E3 '11: Ignition Booth Roundup

Igntition's main focus at its E3 booth was El Shaddai, but since I've already played that and covered it extensively, I decided to check out their other offerings. They're producing yet another version of Mercury onto Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Network on August 23. The PS3 version was the one I tried, and I can't imagine wanting the Xbox 360 one because it won't have motion controls. It was just more fun using the Sixaxis controller to tilt the playing field and steer the liquid to its destination. They're also working on iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad versions, too, if you're more interested in playing on the go.

Then there's another XBLA title called Quarrel which is kind of a combination of Risk and Scrabble. Your goal is to take over all the sections of the battlefield, and you do so by taking a bunch of letters and making them into a bigger word than your opponent. The higher scoring word gains control of that plot of land. You get eight letters, but you can only spell a word that's as long as however many troops you have to hold the letters at the time. The demo I saw there were only five troops, but it was okay as the opponent only had four. So it was easy to beat him. Also, it was easy to win because he was one of the easier AI opponents. There are 10 to choose from, all with different IQs that will pose a different challenge for you. If you'd rather challenge your friends, there's also online multiplayer, but sadly no local. Also, there should be versions of the game for other platforms announced in the near future.

Lastly, Ignition was proud to reveal Dragon's Crown for PS3 and Vita. This action-RPG from VanillaWare looks gorgeous in the trailer I saw, with beautiful painted graphics. It's a beat-em-up style game where you choose from the typical variety of characters and battle alongside your friends online to defeat evil and loot treasure. Of course, that's all we know about it so far!