Ben’s Week In Review: May 31

It's the pre-E3 Week in Review, so we keep the focus pinned on the show. But I'm not going to talk about Kojima's new game; I think we've discussed that enough around here. 😉

If GT5 races into Sony's press conference…oh dear God…

It was curiously left off Sony's scheduled E3 list of software, but recent evidence says Gran Turismo 5 may make its presence felt at this year's show after all. And if that happens, not only will I be freakin' overjoyed but Sony will absolutely decimate the competition. If they're really going to show GT5, God of War III , Uncharted 2: Among Thieves , Heavy Rain , MAG , Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time , White Knight Chronicles , and whatever Kojima's and Team ICO's mystery projects are, the game is over for this show. Sony wins. And before the righteous stand up and proclaim that E3 isn't about "winning and losing," I will remind you that it's only the biggest promotion and marketing tool in the industry; it's only about winning and losing; it's only about competition. There's nothing "fanboyish" about it; it's the essence of all big business. But anyway, if GT5 shows up, a release date may come right along with it, and look the hell out if it has a 2009 launch window…

I don't know why, but GT has now become the only racing series I'll play. It may have a lot to do with a lack of time in general, but any new GT is always a first-day buy for me. It remains the closest thing to a true driving simulator we have (and don't even start with Forza claims; sorry, but it's not even close ), and I just dive in and immerse myself. We all do that with certain franchises, I suppose – I do it with FF, too – and GT is just a MUST for me. Always.

So Epic has a PS3 exclusive, huh…?

As if all the aforementioned software wasn't enough, we've just heard that Epic may unveil a PS3 exclusive at E3. Apparently, it's a horror-based game that uses an updated version of the very popular Unreal Engine 3, and I'll be very interested to see it. The genre has become highly competitive with the recent releases of Resident Evil 5 and Dead Space , and there's every indication that any horror game in the future will compete with Dead Space 2 , but I have no problem with that. I've always thought the survival/horror category needed more software and now may be the perfect time to break out a few more. Some of you may be disappointed that Epic still refuses to bring their awesome Gears of War series to the PS3, but…I mean, come on. You'd really begrudge Microsoft having this one unbelievable exclusive franchise when Sony has so many? 😉

And don't worry about Epic: they're hardly unfamiliar with the PS3. You may remember that Unreal Tournament III was one of the first games for Sony's machine, and it was a timed exclusive from the guys at Epic. We're certain they know what they're doing, so we'll keep a close eye on this supposed PS3 exclusive they're ready to announce.

Personal gaming update

So I picked up inFamous and THQ sent me Red Faction: Guerilla to review. Unfortunately, they muffed it up and sent me the 360 version, but whatever; I can still review it. However, Arnold may end up doing the review because we yelled at THQ and they're sending the PS3 version to him, so… Either way, I don't care. It's a great game and I don't want to give anything away before we post the review, but I'll just say it's like GTA on Mars. It actually reminds me a little of inFamous in that way. But even so, I prefer inFamous more for several reasons; I really love that game. I will freely admit I was wrong, too: not only did I say, prior to playing, that I thought inFamous might fall well shy of expectations, but I also said I'd probably like Red Faction more. Well, it's not true. I will say that both games are well worth playing but from my perspective, Sucker Punch's super-fun game is just more entertaining in my eyes. However, I'm well aware that many will feel differently because Guerilla really does have a lot to offer.

When I'm done, I'll head on back to FFVIII. About 20 hours in and I'm starting to remember the story (damn, it rules so hard). Lastly, while I'm certain some of you are interested in what happened last weekend when I was away, and the whole Courtney/Amy deal…that stays under wraps. At least for now. Sorry. 😉 All I can say is the past week has been………….eye-opening.