There was a Pac-Man cartoon series in the 1980s. All things considered, it wasn't that bad! Now, Namco Bandai wants to make a new series. For the 21st century.

Avi Arad, former Marvel Studios CEO, has a pitch to reinvent the arcade hero in a new 3D series, which would see Pac-Man - a high school student - fighting ghosts to stop them taking over his world. He won't be fighting every ghost, however, as his enemies from the original, Pinky, Inky, Blinky and Clyde, are now his friends and allies.

"We wanted to keep Pac-Man the same lovable guy he has always been, but (put him) in the 21st century," Arad says. "We (also) wanted to talk about real stories and … see how they can relate to our lives, being in high school and being a teenager. At the end of the day, it's the story of a reluctant hero."

"We feel we have a unique opportunity to have an action adventure, human interest story," he continues. "As a filmmaker, it's a unique opportunity to get to know the characters you play. … We don't know what happened to Pac-Man's parents. He's the only yellow one in Pac-Land; what does that mean? Is it a social statement? We'll find out."

Sounds ridiculous, but really, how would you frame a plot around Pac-Man?

Pac-Man chomps at 3D TV [Variety]

Hideo Kojima was at E3 this week to show off his team's latest project, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, but a report from CVG says the game developer has a "massive PS3 exclusive" to unveil at Tokyo Game Show.

If CVG's "senior US publishing source" is right, the supposed PlayStation 3 exclusive will "own the show" in Tokyo and that it was almost ready for a showing at E3. Seems like curious timing, as an announcement of another Kojima Productions game could steal the thunder from Metal Gear Solid: Rising and that the age of console exclusivity seems to be behind us.

Will Kojima have yet more Metal Gear to show off? Will everyone finally get to stop begging for a Zone of the Enders update? Boktai? Something new? Nothing? We'll know for sure at TGS!

E3 2010: Kojima to announce PS3 exclusive at TGS [CVG]

The creators of Sonic the Hedgehog are borrowing a more current page from Nintendo's Mario, giving the speedy blue mascot a galactic adventure and some super powered suits of his own to wear in Sonic Colors.

Why is Sonic the Hedgehog going to space in Sonic Colors? To check in on his arch nemesis Dr. Eggman who has just built the Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park under the guise of an apology to the people of Earth for his frequent misdeeds. Sonic's gut tells him something's up with the multi-themed space park and—wouldn't you know it?—he's right.

Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik) has been kidnapping beings known as Wisps. They look a bit like the abstract creatures from the game Meteos and certain Wisps give Sonic super powers with a shake of the Wii Remote.

Cyan Wisps give Sonic the ability to use laser honed skills. He can aim with perfect precision at foes thanks to a cyan-toned laser sight, travel through special fiber optic-like paths and speed burst through certain tunnels, destroying just about everything in his path. Laser Sonic can also reflect off of special crystals, unlocking new pathways and hidden areas.

Yellow Wisps give Sonic the ability to drill through the ground—or through layers of cake and fruit, as seen in that screen shot from the level "Sweet Mountain," a massive pastry factory—destroying enemies and burrowing into hidden areas, usually filled with collectible goodies.

There will other Wisps that will give Sonic the Hedgehog other special abilities, but Sega and producer Takashi Iizuka were keeping those details secret at E3 2010.

The rest of Sonic Colors, without all that super-powered gameplay, feels much like the daytime portions of Sonic Unleashed, which came to the Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 in 2008. Sonic has the same suite of moves, like his homing attack, and the action switches from side-scrolling to rear view third-person action as 3D Sonic games now do.

Given that Sonic Colors takes place in a space station, expect some "gravity based shenanigans" to appear at some point.

It does feel like Sonic Unleashed, minus the Werehog gameplay, thankfully, based on my hands-on time with the game pre-E3. It's disarmingly enjoyable and the gameplay variety due to the Wisp gimmick feels like a natural extension of the series' trademark high-speed platforming. The game also looks outstanding graphically, thanks to bright cheery environments, with cool effects like motion blur filling the screen when Sonic's boost meter fills up.

The game also has massive hamburgers.

Like it or not, Sonic Colors is getting a big emphasis on story, according to Sega reps at E3. Iizuka said the game will have a "stronger fantasy feel," with an emphasis on humor that will be "enjoyable for adults and children." Sega has employed Madworld contributors Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, writers on the show Happy Tree Friends, to sprinkle some jokes in there.

Sonic Colors, in addition to the Wii, is coming to the Nintendo DS. That version, which we did not demo at E3, plays like 2007's Sonic Rush Adventure, according to Iizuka.

Whether Sonic Colors will be as brightly shining a star as Super Mario Galaxy was, we'll find out later this year.

At some point during E3, this happened, but we were far too busy working to see it.

I've always wanted to see a flash mob in action, even if it is just a marketing tie-in. It seems I've missed my chance. From the YouTube description:

Attendees at E3 2010 were surprised with an Alien Invasion Flash Mob to celebrate the release of the new TOY STORY 3 video game. Over 100 fans came together and danced to music and choreography inspired by the game on the opening day of E3 at the LA Convention Center.

Opening day? Let's see, that puts me at the Sony press conference, cursing at the internet and tapping away at my netbook's tiny keyboard. Not a fair trade, methinks.

It may not have gotten the same attention as the original echochrome did at E3 2007, but the sequel looks like one of the more promising games coming to the PlayStation Move, Sony's new motion controller.

Similar to WiiWare game Lost In Shadow, echochrome ii puts an emphasis on solving puzzles with light and shadow gameplay. Using the PlayStation Move controller as a flashlight, players cast their beam onto the playfield to expose hidden paths and exits.

Expect the same type of user generated levels in echochrome ii when it comes to the PS3 and Move this fall.

Thanks to first week sales of the new Wii role-playing game Xenoblade in Japan, Nintendo's motion-controlled console managed to outsell the PlayStation 3 in Japan this week.

The two consoles have been battling for second place behind the PSP for months, with Nintendo pulling ahead this week. That gives the Wii and Nintendo DS maker a bigger slice of the pie than Sony this week, as PSP and PSPgo sales cool slightly

• PSP - 21,662
• Wii - 20,588
• PS3 - 17,676
• DSi LL - 11,138
• DSi - 10,172
• Xbox 360 - 3,225
• DS Lite - 3,108
• PS2 - 1,291
• PSP go - 718

Dead Nation producer Damion Pinnock has thrown down the gauntlet.

He says that the upcoming zombie game, from the creators of Super Stardust HD, will have the most zombies on screen at the same time ever seen in a game.

Did you hear that Dead Rising 2? The most!

To: Ash
From: Crecente

I wish we could all work together in the same room more often. You guys are such an inspiration. It's amazing to see how many stories you are able to write, how many sharp interviews you do, how many games you play and analyze in such a short period of time.

Viewed from outside, E3 is just three days of gaming. But when you're there, feet on the ground, controllers in your hand, it is like a battle. You're fighting time, you're fighting the crowds, you're fighting your own body's need for sleep, for food, for water.

It's the journalism equivalent of running a marathon.

Some stats: On just Tuesday alone Luke wrote 42 stories. That is insane. And that doesn't include the exhaustive, exhausting on-the-ground coverage you guys all provided. It was stunning.

I spent an entire summer covering wildfires in Colorado. I slept in my car, I wore fire gear, I walked from sun up to sundown in boots and I wrote nonstop, but that wasn't as exhausting as E3. I know it sounds crazy. It's easy to forget that just because video games are a leisure, because they are built for amusement, doesn't mean that the job of writing about them can't be exhausting.

But no complaints from me. I love my job, I love it even more because I have such a solid team of people working for Kotaku.

There are days when I think it would be nice to double the size of our staff, to leap from seven to 14, but part of me thinks the exhaustion, the need to pick and choose your coverage carefully, keeps us scrappy and on our toes. It's tactics over brute force and that's how I like it.

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E3

Mercury Steam's take on Castlevania, vetted by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, is a very different thing, full of God of War-like action. Including a new Belmont, this is the all-new cast of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Some, like the Butcher, are simply horrific. Others, like the lovely/frightening Carmilla, may fall under the NSFW category, what with all the exposed cleavage.

Watch for our hands-on impressions of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow coming soon.

When one gamer's FoxBox630 fails, he trades up to the ESexy3. When the FoxBox630 returns from the shop, it's war. This is Ryan Kinnaird's Next Gen Warz, a two-issue comic series due in September from Image Comics.

Writer and artist Ryan Kinnaird used to do illustrations for PSM, and in 2003 created a "mature" Marvel miniseries called X-Men: Phoenix – Legacy of Fire. Now's he back in the comic book spotlight, leveraging his love of writing, drawing, and gaming into a two-issue miniseries for Image Comics that turns the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 into fighting femme fatales.

In an interview with Newsarama, Kinnaird explains the series' spin.

The big spin in the story is that the consoles are actually female characters, with competitive personalities, and a desire to be known as the best. The battle itself takes several of the tropes from the video game world, like fanboys, outspoken developers, and spin doctoring hardware manufacturers and has the consoles use that as ammunition against one another. The consoles battle to show who is most "giga," and demonstrate who is most desirable. In flame war-like fashion they summon developers and video game characters to help demonstrate their superiority.

So it's an intellectual take on the video game console wars with female characters representing the systems. Neat. Why is the Xbox 360 red, and covered in whipped cream?

Don't worry, Nintendo fans. The "Gee" makes an appearance in the second issue, which should be out shortly after the first issue's September 22 release.

Videogame Giants Take Female Form in Images's NEXT GEN WARZ [Newsarama.com]