Another year and another awards season. E3 was packed with exciting memories you have all seen (some still to be posted), and rooms filled with the hottest and most anticipated titles to date. It was certainly a great time, and now that time is over. It’s time to look forward, ahead to newer and better releases, and to ennoble titles in this year’s WhatIfGaming’s Best Of E3 Awards 2008.

Criteria: The Best of E3 Awards, a subcategory for the WhatIfGaming Prizes, are given solely to those video games that demonstrate a pure excellence in the field for which they are not only nominated but also chosen. These awards only apply to playable games at E3 given a few exceptional categories.

Nomination & Selection Process: Compared with other site awards, the WhatIfGaming Prize nomination and selection process is long and extremely rigorous. This is the sole reason why WhatIfGaming Prizes have grown in importance over the years to become the most important prizes in their field. Forms, which amount to a personal and exclusive invitation, are sent to about over 1,000 selected individuals to invite them to submit nominations months in advance from the latest builds per video game. Self-nominations are disqualified. For WhatIfGaming Prizes, inquiries are sent to such people as developers, industry experts, analysts, freelance journalists among others. After our deadline passes, the nominations are chosen by permanent committee of 5 selected individuals and only the final stage of nominees remain per category. From all of these, a winner is chosen.

The names of the nominees are not publicly announced, and neither are they told that they have been considered for the WhatIfGaming Prize. Some are announced publicly by practice. Nomination records are revealed approximately 2 years after each respective award year.

Best Action Game:
Left 4 Dead

Developer: Valve Software
Publisher: Valve Software
Release Date: Winter 2008

Action titles were far to everywhere this E3, but one happened to bite our interests. Literally. Left 4 Dead was full of life when we played it and managed to achieve an unparalleled amount of realism with an unique art direction and moreover gameplay that people of all ages and of all online gaming communities have been craving for.

Runner(s)-Up: Resident Evil 5 (Capcom), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts)

Other Nominees: Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks), SOCOM: Confrontation (SCE), Resistance 2 (SCE), Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty (SCE), Fracture (LucasArts)

Final Fantasy XIII is finally coming to the Xbox 360 in North America and Europe that had all of us buzzing the moment it was announced. Now the problem with this is that there grew some concerns as to why a seemingly PlayStation 3 exclusive went multiplatform with the announcement of Star Ocean IV also a 360 exclusive. At least for the time being anyways. We heard a lot of buzz everywhere and from all the analysts and top notch guys at the conference and most were convinced something bigger is occurring between Square Enix and Sony. Something very seven-ish. To elucidate, Final Fantasy VII-ish for the PlayStation 3 only. After our preview of Heavy Rain for the PS3 behind closed doors, we caught up with Shinji Hashimoto for an interview of all things Final Fantasy XIII and any fallaciousness behind exclusivity in general and that of Square Enix titles.

WhatIfGaming: So, Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360 is the biggest announcement Square Enix saved to make for E3 2008. How did all of this come to happen? Did Microsoft contact Square Enix and say: “This is what we want, let’s get to what we need to do,” or was it more of a company decision to begin with?

Shinji Hashimoto, Square Enix Ltd: To start off, it was more so a collaborative decision than anything. We have The Last Remnant, a 360/PS3 role-playing game that we have been working very hard for since it’s development and this presented a lot of efforts for newer projects. We also recently announced multiple collaborations with tri-Ace for Star Ocean IV for 360 and of course Infinite Undiscovery. We want to share as much of our games with many people as possible and felt this was the right time to do so.

WhatIfGaming: But in order to share as much of its games as possible, wouldn’t Square Enix want to make Star Ocean IV on the PlayStation 3 as well?

SH: We want to share as many as possible, but sometimes certain conditions come in the way that prevent that. Next question please.

WhatIfGaming: Why is Final Fantasy XIII taking so long to make? I mean, we know that Square Enix is localizing the production towards these newer and upcoming titles for Fall, but there was more of an urgency to see something on Final Fantasy XIII in the near future. Instead, Square Enix is devoting time to Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery which is getting a lot of people embroiled. Even for us, it seems like Square Enix is taking a lot of titles under its belt and not really focusing on one especially Final Fantasy XIII for which we heard the progress is going awfully slow.

SH: That is quite a powerful question (laughs) but a good one. As for us taking too many titles under our domain, I have to disagree. We have teams working on all the projects all around but it’s very well true that some are more in full focus than others. We want to take our time with XIII and get it out when it’s ready and when we feel it’s ready. It’s a highly expected title so we want to give people the best.

WhatIfGaming: Alright, that makes sense.

SH: Just want to add that we’re always trying our best for balance in titles and listening to what people are expecting of us and fulfilling that.

WhatIfGaming: Speaking of that, I know that the PR will be pretty pissed that I’m asking this anyways but you and I both know I have to. Even if it doesn’t get an answer, I need to (fist clench gesture)!. Back when PS3 was launching, there was a pruriently impressive demo of Cloud at a subway station and all of that. Since then a lot of people have been asking and hoping for a remake of Final Fantasy VII only for the PlayStation 3. Will there be any announcement at all before the release of Final Fantasy XIII for an exclusive Final Fantasy VII on the PS3?

SH: (laughs) I hate to avoid this question but I will say one thing. We currently know a lot of people are asking for this but we’re already very busy with all of the titles as you mentioned before to be even considering a remake at the moment.

WhatIfGaming: Mr. Hashimoto thank you for taking the time to answer all of our questions here today at E3 2008 and we look forward to being in touch with you for the future.

SH: It is my pleasure. Thank you.

LittleBigPlanet is ridiculous. It’s ridiculously entertaining. You will laugh at it. This laugh, however, is a great laugh that that comes from the additively fun anti-drug administered by Media Molecule, the talent behind Rag Doll Kung Fu. LittleBigPlanet jumps in sackboys to start off that you can begin to customize and make yourself a part of the game in any way. There are obstacles to overcome, challenges to face, and barriers to cross all of which requires a combination of the motion wheel of team work and competition . As players advance in the game, their creative skills will grow and so will their loyalty to such an amazing title. LittleBigPlanet isn’t as little as the title will have you believe and therein itself is the true reality that this video game is something bigger than this planet alone. Something we really can’t understand fully.

The gameplay is simply defying the theoretical limitations of the creativity RAM in our brains. The main plot focuses on the power of teamwork to reach the end against evil character bosses. The game begins and we are just beginning to drool by taking control of Sack Boy, who’s standing there lifelessly. Life is full force in these little brown sacks as soon as we touch the controller. Tilt allows a very unique and dynamic experience with your character. A slight tilt to the left makes him bend left. A turn to the right, a bend right. Hitting Square brings up a  customization menu, which is filled with choices icons such as: Character, Retry, Items, and Heart Objects that is equilateral to fancy for favorite objects/items. It has all sorts of items. Hat’s, feet, shoes, belt, shades, the whole consortium. We start moving on along, jumping and dodging items that will burn our sack boy to a golden crisp in mid-air. Continuing to do this, we eventually fight a boss called “Ze Dude” and reach the ending. That’s one level. The next is with Alex Evans.

We’re slightly comical as we start on this one with Alex Evans in the desert level, and eventually as Alex begins to give a demo of some stuff, we start running off and keep going and going. This preview map scale is huge. The map is about an entire yard or so. And then slowly, I huff and puff the character and it’s exhausted. He laughs about it, and I laugh about it even more. The thing with LittleBigPlanet is that it never fails to amuse anyone. The gameplay really isn’t about the racing, or collecting sponges, but it’s about being a community and having fun with others in that community. With such a scope like this, putting a time hour count on LittleBigPlanet is fairly difficult and really not practical as the devs will also believe.

The multiplayer for LittleBigPlanet was super fun. Keep in mind there is no split screen in this game at all or motion capture to YouTube or any of that. As the online component distends, we can clearly see that the world diagram in the center represents a lobby of sorts. The thing is you can’t flip through all of the servers of the game/hosts at once. A great and better utilization of search aspects is a redefining of the old and apparently now dated lobby system. The search is arranged according to: Popular, Best, and New. With these three tiers, it’s easier to access any game and find out how many players play in them with the use of orbs below the picture of the game name. 4/4 orbs means 4 people are playing and it’s full so it will not display. The maximum that will display is 3/3 orbs, meaning room for 1 more lucky gamer.

The multiplayer is split up into a point and ranking system that will be consistent to the online profile Media Molecule is working on. There will be points given and they will be based on the constructive motto of LittleBigPlanet: “Create,” “Play,” and “Share.” If you create a lot, you get a lot of points, and if you play constantly you get some amount of points based on your overall standing in the game itself. Never much of a creator but a Sharer? Sharing isn’t the same sense as “Create” as in creating a map and sharing it. Share in LittleBigPlanet is about discovering new levels, commenting a lot, giving ratings and all of those community features to give you a high amount of points in the Share category.

Right now, LittleBigPlanet is looking marvelous. There are still some essential tweaks that need to be made such as render fixes, frame rate issues with highly layered scenes (heavy drops to mid-25 frames per second), and even some scripting flaws with the icons not showing up all the time. With more than 2 months away from release, Media Molecule has all the time in the world to not only make LittleBigPlanet a great game but also a highly polished one.

That’s right. This September, most likely near the 1st week, LittleBigPlanet will definitely have the beta launch ready for fans eagerly awaiting the wondrous dreaming spectacle of the infinitely large world that makes it up.

Alex Evans, Co-Founder, Media Molecule: We’re ready for it, and this game just has to get out October. Mark (Healey) is having a boy soon and this bad boy has to be done before then.

WhatIfGaming: So, no delay…nothing? Solid for October 2008 on Blu-ray disc only?

AE: Yes. There will be no delay and it will be ready then.

WhatIfGaming: So, the beta will take place September?

AE: You got it. Absolutely.

WhatIfGaming: So, is it for underground members only or will there be a site for selection or something?

AE: It will be a public beta, but limited at the same time. We will disclose that info when we’re ready.

We would like to thank Alex Evans for taking the time to speak with us about LittleBigPlanet.

WhatIfGaming: A lot of people have been asking if the controls will suck just like Resident Evil 4. We know we know, we said suck. We mean to say they just aren’t practical at the moment. Will they change?

Jason Allen, Capcom PR: Haha, it’s okay. But um, yeah. The controls seen here are definitely pending and will eventually change. This is in no way finalized. It will definitely be different and listen to what people are saying.

WhatIfGaming: Okay, great. But does that mean that Chris will be able to finally comprehend the meaning of multitasking and be able to run and shoot at all?

JA: The controls will definitely changed, and these are not finalized. As for the answer to that directly, I can’t confirm that at this time but will say most likely.

WhatIfGaming: Hopefully soon (laughs). As for PC gamers, will Resident Evil 5 be headed to PC?

JA: As for the PC, that is not in development and there are no plans for this.

There you have it. Bad Resident Evil 4 controls are no longer a plague to us all. Keep here for more E3 stuff to come.