Multiplayer editor Stephen Totilo was at Pre-E3 events in Los Angeles this week, but we still brought you a slew of gaming news. Read on…
* Totilo and Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal faced off in their Vs. Mode exchanges about “GTA IV.” Totilo admitted he likes “San Andreas” better for player liberation while Croal lauded the emotion weaved into the gameplay in “IV.” See who you agree with by reading Round One and Round Two. (Stay tuned for the final round on Monday.)
* Multiplayer learned exclusively why Rockstar nixed Niko’s ability to listen to music outside of his car in “GTA IV,” even though the feature was already in the game.
* Bubsy? Blanca? Eek!? Who is the greatest cat in the history of video games? Vote now.
* The “Wii Fit” underwear girl appeared on TRL with her boyfriend. She also spoke to me about being an Internet celebrity and how she almost got sued.
* After the great game leak of ‘08, we discussed Microsoft’s answer to Miis, asked experts what it all means, and learned exclusively from Sega that the “leaked” Silicon Knights video wasn’t their game.
* Must watch: A 16 year-old Patrick Klepek re-creating “Jet Set Radio” on video — rollerblades and all.
* Although Totilo was away, he still managed to get his mug on the blog. See his video dispatches from his hotel room after seeing “Fallout 3” and at an EA event.
* The week in “120 Seconds” — see the first two minutes of “Castle of Shikigami,” “Blast Works,” “Block Breaker Deluxe,” “Bubsy” and “Don King Presents: Prizefighter” (which Mr. King himself told us was “bumpety bump”).
* Our very first official poll asked: If a game allowed you to perform your own voice-acting for the character you controlled, would you use the feature?
* “Spore“’s developers said they “expect the unexpected.” That probably included Master Chief, Mario and Sonic somehow making their way into “Spore.”
* See why Hideo Kojima laughed at this “Metal Gear Solid” fan at the San Francisco launch.
* Klepek checked out user-generated games on both the Xbox Live Community Games beta and on EA’s Sims Carnival (where he got totally “rickrolled”).
* Totilo recommended five games to Jason Cipriano. See just how good those suggestions were.
* Despite what people are saying, EA claimed that “Boom Blox” has met their sales expectations.
* The producer of the “Active Life” pad explained how the developers looked to the original Power Pad for inspiration.
* DJWiij explained to Klepek how he got into making music with Wiimotes in the first place.
* Cipriano got to play the only “Dark Knight” movie game, which will be released day and date with the film, and the only version of “Portal” on DS.
* Has “Rock Band” gotten Klepek ready for a real world tour? In his weekly column, he pondered what games to bring when he goes on tour with his brother’s band, The Audition.
* SouthPeak’s “Ninjatown” goes “Desktop Tower Defense”… but with ninjas!
* Dodgeball athlete Cipriano compared real-life dodgeball to “Super Dodgeball Brawlers.”
* Klepek explained how the new Hulk movie is like a video game. Do you agree?
* Aspiring game designer Matthew DeJesus told us his master plan for making it in the games industry.
* EA revealed the first details about the gameplay of “Godfather 2.”
* What dangles from your DS? We wanted to know.