So E3 2009 saw the return of many things. Excitement! Spectacle! Actual interesting announcements! But none was more requested by the male video gamer masses than the return of the E3 Booth Babe. A staple of trade shows worldwide, the booth babe lost its place among the marketing tool inventory the last few years as E3 tried to establish itself as a mature, grown-up event.

Well, after producing two lackluster years with no hype or excitement to drive consumer sales the wise minds behind the industry even readmitted the actors/models/waitresses to the show floor with this year.

In honor of their return, and because I figure there are at least a few folks out there who might have missed the various image roundups, I present G4TV’s Booth Babe roundup video for your viewing pleasure.

And don’t forget – when judging eye candy quality, often the most scantily dressed, revealing outfits go to support the worst designed, pointless products.

There’s a new spin on the rumor that Microsoft’s Project Natal for the Xbox 360 doesn’t work for everyone. The peripheral free motion control system based on near infrared technology was demonstrated at E3 2009. In a live Paradise demo, media personality N’Gai Croal was unable to steer his car with his hands although his foot controls worked fine.

VGChartz has put a new angle on this conspiracy theory. Author Jacob Mazel cites an article published in the Journal of Clinical Monitoring and Computing in 2005 on Reliability of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in People With Dark Skin Pigmentation to support his theory that Microsoft knew the prototype Natal system had trouble distinguishing N’Gai’s motions because of his melanin rich skin. He says he saw N’Gai later that day wearing light colored shoes. He believes this is the reason the Natal demo was so restricted and videos demos of black celebrities trying out the system, like the one following the break, were shown.

The glitch experienced during his demo could have been a known problem that Microsoft couldn’t avoid because of N’Gai’s re pore with the Games Industry. It could also have been a fluke in an otherwise well tested system…

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Blood. Chaos and Blood.. Oh and lots of Cake for everyone.

Check out the plus-sized E3 trailer for this upcoming PlayStation Network game. Fat Princess, while marginally offensive to some, seems like (and pardon me for my cross platform comparison) the PS3 answer to The Behemoth’s Castle Crashers on the surface except its got a lot more of everything you’d expect.. more blood (if that’s possible), more mindless hack-n-slash action, and more princess.. markably more princess.

The game is scheduled for release later this month and looks like a lot of fun with its massive gory combat and support for up to 24 players online.

You can check out the E3 trailer which introduces the character classes and the game’s very basic premise after the jump.

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Those rascally rabbids are preparing for an exodus as Rabbids Go Home. This sequel to the Wii game that had players dancing with rabbids and practicing their cow flinging has the rabbids climbing back home to the moon as they build their own precarious Tower of Babel. There are two trailers out from E3 for this fresh storyline.

First up is the Rabbids Go Home E3 2009 Trailer which gives gamers a closer look into a lunatic world overrun with rabbids.

I love that the devs wasted no time in getting the US president to contribute to the rabbids’ march to the moon.

The RGH Inside the Wii Remote Trailer features gameplay elements as rabbids invade your Wiimote, unwittingly putting themselves at you mercy. This is one of the funnier more memorable moments from E3. It reminds me of JoeCartoon’s gerbil. Torturing and customizing your own rabbid to use inside the game? Definitely a win. Catch it after the break.

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EA and Maxis presented Spore Galactic Adventures at E3 2009 this week. This expansion pack for Spore adds space exploration and planet fall challenges to an already diverse game.You no longer have to feel obligated to conquer every planet you run into. You can do a few errands for the indigenous population for fun and profit and be on your way.

Although Spore didn’t sell as well as EA had hoped, mostly due to it’s draconic SecureROM DRM, the life simulator has been wildly popular. The Spore Galactic Adventures E3 Trailer proves that it’s all fun and games even after the flying monkeys arrive. Check out the video after the break for quest examples and glimpses of gameplay.
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Well, I have to admit that I was less than excited about E3 this year. After all, I was there in 2007, when the conference moved to a smaller format and a different venue. That year, and in 2008, the conference felt smaller and less important. Many of the ‘announcements’ we were receiving were things we had already reported on weeks before, and we’d even seen many of the trailers before.

Shawn mentioned all of this when he was talking about his PrE3 Blues. I mentioned then that I was unfortunately agreeing with him.

So, in the face of this crazy E3 week, how do I feel now?

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Hideo Kojima made an appearance at Sony’s press conference to introduce a big Metal Gear Solid game for its new pocket size portable. The new PSP Go has Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in the works. This full Solid Snake game takes place in 1974, ten years after MGS3 making it a true successor.

With E3 2009 in full swing Gaming Today is swimming in trailers for so many awesome games, you’ll forget how slow the first five months of 2009 were. I’ll try to fire off as many as I can in short bursts. Enjoy the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker E3 trailer after the break.
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The Sony press conference for E3 2009 is set to prepare gamers for the return of a juggernaut. Sony’s had a tough year for its PS3 console, but things are looking up. This is Sony’s year to make the most expensive console on the market profitable. With God of War III, Heavy Rain, Batman Arkham Asylum, Modern Warfare 2 and MAG on the horizon, this year’s E3 press conference promises to give gamers a reason to pick up a PS3. I’ll be blogging live as Sony wows gamers with 364 new PS3, PSP and PS2 titles. Check out the running commentary after the break.

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Nintendo is rolling out its E3 2009 line at noon today. Yes videogames have come up in the world of entertainment, dominating movie and music. Nintendo promises a new leap forward in game control and several new Mario adventures to go with. The Nintendo team is adding more hard core game s to it’s line-up including some developed in house. Keep up with all latest here.
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Hearts of Iron and most of the titles developed and released by Paradox interactive have a unique niche in the gaming world. Hard core simulation and strategy games are the progenitors of the modern video game culture. While the heyday of the strategy era, typified by some hardcore games from now deceased publisher Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) has waned there are a healthy number of titles produced every year for the history and strategy fans.

The Hearts of Iron series is based on the battlefields of World War II and have a special focus on the rise of the tank as a cornerstone to cavalry based combat. The game handles not only the armchair general battlefield tactics but the broader strategic elements of logistics, territory and campaign planning. Recently Hearts of Iron III was announced by Paradox Interactive with a fall 2009 release planned.

In preparation for the launch, Paradox Interactive sat down with Hearts of Iron III producer Johan Andersson for a video Q & A based around questions submitted by fans of the series and to get an update on the game, its evolution and new features from previous iterations.

You can watch the interview after the jump and find out more about Hearts of Iron III. While it doesn’t offer the same visceral action of a modern shooter, war is a thinking man’s game and these games offer a view no muddy foot soldier can appreciate.

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