Two of Zentendo's staff members, Matt Simmons and Ashley Mercia, had the privilege to head to this year's E3 conference in California. Over the next four pages we have compiled all their hands on impressions of various software titles that will be releasing on the Wii and the DS. Here is the breakdown:

Page 1:

Eyes On: Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars By: Matt Simmons

Eyes On: Sonic Unleashed By: Matt Simmons

Hands On: Princess Debut By: Matt Simmons

Hands On: Rune Factory 2 By: Matt Simmons

Page 2:

Hands On: Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness By: Matt Simmons

Hands On: Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility By: Matt Simmons

Hands On: Mega Man 9 By: Matt Simmons

Hands On: Samba De Amigo By: Matt Simmons

Page 3:

Hands On: Lego Batman By: Matt Simmons

Hands On: Castlevania Judgment By: Matt Simmons

Hands On: Wii Sports ResortBy: Matt Simmons

Hands On: SPRay By: Matt Simmons

Page 4:

Nintendo Press Conference Impressions By: Matt Simmons

Rayman: Raving Rabbids TV Party First Impressions By: Ashley Mercia

What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver Impressions By: Ashley Mercia

Bleach: Dark Souls First Impressions  By: Ashley Mercia

Page 5:

Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility Wii First Impressions By: Ashley Mercia

Animal Crossing City Folk First Impressions By: Ashley Mercia

De Blob Impressions By: Ashley Mercia

Castlevania Order of Ecclesia Impressions By: Ashley Mercia

Eyes On: Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars

By: Matt Simmons

At E3 2008 Zentendo got a eyes on demonstration with a pre-alpha build of Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars for the Nintendo Wii.
 
 The demo I was shown was from around the middle of the game, Within the game their are Four Mushroom factions, The demo first showcased the Shiitake Mushroom clan living behind a sushi restaurant. In the demo I was shown a variety of weapons such as  a Pencil with a jack on the end, a lit match with a razor blade tied to it, and a DS stylus for clubbing. Weapons are found in parts and can be assembled into one of four types. Clubbing, Slashing, Stabbing, and Crazy. Sadly I was not shown any of the latter. Within the game the main character can also use psychokinesis to pick up and throw objects at enemies. The game runs off a physics engine developed by Terminal Reality to help add to the game world. Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is being developed as a marriage of platforming and action-adventure. The developer Red Fly is aware that the platform genre has seen very little new content recently and hopefully Mushroom Men will bring some much needed love to the lost genre.
 
 The second part of the demo focused on a scientific mushroom clan and showcased the games more puzzle solving side. As part of the humor of the game, the mushroom clans are being attacked and the super nerdy scientist mushrooms have developed an automatic defense system. However, due to there complicated nature, they have made activating the defenses into a  puzzle. Similar to sliding tile puzzles, the main character had to use his psychic powers to slide a series of dominoes into place. What was interesting about this was that the music tempo in the level dictated the effects. Steam exhaust was programmed to emit every sixteen notes, as you completed more parts of the puzzle, more tempo and instruments were added to the soundtrack. Also the lights that turned on blinked in time with the music. Its not something Red Fly expects every player to catch on to, but it is a nice effect.
 
 Along with music effects, Les Claypool will be contributing a specific theme for each on of the four mushroom clans. Pressured by his son, who annually collects mushrooms after a rainstorm, Claypool should add an extra bit of heft to the game. Graphically the game is pleasing to the eye. Again, this build was pre-alpha but the game oozed color around every turn. Lots of purples, greens, and oranges peppered the game world, while the game eschewed a moody lighting system.
 
 Red Fly and Gamecock are aiming to release Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars in Q4 2008 with a DS prequel to launch a month before the Wii game.  Fans of platformers, action-adventure, or just substantial games in general would do well to keep an eye out for it this year. 

 At E3 2008, SEGA held a behind closed doors look at Sonic Unleashed. Sadly it was only being demonstrated for the 360, but the producer did confirm that DIMPS was making wholly original daytime levels for the Wii version, while another developer was making exclusive night time levels.
 
 Why is this distinction important? That is because the core new story and gameplay element in the game is Sonics transformation in a werewolf like form of himself. In the story Dr. Robotnik (Eggman for you new school kids) has captured sonic and is experimenting the effects and power of the chaos emeralds in his possession. This time the name chaos emerald actually fits, instead of turning Sonic into Super Sonic, the results of the experiment curse sonic into turning into a hybrid monster of himself during the night. This effects gameplay tremendously, as night time levels are clearly separated missions from the day time levels. In the night time missions, werewolf Sonic can not run as fast, but has gained new abilities such as double jumping, climbing, and a whole new range of melee attacks. Werewolf Sonic can stretch his bulky, furry arms out in a variety of ways during combat, and also to grab onto ledges at the end of a leap. The enemies at night time also take on a different nature, looking more like shadow shapeshifters, or something out of the upcoming DS RPG, Sonic Chronicles. SEGA was quick to explain that there is no connection between the two games and each feature their own separate storyline and universe. To be perfectly honest, the night time level seemed rather boring and very by the numbers. The added emphasis on running from area to area to bash the hell out of creatures with the same three moves seemed to get old fast. The platforming elements in the night time level also seemed pretty standard and basic. The real problem with these slower, beat em up themed levels is they are countered by the day time missions.
 
 The day time levels as regular Sonic seem to be exactly what everyone was hoping for in a 3D Sonic game. Taking a cue from Sonic and the Secret Rings, Sonic Unleashed's 3D segments seem to focus on Sonic square in the middle of the screen with mostly just the ability to move left and right and jump. The game switches to 2D during loop segments and other areas where a side view would just work better. One neat thing during the demo was the game went into a matrix like slow motion at the height of a jump and a series of buttons were displayed on screen. By quickly pressing the buttons in the order, Sonic then landed on a higher path and raced along an alternate route. This was to demonstrate that there are multiple paths throughout a level adding to the replay value. While there were not as many 2D segments as I would have preferred, the producer was adamant about the fact that SEGA knows that is what people want and Sonic Unleashed will deliver the 2D segments in spades with the game.
 
 While the gameplay did look promising, it did also remind me of the first Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, which is not necessarily a bad thing at all, but there was still a fear of one to many falling deaths. The producers at SEGA are also aware of this problem and are confident it wont be an issue this time. Another point of confidence in this game is just how honest SEGA is about the last Sonic game on 360 and PS3. They know it sucked and failed to meet just about anyones expectations. Knowing the problems definitely can make it clearer and easier to see and correct them. One example the producer used is the fact that even after a full day of work, he wants to go back and replay a level just one more time. A feeling veteran Sonic players will remember well during the hedgehogs heyday during the Sega Genesis lifespan. Amazingly enough, as good as the game might turn out, I was still more impressed by the other SEGA offerings at the show, it almost seems like the SEGA of old is coming back to take the gaming world by storm.

By: Matt Simmons

 Those who suffered through the Nintendo press conference or the Ubisoft conference should have had the mantra of expanding audience drilled firmly into their head. While the fact that the DS is becoming a exploding market for girl gamers, there has also been a disturbing trend in the quality of these games targeted to girls. Anyone who has been into games for the last ten years could easily spot the shoddy quality many of the games aimed at females, Natsume has decided to make a stand against this trend and release a full fledged game aimed at girls.

Originally conceived as a dancing game, Natsume decided to make much more of a game for girls then originally planned for Princess debut. The game plays out like a cross between a dating sim, light RPG, and Elite Beat Agents. The core of the game is the dancing mechanic. On the top screen, your character dances with a partner in real time 3D that was actually motion captured by professional dancers. This makes the animations very smooth and accurate. The game features a number of different dance types and tracks, mostly focused on more ballroom style dancing. The actual game play mechanic is similar but different to Elite Beat Agents. Take the moments of EBA where you had to drag the stylus along a path and expand on that into making it the core mechanic and you have Princess Debut. This in effect, makes the game accessible and fun to anyone, provided you don't mind the music selection. Thankfully the game seems to have stayed away from the Hannah Montannah selection of music and keeping it traditional ballroom music.

The game actually features a fantasy like story where a girl is somehow caught up in a fairy tale land where she must win the date of a handsome dance partner in 30 days for the big ball. The game has a small world map where you can brush up on dance practice or meet with other characters or boys to try to win them over for the upcoming dances. Graphically the game has a pleasing art style, and the dancing animations are very well done. The game also features a full clothing aspect which is nicely represented on your character during the dances.

While it is sad and unfair that most of the girl games are watered down game experiences, it is refreshing to see Natsume take a stand and deliver a game that has depth and actual game play tailored to girls. While guys obviously won't care about, it wouldn't surprise me to see older brothers sneaking in a few dances when no one is looking.

By: Matt Simmons

 Last year Nastume released the surprise hit "Rune Factory" for the Nintendo DS, which was met with critical praise and a warm reception from the Harvest Moon faithful. This year, Natsume plans to up the satisfaction of the game by releasing a sequel to the original.

For those that might think Rune Factory 2 is a light RPG tacked onto a Harvest Moon title should reconsider. The game has over 9,000 unique words being translated into English for the title. Also the story of the game spans generations. Unlike Island of Happiness where your child reaches toddler age, or Tree of Tranquility where your new game  plus starts when you hand your rucksack of destiny over to your child, Rune Factory 2 continues and ends with your second generation. Luckily all the experience you gain as your starting character passes onto your child, so nothing is lost on the second generation. You can either be a male of female protagonist, and there is a set number of marriage prospects for each gender.

The focus of the game is to raise healthy crops which in turn will yield Runes for you to use. Runes give your character RP (Rune Points) which is a all encompassing gauge for stamina and MP. Once you run out of RP the game takes it out on your HP. This way the game does force you to raise crops rather then just wander away into dungeons the whole time. Similar to the first game, monsters that invade your farm can either be befriended or slaughtered. Also like the first you can take monsters and put them to work on the farm to tend your crops. Some monsters may actually be used as livestock, giving milk and eggs, and some can be used as AI partners in dungeons to fight with you like minotaurs.

Developer Neverland is once again making the game and has taken user feedback into account to fix some things. The most notable addition is the revamped item system. In the first game, pressing start and pausing was required to switch any items. Neverland has implements a scroll bar on the touch screen to instantly access equitable items without going into the pause menu. The graphics of the title have also received a major boost, the hand drawn backgrounds, particularly of the town are downright gorgeous. This is easily the best looking Harvest Moon title ever. The game can be controlled with either with the stylus or traditionally with the D pad and buttons. Whichever you prefer, Rune Factory 2 looks to be an amazing addition to the DS library and should appeal to a large variety of gamers looking for a deep and satisfying experience on the go.