Ubisoft's James Cameronstravaganza really was the most boring thing about E3 — but we promise to post the older (and much more interesting) info later this week

So that whole triple-E expo thing is over, right?

We still have our Nintendo and Sony conference impressions on-tap and ready to be served, but we’re simply terrible at sliding that frothy information down the counter to you, the frustrated consumer.

Look for those articles later this week with a comp for your first few Jägerbombs.

Yesterday’s news ran quite the gamut of topics: Sony’s trophy system isn’t happening on PSP, Satoru Iwata “scuttles” when it comes to new handhelds and playing a game might just help lower your car insurance rates.

It would be much more of a letdown for PSP owners if PS3 trophies actually came to gamers in this life-sized format

The idea of tracking digital accomplishments for consoles is still a relatively new concept. And though Microsoft blazed the trail with the Xbox 360′s achievements in 2006, Sony wised up and added its own variation to the PlayStation 3 last year.

Unfortunately for fans of Sony’s trophies, the PlayStation Portable won’t be adding its own version anytime soon.

Joystiq asked one of Sony’s PlayStation Network higher-ups, Eric Lempel, about the possibility of adding PSP games to a trophy system linked across both consoles. Lempel gave a pretty clear “No” answer, thanks to the PSP’s trouble with hackers manipulating the hardware and software to no end. It seems the PSP Go won’t remedy the lack of trophies either.

It makes sense for Sony to protect the purity of their trophies, and while some may scoff at the entire concept of digital boasts, it’s very important to make sure hackers and pirates can’t bolster their profiles with fake accomplishments for the sake of those gamers who boldly sacrifice having a life in order to achieve artificial glory.

I have to wonder what Microsoft’s solution would be if they ever released a portable, gaming-specific system? Maybe players would have to sign in to their Passport accounts each time they unlocked an achievement. Scarily enough, I can almost see that happening.

This is really an outlandish mod/fake concept model — but a portable GameCube sure would be wonderful

The Nintendo DSi has had quite the successful launch just two months into its North American life cycle. Even so, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told CNBC that the company had plans for a different handheld — plans that were eventually scrapped.

The article is rather vague, which isn’t the author’s fault but more due to the coy explanations on the part of Iwata. It’s both refreshing and frustrating to read that Nintendo had another portable system “complete” (though Iwata doesn’t offer any details on what this system was exactly) but refused to release it. Without any specific details, it’s easy to imagine this unseen console could’ve been the greatest thing ever. That’s the problem with mentioning your company had a release-ready product that never felt the clammy touch of nerdy hands.

Yes, Nintendo has a vision and it’s been incredibly successful this generation — it still doesn’t mean that updating the same basic hardware for the second time is the best option, regardless of how well the DSi sells.

Iwata believes in the need for preserving a sense of momentum with Nintendo’s available hardware. But really, that’s just another way of saying, “We’re making a lot of money as-is…why bother?” Some might just accept that as business, which is true, but laurel-resting still looks bad.

Jewel Diver doesn't look like much, but potentially saving your life AND money at the same time is quite an impressive CV for such a simplistic game

Car insurance is one of those necessary evils we all have to deal with. But what if playing a simple game could improve your visual acuity and performance to make you safer on the road and lower your premiums?

Kotaku paraphrased a story found on the San Francisco Chronicle website, SFGate.com, wherein Allstate Insurance has used a simplistic flash game called Jewel Diver — developed by Posit Science — to seemingly improve drivers’ peripheral vision and awareness levels. If the experiment is widespread enough in its success, Allstate might employ the game to test drivers and then offer cheaper rates for those who do well enough.

It’s a fantastic idea on Allstate’s part, and while there are no definitive results yet it’s still a good thing to see the concept of games being used to hypothetically improve public safety. The basic of idea of what a game is doesn’t always have to equal either immature fun or bloody, senseless violence.

Now, let’s get more companies thinking that way.

Well, we’re all a little burned out here. I mean, you all saw the media deluge last week, didn’t you? The countless trailers, the hours of presentations, the Brütal Legend lawsuit . . . it’s just exhausting.

So, we failed to deliver on the E3 commentary we promised, and I wanted to personally apologize. We weren’t sure how we were going to discuss the event as it raced by, and thanks to each member of our bustling staff of three having something major come up, it just didn’t happen.

If you’re still with us, I want to thank you for your patience and understanding. All three of us have busy lives, and I know that it’s been a constant struggle for me at least to have a full-time job and keep up the quality and consistency in blogging that I aspire to.

We’ll be getting back on track shortly. In the meantime, excuse our flakiness.

Now, let’s talk about some games, shall we?

Nick:

I’ve been rounding up notes on about a dozen games to start discussing them on the site. And while there are a couple of standout titles among the bunch — InFamous and Red Faction: Guerrilla in particular — I’m eager for a nice, carefully structured linear experience. All this open-world exploration is great, but we all need some variety now and then.

And in about ten minutes, I’m going to be playing resent Apple for announcing something cooler than my iPhone 3G while I follow the Worldwide Developers Conference. It’s a little ridiculous of me, of course, but let’s be realistic. I play games on my iPhone more than any other platform at this point, and I’m gonna feel a little snubbed when people start buying something way cooler than the thing I’ve got. Oh well. That’s simply the way of things — especially when Apple is involved.

Aaron:

E3 slightly cut into my gaming capability for part of the week, but since Tuesday I’ve been enjoying Red Faction: Guerrilla. It’s really a slow start, but the destruction-based gameplay builds on you over the first few sectors in need of liberation. After awhile you’ll be bringing down buildings strategically by targeting their weak points (go for support beams!) and discovering your favorite combination of weapons (I’m fond of an upgraded rocket launcher, an upgraded nanomachine rifle and max demolition charge capacity). It’s really an amazing title overall, but I still see it being a sleeper hit despite THQ having saturated various media outlets with marketing for the game.

Oh, and multiplayer is ludicrously fun. More on that when we post our review sometime next week.

Doug:

It’s all Fallout 3, all the time. Hoo boy — time to go find a doctor and get injected with some pre-war stuff to clear out the addiction. I think I’m only about a third of the way through the game, but I’m still completely hooked. I’m to the point where I feel comfortable with the controls, how to get around the Wasteland, and how to fight. Not being at level 1 or 2 also helps — I’ve customized my character through weapons and skills. Unfortunately, though, the enemies don’t get any easier. I do look forward to kicking ass with the Brotherhood, though, as I’ve got the Broken Steel DLC installed too.

I got a bit of time to play a few other games, too — NCAA 09, FIFA 09, Mass Effect, Super Street Fighter II HD Remix — and hooked them up in HD, too. That was a situation I could get used to.

Based purely on what’s been shown today, and assuming things go to plan:

The Sure-fire Big Winner: Xbox Live

Direct download capability for 1080p movies and Xbox 360 games; an expanded Netflix lineup; Facebook, Last.fm and Twitter tie-ins to come in the fall; and a whole host of exclusive downloads and DLC content for games coming this year. That $50 a year spent on an Xbox Live gold account keeps looking better and better, and regardless how the games turn out, what you’ll be able to do with the system grows and grows.

Most Important Announcement: Microsoft’s Project Natal

It's waggle, Jim, but not how we're used to: Microsoft's Project Natal could well be the biggest announcement at E3 2009.

We knew it was coming. It may even have been shown a year ago, before Microsoft acquired the company responsible for the technology. But actually seeing Project Natal — Microsoft’s code name for its controller-less motion control device — was very stunning. Sure, some of the tech demos displayed (a ball kicking/punching/heading game, motion to control the Xbox dashboard) were a bit hokey…but they showed a level of motion-recognition that was very tight and reactive. The big deal was Lionhead Studios (publishers of Fable 2, Black and White and many other games) and the tech demo they created where players could interact with a schoolboy named Milo. To say it encroached on the uncanny valley is an understatement; if it’s what the video demonstration billed it to be, it’s less a game and more interacting with a legitimate AI character. Absolutely stunning.

To say that Microsoft could capitalize on the market the Nintendo Wii has pioneered while also pushing the boundaries of what’s possible as an interactive activity with Project Natal is an understatement. The potential is there; whether it comes to fruition in the final form will be interesting to see.

Nothing’s Shocking: The surprises that…well…didn’t.

• Hideo Kojima taking the stage during the Microsoft press conference (accompanied by a “!”) to announce Metal Gear Solid: Rising, which will feature Raiden.
• Bungie is working on something other than Halo 3: ODST in the Halo universe — Halo: Reach.
• EA Sports is adding a mixed martial-arts game, EA Sports MMA, to its roster.
• Brütal Legend is going to kick everybody’s ass. Hard.
• Sequel-tastic: Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2, Metal Gear Solid…and plenty more from EA and Ubi.

The Day and Date Club: Games that made a great first impression.

Here comes the sun: The Beatles: Rock Band broke cover brilliantly today at E3.

• The Beatles: Rock Band. After months of speculation, teases and being under wraps, the game was finally revealed today. It was a hell of a start to Microsoft’s press conference.
• Forza Motorsport 3. Another game that had lived under cover until now showing its head, and it is looking good as well. Especially innovative could be the game’s replay editor – if the Turn 10 spokesman was being truthful during the demonstration today, it could yield spectacular results.
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction. Site editor Aaron Thayer was particularly enamored with this game’s combination of stealth and action. The lighting system and revamped hide-in-the-shadows gameplay along with the extremely visceral action is a tantalizing prospect for this fall.
• Brütal Legend. The metal Zelda. Tim Schafer’s (well deserved) golden ticket-in-waiting.
• Honorable mentions: Assassin’s Creed 2, Mass Effect 2, Alan Wake.

We’ll be sure to have more for you tomorrow after Nintendo, Sony and a host of others make their presentations and the show floor opens.

Now let’s be honest: every other website has some kind of intimate E3 coverage planned for videogame fans and followers of the industry. You have your liveblogs, live video, exclusive interviews, previews, hands-ons and podcasts. We, a fresh and puerile (but not juvenile?) website without access to E3, can’t provide the coverage like bigger media entities can. However, what we can do is offer our analysis and summations of big E3 press bombs and try to cut the fat the best we can.

So stay with us throughout E3 and think of our content as the delicious Andes mint after a filling dinner — a complement to a main course of news from the hundreds of other videogame journalists doing the real work this week.

We’ll be posting our recaps of each big press conference and attempting a few interesting things this week in terms of  feature articles. Next week you’ll see more thoughtful content, as post-E3 lends itself well to in-depth analysis and status reports of individual genres — even the consoles themselves.

I’ll leave you with the times and dates for the five major press conferences.

Enjoy E3…we’re besieged like this only once a year, or twice depending on how interesting the Tokyo Game Show will be come September.

Press conferences for Monday, June 1st:

• Microsoft: 10:30 a.m.
• Electronic Arts: 2 p.m.
• Ubisoft: 5 p.m.

Press conferences for Tuesday, June 2nd:

• Nintendo: 9 a.m.
• Sony: 11 a.m.

This was me, 24 hours ago. Please excuse the tardiness with the update.

Hoo boy. Medicine sure is a fun thing, isn’t it? After recovering from liberal applications of medication and sleep to combat a particularly nasty sinus infection, things have returned to normal – including posting the news. And news there is to be posted!

Xbox Live membership has risen to more than 20 million users as the Xbox 360 has moved past 30 million consoles sold worldwide.

Microsoft announced today that it has hit a pair of milestones with the Xbox 360 console: 30 million systems sold worldwide, and 20 million individual users on its Xbox Live service. In the release, Microsoft attributed some of the growth to the New Xbox Experience dashboard overhaul that was launched last fall, saying that new membership numbers have gone up 136 percent since its debut in November. That led Microsoft to earn more than $14 billion on console sales, in addition to almost a billion pieces of content (both paid and free) downloaded via Xbox Live.

A pair of pieces from Electronic Arts ahead of E3. First, the company’s lineup of games for E3 2009 was announced yesterday. Lots of expected titles are on the list — including Mass Effect 2, Brütal Legend, a pair of Need for Speed titles and the full host of EA Sports products. Of course, the list doesn’t include any surprises or E3-specific announcements, but does show that, yes, EA is still gigantic.

Secondly, one of the games that’s going to be on the E3 show floor for Electronic Arts is The Sims 3 – and it’s actually going to be released during the week of E3, too. That hasn’t stopped the Internet from doing what it does best, though – downloading a leaked pirate copy of the game more than 180,000 times already. However, apparently EA got the last laugh with the pirates: “It’s not the full game. Half the world — an entire city — is missing from the pirated copy,” EA spokesman Holly Rockwood told Bloomberg.

On June 9, you too can rock out like Iron Maiden in Rock Band.

Lastly, some quick pieces of news to wrap things up:

• YEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Iron Maiden is finally getting more songs in Rock Band. A dozen classic tracks from the heavyweights of English metal including “Number of the Beast,” “Aces High,” and “Run to the Hills” will be available on June 9.
• The world apparently needs more kart racers, and Sega is going to satisfy that need: Sonic and Sega All-Stars has been announced, and it will feature racing action starring characters Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Dr. Robotnik, Samba (of Samba de Amigo fame) and more. The game will come to the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and DS in 2010.
• A new Microsoft Zune has been announced — featuring a built-in HD radio, wifi access, a full-screen Internet browser, and syncing with Xbox Live. More details are sure to surface next week at E3.

And finally, because we love you:

"Awesome!" indeed

So, we want to extend a ginormous gracias to those of you who read Silicon Sasquatch daily and continue to direct your comrades to our corner of the web. We promise to keep bringing you things of a decidedly awesome and videogame-related nature.

Now, it’s time for the real news: Atari gets cold feet, the telenovela that is Midway’s financial woes gets juicier, we get to know Modern Warfare 2 a bit better and Valve’s Team Fortress 2 team takes a “bow.” (You’ll get the pun in a bit.)

Let's hope Atari backing out of E3 doesn't mean advertising for Ghostbusters: The Video Game or Champions Online will suffer

Despite having a very capable line-up of releases coming out this year, Atari has suddenly decided to skip E3 2009, citing a desire to explore “other selling and marketing initiatives.” Joystiq seems to believe the company’s change of heart is due to a lack of sufficient cash flow to pay the Entertainment Software Association‘s fees. That’s possible, but without up-to-date financial analysis available it’s hard to be certain.

Our cursory research implies that Atari has seen significant increases in business-related performance over the last year in comparison to its stock delisting ordeal last May. Things might not be so bad at the company, but without knowing for sure that’s quite the guess.

Maybe Atari is actually going to pursue alternative methods of marketing its Ghostbusters and Champions Online titles as their announcement said. But with E3 2009 supposedly returning to its old tricks of cacophony and neon light insanity–which always made the event a great place to get a game noticed and hyped–this could be the makings of a huge mistake for Atari.

These financial issues are totally getting in the way of a sequel to Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy

Gamasutra has a fantastic post on the developing story of creditors who are suing Midway Games‘ former big-wig board members for running the company into the ground to allegedly benefit themselves.

Sumner Redstone, quite the controversial name as far as Midway’s current situation goes, is singled-out along with daughter Shari Redstone and former investor Mark Thomas, among others.  Two of the suit’s many claims center on the Redstones intentionally investing $90 million into the struggling company to then recoup it under claims of “debt,” and also using Midway’s $700 million in tax losses to later obtain a beneficial refund.

It’s a great if depressing read, and goes to show once again that money is quite the motivator when it comes to personal gain. No one wants to see any development studio go under thanks to fraudulent actions of insensitive businesspeople. But, yes, I suppose it’s “just business.”

Digital war has never been so cover-worthy, until now

Infinity Ward‘s Modern Warfare 2 is getting a blowout piece in the next issue of Game Informer, and multiple websites have posted some of the initial details. What’s known so far sounds both promising and unfortunate at the same time. Taking place years after the last game, “Soap” MacTavish–the main character throughout the British SAS missions in Call of Duty 4–is now a captain who will serve as the new character’s mentor as did Captain Price the last time around. It’ll be interesting to see a former protagonist in a different context.

Unfortunately, Infinity Ward won’t be including a cooperative campaign option, although Treyarch managed to include the feature in Call of Duty: World at War in a very polished manner. Also, MW2 sounds like it might be shorter than CoD4′s already short campaign.

Knowing Infinity Ward’s track record, the title will likely turn out to be superb. It’s just a shame to see the team once again won’t add co-op, an ironically modern gameplay feature, into the so-called Modern Warfare 2.

While this picture isn't related to the Sniper update, I think we can appreciate an engineer in mid-burn

And because they’re just so sweet to their fans, Valve has teased its impending Team Fortress 2 Sniper update with details on one of the new unlockable weapons: The Huntsman–it’s a bow and arrow!

The extremely old school weapon will actually pin its victims to surfaces upon a killing shot; even if the target lives through a direct hit, they’ll still have an arrow protruding from their bodies. Groovy.

Valve has consistently supported Team Fortress 2 with new maps, unlockables and achievements since its 2007 release, all for free, and it’s a real testament to the company’s belief in PC gaming.

Now we eagerly await the inevitable Zelda mod using the new bow and arrow’s physics. Get to work!

The millions of Rock Band fans worldwide helped make Harmonix's game the top money earner for Electronic Arts last year, the publishing giant announced today in its financial earnings statement.

We here at the Sasquatch (well, specifically myself and Nick) are very big fans of Harmonix’s Rock Band series. There are a myriad of reasons why, but it boils down to being quite a bit of fun, especially when like-minded individuals coalesce into a full band to rock out.

Well, it turns out we’re not alone in our affections–far from it. Electronic Arts announced its 4th quarter and fiscal year 2009 financial results, and included in the information-rich release is how Rock Band 2 was Electronic Arts’ biggest money-maker for the fiscal year. In fact, Rock Band 1 and 2 were two of 31 properties to sell over a million units last year; FIFA 09, Madden NFL 09, and Need for Speed Underground each sold more than 5 million units worldwide. Even Spore sold 2 million and saw more than 100 million creatures created.

But despite 2008′s successes, the company’s financial statement shows that EA overall lost money last year. Net loss for this last quarter was only around half of what it was last year–$42 million now compared to $94 million previously–but that wasn’t enough to stave off a full-year net loss of $1.088 billion. Interestingly, part of that loss is cited as “significant legal, banking and other consulting fees related to the Company’s proposed acquisition and related cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.”

Analyzing what this means for gamers could be a bit disheartening considering EA’s past as quite the acquisitive business. Once, not so long ago, EA was a publisher weighed down with the albatrosses of shovelware and yearly sequels for the sake of moving a squillion units and making massive profits (a charge that now resides at Activision HQ).

But in 2008 EA showed a new side, and the company made intellectual property experimentation their core strategy. The EA of old would never have published a risk like Dead Space, it would not have been so hands-off with the EA Partners program (which has seen games such as Rock Band, The Orange Box, Left 4 Dead and so on developed by other studios to be released through EA’s publishing clout) and the company would never have invested in revamping much of the EA Sports line. Still,  EA’s turned a new leaf with each of their efforts and it hasn’t financially paid off. That’s the disheartening part.

Some of that may come down to the slow economy–despite which, EA CEO John Riccitello is still optimistic video game sales will pick up–and the bad financial atmosphere is a named factor in the earnings release.

What I hope, as a gamer, is that EA won’t sacrifice its vision in order to meet the bottom line like they used to.

A picture of the The Beatles: Rock Band Rickenbacker (á la John Lennon) that gamers will be able to buy this fall.

A possible tonic to cure what ails EA just might be the September 9 double dose of  The Beatles: Rock Band and the sale of even more authentic Beatles plastic instruments. This hotly anticipated spin-off of the main series will feature not only the legendary band’s sights and sounds, but a host of new instruments patterned after those made famous by the Fab Four. Previously unveiled was Paul McCartney’s Höffner bass, and today gamers got their first look at John Lennon’s Rickenbacker and George Harrison’s Gretsch. The two guitars unveiled today will be available for $99 each, and are separate from the $250 special edition bundle which includes the Höffner, a microphone with stand and drums inspired by Ringo Starr’s pearlescent Ludwig kit. This could get expensive.

The Beatles: Rock Band adds four new instruments to the plastic pile, including this Gretsch guitar, as made famous by George Harrison.

Finally, a quick news piece to finish today’s recap.

As E3 approaches, the once low and distant rumor rumble becomes a roar of possible announcements for the Los Angeles-based gaming expo. 1up.com thinks it may have found something juicy that Microsoft will be unveiling this year: Motion-detection technology originally shown off at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. During last year’s event a company called 3DV showcased its motion technology, and in the following months rumors (according to Ars Technica) arose that Microsoft was in the works to buy out 3DV. Obviously, Microsoft wants to use 3DV’s technology for something game-related. Keep your eyes peeled for that.