E3: All the News We Like, You Print

When you make a huge mistake, the solution is not to apologize and prevent it from happening again, but to make an even bigger blunder so people will forget your previous slip-up. At least, that seems to be the approach the Electronic Entertainment Expo will take. Shortly after leaking the personal information of everyone who attended the event last year, E3's organizers claim that they will "control content and the message" coming from next year's show. Control how, exactly? Given how fast and loose they've been with the addresses and phone numbers of attendees, one could only imagine how they'll keep the less flattering information about upcoming games from escaping to the public. Maybe it was an unfortunate choice of words on the ESA's part, but in light of recent events, I'm not eager to give them the benefit of the doubt.

In less depressing news, Bandai-Namco wants to rekindle some of its old franchises. Breathe easy, folks... they don't mean Bravoman or Wonder Momo. No, the games set for a revival include Splatterhouse, Mr. Driller, and Klonoa, along with Wagyan Land and Genpei Touma Den, two series that never had much of a presence in the United States. It's not clear what Namco plans to do with these "encore" games, but in the case of Klonoa, I'd love to see a collection of the first two titles, with the same visual enhancements the original got on the Wii. Heck, maybe they'll throw in the Game Boy Advance titles and that weird volleyball spin-off if they're feeling really generous.

Finally, PowerA is making a line of "Fusion" joypads for current generation consoles, patterned after the classic Sega Saturn controllers. Fusion pads will be available for the Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Switch. This is good news, as none of the other six button fight pads I've used for these machines have measured up to the original. The bad news is that they'll retail for (gulp) sixty dollars each. Maybe I can slum with my bulky Hori Fighting Commander just a little while longer...