The 2008 edition of the “E3 Media and Business Summit” has come and gone, and the whole thing was a bit of a blur to be honest. However, I’m going to try and split up my retrospective a bit, as it dragged on a bit longer than the actual event (which only officially ran between the 15th-17th) and I feel like I’ve got a bit more to say about the whole thing.

You may note that I blogged about E3 for the Canadian Broadcasting Company! Exciting, no? Why I’m mere steps away now from becoming the “go-to” guy when Jian Ghomeshi wants someone to cover video games on Q, or when George Stroumboulopoulos needs someone for the same thing on The Hour. Or at least that would be the plan, anyway… Though realistically I’m probably not much closer to it.

Anyway, my coverage! I decided not to go for the obvious route and write up “this is what happened” or “this is what I played” blog posts, and actually write a small analysis for each one. I think it kind of worked out, though it was a lot harder than I thought (writing commentary while your brain is fried from over-stimulation is… difficult, let’s say.)

Microsoft looks to Wii to take on PS3 and Xbox gets lips, Final Fantasy XIII – this was originally just one article, but was sub-edited into two. As I was writing for a specifically Canadian audience (not something I often do!) I wanted to make sure to lament that the Netflix thing wasn’t announced here. Which kind of sucks.

EA’s Dynamic DNA – I concentrated on the announcement of NBA Live ’09′s Dynamic DNA from the EA press conference, because I thought it was roughly the most exciting and “new” thing they talked about. I suppose it would have more resonance with the CBC audience if it had been announced for NHL ’09, though.

“In Barbie Girls, players create an avatar, design their room and can then explore a virtual world where they can earn ‘B Bucks’ play games, watch videos and chat with other girls in a safe environment.”

Yep – I’ve played a Barbie game. But then I’ve also played a Bratz game, so…

Anyway, I’m LA for E3 all next week, so I’ve got an excuse for not updating my site properly for a while. But there will be interesting updates, I’m sure, when I return!

“Wasn’t a massive fan of the original – thought it was a bit dull even if it did feature nature’s perfect baddie, supernatural Nazis – but at least it was very “Hellboy.” The Golden Army looks exactly like Pan’s Labyrinth with Hellboy instead of a little Spanish girl. To be completely honest, we find Del Toro’s imagination overrated, especially considering one of his new characters for the film is called “Cathedral Head” and has a cathedral for a head. We’re sorry, but there’s only one creature allowed to have a totemic building for a noggin, and that’s Pyramid Head.”

This column has actually made me wonder if Pyramid Head was a kind of in-joke at Konami. After all, they’d put Moai heads into a lot of their games (famously Gradius) – so why not have a “pyramid head”?

It’s a possibility!

“Los Angeles-based online game developer Riot Games has just announced a $7 million investment round – Gamasutra talks to president Marc Merrill about his admiration for Counter-Strike and the company’s plans to reach the “midcore” audience.”

I mentioned before my addiction to Team Fortress 2, and it’s gotten so bad that I’m randomly mentioning it in interviews, like this one.

“Indie developer Twisted Pixel has just announced action-adventure The Maw for Xbox Live Arcade, but also juggles contributions to larger console titles (NBA Ballers: Chosen One) with its original IP – Gamasutra talks to CEO Michael Wilford about the trials and tribulations of being an indie.”

Yep, I’ve been doing a lot of Q&As again!

“Game localization and QA firm Babel Media has been acquired by outsourcing company Quatrro, with former Electronic Arts VP Richard Leinfellner taking over as Babel CEO – Gamasutra talked to Leinfellner and Babel’s Algy Williams about their plans to expand into full outsourcing, and their beliefs on how the game-making model will change.”

Fun fact: I used to work for Babel’s direct competitor in the UK, Absolute Quality. I didn’t mention this during the interview.

“Kingdom of Loathing probably isn’t the kind of game you’d plan to look at if you were trying to work out how to build a community in your MMO, but it only take a short time playing to realize such an assumption is dead wrong. Kingdom of Loathing might be more of a ‘game’ than an ‘MMO’ but as either, it easily outclasses many of the competition.”

I liked Kingdom of Loathing! As a single player game it does get repetitive quicker than some other browser-based RPGs (like the excellent ForumWarz) but it’s fun for a while.

“French development studio Cyanide have a surprisingly diverse product strategy, including cross-platform Games Workshop license Blood Bowl and free-to-play PC MMO Dungeon Party – CEO Patrick Pligersdorffer talks with Gamasutra about why Cyanide are proud to be seen as a PC developer, talks piracy and discusses the French development community.”

I was thrilled to do this interview, because I’ve been eagerly awaiting the video game version of Blood Bowl. I never actually tried Chaos League (though I can’t really remember why now) even though Blood Bowl is easily my favourite of Games Workshop’s oeuvre (well, of the stuff I’ve played, anyway.)

I actually have a painted Orc and Human team sitting at home in a box somewhere. It’s great, and on the basis of this interview I do think the video game is at least going to be authentic enough to please me, though whether that will translate to sales I don’t know.

“It’s the fourth of July weekend, and as a result Canada joins its southern neighbours in having very little new of note in cinemas—it’s probably why Hancock, for example, started screening early.”

Nothing came out this week, so this is a very boring Film Friday. Please ignore it!

“Developer Tilted Mill (SimCities Societies) has regained the rights to its 2004 PC strategy game Children of the Nile, and is preparing to self-publish an enhanced version – founder Chris Beatrice tells Gamasutra how he hopes indie distribution will work for them.”

Now available on Steam!