Coming from Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5030871/game-critics-best-of-e3-finalists-announced

And every year, the various members of game critics belonging to the wide wide selection of magazines, websites and more gather and choose what they believe are the best in show at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). It's a bit surprising for me to learn that FFXIII isn't one of those games on the list, coz apparently, only games with playable demos are allowed to be nominated (well that's a new lesson for me).

And the winners are:

Best of Show
- Fallout 3
- Gears of War 2
- LittleBigPlanet
- Mirror’s Edge
- Spore

Best Original Game
- Flower
- Left 4 Dead
- Little Big Planet
- Mirror’s Edge
- Spore

Best Console Game
- Fallout 3
- Gears of War 2
- LittleBigPlanet
- Resistance 2
- Resident Evil 5

Best Handheld Game
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
- Chrono Trigger DS
- Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
- Resistance: Retribution
- Rhythm Heaven

Best PC Game
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Left 4 Dead
- Spore
- Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II
- Warhammer Online

Best Hardware
- Lips Microphone
- Rock Band 2 Ion “Drum Rocker” Set
- Wii MotionPlus

Best Action Game
- Far Cry 2
- Gears of War 2
- Left 4 Dead
- Mirror’s Edge
- Resistance 2

Best Action/Adventure Game
- Dead Space
- Prince of Persia
- Resident Evil 5
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
- Tomb Raider: Underworld

Best Role Playing Game
- Chrono Trigger DS
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Fable 2
- Fallout 3
- Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood

Best Fighting Game
- Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
- Soul Calibur IV
- Street Fighter IV
- Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Best Racing Game
- Baja: Edge of Control
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles
- MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
- Pure

Best Sports Game
- Madden NFL 09
- NBA Live 09
- Shaun White Snowboarding
- Skate It
- Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 09

Best Strategy Game
- Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
- Empire: Total War
- Halo Wars
- Tom Clancy’s EndWar
- Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game
- Guitar Hero World Tour
- Lego Batman: The Videogame
- LittleBigPlanet
- Rock Band 2
- Wii Sports Resort

Best Online Multiplayer Game
- Gears of War 2
- Left 4 Dead
- LittleBigPlanet
- Resistance 2
- Rock Band 2

Meh, pretty nice showing that majority of these games are available on the X360, and some would find ports on the PC. Also pretty nice showing for the Games for Windows titles here!

An announcement made by Microsoft recently revealed that Games for Windows Live (the PC version of the XBox Live free/paid membership service) users will have their accounts updated to Gold Level for free, meaning PC gamers would no longer have to pay the necessary amount for either monthly or annual subscription to XBOX Live to play with other XBOX Live members.

Another announcement made was the upcoming release of the Games for Windows Live Marketplace  which I would believe that will sell games developed through XNA, downloadable content, full games and the like. It's great to see some progress being made on this platform.

However, in order to make it a more viable/popular platform; I believe that adding more games to have the achievements system as well so PC gamers are kind of equally rewarded with gamerscore points by playing through PC games as well.

By the way, Games for Windows Live accounts are the same as XBOX Live accounts and would work cross system wise.

for more info: http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/live/Pages/AboutLive.aspx

and another news article: 8301-17938_105-9996906-1.html-part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

I miss playing combat flight sims on the PC, luckily Ubisoft's releasing one onto the PC under the Tom Clancy brand of military games. Here's a game demo from E3 that came from G4TV. Pretty sweet, now I could probably use my Flight Stick more often again.

Aside from the uhhhmmm new line of games being marketed by Ubisoft for the teens and kids, Their presentation was quite solid. Far Cry 2, Assassin's Creed 2 I mean Prince of Persia, Endwar, are just some of the must see games in 2008 and 2009. Here's a feed from the G4TV site:

*Took a while and a clear cache to get the G4Tv site working right again...

Shared by fellow MVP (and XBOX MVP to boot) Philip aka scytherage is a video feed from G4TV

Woo7!

I've been following the development of Far Cry 2 closely and since E3's coming about, it's going to be one of the few PC Games being featured on the show.

I've checked out Gamespot for their videos on Far Cry 2 and here's one of the developer videos:

Pretty sweet having actual day/night cycle, unlike Crysis. Now about the PC requirements....

Here's a little extra (I sure love sniping)