Remember back at last year's E3 when Kaz Hirai showed how the PSP could be used as a rearview mirror in Gran Turismo? Sony hasn't made secret its plans to increase connectivity between the PS3 and the PSP. But now, the company is trying to get gamers to rank how appealing certain PS3/PSP features would or could be. Remember, this isn't Sony confirming anything, but rather, feeling out the Joe Q. Gamer. Included in the survey:

• Use the device to complete side missions for games (unlockables, etc.)
• 
  
• Transfer media (music/pictures/video) wirelessly from the console to the device (broadcast television, new levels for games)
• 
  
• Use the device WHILE PLAYING the console game as an additional weapon/ulitiy to help the gameplay (2nd player option, radar for incoming enemies, etc.)
• 
  
• Record console gameplay video...

PSP Survey [PS3 Forums via PS3 Fanboy]

At the time, we had no idea that we'd be attending the industry's final decadent blowout. We'd have taken a moment to pause, to reflect, to appreciate the sights and the stench of a Los Angeles Convention Center packed with 60,000 attendees.

E3 taught us many things. We were horrified to learn the PLAYSTATION 3 was to be priced at $599, yet pleased that it would ship worldwide by November 17th. How naive we were then.

We had just seen the Halo 3 trailer. Witnessed the Super Smash Bros. Brawl reveal. We'd been subjected to "massive damage", "Riiiiiidge Racer!" and Bill Gates paralyzing keynote and we didn't think we could take it anymore.

We relished in our first hands-on experience with the Nintendo Wii remote. We played Super Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero II, Metroid Prime 3, Elite Beat Agents and Resistance: Fall of Man all for the first time. I recall the horrible bus ride home from the Sony party, ready to vomit into my free Ogio luggage.

With the new, slimmed down E3 still two months away, there's plenty of time to remember the insanity, the sheer pleasure of dozens of game announcements all occuring over the course of five days. Won't you share them with me in the comments? Michael McWhertor

But this is CES. This is where PlayStation doesn't dominate, it simply has a presence. It's the event where you ask for David Karakker at the Sony press conference and they go "Who, again?"

The PlayStation booth at CES, while not what you'd call emaciated, is definitely not overbearing. The entire area consists of first party titles, including Lair, MotorStorm, Gran Turismo HD and Resistance: Fall of Man. A handful of PSP titles get floor space, but location free playing capabilities get an equal share.

Hit the jump for a couple photos of the space, which one can almost fully explore by rotating in one spot. Michael McWhertor

Bioware has recently posted its Mass Effect X06 gameplay vid. I checked out this title at E3 was extremely impressed with how the game handles dialogue scenes. Instead of just toggling through text, players can choose what to say as if it were a real conversation. This looks like a winner. Brian Ashcraft

New Mass Effect Trailer [Video Games Blogger]

Shown at the Square-Enix E3 press conference, but oddly never released to the public until now, this pure CG trailer should give you a taste of what to expect from the action oriented spin-off of the more traditional RPG, Final Fantasy XIII. Michael McWhertor

Think after E3 Nintendo just sailed through the summer, chilling out, maxing and relaxing by the pool? No. Nintendo worked. And here's proof. Reader Matthew sent along this comparison for us to compare. Besides the obvious addition of people, notice how Nintendo ditched the company logo in favor of "WiiSports." Brian Ashcraft

Just because your father likes to make an ass out of himself at E3 press conferences does not mean he can get you a PLAYSTATION 3. A PlayStation 2? That, he can swing. But, forget about that new Sony console, sonny.

The company plans to launch 400,000 consoles this month in North America and have an additional 600,000 by December 2006. By next year, Sony aims to have a cool 2 million machines out by the end of next year. Sony Computer Entertainment of America president Kaz Hirai says there will be "some shortages" and asks for "everyone's patience." And to show what a company man he is, Kaz won't even let his 12 year-old son have a PS3 yet:

He talks a good game about PLAYSTATION 3 when he's at school, but he hasn't touched one and he hasn't seen one. That's only fair for everybody.

Just give the squirt a panini maker for the time being, Kaz. Brian Ashcraft

Kaz's House Is PS3-less [VGB]

While the humor has long worn off, the meme still exists in the internet's deepest bowls. Somewhere someone is clacking our "Riiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer" and cackling. Alone. We have since moved on and found different things to make fun of. But for those who missed the follies...

At E3, Sony Computer Entertainment of America honcho Kaz Hirai demonstrated how to plow into a wall on the PSP version. And Ridge Racer producer Hirofumi Inagaki's thoughts? He tells Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield:

Oh...well I'm not as happy with that! But hey, if he's having fun with it, that's ok, even if he can't play... I'm happy people are saying the game's name so much.

Well Mr. Positive, they weren't just saying the game's name, you know. Brian Ashcraft

Kaz Suxor at Ridge Racer [Gamasutra]

Besides fornicating, playing games and drinking booze on someone else's penny, we had one goal for E3: To hate on Left Behind: Eternal Forces. And we really, really wanted to hate it. Unfortunately, we did not. The game is actually pretty fun. BUT, our goal, we lost sight of our bitterly cruel E3 objective. Pathetic! And even more pathetic, our inability to spew venom on this PC game has ended up on the box. Reader Dan sends this scan along with an LA Times quote juxtaposed with our typical idiotic blather:

I have to hand it to them, they know what they're doing.

Yep, and apparently we don't. For shame. Brian Ashcraft

One of our eagle eyed Kotaku readers spotted one of the first PlayStation 3 billboards standing proudly erect in the great city of Los Angeles, not far from junk food institution Pink's Hot Dogs. While he didn't have kind words for it, I actually kind of like it. It's not as striking as the Play Beyond imagery that Sony had installed at the L.A. County Convention Center during E3, but it's not an eyesore either. At least they aren't using that garish Spider-Man typeface for everything.

What do you guys think? Hot or not? Does Sony really even need to start advertising this thing yet?

Thanks to Christian for sending this in. Nice shootin, buddy. Michael McWhertor

At E3, Silicon Knights' Too Human didn't meet the hype, and the game's demo wasn't quite ready. Following its outing, the game got pushed back to next year, and the title didn't make an appearance at X06 in Barcelona. Rumors swirled, and Silicon Knights president Dennis Dyack commented on an IGN developer blog, writing:

As you may have noticed we did not show in Barcelona. This decision to not show at X06 was made immediately after E3. We made the decision to next show the game when we are ready and we knew that X06 would not be the right time. When we do decide to show the game, our goal is to give everyone a true impression of the game—one that includes story, audio, game play, artwork and technology. Things are going very well and Too Human is shaping up to be our best game to date.

Kudos to Dyack and co. for addressing these rumors and for waiting until there's solid product to show, instead of something half-baked like at E3. Brian Ashcraft

Silicon Knights Addresses Rumors [1Up]

The "Massive Damage" meme? Old. Uttered by the producer of Genji 2 at Sony's E3 train wreck of a presser, it's officially no longer funny. (It still makes us giggle, but whatever.) The quote has haunted that producer and ultimately has resulted in him not giving any more interviews, apparently. We wonder if he even leaves the house.

None of this, however, stops Nintendo from pointing and laughing. Kotakuite No Bullet was looking around the Clubhouse Games website and found a pictochat pic which read:

i love Wii

shake the soda for massive damage

Let's play darts

And this is not the first time the DS kicked sand in Sony's face. 'Tis a shame, because Genji is actually pretty good. It's so good that we will buy it and promise not to say "Massive Damage" and let out hearty bellows while playing it. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Touch Generations]

Confession: When we checked out Left Behind: Eternal Forces at E3, we liked it. And we really wanted to hate it. The Christian RTS for the PC has been criticized for violence and creeps out folks with its religious bent. Game site Firing Squad interviews the game's associate producer Greg Bauman, who says the title's point is to "wipe out the other guy" like any other RTS. Those comments are peppered with Bauman stating, "Eternal Forces is a great alternative to the gratuitous content that is so commonplace in the market these days." A contradiction? Bauman asserts, "We think that given the choice, any gamer would pick the game that was more fun to play, not necessarily the one that contains excessive violence." Amen. The game drops from Heaven late October or early November. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Firing Squad]

Kyle Shubel is a famous man. At E3, the producer unveiled not only one, but two catch phrases: "Giant enemy crab" and "Massive damage." The game is Genji: Days of the Blade, and actually looks somewhat interesting (once you expunge the E3 press conference from your mind). Shubel talked with Game Informer, pointing out that the giant crabs (heikegani) are real creatures and are two meters in size. Now, whether they found warriors in ancient Japanese battles is another issue. Shubel adds:

Honestly, I wanted to have this event at Joe's Crab Shack, but they told me it would probably be a bad idea. Agreed, the campiness is all fine and dandy, but what's really interesting is we're trying to tell a story which is very serious to Japanese natives. We're trying to cover a major era where they went from an aristocratic society to a feudal society. While having fun with it, you know, it's not our culture, we don't recognize it, so therefore you can have a little fun with it. Every one of the characters in this game is a real warrior that actually fought in these battles. All of the major battles really occurred during the Genpei War. So we've got this interesting balance where we're trying to juggle between history, legend, and video game - hence giant crabs.

It's a very serious story for the Japanese, but it's not your culture, so you're trying to have fun with it? That explains everything. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Game Informer] via VGB

Here, a Japanese gamer has assembled his collection of gaming great's signatures for all to see (gallery after the jump). Included are the likes of Mario maker Shigeru Miyamoto, Sonic creator Yuji Naka, Hudson's human mascot Takahashi Meijin, Namco founder Masaya Nakamura and Nintendo's resident odd-ball Benimaru Itoh!

While I am indifferent to the whole autograph thing, Weekend Editor Mike McWhertor is not. He loves collecting signatures. During E3, we actually had to take pens, pencils and crayons away from the boy to prevent him from stalking. Yet, that proved futile. In a fit of rage, Crecente rubbed the Nintendo Reggie signature right off Mike's DS, which led to shouting, crying and the requisite group hug. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [GK.Cool]

When Sony unveiled a motion sensor "tilt" controller at this year's E3, the critics jumped down the company's Blu-ray lined throat. But, we've been working on this for years, replied Sony. Other haters wrote off the controller as a Wii-mote, rip-off. That's not true, replied the company.

An issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly from 1994 points to the JS-306 Power Pad Tilt made by third-party peripheral maker Champ. Looking somewhat like a SNES controller, the Power Pad had turbo buttons and a special "tilt" function. According to EGM, "actual physical movement of the pad controls your on-screen character."

Champ's product may have faded into nothing, but the Sony wizards have been toiling away to make the end-all tilt controller. Originality like that takes time to perfect. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Go Nintendo]

It's no cake walk being Sony. Post-E3 the company has been spewed with hatorade. The Guardian's respected Gamesblog jumps to shield Sony from stories circulating of late that stretch the truth a bit as evidence of Sony's downfall. The Guardian's Keith Stuart writes:

This is all perfectly natural. Summer is always a slow few months in the games industry and with no live Next Gen battle taking place, internet writers are forced into desperate measures to keep those page impressions ticking over. PS3 is an easy target.

It is a super easy target. A lot of the teasing, however, is Sony's own doing. Bad press conferences, ridiculous statements and seemingly empty promises. Though, not everything the company does or has done deserves a steady flow of venom. Nor should it. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Guardian Gamesblog]

Forgive the LiveJournal confession: Until yesterday, I didn't have a DS. Well, I did have a DS, a regular one, which was left at that squalid hotel Gawker Media put us up in. I don't know how even the likes of Xbox dood J Allard, Mario nerd Cliffy B and Final Fantasy mustache Hironobu Sakaguchi were able to stay there. Booze, perhaps.

Tech overload Joel Johnson located my DS (in the fridge, oddly) and promptly sent it to me in Japan. I never got it, and as we speak, some mailman is getting his jollies on the Brain Training cartridge I left in portable.

Know I purchased the PSP on launch day, stood in line and everything. There are games that I really love for the Sony portable, but sadly, we grew apart. Up on the shelf the PSP went. Now, without that Nintendo portable to distract me, I could really sit down and enjoy the PlayStation Portable. Because, as we all know, insane fanboyism comes from owning only one system. That, and too much NutraSweet.

From E3 until yesterday, I played with the PSP every damn day. It really is a fantastic little machine. Sure, there are shortcomings, blah, blah, blah, but really, the machine is slick. And besides, that was the only handheld I had. That made it even radder. The PSP provided a quality, portable gaming experience, so I couldn't have given a hoot about the DS. Rather, I could give a hoot about it. I just couldn't buy one in DS-sold-out Japan. Heh.

Now, that I've got my DS, things between me and my PSP seemed unstable again. Well, yesterday, they did. I feared we're going to start seeing other people: me touching that Pink Lite doohickey and the PSP kicking it with the dust bunnies. That hasn't really happened (as of today), and I've been switching between both systems, trying to get the best of both worlds as they say. Whomever "they" are.

So, is the PSP dead? For the last two months at casa del Ashcraft, it sure wasn't. Hope the same's true for the next two. Brian Ashcraft

Yay, old E3 clips, I'm stoked! Brian Crecente

Psst! Previously, Warhawk developer Incognito claimed to have "officially" known about the PS3 tilt controller a few weeks prior to E3. Well, forget that nonsense! Sony Santa Monica's Brian Upton now says it has been planned for ages. And by ages he means a really, really, really long time.

Actually, Incognito has secretly been working with Sony on the tilt technology for a while, but it wasn't until the last few weeks before E3 that they received a working controller.

It was so secret that no one at Incognito knew about it. Must be why they're called Incognito. Clever. The studio remains the sole supporter of the PS3 tilt controller. That's no secret, but just don't tell them. Brian Ashcraft

Previous: Warhawk Not New! [Kotaku]
More Here [Eurogamer]