E3tastic Awards: The Biggest OMGWTF!!1! Surprise

E3tastic Awards: Biggest Surprise
Winner: Video-Out to PSPslim
I guess we all expected a lighter and slimmer PSP. There was no way that SONY could’ve NOT used the great momentum from late-2006 and the majority of 2007 so far and not launch the successor to the handheld that suffered a wave of tepid sales. We expected lightness, slimness, and improved features, and perhaps we would’ve hoped to see more, but at least we got something we didn’t see coming: video-out. Kaz Hirai’s effortless demonstration made it look easier than actually turning on your television, and he finally unveiled the killer capability that would take the PSP to the bank. Not only can you play them movies on your PSP, but you can also have them on the full screen, and looking quite sweet I might imagine. Music, photos, and video will be available on your big screen from launch.

E3tastic Awards: The Most Unique Game (‘Sides LocoRoco)

E3tastic Awards: Most Unique Game
Winner: Echochrome
When the world asked for another killer and unique application following the critical acclaim of LocoRoco, SONY went back to the drawing boards and came up with one of the biggest E3 surprises: a simplistic game full of complicated stairs, floors, and levels and occupied not by blobs, but by mannequins, without a pedestal. Obviously unlike anything anybody’s ever seen before, SONY remarked the game as one of the most simplistic games gamers would ever see, especially in a market dominated with graphical heavy games like Gears of War, Halo 3, and Killzone 2. The game will also embark on another unique effort: multi-platform launching, heading to the PS3 via the Playstation Network and PSP via UMD next Spring. The level shown at E3 was very simple and easy, but Harrison claimed that it was the easiest and that the game would get very harder. It’s very hard to tell at this point how we’ll see it being controlled, but we just can’t wait. This is the first game more bizarre than even LocoRoco (bizarre in a good way, though).

E3tastic Awards: Gorgeous Shooter

E3tastic Awards: Gorgeous Shooter
Winner: SOCOM: Tactical Strike
Sony Computer Entertainment is planning the third SOCOM to hit the PSP in three years; after the success and acclaim the first two Fireteam Bravo’s received, SCE is taking a different direction in making the latest vert, using a turn-based gameplay-like  ‘tactical’ system that uses strategy over gameplay. Past all of this unfamiliar gameplay is amazingly gorgeous graphics that reveal utter beauty with every pixel. Besides the amazing graphics, SCE has improved on-screen information; teammates and soldiers, weapons being used, and a nice map are simplistic and don’t hinder graphics. Tactical Strike hits the PSP this October, and online gameplay will be available from the get-go.

E3tastic Awards: Storyline > Gameplay

E3tastic Awards: Storyline over Gameplay
Winner: FFT: War of the Lions
The beautifully stunning Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is Square Enix’s latest PSP remake, but unlike the first two, this one looks like it actually doesn’t suck. Besides a unique gameplay different from most FF games (a more ‘tactical’ approach, though it resembles turn-based RPGs), the game offers gorgeous and classic cutscenes that tell deep and invigorating stories. For those who love the satisfying action that comes with gameplay, this game will offer it, but the storylines are far more rewarding and makes this game a valuable entity. War of the Lions ships October 2nd stateside.

E3tastic Awards: Completely Ridiculous (Yes, We’ll Take It)

E3tastic Awards: Completely Ridiculous
Winner: Dead Head Fred
When one dares to talk about weird games, they traditionally bring up LocoRoco–it’s not very often that you see bright and vivid colors, no guns, rolling blobs, and cutesy songs that are more catchy than even Sims 2 songs. Yet, LocoRoco wasn’t as utterly and completely ridiculously ridiculous as Dead Head Fred, which ships August 28th. A detective is resurrected from death in an abnormal experiment that gives him a brain for a head and some serious amnesia. With all of these terrifying factors going against him, our newest heroine, Fred, delves into a world unknown to figure out what happened to him and why he doesn’t have a head (this isn’t in the game description, but you must admit it’s quite awkward). At first, the game comes off as an expensive alternative to banging your head on the wall fifty times, but gameplay and storylines are both humorous and addictive, so bring your $40.

E3tastic Awards: Too Fast for Real Life

E3tastic Awards: Too Fast for Real Life
Winner: WipEout Pulse
165mph, sweat pouring down your face, and the sirens of a police car. So, you can’t do that in real life, but at least you can here. Studio Liverpool is developing the sequel to the monstrously successful WipEout Pure, which sold gobs of copies. The second vert aims to improve gameplay quite a bit with many more options, new power-ups, new “hover cars”, and new maps. In addition to making it gorgeous and designed to kill, Studio Liverpool’s main goal was to add Online gameplay, allowing you to race with a full scope of eight players simultaneously, hopefully without any messy loading times. When real life gives you nasty tickets, DUIs, and insane court dates, flock to WipEout Pure, which arrives this Fall, for your speeding and racing ambitions.

Our E3tastic Awards

E3 might be over, but that doesn’t mean that our coverage is. Later this week, Get Loco will reveal the winning list of games we loved from the following awards:

• Best-in-Show
• The Killer App That Will Put the PSP on the Map
• The Shooter Gorgeous Enough to Warrant a Purchase
• The Game that Dares to Put Storylines Over Gameplay
• Completely and Utterly Ridiculous–Enough to Make Us Buy It
• The Most Unique Game (Besides LocoRoco)
• Too Fast for Real Life
• The Biggest ‘OMG WTF@!1111′ Surprise of the Show
• Worst-In-Show
• Non-PSP Killer App That WILL Dominate
• The Non-Sequel or Threequel that Will Kill

So there you have it! Be there for our big awards show all this week!