Sony's 2011 E3 conference dated

It's not too long now until E3 2011 begins once again and Sony has just revealed when they will be holding their official conference during the event. The largest gaming expo in the world will run from June 7-9 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in California and Sony is scheduled to present on June 6 at 5pm PST. Make sure not to miss it via the live feed or the downloadable versions.

Classics HD Collections - PS2 Remastered Games

It was really disappointing to see Sony drop PlayStation 2 backward compatibility support on the PS3. The PS2 had an incredible library of great games, but not everyone had the chance to play a lot of them and backwards compatibility would have allowed anyone with a PS3 to play or relive some PS2 classics. The high cost of putting in the PS2 hardware into the PS3 along with the already high cost of the PS3 hardware created a system which was just not commercially viable. But at least now we have some sort of compromise.

Although the idea of backward compatibility coming back is an impossibility, the success of the God of War collection showed that there was a viable market for Blu-Ray disc collection of PS2 classics, upscaled in HD. Apart from the higher resolution and widescreen support, the collection also featured 60fps gameplay, anti-aliasing and trophy support.

The next collection to be released will be the Sly Racoon trilogy. Three PS2 games on one disc in HD with also some 3D and Move support for $39.99. I think that's great value, especially if, like me, you've never played the games before. You may also notice in the picture that there is a new "Classics HD" tag on the box. Hopefully, this will mean many more collections will be released. Here are just some of the collections I would like to see:

Devil May Cry Collection - Dante's trilogy needs a collection asap.

Ico & Shadow of the Colossus - The most requested PS2 collection. Need I say more?

Jak & Daxter Collection - Naughty Dog may have moved onto Uncharted, but this fantastic platform series needs a place on the PS3.

Metal Gear Solid Collection - This one would require some extra work, but Konami could port the updated Metal Gear Solid from the Gamecube to go along with MGS2 and MGS3. I'm sure it would sell plenty of copies.

Onimusha Collection - Another bunch of games by Capcom, which would be great to have on one disc.

Ratchet & Clank Collection - A no-brainer really, Ratchet & Clank are some of the best platform games around.

Lucky Play-Asia.com BBQ Sale

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Prizes

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* 26th to 50th Place: US$ 20 store credit

What are you waiting for? There are thousands of bargains to choose from!

Random Flavor: Lego Star Wars

If you've been keeping up with "Flavor's Random Pick" (which I'm toying with renaming "Random Flavor" as in this post's title) you may have noticed that I tend toward two things: hand-held games and games I can play with my kids. In a weird way, this pick breaks both molds while actually adhering to both.

Lego Star Wars came out back in 2005. It allowed you to play through episodes 1, 2, and 3 which was actually very cool because episode 3 hadn't even come out in theaters yet. I remember watching Ep3 on the big screen and recognizing certain scenes from playing the game.

When I first got the game, I didn't intend to play it with my kids. I thought it would be something okay to play while the kids were around, but it wasn't thought of as something they would play. I do remember letting my oldest (and the only one that was alive at the time) play it a bit, but she just pushed buttons and such. It was a great game then, and now that the kids are a little older, it's a great game for them to play. The animated violence consists of characters breaking into lego bricks, so it's not real graphic. You can easily play cooperatively with a 5-year-old, and a 3-year-old could still tag along if you help them a lot.

Oh, and as I mentioned, this game was not a hand-held game. I played it on my XBox (not 360) back when it came out. Now, though, it is available for almost every game system. If you want it on the go, you can get it for the DS or PSP. If you want it on a home console, pick your favorite and I'm sure you'll find it.

It's also worth noting that, even if you're not into Star Wars, you may find a Lego videogame that you are into. The franchise has branched out to other movie franchises, so you can now find Lego Batman, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Indiana Jones, etc.

If you're looking for a fun game, and you haven't tried any of the Lego games, check one out. If you're looking for something to play with your kids and they're into any of the movie franchises that have a Lego game, go for it. You can't really go wrong with any of them, and if you're reading this blog you already have one of the systems to play it on.