This year’s Holiday Event featured exclusive titles like Uncharted 3, Twisted Metal, Ratchet and Clank All 4 One, as well as some familiar, recently released titles such as Dark Souls, Rage, Dead Island to name a few. There were also some upcoming multiplatform titles highlighted too like Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Silent Hill Downpour and the annual sports titles. In addition to the games, a few hardware items were shown off as well such as Sony’s new 3D TVs with the new full screen co-op option, some head-mounted 3D viewers and of course, Sony’s upcoming handheld, the PS Vita.

Upon entering the venue, we were immediately overwhelmed by the loud music provided by the live DJ, the dark but inviting light setup, and the stations of games lining the walls of the room. We walked from one end of the room and back to see what games were being showcased and decided to head back to the start and work our way through them. Here is a full list of the games that were available to play in no particular order: Rage, Dead Island, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, Dark Souls, Silent Hill: Downpour, Spider Man: Edge of Time, X-Men Destiny, inFamous 2, Madden NFL ’12, NHL ’12, FIFA ’12, Need For Speed: Run, Deus Ex Revolution, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3, MGS HD Collection, Disney Universe, Rocksmith, Ratchet and Clank All 4 One, Twisted Metal, Uncharted 3, Everybody Dance, Never Dead, Medieval Moves, possibly Resistance 3 with Sharpshooter and a Move party game.

The first game we played, although we have no real interest in most fighting games, was Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. We picked our two characters, which for me could have been random but I picked some familiar characters while Justin chose his two familiar characters. The game looked great but I was mostly button mashing while trying to figure out the controls. After two fights, we were done. We both agree that it looked like a great game, and we see the appeal but fighting games just aren’t our style.

We then moved on to a corner where ICO, Rage, Dead Island, Dark Souls and Journey were showcased. Although all but Journey have been released, I tried to learn more about some of the games from the Sony Rep covering these games but unfortunately he had no knowledge of each game apart from the little play time he had for each game before the event. I’ve been curious about how ICO plays, but unfortunately the controller was broken. So on to the next game – Dead Island. As with all games at the event, you are either given the full game to play or a short demo part way in the game. You never follow a tutorial or start from the beginning so most of your time is spend just trying to figure out the controls of the game and if playing a full game from the middle, you are usually unsure of the current objective. So when I was playing Dead Island, I had no idea how to play. I talked to an NPC and he gave me a mission. I tried to follow it but had no idea where to go. All I can say is, the game visually looks pretty good providing a bright, colourful paradise feeling, but that’s about all I was able to play.

Next I moved onto Dark Souls. I’ve heard some great things about this game so I thought I’d give it a shot. Again, I was unsure of what the objective was but I walked up a narrow hallway, fought a skeleton and lost interest. Not because I don’t think it is a great game but because when you are thrown in and struggle to learn the game’s controls, mechanics and objectives without any tutorial or prior knowledge, it just isn’t fun but I can definitely see myself playing more sometime with a full version in my home where I have time to play from the start.

I then moved on to play some Rage. I’ve been somewhat excited for this game for a while because of the similarities to Borderlands. Since it was a shooter and similar to Borderlands, the controls felt natural to me. I started in the middle of a mission but knew what I had to do – follow the waypoint and kill all enemies in my way. It was fun and I was making some good progress until I ran out of ammo. I’m told that you run out of ammo quick so when I ran out of enemies and couldn’t find more ammo, I decided it was time to move on.

The last game we played in this little corner was Journey (Picture above is Justin playing). I was told that by the rep that for once, I was actually starting the game from the beginning but it sure didn’t feel like it – unless that’s how Journey is supposed to feel, and I’m told it is. I walked up a sandy hill and, in the distance was a town of sorts and the title was displayed. I pushed forward through the sandy desert and reached the ruins of a town. Here I was introduced to a sort of boost or brief flying jump that is activated near platforms with floating cloths, however, with no real objective ahead, and little time to explore, I decided to move on. I’d be curious to see what happens next and to learn more about the game when it releases though.

We then moved around and started to play different games from each other. In the opposite corner we found Spider Man: Edge of Time, X-Men: Destiny, and inFamous 2. Justin went straight for Spider Man so I decided to try X-Men. I can’t speak fully for Justin but he did say that once he caught on to the controls he actually really enjoyed Spider Man and could see himself playing more of the game. Same with me, I was surprised by X-Men. It was kind of a fun game. It’s not one of the most impressive games compared to those that were at the event, but with the sort of action RPG gameplay and fluent controls, I was really getting into it. But then I remembered that some of the biggest PS3 exclusives were here and I still haven’t played them.

Before making our way to the end where Uncharted 3 and Twisted Metal were, we walked past Assassin’s Creed Revelations Multiplayer. I’ve played Brotherhood and a bit of Revelations multiplayer before so I decided to just let Justin play while I took some pictures and notes of the surrounding area; although, there were open slots in the game so I could have jumped in for a bit. For those that know me, I love the Assassin’s Creed series. The story is so interesting and progressive that I just can’t wait to move on to the next game in the series. And, although I enjoy the multiplayer, I didn’t want to waste more time playing it at the event when there were other games that peaked my interest. The locations looked great and from those playing, there were some sneaky and funny moments when a target was killed; mostly an incorrect target for Justin since he didn’t know the objective of multiplayer nor did he know who his actual target was.

Directly behind us in the center was Sony’s new 3D TV. Wipeout 3D was being used to showcase the tech and after hearing more information about the TV from the rep, Justin jumped in for a race. The tech looked great and it sounded like a pretty good price for the package. I don’t remember all the details, but I think the price of it was somewhere around $499; also it comes with possibly 2 glasses and with the 3D, they are able to have two full screen views for co-op so no more splitscreen. We were told the TV opposite of Wipeout was showcasing that feature but we didn’t get a chance to check it out once we moved on to the next games.

We briefly stopped to check out Ratchet and Clank All 4 One and Ratchet himself stopped by for pictures and to help us along with the game by standing over our shoulders as we played. Ever since I bought a PS3, I’ve really enjoyed the Ratchet and Clank series so playing it with co-op made it even better. Unfortunately, we were thrown into the game right at the start of a boss and left alone to refresh our minds with the controls as well as try to figure out how to destroy the boss. The fun was short-lived and we moved on to Twisted Metal.

Once again, I decided to sit out and just watch Justin play Twisted Metal multiplayer. My initial plan was to wait in the line for the PS Vita and get some hands on time with it, but unfortunately, they were only giving demonstrations of the device and the line was filled with other media people especially those doing video so I decided to not get in the way and just watch Twisted Metal. I’ve never played a Twisted Metal game before, but from what I seen, the level looked huge; there is a lot of carnage and destruction and from what I heard based on Justin’s game time, the controls feel quite fluent. Instead of wasting more of my time on trying Twisted Metal, we decided to finally move on to THE game of the event – Uncharted 3.

Before we could get to Uncharted 3, we were approached by two very excited girls who were playing Everybody Dance on a stage. We respectfully declined. Not because they weren’t beautiful ladies, they were, but because we didn’t want to get up on a stage and dance with Move controllers in front of a crowd of other media people including video cameras. We did watch the gameplay a bit, and although I do enjoy Dance Central on the Xbox 360, Everybody Dance reminded me too much of Just Dance on the Wii and it just didn’t peak my interest at all.

As you’ve seen in the image above, it’s impossible to miss the large display setup for Uncharted 3. Below is another picture of the awesome plane crash display, however, it was tough to get proper pictures of it and the Twisted Metal display because we were restricted from taking pictures of the screen, but it was hard not to so you will see some screens in the shot but no actual gameplay is visible. So, what did I think of Uncharted 3? Unfreakingbelievable! After briefly regaining my knowledge of the controls in the first demo level, I was like a kid in a candy store. The first level is likely one you’ve seen before where a building is on fire. You and Sully need to escape before the whole building collapses. The second demo level involves a cargo plane. Not only do you have to fight your way to it, but you have to carefully surf the hood of a car, reach onto the landing gear and get inside safely. However, you are quickly spotted. Drake opens the door to let cargo and enemies fly out but he accidentally falls out as well but luckily he grabs a piece of netting holding the cargo back. The real excitement here is fighting the enemies off the cargo net and working your way back in to the plane. Then the plane falls and demo ends. The two levels shown provided so much action with a mix of running, climbing and shooting. I wanted more. Luckily for me, I still have Uncharted 2 sitting at home waiting to be played so between now and the release date of November 1st, I have no shortage of Uncharted.

Apart from stopping and watching some other games, that was all we had time to play. Overall, the event was a lot of fun, we had a chance to play or see some games that we’ve been interested in for a little while, however, some upcoming games from the Holiday lineup were missing. When we heard that Bethesda would have something to show, we were expecting Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, however, only Rage was on hand. We also thought maybe Battlefield 3 or Modern Warfare 3 would make an appearance but they did not. Not that I was really expecting them to be there since this is a Sony event so you can really only expect exclusive titles, but there were some multiplatform games coming next month. My other thought is that they would have stolen the show away from the big names such as Twisted Metal and Uncharted 3 and really, Uncharted 3 was exciting enough. Another thing that could have added to the overall experience was headphones for each game. The live DJ was nice, but it was always too loud. You could hardly hear the person next to you talking so it was hard for interviews and especially hard to hear the game which really degrades the experience while playing. The other thing, and I know it’s a limit of the wired controllers and security locks on the controllers, but you are always too close to the TV when playing. Some games had couches you could sit on and play from a distance, but others you had to stand literally 2 feet away from and play the game on a 32″ TV. It didn’t take long before a headache settled in. We’d like the thank Playstation Canada for the invite and look forward to the release of these games this upcoming Holiday season.

Do you think you are LOUD enough?  3 lucky winners will be chosen on the 23rd at 12:00pm PST. The Prizes are.

GRAND PRIZE: Limited Edition  Grifball Figurine

2ND PLACE: Game of choice for any console Max $60

3RD PRIZE: 1600 MS points

Heres how you enter?

1.  Take a picture of yourself doing your best impression of our logo and email it to “contests (at) loudmouthedgamers (dot) com”

2. Post this message on Twitter “I am loud enough and can prove it! www.loudmouthedgamers.com #LMGAYLE” only one entry will be valid

4. Make sure to include your twitter profile link in your email.

You must complete all the steps to win. Winners will be contacted by email. You have 48 hours to respond or your prize will be forfeit and will be given to someone else. If you are one of those people who doesnt have facebook send us  your entry anyways. We still want to see how loud you can be.

How to gain entries:
- Retweet my tweet about the Giveaway. 1 Entry (Limit one RT per day) It gets it out there with out being annoying. Also retweet off of my Tweet about it so I can track.
- Join LMG. 10 Entries
- Refer an active Member. 5 Entries (Must post a Welcome Message and at the bottom say who referred them so I can track)
- Members who were here on or before 7-25-09 who post in this thread. 20 Entries

The contest will run until 8-5. Winner will be randomly selected from a Random Number Generator.

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