Me and Luke have been heading around the LA downtown area taking lots of photos of E3-related stuff. Check them out!

Despite something of an identity crisis over the past two years, E3 is still the most exciting event on the gaming calendar. While it's unlikely that there'll be any major hardware reveals this year, I still hope there'll be some surprises in store when it all kicks off next week. I've just arrived in Los Angeles, so I've had an 11-hour flight to think about what I hope we'll see...

Nintendo
Nintendo's Q3/Q4 lineup is more or less unknown, which means that its entire E3 presentation will be a surprise. That said, the big rumour doing the rounds is that Animal Crossing will appear on the Wii, and that it will be released before the end of the year. As a massive fan of the DS version, this could be my most sought-after game of 2008 if announced, especially if it takes the massively multiplayer online route. That said, I expect Nintendo will lead its presentation with a new mainstream title along the lines of Wii Fit. As well as more games that use the balance board, the Big N will probably announce another big peripheral-based game to woo the mainstream. And hopefully another franchise revival!

Microsoft
When Microsoft's Robin Burrows came on the GameSpot UK Podcast recently, I asked him about the much-rumoured motion-sensitive controller for the Xbox 360. He did laughed nervously and trotted out the standard 'no comment' line. Unless my PR-translation skills have gone seriously awry I imagine such a device exists, and E3 is likely the place it would be revealed.

While it's disappointing to think that Microsoft would follow Nintendo's lead, I'd still be interested to see a US-take on the motion-sensitive idea. I'm pretty vocal about my love of the Xbox 360 as a gaming platform, so I hope we get to see something brand new in addition to the expected Peter Jackson games.

Sony
Sony has shown a lot of potential with games like LittleBigPlanet and Pixel Junk: Eden, but there's still a 'what next?' feeling after MGS4. They have Home, the oft-delayed social hub that I hope will be shown in more detail this year, as well as the movie download service announced at London PlayStation Day. As for anything else...I'm genuinely stumped at what they might have to show. A new model of PlayStation 3 with increased storage space? A new game from the Naughty Dog studio, perhaps based on Jak & Daxter? I'm genuinely not sure. The only inside info I have is that the company will announce something specific to Europe at an event on Wednesday night.

Out of all three hardware manufacturers though, Sony is always the one that surprises me with something cool tucked away in the corner of its booth. Games like Patapon and Echocrome seem to come out of nowhere, and often end up tearing me away from more traditional triple-A titles. On a purely personal front, I'm also hoping for more info or a playable build of Loco Roco 2, as it was just announced in Japan.

Sony always makes an effort when it comes to promotional items, and I particularly like this echocrome preview kit that I was sent today. Who's the woman on the front? Why's she surrounded by a rainbow when the game's in black and white? And perhaps most importantly, why make all this effort on the preview code when the full game's already available for download?

Only Sony knows the answers...

Last night I stayed up until 2am finishing the story mode on GTA IV. It was an amazing experience, but rather than echo the praise that's already been heaped on it, I want to talk about the final missions in the game. After being impressed with its incredible attention to detail, I was so disappointed to see GTA IV fall back on the same sprawling mission designs that irritated me in previous iterations of the series. Players of Vice City should know what I mean--the final mission that I played was a series of deeply unfair challenges that became more a test of patience rather than skill.

Without giving away specifics, my final mission challenged me to blast through over 20 gun-toting maniacs, play 'dodge-the-rocket-launcher' in a speedboat, weave a helicopter through the city's skyscrapers, and finally chase a bad guy across Happiness Island while avoiding 10 more trigger-happy goons. If I made just one mistake during any of this marathon, I was forced to repeat every stage again, only with less ammo and armor than I had before.

As great as the rest of GTA IV was, this three-hour swear-fest is likely to be my one enduring memory of the game. Mention the words 'GTA IV' to me in a year's time, and my body will involuntarily haunch, palms sweating and eyes becoming bloodshot. But my rant isn't about how publishers should make their games easier, or start pandering to the casual market. I just hope that designers can take a more reward-oriented approach to creating their games, rather than punishing players for no other reason than plain old tradition. It would have been relatively simple for Rockstar to cut the final mission into segments so that I didn't have to restart the entire mission for making one simple mistake. After investing 25 hours of my time in their world, quite frankly it's the least they can do.

Thankfully it's a problem that the games community has recognised itself, even if it's something that requires a fundamental change of thinking. Chris Taylor wrote an article on the subject last year which sums up my thoughts on the issue. "I have a huge collection of games, many of which I have never finished. When I buy a DVD, or a music CD, or a book, I always get 'through' it. We need to continue to evolve our art, and deliver fun, rewarding experiences that seldom, if ever, punish a player for inadequate skills and abilities," he said.

It's unlikely that I was ever going to give up on GTA IV entirely. I became more connected to Niko Bellic than any other character I've ever played as, and it was this involvement that dragged me through my frustrations towards the end. Rockstar made some welcome changes to GTA IV's mission structure too--restarting by text message, retaining your weapons when you die, even adapting the course of certain missions that you happen to mess up. But as a developer that sets the pace for open world action games, I hope Rockstar continues to create new challenges while finding ways to reward the millions of people who want see their stories to the end.

GTA IV, Final Mission, Take 72. Action!

I've just posted about my gym-based activities over on the Wii Fit editors blog. As well as doing more of Wii Fit over the past few days, I've also been going to the gym for an hour after work. Add that to last night's Metal Gear Solid 4 launch and I've been very busy indeed!

I'm also spending an hour most mornings just playing Wii Fit before work, which sometimes takes longer if I'm filming too. With a controlled diet also in place, I'll hopefully start feeling (and seeing) the benefits soon!

Apologies to those who were waiting for an update on my Wii Fit progress -- a rather hectic schedule put me out of the game for a week. The result? A 4lb weight gain and a +23 year Wii Fit age. I'm back on the wagon now though, and prepared to do better, so check out my video and other GS Editors' progress over on the blog.