From an unknown source, TFW2005 got their hands on sketches of Optimus Prime and Hot Rod from the forthcoming Transformers Classics line.

If these highly detailed drawings look insanely good to you, theres a reason. Thats Don Figueroa’s signature.

EDIT: Well it turns out that Hot Rod is just a concept, and not the classics model.  Don posted a message to TFW2005 declaring all future leaks off limits, and they’ve taken down Hot Rod in accordance with that.  I’m personally on the fence one whether to remove the image from this site as well, but adding this disclaimer that it is just a sketch…

Our friend Sparkstalker has been suspicious of the PS3 box since it was revealed a year ago, pointing out the lack of fans, and the power supply being housed in box. I’ll let his words take over:

Looking at this image again. I’ve got to wonder how “final” this really is. It still has a 120V input. Which means all power conversion would still have to happen inside the unit. Which would double the amount of heat that the PS3 will have to dissipate. And while they’ve increased the size and added vents, to me, it still doesn’t look like enough to dissipate the heat that will be generated by the system and power supply. We’ve seen the issues with the 360, and that’s with “loud fans” and a “monsterous” power brick…

It just doesn’t add up.

Also thanks to him for pointing out how many of those inputs disappeared in the last 12 months.

Incidentally, Sony pitchman Phil Harrison (who’s mere image frightens me, to be honest) is saying they’d been developing the tilt control since 1994. Nice try.  We all know where you ripped the Dual Shake off of.
File under “in case you missed this…”

DDR hits the TV screen and the Mobile phone.

Nokia NGage still kicking, despite all efforts to ignore it.

Frankie at Bungie deflects fanboy reactions to the Halo 3 trailer.

Superman Returns… please don’t let it be teh suck.

Close up look at Will Wright’s Spore.

Super Mario Galaxy Boss Battle.

And surprisingly, Hideo Kojima would like to ditch Metal Gear Solid 4 production to work on Wii. I mean, it doesn’t surprise me he wants to develop for Wii, just surprises me he’d consider ditching the PS3 only real killer-app to do it.
And now the doors to the biggest video game show of the year officially closed, its time to declare a winner. Tell us what looked best, what looked worst, what confused you, what was most unexpected, etc. Register and post your thoughts to our forums.

E3 Rolls on like an unstoppable tank. Many of the big announcements are made, so today and tomorrow will focus primarily on 3rd parties showing off all the games they’ve been whipping their development teams to get demo ready for the last month and a half. So today is the chance for the press to play the games, try to get a few more questions answered, and meet Adam West.

An amazing thing has happened to Mario. While Galaxy grabbed the glory in the press conference and initial reports, fans are rallying around Super Paper Mario on GameCube. It looks to be as much a classic throwback as New SMB on the DS. One fan I heard even called it the Yoshi’s Island of the Cube: A game on a near defunct system that pushes the limits technically and creatively. Luckily, Cube games will still play on the Wii, so I have no doubt if this turns into a great game it will find its audience.

Since its quiter clear we all love Wii now, WiiGamer has nabbed some screens of the Virtual Console. You get box art and a screen that maps out your controller before getting into your classic game. If you still don’t believe, then theres lots of people who do. The line to play Wii is 3+ Hours. Thats longer than any line as Six Flags, folks.
Most impressive thing I’ve seen today is Sonic for PS3 and 360. I thought the Dreamcast version of Sonic Adventure 7 years ago looked
pretty spiffy, but its amazing what a little more horsepower can do. I’m willing to forgive the less pleasurable elements of the last few Sonic games if this one can deliver.

In somewhat disheartening news, Nintendo may be finally laying down the Game Boy. N-boss Iwata says the DS is such a success they’re in no position to develop another portable to succeed the GBA.

Peter Moore rather succinctly summed up my opinion of the PS3 price: “Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3. People are going to buy two (machines.) They’re going to buy an Xbox and they’re going to buy a Wii… for the price of one PS3.” Kaz Hirai insists gamers are getting a deal, and that fans will stay loyal to the PlayStation. For your sake I hope that works out, Kaz. People ain’t flocking to the PSP.

Optimus Prime also showed up at E3. Why? Heh, no idea. Haven’t heard word one about Activision’s Transformer game.

Scouring the internets, I had a hard time finding anything else that was actually “news.” Its all just impressions and previews now, which is fine and good by them, but I see no reason to link 3rd party conjecture when I can’t offer my own.

The Nintendo press conference has already gone down, the Microsoft one is still coming. Want some of the important points of an already insanely busy day?

Nintendo Wii still doesn’t have a release date (they say “Q4”) or a price (everyone implies $249), but it does have a launch list including Zelda Twilight Princess, which will be released on both GameCube and Wii on the same day. Other announced Wii titles: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, New Fire Emblem, Rayman, Sonic Wildfire, and Super Mario Galaxy!

And anyone worried that the WiiMote won’t be any good for playing older games on the virtual console need only look at the attahed image.

Lots more info after the jump!
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Lets get the biggest news out of the way: PlayStation 3 launches Nov 17th in the US for $499 with a 20 GB hard drive and for $599 with a 60 GB hard drive. They’ve also ditched the boomerang controller for… a controller identical to the PS2. But wait! Its got motion sensors too! Its an obvious last minute addition, as they’ve got no games to support the feature.
Wow. Just wow. Kotaku and Jostiq have excellent minute by minute coverage of the Sony Event.

Glossed over by Sony is what else will be missing from the $499 PS3 bundle: Wireless, HDMI, and Memory stick support.

The show doesn’t even start until Wednesday officially and theres already so much to talk about!

Other big news announced today: [Read the rest of this entry…]

The show hasn’t started yet, but that doesn’t mean some set up and outdoor advertisements aren’t being seen by wandering eyes!

Xbox Advanced has a few shots online already. Lets take a look here… No. Oh no. Oh Lord, NO! This has to be a joke right? Acclaim went out of business. I thought we were safe! Its…

A NEW TUROK GAME.

This does not bode well for the rest of E3.

Warner Brothers Interactive has released a new video of Snowblind’s forthcoming Justice League game for current-gen consoles.

Still no gameplay footage, but I’d be willing to bet the scenes are using something close to in-game models. Everything about this release seems to scream that its an X-Men Legends rip-off, but they honestly had to start making good DC comics video games sooner or later. Theres only so much Catwoman and Superman 64 we can take.

Add ‘controversial’ to Guitar Hero 2. We can’t stop arguing about it!

Anyway, IGN has a hands on preview of the E3 build of Guitar Hero 2. They only got 2 songs and had to play co-op, but they didn’t have a bad thing to say about the game.

Writer Chris Roper seems to share my enthusiasm when he closes the article:

We’re psyched to see a little more of the game at E3, which’ll hopefully show us some of its revamped single-player mode, but most of our excitement lies around two words – “War Pigs”. Oh Lord yeah.