On the opposite side of the Los Angeles Convention Center from OnLive’s glitzy E3 booth, Dave Perry held a small briefing in a cubicle to talk about his own cloud gaming service, Gaikai.

Perry wanted to clarify that Gaikai is “the ultimate lead ever for a publisher,” as opposed to a full-blown gaming service for consumers. He’s positioning Gaikai as a try before you buy service, kind of like the InstantAction service that debuted in April, but with all the heavy graphics processing done on remote servers, allowing for immediate access to the latest PC games. The idea is to let publishers, and eventually gaming websites, embed video games directly into the browser, so readers can instantly try the game instead of watching trailers or looking at screenshots.

This stands in stark contrast to OnLive, which on Thursday launched its subscription service. Though OnLive subscribers can play demos for free, the service is less of a promotional tool for publishers and more of a final stop for gamers who have committed to spending money.

In my meetings with OnLive and Gaikai, each company displayed a gentle animosity toward the other. Perry said his data centers are going to “end up in rings around [OnLive's],” and claimed that each of his servers can run many more virtualizations. He also questioned OnLive’s subscription model; Gaikai won’t charge anything to consumers, and will instead charge publishers, likening server time to advertising.

OnLive’s director of games and media development, Joe Bentley, said he has yet to see Gaikai in action. Though Perry showed embedded streaming games — along with software such as Adobe Photoshop — on a PC and an Xbox 360, the server was in the same room. OnLive’s E3 demos were running on a server in Silicon Valley.

My problem with Gaikai is the disconnect between trying a game and buying it. Let’s say you play the first 20 minutes of a game through your Web browser and are persuaded to buy. Then what? Do you start a lengthy download through Steam? Run to GameStop to buy the boxed version? The ideal solution would be a full cloud gaming service that players could easily jump to once their trials end, because once you’ve experienced instant gratification, it’s hard to go back.

That’s why I think Gaikai’s advertising service and OnLive’s subscription package would work wonderfully together, if only they could stop sniping at each other.

Massive multiplayer online games never held my interest for long, but perhaps that’s because I’m a console gamer, and MMOs are mostly relegated to the computer. At E3, Sony Online Entertainment showed a slow crawl towards the console with a few upcoming MMORPGs for Playstation 3.

Only one of these games, DC Universe Online, was actually playable on the PS3. It’s a third-person beat-em-up that lets players build their own super powers and interact with famous DC heroes and villains, and it’ll be out November 2. The Agency, a first-person shooter with an open world for players to interact , also arrives this year, but only the PC version was on the show floor. Free Realms, out now as a free-to-play PC game for kids, is scheduled for next year.

Separately, Square Enix is working on Final Fantasy XIV, a subscription-based MMO under the brand of its most popular role-playing game franchise.

If you want to play MMOs on a game console now, the options are limited. Square released Final Fantasy XI to North America in 2004 for Playstation 2 and 2006 for Xbox 360. Everquest Online Adventures for PS2, a watered-down version of its PC counterpart, launched in 2003. Then there was 2006′s Phantasy Star Universe for PS2 and Xbox 360. And I suppose you grant MMO status to MAG, a large-scale shooter with ever-evolving factions that launched for PS3 this year.

But the games Sony Online Entertainment is working on now break the tired fantasy genre mold, and they should all be up and running in 2011. Console MMOs have their naysayers, but the PS3 may find success by seeking a broader audience than the World of Warcraft crowd.

The big question going forward is pricing. SOE spokeswoman Taina Rodriguez wasn’t ready to give specifics, saying that microtransactions, monthly subscriptions and tie-ins to the Playstation Plus online service are all on the table. But if Sony brought the popular free-to-play model of Free Realms to the Playstation 3? I could become an MMO fan in a hurry.

With the games industry in a downturn, the time is right for publishers to bring back forgotten games or return long-running franchises to simpler roots. Indeed, the lure of the reboot was strong at E3, with classics such as NBA Jam and Mortal Kombat making comebacks.

But how true do these games stick to their 8-bit, 16-bit and 64-bit roots? Do they preserve the feel of their ancestors, or merely capitalize off name recognition and cheap nostalgia? Here are my impressions:

NBA Jam: The game felt a little funky with the Wii remote and Nunchuk combination, but once I flipped the remote on its side and used it as a classic controller, I was back in the 90s. Bonus points for bringing back Tim Kitzrow, voice of the original game’s signature boomshakalakas. Faithful.

Goldeneye 007: Better referred to as Call of Goldeneye. Activision’s Wii remake looks like the Nintendo 64 classic, but feels a lot like the Call of Duty series, with twitchy instant kills instead of drawn out gunfights. On that note, the original GoldenEye’s distinctive red health and blue armor indicators are gone — who needs them with action this fast? — and the demonstrator had no idea what I was talking about when I asked whether they’d appear in the final game. Unfaithful.

Mortal Kombat: The gory fighter went astray in recent years with 3D arenas and a tedious system of lengthy combos to memorize. The new Mortal Kombat returns to 2D with sky-high jumps, crazy uppercuts and sone truly gruesome fatalities. the addition of a power meter for extra special moves doesn’t sit well, but otherwise this is the MK you remember politicians screaming about. Faithful.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Sega’s been churning out Sonic games for years; the number 4 signifies that we’re picking up from the last old Sega Genesis platformer. The physics are way off — there’s a jarring lack of momentum when you turn Sonic around in mid-air — and a new ability ball up and home in on enemies when falling takes some the danger out of moving too fast. But it looks like old Sonic games, and I’m told physics are subject to change. Somewhat Faithful.

Rush’n Attack: Ex-Patriot: Why Konami is rebooting this forgettable platformer as a downloadable Xbox 360/PSN game is a mystery to me. The old game was like Contra with knives, and the new one is more of a stealth game in 2D. There are some homages, like the occasional blaring siren and gun pickup with limited ammo, but otherwise the game feels nothing like the original. Unfaithful, but probably for the best.

The more time I spent with Playstation Move and Kinect for Xbox 360, the more I’m convinced that they’re both hitting the market about six months too early.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the hardware. Kinect, a special camera that tracks motion, worked fine — if not a tad laggy — in the games I played on the show floor. Same goes for the Move, which behaves a lot like a Wii remote, but also with a camera that traces the positioning of the controller in 3D space, and of course the benefit of better graphics. But before the show, I vowed to be skeptical without killer software, and neither the Move nor Kinect have it — yet.

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Today, I played Unreal Tournament III on an iPad, thanks to OnLive. It was impossible to control, of course — it’s just a proof of concept that’s not available in the App Store — but it worked, proving that OnLive’s cloud gaming service can stream modern PC games to just about anything — but just Mac or PC for now.

Today, the service goes live, and at a price that’s making me eat my words.

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Judging by intimidatingly long lines alone, Nintendo’s 3DS was the star of E3. Crowds made a beeline to Nintendo’s booth every morning and formed a queue that snaked around the booth for the remainder of the day. Fortunately, the crowd thinned in E3′s final hours, and I finally got a better picture of Nintendo’s 3D handheld hardware.

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The race to successfully fuse a guitar video game controller with a genuine musical instrument is over, with two publishers showing off peripherals at E3 that double as real guitars — strings, frets and all.

For Rock Band 3, guitar maker Fender will sell a version of its Squier ax that can also play the game. A video from Engadget shows how the player can easily switch back and forth when the guitar is plugged into an amplifier. Lesser known, but also prominently featured on the show floor, is the guitar for PowerGig: Rise of the Six String. No need for a special edition here; even the default PowerGig guitar is a fully-functioning musical instrument.

I haven’t tried Fender’s Rock Band guitar, but I did play around with PowerGig’s peripheral at a pre-E3 event in Los Angeles. It is not a MIDI controller, like the YouRock and Gambridge guitars I played with at CES. The PowerGig guitar has six strings that run the length of the fretboard, complete with a sound pickup on the bridge and tuning pegs on the headstock. It’s smaller than a real guitar — a special full-size version is in the works — but it felt comfortable for playing the blues and noodling out solos high on the fretboard.

As for gaming, it’s just more fun when real strings are involved. When you want to play games with the controller, a small panel pops up on the bridge and mutes the strings. You’ll still hold down strings on the fret board as you would with Guitar Hero’s fat plastic buttons, and strum with your other hand, but any unwanted noise is silenced by the pop-up panel.

Best of all, both PowerGig and Rock Band 3 are using their software as music trainers. In PowerGig, advanced players can strum power chords, which require you to place a second finger on a different fret and string. Rock Band, according to IGN, replaces the game’s five lines of big colored button prompts with six strings and indicators of which fret you should hold down. Essentially, it’ll teach you how to play the songs you’re acting out.

Now, I could get on my high horse about how a music game won’t teach you concepts like groove or improvisation — or music theory — but whatever. This is some cool technology that finally bridges the gap between imitation and the real thing. PowerGig: Rise of the Six String is coming to Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in October, and Rock Band 3 arrives this holiday season.

Who needs motion control when you’ve got inflatable game peripherals? CTA Digital has built a reputation for wacky Wii accessories, but none look more fun than the Wii Inflatable Racing Kart, ideal for Mario Kart but suitable for any Wii racing game. It holds up to 300 pounds and includes a spinning wheel to hold a Wii Remote. Any external air pump will do.

I talked to CTA spokesman Osama Hashmi, who said the inflatable kart shipped this week to Best Buy and the Web sites of Target, Amazon and Walmart. Then, I hopped on board for a quick ride and felt like a kid, sitting there on the floor of E3. Then again, I suppose that’s sort of the point. Best part about the inflatable racing kart? The little bit of bounciness you get after leaning into a turn. Potentially worth the $40 asking price.

Marketing taglines usually serve as little more than memory triggers, but there’s actually some truth to Sony’s claim that the Playstation “only does everything.” Today’s press conference showed a company desperate to make its console the jack of all trades, adding 3D gaming and motion controls to the Playstation 3.

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For a while yesterday, I thought Nintendo would have a weak presence at E3. It’s a silly thought to have about the top-selling console maker of this generation, but the Wii and Nintendo DS were almost invisible during Monday’s press events for Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Activision. But at its own press conference, Nintendo came out firing.

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Short on shocking moments and big reveals, Microsoft pulled the trump card at the end of its E3 press conference today: Everyone in attendance would get a brand new, redesigned Xbox 360 for free. For all the journalists in the audience, it was time to make an ethical decision. For the rest of us, it was suddenly clear why Microsoft chose a small venue for the event, forcing many reporters, myself included, to watch via live video feed.

Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 model ships today. It’s not officially dubbed the Xbox 360 Slim, but it’s smaller than its predecessors and includes a 250 GB hard drive and built-in wireless n. Previous models had only wired Ethernet jacks and maxed out at 120 GB hard drives. The new Xbox 360, which comes only in black, sells for the same $300 as the current Xbox 360 Elite.

The new Xbox 360, and its subsequent gifting to the to the press, were among a few surprises dotting an otherwise lackluster press conference. Most of the games Microsoft showed off were obvious Xbox 360 exclusives, and looked just as predictable in action. Halo: Reach was more Halo. Gears of War 3 was more Gears of War. Call of Duty: Black Ops was more Call of Duty. And almost every Kinect game on display had already debuted the night before (the exception being Metal Gear Solid: Rising, which may support motion-controlled sword combat). The conference’s only new blood was a game codenamed Kingdoms, and its short teaser video had so little concrete information that the game is hard to get excited about.

But for existing Xbox 360 owners, at least there was ESPN. Rumored by the New York Times in January, ESPN for Xbox 360 will offer more than 3,500 live and on demand sporting events, including Major League Baseball, the NBA, soccer, college football and college basketball. No mention of the NFL, which has lagged on new media in general. In addition to the games, Xbox 360′s ESPN support will include trivia, highlights and voice activation with Kinect. Best of all, it’s free for Xbox Live Gold subscribers. The unanswered questions: When will the service arrive, and how subservient will the live broadcasts be to cable and local broadcasters?

Strangely, Microsoft announced a November 4 launch date for Kinect, but no price, nor any console bundles. Maybe the previous rumor of $150 is still in dispute.

As Microsoft representatives handed out smooth white tunics — they called them panchos — to everyone who entered the “Project Natal Experience” event last night, I realized this would be an unconventional press conference. Yes, Microsoft revealed some details and a final name for its 3D motion-sensing Xbox 360 camera, now called Kinect, but instead of using casually-dressed executives and a teleprompter, the company brought in Cirque Du Soleil for an elaborate show of audio and visuals.

The idea is that Kinect is a natural evolution of gaming. By removing the controller completely and sensing the movement of arms, legs and torsos, Kinect liberates the body — and gaming — from its primitive state. Hence the acrobatic dancers, animatronic elephant and jungle setting that filled the stage of USC’s Galen Center. But when it was time to show the actual Xbox 360 games, there was clearly a disconnect between the substance of Kinect and Cirque’s dog and pony show.

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Video gaming’s biggest trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, doesn’t officially start until Tuesday, but already the industry is descending upon Los Angeles for the show better known as E3.

Tonight, the first event of news value is a press conference for Microsoft’s motion-sensing Xbox 360 camera, so far only codenamed Project Natal. I’ll be there, but before the sensory overload of video games galore begins, I saw fit to throw together a short list of what I’m looking for at the show:

Sequels galore. Check out Kotaku’s list of all-star E3 games and you’ll see lots of 2′s, 3′s and roman numerals. Not that the industry usually swings the other way, but the sheer number of heavy hitters on hand — Gears of War 3, Killzone 3, Sonic the Hedgehog 4, Rock Band 3, another Call of Duty, a Medal of Honor reboot, just to name several — suggests a particularly busy holiday season and early 2011 for well-known franchises. The upshot is that any completely original games will likely get glowing praise from a gaming press tired of the same-old.

Return of the handheld. E3 2009 was quiet on the handheld gaming front, with only a retooled PSP from Sony and no news from Nintendo or Microsoft. With Apple’s iPhone making big moves into gaming, the stage is set for retaliation. Nintendo’s expected to show off the Nintendo 3DS, which will have a 3D display, and there’s a rumor that Sony will reveal the PSP 2. I’m more interested to hear Microsoft’s plans for Windows Phone 7 as a gaming device.

E3 2010: The Year of Exercise. Physically, this show’s a lot easier to cover than the sprawling hallways of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES, but that could change with Microsoft and Sony sporting new motion controllers. Don’t pity me, but expect me to look at the new creations with a skeptical eye. Cool technology? Sure, but I need to see some amazing games, and not just souped up versions of Wii Sports.

The dark horse of cloud gaming. OnLive and Gaikai are two startups that want to stream video games to your computer as an alternative to owning expensive game consoles or PC hardware. Neither were present at E3 2009, but I’m planning to try both this year. I’ve got my doubts about the business model of cloud gaming, but here’s hoping the technology impresses.

A collective haze fell over the Los Angeles Convention Center on the last day of E3. No one can handle any more neon lights, throbbing subwoofers, booth babes and shoot-em-ups, yet we continued because there was always one more game to try.

I’m nursing a binge video gaming hangover that has nothing to do with alcohol, but here’s what I remember:

Brink: In a “hands-off” presentation, we saw an ambitious first-person shooter that lets you change player classes and objectives mid-level. The ability to hurdle over obstacles by holding a button is promising, but there’s much work to be done before next year’s projected release.

Brutal Legend: The 30-minute demo included hacking away at cultists, driving in a hot rod and lots of humor. I’m on board if warring publishers can settle their differences.

CrimeCraft: Part of the MMO shooter wave, this game combines twitchy action with leveling up and character customization, with players organizing into gangs. Still, I’m not convinced that the “persistant worlds” of CrimeCraft and other games are a vast improvement over simple menus.

God of War III: I do not understand the fuss over this game. Production values don’t get any better, but isn’t this just your average blood-and-guts beat-em-up?

Huxley: This game made a splash years ago by promising persistent-world massive multiplayer shooting, but only the shooting part was playable at E3. The action itself is standard; it’s what we didn’t see that I’m curious about.

MAG: Organizing strategy in a 256-player game doesn’t happen in a 10-minute demo. I liked the sprawling battlefield, even if I only saw a portion of it.

Saboteur: Art direction shined in this hands-off demo. Muted grays of Nazi-occupied France give way to brilliant color in areas where resistance is growing. I’m reserving judgment on the mix of stealth and action.

Saw: The movie franchise was all about escaping sinister death traps, so this idea is long overdue. Puzzles — such as escaping a razor-laden head clamp and digging through drug addicts’ needles to find a hidden object — show promise, but the hand-to-hand combat looks weak.

I will now attempt to navigate a PSP Go hands-on article without using any puns related to locomotion.

Let’s start with the specs, which were known even before Sony officially announced the new model. It’s 40 percent lighter and 50 percent smaller than the existing PSP-3000, the company says. A 16 GB flash drive is on board, and there’s a Memory Stick Micro slot for expansion up to 16 GB. There’s no UMD drive, so games and videos are downloaded directly onto the device.

Maybe it’s the lightness, but the PSP Go miraculously works despite its small size and cramped layout. The controls slide down from the bottom half of the device, so holding it is decidedly different than grasping the sides of the PSP-3000, and a bit awkward at first.

Still, the Go rests comfortably in the hands. Keep in mind that the ones I tried were firmly shackled to a kiosk (seen below), with a metal guard in place to keep the controls open, so I couldn’t hold the device in different ways or get a true sense of the weight. Even so, a nearby PSP-3000 was markedly heavier.

The analog pad, which is now depressed into the handheld’s surface, is easy to reach, even if the thumb irritation from using it hasn’t gone away since the last model. Face buttons can be pressed with accuracy, and triggering the two shoulder buttons required no extra effort despite resting on different parts of my fingers.

I played LittleBigPlanet and Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier during my time with the Go. The console has a smaller screen than the PSP-3000 — 3.8 inches compared to 4.3 inches, respectively — but I didn’t have any trouble discerning what was happening.

As for software, the PSP Go uses the same media bar as the PSP-3000. Kotaku reports that Sony is working on a solution for PSP-3000 owners to transfer their UMD games and wants to have something in place before launch.

Like any handheld, your mileage may vary in the comfort department. Most of what I heard from other reporters is positive, but gripes with the design are inevitable; it’s all a matter of taste. If the $250 price tag doesn’t scare you, I’d still recommend trying the device instead of impulse buying on October 1.