty tired of FPSes, myself. It was demoed by a German named Herman, which I find far too funny for my own good. Before he left, Herman the German said that the game would be out next February. Good. Now let's stop talking about it.

Then there was a make.believe thing. I still don't understand what that is supposed to be. Some sort of multimedia...thing? I wasn't paying attention until I saw a red panda, followed by a polar bear! Red pandas and polar bears are so cute! Thanks, Sony! This, by the way, was the second cool montage of the night. It was followed by another montage. In said montage was The Sly Cooper Collection, which I'm really excited for despite hating every minute of Sly Cooper that I ever played. All 12 of them! But I love fun, gore-free action/adventure games, which the PS3 is sadly lacking. They did announce a really cool PlayStation Move (their new motion controller that they prattled on about) game called Heroes on the Move, starting Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, and the Sly Cooper gang. It looks...ugly. But fun! Really fun. I love Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction, so even though I probably won't get the Move, I'll keep my eye on the game.

So the PS Move was touted around for the longest time during the show. It was tiring. I like the previous name better, the Wand. I think it's been called the Move for a year now, but oh well. There were some cool games showed for it...well, other than Heroes, I liked Sorcery. The crowd seemed to really like it, too. It looked really, really fun. But not fun enough to convince me to spend $50 plus extra costs on another motion controller.

The best part was when VP of Cool Things Kevin Butler came on stage to make an amazing "inspirational" speech about gaming. God, that man is funny. People were screaming "I LOVE YOU" from the crowd. The crowd was filled primarily with large, sweaty men, mind you. It was fun. Here's Kev's speech below.

He is HILARIOUS. Love the Kinect dig in the beginning. So mean, those Sony guys. I mean, this was mainly just more Move promotion, but it was FUNNY. So, thanks, Kevin. Later, they also showed some new PSP commercials in the vein of the Kevin ones starring that Bobb'e kid who's all over the place. Y'know, the go-to smart mouthed African-American kid? That's him! He plays Marcus Rivers in the new PSP commercials. Very, very funny. Hopefully we'll see them on TV soon.

LittleBigPlanet 2 was demoed. That game looks awesome. I've talked about it before, and not that much else was revealed. Release date? Um...I'm not sure if they said one. Or if they did, I missed it. I think it's out next year, though? I want it. A lot. After that they had to bring the mood down by announcing the not-at-all-surprising PSN Plus service, which will be $50 for a year or $30~ for three months.Wait, that doesn't sound right. Oh well. It's so stupid - you get "100s of dollars worth of free content!" The thing is, that free content only remains free for you to play as long as your subscription lasts. I find that pretty lame, especially since they're giving away PSN games that people will probably want to play for a long time. I guess that's so they can get people to subscribe for longer. Thankfully, all of the currently free services will remain free, so I'm largely unaffected. I still find this service irritatingly XBox Live-ish, though.

There was then a surprise announcement that Portal 2 will be on the PS3, and will be the "best console version." Cool stuff. They showed a trailer. Nice. Gabe Newell is a funny guy, I guess, although I really do not like him at all. Oh, then there was a beautiful FFXIV trailer that made me want the game even more. Too bad it's a stinking MMO. URGH! I don't want to play an MMO. But I do want to play you, FFXIV. So badly...so badly. We'll see. I don't think I ever will play you, but we'll see. ...Um. Oh, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 was shown briefly in yet another montage. Everyone cheered, including me. Then some time was spent showing a trailer for inFamous 2, which looks GREAT. I like the first one a lot, so I'm excited for the new one. I think Cole got a new voice, too. And hair!

The end of the conference saw the unnecessary return of one of the creepiest games ever, Twisted Metal. I was frightened so much that I couldn't look at the screen. What a horrible way to end the conference...I didn't think the series was that beloved. It was kind of random. I wish they hadn't shown that at the end, or at all. It was really, really creepy. Too many clowns.

All-in-all, this conference was better than Microsoft's, but far worse than Nintendo's. It was pretty dull, and definitely not as good as last year's. At least it was better than Sony 2006, but it's pretty hard to be worse than that.

This day was excellent, if mostly because of Nintendo. Tomorrow will be some third-party conferences, including Konami and I believe Square Enix. Those conferences will not be televised, so I'll just try to post some news highlights. Either way, E3 is still on until Thursday, so more awesome exciting fun times are on the way, I'm sure.

(Now I'm going to go watch DBZ Kai, which features yet another horrible English literal translation of a Japanese song. Bleh.)