It’s the most anticipated event of the year. Gamers everywhere are being glued to their televisions watching G4, people are buying into every pre-E3 magazine, and gaming websites are in a frantic, non-stop coverage frenzy for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). It’s the only time of the year when I become an out-closet nerd. To the point where I’m almost giddy. This year’s E3 is no slouch, at least from the Microsoft Booth. Having both a PC and an Xbox 360, I’ll be talking about what Microsoft is putting out for their two powerhouses. This fall, the bulk of my earnings will likely be on Microsoft points for XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade). I’ll rank the reasons why.

1. Mega Man 9. It’s been almost a decade since a true Mega Man game has come to the masses. Capcom has a nasty habit of not listening to fans of the blue bomber and putting out the same old crappy games every year with little to no change to each iteration (for example, The Battle Network Series). Capcom finally responds with what I think will be the greatest Mega Man ever made. Built from the ground up with new levels and bosses. This is no rehash here. It takes the old NES 8-bit approach to appeal to the hardcore classic fans. And since its coming to the Xbox 360, it’ll be in beautiful 8-bit HD. And I hear that just like the old NES games, the game will be very challenging.

2. Banjo-Kazooie. A remake of the classic platformer for the Nintendo 64. This game helped define Rare Inc. into what they are today. The graphics will be updated and in HD, plus achievements. This one is not to be missed. Banjo-Tooie’s release is inevitable.

3. Portal: Still Alive. Portal was a ground breaking game. Portal 2 won’t be out until mid 2009. Valve is still considering this game as a true sequel however. With more levels and a new challenge mode, this will likely be in the top sellers section after its highly anticipated debut.

4. Goldeneye 007. Another Nintendo 64 classic by Rare Inc. This game changed first person shooters forever. Originally released in 1999, this game is going to need a major graphical update. Today the visuals appear ugly. And online play is definitely a possibility. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out.

5. Galaga Legions. It’s Galaga. Classic top-down shooter revived, in HD. It’s beautiful, it’s insanely hard, and it rounds out my top 5.

I’m going to talk about a game that’s actually being done right. Everything about it excites me and makes me wish summer would end and fall would come sooner. To me, this game stuck out more than the rest. It even caught my attention more than Gears of War 2. I’ll get to that game and more in another post. The game I’m about to over hype is Far Cry 2. Yes, the game that not many people have been paying much attention to. And now a hopefully brief history on the franchise that everyone thought went down to hell.

-In 2004 Far Cry was released on PCs. Although it was a great game for its time, it was overshadowed by the simultaneous releases of the critically acclaimed Half Life 2, and Doom 3. Despite this, Far Cry was considered the first true next generation shooter. Boasting advanced A.I. and open world gameplay.

-In 2005 Far Cry Instincts came to the Xbox as an exclusive. It was an enhanced remake of the original. It kept the characters and basic plot points, but gave the playable main character, Jack Carver, new mutant feral abilities to unleash on his foes. The game was well received by critics and was considered one of the best shooters for the original Xbox.

-In 2006 Far Cry Evolution, the only sequel to Far Cry Instincts hits store shelves. The game was praised for gameplay, but got a noticeably lower review than its predecessor because it was more of the same and didn’t introduce anything new. Around the same time, Far Cry Instincts Predator was released on the Xbox 360. It had both Instincts and Evolution in a 2 games in 1 package for a great price. Both games were enhanced for widescreen HDTV play and ingame achievements. Otherwise there isn’t much difference to the originals.

-Sometime between 2006 and 2007, Uwe Boll, a mediocre movie maker who buys the rights to adapt video games into horribly produced movies. When news got around that Uwe Boll was coming out with a Far Cry movie sometime in ’08 and ’09, everyone just knew that Far Cry was going to be one of those games that started great and ended with a whimper.

-In 2007 Wii owners got a bad taste of the franchise with Far Cry Vengeance. It got horrible reviews for bad graphics and being virtually unplayable with the Wii’s cheap motion controls.

And now Far Cry 2 has come out of nowhere. The new game may have Far Cry in the title, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the original games. The island paradise setting, Jack Carver, and the strange mutant parts of the series have been completely removed. This new game is set in Africa. With over 50 kilometers of open ended play. Instead of just one annoying main character there are about 9 playable characters each with their own unique story. The game world is entirely open ended, like Grand Theft Auto. This game is entirely non-linear. You can play the game anyway you want, literally. You can choose to set fire to a village with a rocket or grenade, causing the enemy troops to back off allowing the player to flank them from behind. That’s just one of the 5 ways to play the game.

Another part of the gameplay that is new is the weather system. It stays sunny and dry if the player is doing well. Or it goes to a dark, rainy setting if the player isn’t doing too hot. The game has 3 types of explosives, and 30 different weapons. On a graphical note this game is the most beautiful shooter I have ever seen. This even beats out Crysis. Honestly, it looks as good, if not better, than real life. Blowing up stuff is fun; this game makes it look like an art. The minimum specs for the game to run on a pc have yet to be released. Don’t be surprised if you have to completely upgrade your rig just to start the game up.

Ubisoft is being tight lipped about the multiplayer aspect, but they say it’s going to be intense, and it will have the best map editor ever. I could go on and on. But I’ll save the rest for another time. This game is my #1 best in show, period. Look for it this fall on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3.

-Travis Wood