No doubt, incredibly bad form from M$. It makes you feel bad for Nintendo; I already sure as hell am not get an XBone, but that stunt may have been what sealed the deal if my mind wasn't already made up. They have already made themselves look like a huge penis to the gaming world - I'm almost convinced they are trying to commit financial and PR suicide at this point.
Sorry you didn't get to go to E3 Cary; as you said, it's bad form. I absolutely agree that smaller and mid-sized gaming sites are important for E3; many of them provide far better journalism that the big gaming sites, a lot of whom's sole concern is ad revenue and not journalistic integrity due to the fact that they are owned by media holding corporations.
I'm a SMB2 fan myself, and I share your excitement for ALTTP 2 and New Yoshi's Island - the originals are 2 of my favorite games of all time! Castle of Illusion and Duck Tales remakes also have me stoked! The new Dead Rising certainly has a more serious tone, which I'm not sure about yet, but we'll see as time goes on.
All in all, I'd say a pretty solid E3.
What Captain N said above is pretty damn disgusting - companies need to learn that "marketing" techniques like that makes you look like the desperate person at the bar, and no one wants to go home with the desperate person. Have a class for F's stake and stand on your merit and what you bring to the table, which, going by E3 (and everything else I've read/seen on the XBONE) isn't very much. Microsoft royally boned themselves this time.
This coming gen, I'll gladly vote with my money by getting a PS4 or a PC.
Poor man's Jerry Cantrell needs to stop blocking people and learn how to actually have a logical, intelligent debate with another person. Isn't rational discussion and difference of opinion how people grow and learn? Don't take it personally my friend, dude sounds like a jackass.
And for his "TV is a dying medium" argument: The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones disagree, in terms of critical acclaim and fiscal revenue.
I've been meaning to play Witcher 2, and the fact that Witcher 3 is the title that caught my eye the most that was announced at E, I think I'll have to pick it up sooner rather than later to prep myself. If they can manage to make a world as vast/exploration heavy as Skyrim, I will be hooked!
I'm jealous - Gaiman is the man! If any creative types on here need some inspiration, do yourself a favor and watch his commencement speech at University of the Arts.
I'm definitely not going to be purchasing the One. Aside from the illogical DRM choices MS had made, and the miriad of problems I could see them causing gamers, the creeptastic, always on Kinect is the coffin nail. Some people say our privacy is already overwhelmingly compromised, and I can't say I disagree with them, but I certainly will NOT vote with my dollar for another surveillance device in my home.
Glad to be back my friend! Shit hit the fan with a family situation, and I just had to get out of town for awhile to gather myself.
It wasn't doom and gloom at all! That's what this blog series is all about, I want it to be completely open to interpretation. I'm going to be reading your review Aaron! I thought you'd like F-Zero reference 
I'm with you Aaron! I am much more of a retro gamer than a modern one, and I think there are more of us than you might think. The thing is, I would love to be wildly enthusiastic about the coming announcements for the next-gen, but I'm not holding my breath for something to really "wow" me.
And I hear you about the economic side of the industry, brother. That bubble is going to burst eventually, it just isn't sustainable; for one thing publishers spending more on marketing than summer movie blockbusters has me scratching my head - the gaming industry shouldn't be taking cues from Hollywood, that's for damn sure!
Whenever I see articles related to either this game or the original, I can't help but wonder what happened during the initial creative process that made Deep Silver stray from the vibe of the original trailer. To me, the human element missing from the final product leaves a giant, gaping "what-if?" mark on the series.
