So, I'm sitting here in Subway again, eating my sandwich and barbeque Baked Lay's, writing today's L3 with about 25 tabs open in Firefox, and listening to a segment on NPR's Science Friday (over the awful music they play in here) about how multi-taskers aren't as good at doing said 'tasking by multiple means.  Shyeah... right.

• Amazon's Gold Box is having a videogame blowout again today.  Right now Madden '10 is up for $47 and the Sims 3 is up all day at $30.
• There's a really good article by @leighalexander (who, in another weird/stalkery E3 story, I sat across from on the bus to the Sony Press Conference) over at GamaSutra on Ed Fries, his involvement in the creation of the original Xbox, and what he's been doing since. It's really amazing that the thing ever actually got made.
• Ars has an overly-serious article on a freeze on the in-game bank in EVE Online due to some "fake-money-to-real-money" embezzelment by a player eariler this summer and fradulent loans.  It's kind of sad when we have to have recessions in games now too.
• Penny-Arcade has slightly redesigned their website.  Is it news?  I guess.
• Someone filmed some Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 gameplay and put it on Youtube, then pulled it down.  Gamevideos still has it though!

• I was lucky enough to go see Video Games Live while in L.A. for E3 and I would love to see them again.  Good thing they're coming to Augusta, Georgia on September 25th (just 3 days before my birthday)!
• I love Red vs. Blue.  I have the whole series on DVD and have watched them all way too much.  They guys over at Rooster Teeth have created a new video for the release of ODST next month.

• And lastly, check out this awesome Lego'd Shadow Complex scene (via GameOvr [via GameSetWatch {via Kotaku}])

Wow, look at all that gameity-goodness.  By all accounts, the distribution of swag at this year's E3 was lacking compared to previous years (well, except the last two), but I did manage to get my hands on some pretty sweet stuff to give away.  So, for Southern Gamer's first official giveaway, here's what I want you to do:

Record your opinion of what the best announcement of E3 was (this can be a video clip , an audio recording, a stop-motion mocumentary with CGI special effects and your best friend Tom Cruise playing your sidekick, etc. - bottom line is that I want a recording of some kind.)  The Swag is tiered thusly:

1 Grand Prize: A copy of Battlefield 1943 for the PS3 and a Battlefield 1943 T-shirt

1 First Prize: A copy of Battlefield 1943 for the PS3

2 Second Prizes: A key for the Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves Multiplayer beta (ends June 28th) for PS3

1 Third Prize: A Left 4 Dead 2 poster (and some other assorted swag)

1 Fourth Prize: A Southern Gamer T-shirt (and some other assorted swag)

And, a few other Southern Gamer knick-knacks may be sprinkled in with all of the prizes.

All submissions must in some way mention the "Southern Gamer Post-E3 Swag Giveaway" just so I can make sure they are legitimate entries and not material created before the posting of this contest.

Email your entries to southerngamer[at]gmail[dot]com, with the subject line "Southern Gamer Post-E3 Swag Giveaway".  Video entries must be uploaded to Youtube, with the link provided in your email.  Audio entries must be under 5 MB, but may be attached to the email.  And, if you can come up with something other than a video or audio clip, then your chances for winning the Grand Prize are that much greater - remember, I'm looking for creative/humorous/intelligent entries.  Thinking outside of the box can only help your chances.

The deadline is 10:00 PM CST, June 14th.  Winners will be notified by 10:00 PM CST, June 15th.

Good luck!

I had the great pleasure of getting a quick interview with Charles "It's-a-Me, Mario!" Martinet.  He is an incredibly nice guy and offered far more than I could have asked for in my first "real" interview.  Check it out below:

Edit: And the internet is once again confounding me.  Somehow the sound got out of sync after getting uploaded to Youtube.  I'll work on fixing it later.

File formats and internet connectivity issues are still impeding my attempts to upload video from these past two days.  Luckily, pictures are working okay - so here are some more. (Click the image for the entire gallery) Enjoy!

Well, due to an uncooperative computer, and in lieu of some full-fledged video content (including some of the Sony Press Conference) please enjoy this gallery of pictures taken during our first day walk-through of the L.A. Convention Center.   Video later - I promise.