Today my day started at 12pm (long night, I had). Didn’t think I would be so tired from last night, but apparently my body doesn’t tell me much of anything at times. When I finally made it over to E3, I decided I was going to hang around at the XBOX booth (and the neighboring booths around it). I wanted to get another demonstration of the new Live features – which again look spectacular – and try out some games coming to XBOX 360.

While I was there I ran into some of my awesome gamer friends. It was great to meet some of these guys again (and some for the first time). I especially enjoyed the conversation I had with (twitter names ahead) Chloe (Kittychix) and Rob (Esko). Rob gave me an awesome shirt with my twitter tag on the back of it – stylish. Chloe and I had a good discussion about women and gaming. I think it’s awesome that the Gamerchix program is out there.

Before I begin talking about the games that I tried out, here’s a short video clip. This is from the demonstration of XBOX Live features. It’s the part that covers Zune Video Marketplace. So if you haven’t seen it in action, here you go:

So here’s what I tried out and tested on Day 3 at E3:

Into the Pixel: This was an art exhibit that is being presented at E3. I’m notoriously bad with anything museum like. You could take me to a museum and I’d be done with all of it in about 30 minutes. Into the Pixel was no different. Not that it was bad, mind you, but all I really needed was 5 minutes with it and then I was off to the Expo.

Shadow Complex: Using the Unreal Engine that powers Gears 2, Shadow Complex is a great game for XBOX Live Arcade. It does have that Metroid feel like the developers were mentioning, but it’s really well done. The controls are easy to grasp and it has a very fluid motion. I commented to the gentlemen showing it to me that I would expect this to be available for retail rather than Live Arcade (yes, it was that good).

Madden 2010 (Hands-On): Getting some hands on time with Madden pretty much confirmed what I had already thought about the game: pure awesomeness. The way they integrate the weather and have a full on pre-game show are those things that help you have a full immersive experience. It also helps that the play calling is much simpler now so you can pick your play and get right to it.

Gears of War 2 New Map Packs: Gee, I forget the name, hah, but the new map packs that are coming out for Gears 2 are pretty good. The particular map that I played looked like it was taking place at an abandoned gas station. The action was furious and I suddenly had remember how much I enjoyed playing Gears 2. Now I honestly don’t know if I’m going to get these maps, but they are definitely worth it for anyone who needs to have all of the maps.

Ice Age (XBOX 360): Great game. It’s a collection of mini-games featuring the characters from the movie. It took me a little bit to get used to the controls, but I thought that it was very well done and fun to play.

Need for Speed (XBOX 360): Great graphics and game play. I seem to just have this love for racing games and this one is definitely full of win. I just have to get used to the fact that I can’t always take turns at 150 MPH. Once my brain figures that out, I should be fine.

Batman: Arkane Asylum (PS3): For the love of everything holy was this game fun. I could’ve done without all of the special effects they attach to when you’re fighting enemies, but beyond that I had total fun playing this game. The levels were highly fun to look at and the voice acting was top notch. Getting to play as the Joker is more enjoyable than I expected. We need more games where you can play from the other side of the coin – so to speak.

Trial HD: For an XBOX Live Arcade game, this was highly awesome. Essentially you have to balance your bike rider while traveling through basically a stunt course. If you lean too far forward or backward, you’ll crash the bike. Once you get the hang of the balance, you travel through the course at a high rate of speed and it really looks breathtaking when it’s done correctly – of course, initially, I didn’t do it correctly but once I got the hang of it, it was awesome.

Oh, that picture? That’s the model playing Bayonetta. Pretty good looking there. Oh and Verne Troyer (Mini Me) was traveling around the expo. It was amazing how many celebs are at E3. But you have to remember that they are gamers too and it was also good that everyone wasn’t mobbing them for autographs. They were allowed to walk around and enjoy E3 like everyone else.