Late Night Consoling

I started playing Pikmin this evening. Of the three GameCube games I have (Resident Evil and Rogue Leader being the other two) this is definitely my favorite so far. Of course, it's also the shortest, so by the end of the weekend I could be finished and well into Resident Evil. Still, it's a really strange and original title, and there aren't enough of those these days. Oh, and thanks for all the birthday posts. Even the weird ones. :)

• Speaking of weird...I can't believe I missed this game at E3. It's impossible to see everything at the show, but I didn't even hear about it until I got back. It sounds like a bizarre mix of Conker's Bad Fur Day and Tony Hawk...I wish I had seen it.
• The other big name game I missed at the show was Capcom's Steel Battalion. The game itself looks like your run of the mill 'mech sim game, but check out that controller!
• The crazy console price war has hit Nintendo's bottom line. Don't expect them to change any policies as a result of this (like releasing more games) but it's still notable.
• One game I did get to see at E3 (albeit only briefly) was Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden. The first official screenshots are up at GameSpot tonight, and they look pretty darn cool.
• Also at GameSpot tonight is the third and final part of their Shigeru Miyamoto Q&A.
• Jack mentioned this briefly this morning, but IGN has posted the winners of their overall E3 awards, as well as platform specific awards for PS2, GameCube, GBA, Xbox and PC. The only awards I really trust are the Game Critics Awards, and those won't be out for a few more weeks.
• With under a month to go until its release, Nintendo has launched the official Eternal Darkness site.
• XenGamers has posted their hands-on report from the Final Fantasy XI launch, warts and all.
• PS2.IGN has posted a preview of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, the upcoming PS2 game from Surreal Software, the creators of Drakkan. I wonder if the game suddenly stops when you get a third of the way into it?
• Here are some more details and screenshots from Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, the game that turned some heads, and caused others to shake in disbelief.
• Sega has announced plans to bring back their venerable Virtua Cop series, this time on PS2. Apparently the game will be released in August for PS2.
• Two small Nintendo bits from PGC: apparently there are full-time people working on Metroid Prime at Nintendo's EAD in Japan, and it looks like there may not be a SpaceWorld expo this year.
• Sony has released new screenshots from EverQuest Online Adventures, which can be found at PS2.IGN tonight.
• An interview with James Phinney, the lead designer of The Unseen at Tremor Entertainment is up at Team Xbox.
• After such oddballs as Segagaga, Super Monkey Ball and the upcoming Phantasy Star Card Game, I had pretty much figured I'd seen the weirdest games Sega had to offer. Apparently not, as they have announced Virtua Thumb Wrestling for Java capable cell phones.