back from Florida and E3

Sorry I've been away for so long! Work was ridiculously busy in April -- I spent most of the month working day and night to finish up the first half of a massive translation project with my team (big RPG; you'll see it sometime early next year), and then I took off for America for three weeks for vacation and E3. I spent the first half of my trip at my mom's summer house in Florida with my girlfriend, where I did all of the following and more:

- rented a convertible
- ate lots of good food
- went to a Devil Rays game at Tropicana Field
- spent a day at Epcot and a day at Universal Studios
- went to the pool and the beach almost daily
- never once looked at my cell phone
- spent far too much money shopping at various malls and bookstores
- saw The Passion of the Christ
- watched the sun rise over the nearby lake
- went face-to-face with an alligator (OK, to be fair, there was a metal sewer grate between us, but still!)
- rollerbladed out in the sun several times
- and more!

Needless to say, it was a fantastic trip. I took a zillion pictures, but these two of the sun rising over the lake are among my favorites:

Following that, I headed to Los Angeles for the 10th annual E3 show (scary: I've been to all 10), which was a blast, as always. No time for lengthy E3 impressions, but I will say that, aside from the parties and seeing all my friends, the four highlights of the show for me were as follows:

1. New Zelda Unveiling (GC)

I knew about this a few days in advance of the show, but I didn't get to see the video until it was finally unveiled at Nintendo's press conference on Tuesday morning. The game looks absolutely incredible, and hearing the crowd's reaction when they finally realized what it was they were seeing (about 18 seconds into the trailer) was easily the single best E3 experience I've ever had. No joke, I think I had tears in my eyes. It was that good.

2. The Nintendo DS (Dual-Screen)

Nintendo's new handheld isn't quite as sexy as their last one (and nowhere near as nice looking as Sony's PSP), and the games and demos they were showing didn't exactly knock me off my feet, but the machine has extraordinary potential. The touch screen especially is such a simple concept, yet it opens the doors for an almost limitless amount of new gameplay possibilities. With two screens, wi-fi support and a microphone jack, the DS could really turn out to be something special, provided developers give it a chance (and it looks like they're going to).

3. The Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable)

Easily the sexiest piece of handheld kit I've ever seen, eclipsing even the iPod in overall visual appeal. My only concern is battery life; if it's anywhere under five hours for gaming, I can't see how this'll turn out to be a viable portable. Otherwise, it looks to be a great way to play movies, music and PS2-quality games on the go.

4. Hip Tanaka!

I've met lots of industry legends over the past decade, but one man has always eluded me -- until now. Hip Tanaka is my favorite gaming musician of all time, having done the music for many classic Nintendo games, including Metroid, Kid Icarus, Super Mario Land and Mother (Earthbound). He's also the genius behind Mario Paint and the Game Boy Camera, among other things. He now works as the head of Creatures, Inc. (the Pokemon people). Anyway, I spotted him about 100 feet away while I was waiting in line at the PSP booth, and I quickly ran over with my friend Jason (who makes electronic music using Game Boy Cameras and has exchanged e-mails with Tanaka in the past) to say hi. He turned out to be very cool; he actually remembered Jason, and he was eager to exchange biz cards and take pics with us.

Well, that about wraps things up for now -- it's good to be home, but I'm already kind of missing America (especially the Florida beaches). At least I can get back to eating Tokyo's far superior food!

For those of you who went to E3 or watched it all unfold over the net, what were the highlights of the show for you?