Press conferences are exciting and all, but E3 is no good if you can’t indulge in all the games everyone’s waiting to play — and all the sensory overload that comes with them.

Here’s what I tried today:

The Beatles: Rock Band: This is just what you’d expect. Music gaming meets rock legends, with fancy peripherals and vocal harmonies. I played guitar on “I Am the Walrus” and contributed the “Woo!” in the chorus, all while trying to admire the psychedelic background images.

Bit.Trip Core: The retro music game doesn’t have the immediate appeal of Bit.Trip Beat, which took Pong to the extreme (download it through WiiWare if you haven’t). Still, the act of matching controller pad presses to an onslaught of incoming dots mesmerizes the senses.

Fight Night Round 4: The last game made me realize there’s more to video game boxing than Punch-Out. Round 4 feels even more like a real boxing match, with smoother and faster slugfests. Droplets of sweat on the boxers have even more detail.

Red Steel 2: After a cool reception to the first game, Red Steel is banking on the Wii MotionPlus for redemption. The game itself is an enjoyable first-person hack-and-shoot, but I can’t get over how a flick of the wrist isn’t adequate for sword attacks. MotionPlus makes you work.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (Wii): Forget golf, I wanted to use the game’s MotionPlus capabilities to play frisbee golf. Backhand and overhead tosses worked as expected, and the strength of the throw really makes a difference. And golf? It was fun, but you can still shoot one-handed.

WET: It’s popcorn shooting in the style of Kill Bill and The Matrix. See: Stranglehold.

Wii Fit Plus: Suprisingly, I enjoyed myself, but thats because of a distinct focus on entertainment this time around. There’s snowball fighting, ball-sorting (which works by simultaneously shifting weight and tipping the Wii Remote) and my personal favorite, the obstacle course, which has you running and jumping in place.

 
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