Last night I did something I haven't done in quite some time, I played split screen multiplayer. At one point in time this was a regular occurrence for me but as my friends and I have gotten older it happens less and less frequently. There is something that is special about having your friends in a room as you pass around controllers from one to the other, something that you just don't get when you play with your friends online.

Leaving the bar on Saturday night someone was overheard questioning if the mass of people leaving the bar were "those video game people". Why yes good lady, we were those video game people. PAX East was a huge success, it was completely sold out and Boston accepted us video game people with open arms. The panels were fantastic and the games even better.

But what did I really think of the first PAX on the East Coast? It was a blast but there are certainly some things that could be tweaked for next year.

Yesterday was the final day of PAX East. For me that meant checking out of the hotel and taking the long drive back home. But before we left Boston we hit up the show floor once more to check out a couple more games.

The first was Frobot, which is coming to WiiWare and the PC at sometime in the near future. Some of you may remember that I named Frobot my pre-show game of the show. Sadly it did not hold up to the awesome promise that its name held. Frobot is an overhead action game, styled very similarly to NES era games. It will come packed with 25 single player levels that are a mix of combat mechanics and classic puzzle gameplay. At this point the game looks a little rough and Frobot controls a bit slow but the game is still being worked on so hopefully it will turn the corner and realize some of the potential that it has.

Day two kicked off with a bang as we hit up the Crackdown 2 booth before the general public was able to get into the show floor. The demo on the floor is multiplayer which will have a variety of different modes. The one we had the opportunity to play was called Rocket Tag. Rocket Tag is basically kill the man with the Orb, much like in Halo's Oddball variant Rocketball, players attempt to capture the orb and hold onto it for as long as possible while seven other people try to blow them to bits. The game has a nice feel to it and relies heavily on the special powers of the agent meaning this is a very vertical and fast paced game mode. It is also completely insane due to all the explosions going off.

Today started off on a bit of a wrong foot. First the Vagary.tv crew (of which I am a part of) boarded a shuttle that dropped us off at the wrong convention center. We then decided to walk the three miles from the wrong convention center to the correct one, arriving roughly 45 minutes prior to what time we thought we could get onto the show floor. The team head over to pick up our press badges and guess what? I am already there at the show. Someone managed to pick up my press badge with no ID (there was even a little star next to my crossed off name saying NO ID).

So we are here in Boston. After a six hour or so ride, lots of traffic and some of the worst traffic patterns I have ever experienced we are here in Boston.

While PAX East does not officially start until tomorrow. We did slip into the Sony Move event that was happening off site. We all got a chance to use the Move and well the best thing I can personally say about it is that the controller feels nice, nicer than the Wii remote but in the end I kind of felt it was just Wii HD.

Developer Harmonix has officially announced, via their Facebook page and a Viacom investor conference, that Rock Band 3 is in development for a Holiday 2010 release.



As with previous Rock Band titles, MTV games will publish and Electronic Arts will act as the games distributor. With the Game Developers Conference kicking off in San Francisco more news on the latest Rock Band iteration is sure to be leaking out over the next week.

20 Years is a long time. Things change a lot over the course of two decades and Final Fantasy, the series I began following in previews of gaming magazines in early 1990, has hanged quite a bit since its American debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System and I have been there every step of the way. I don't tell you that to imply that my love of the franchise is any more than yours, nor is it to imply that I know every little nugget and detail of the series but rather just to give you a point of reference for things I will say.

Heavy Rain is a difficult nut to crack. On many levels, the latest Sony exclusive for the Playstation 3, is a breath of fresh air that updates an old game style for today's modern gamers but its not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, regardless of what some people would have you believe. Developer Quantic Dream would like you to call Heavy Rain an Interactive Drama, I prefer the term I grew up with when playing games of this sort, Adventure game. It is what Quantic Dream's last game Indigo Prophecy was and it is what Heavy Rain is.

The Creative Assembly has released the latest trailer for their upcoming war strategy title, Napoleon Total War.

A little over half a decade ago the EA Spouse controversy started to take hold and now it seems that Rockstar Games' San Diego based studio is in the same boat. For those unfamiliar with the EA Spouse controversy it all started with a blog created by the fiancée of an Electronic Arts employee who was being forced to work unfair hours for unfair wages and based on a Gamasutra blog post it seems that Rockstar San Diego may be unfairly treating its employees.

As the release of the last Pandemic Studios developed "The Saboteur" nears its official release date there are reports that those that purchase the game new on the Playstation 3 or XBOX 360 will receive a download code that unlocks, amongst other things, nudity in the game.

The Saboteur is a World War II period piece that follows the adventures of Sean Devlin, an Irish race car driver who sets out to help free Paris of its Nazi occupation. The game has been rated a Mature game by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board and nudity has been included in Mature rated games before, so the question arises that if the nudity was important to the context of the story then why is a code needed to unlock it? It seems like publisher Electronic Arts may be trying to drum up some controversy and publicity for a game many have already written off, although this would have had to have been planned months ago while the game was still being worked on.

The Saboteur will be available at all major retailers starting Tuesday, December 8th.

You would think that with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves being the biggest Sony release of the year that a salesman at a particular gaming store would know what Uncharted was all about. Oddly enough though, when I went to pre-order the title a couple weeks before its release I was asked by an employee of this company what Uncharted was. After overcoming my shock at this individual's ignorance I gave him the following description, “Its like Tomb Raider with a dude, but better.”

Obviously that description is very generic because Uncharted, as a series, is so much more than that. However I stick by that description because on a base level Uncharted is Tomb Raider with a dude, but better. So much better.

I was posed a question earlier today on if Dragon Age: Origins would be a hit. Based on what I know the gaming community I answered that I felt the game would be a hit but a much more massive one on the PC, after all Dragon Age is the supposed return of BioWare to its roots (that included the likes of Baldur's Gate).

So now that you know what I think, I want to know what you think. Are you going to be purchasing Dragon Age: Origins and if so what will you be playing it on?

Last week rumors were swirling about a possible delay for the upcoming God of War Collection on the PS3. Well, Sony has debunked those rumors and the US Playstation Blog has brought us the first trailer for the game. The remastered title will feature HD graphics running at 60fps as well as PS3 trophy support. In addition to those improvements the collection will also include a voucher for the E3 2009 God of War III demo.

The God of War Collection is scheduled for release this November.