We're only halfway through the pandemonium that is Comic-Con this year, and the International Masquerade is still to come -- but in the meantime we wanted to bring you just a taste of the eye candy available on the show floor and in the clogged halls of the SDCC. Us? We're wearing our patented bedraggled blogger hobo look. These are the people who made an effort.

Will Wright gave the opening keynote today at the nerd-packed Comic-Con 2008, an event so chock full of fellow geeks we're hard-pressed to find a free patch of San Diego Convention Center floor to stand on. For the first half hour or so Will rattled off profound observations and inspirational quips at approximately the speed of light, leaving the second half of the presentation to an extensive demo of the civilization and space stages of Spore.

The touted reveal of the MashON Spore Comic Book Creator wasn't much more than a few minutes' discussion of the tool that will live at http://mashon.com/spore/, enabling players to take the creatures and other assets they make in the game and import them into an interactive comic book creation engine. A booklet passed out to attendees while waiting for the keynote tells us you'll be able to drag and drop screenshots taken in Spore right into the tool, add audio and video clips and other assets, create and lay out the entire story environment and share it with friends via email or Flash embed code. Users can rate and save other players' stories on the Mashon.com site and play them back as digital flip books as well as print them out. Wright talked about how the Comic Book Creator fits within the overall ethos of the game, which is about putting players more in the role of George Lucas than Luke Skywalker, allowing them to actually create the worlds themselves beyond just playing in them.

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If you're looking for the unabridged version in all its glory, look no further than our liveblog with our fine friends at Engadget. If you're afflicted with crippling bouts of ADHD like we are and just want the meaty (beating, bloody) heart of the announcement highlights, please direct your eyeballs further down this post and after the break:

• Fallout 3: will feature exclusive DLC on Xbox 360, Games for Windows.
• Resident Evil 5: they showed the world's first playable demo; online co-op mode was confirmed; the release date for North America and Europe will be March 13th 2009.
• Fable II is finished and will be out in October.
• Gears of War 2: A new mode was announced called "Horde," a five-player co-op mode taking on waves and waves of locust. GOW2 release date will be November 7, 2008.

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What's been missing from the Joystiq family? The console fans all have their homes, handhelds too, and even MMO enthusiasts and WoW players have a corner to call their own. Today we're happy to give PC gamers a place to call home at our new sister site, Big Download. In partnership with our good friends at GameDaily, we're taking the wraps off the beta version of a full-fledged, fast and free PC downloads engine married to a news and features blog powered by Joystiq -- chock full of all the Special Goodness ^TM our writers bring to you daily.

At Big Download you'll get all the news and views fit to print about PC gaming, a file tracking system that remembers your favorite titles, and no waiting, no fees access to demos, patches, mods, trailers and more. We're inviting you to come on in, make yourself at home and start poking everything with sticks. Like any modern web product we're launching in beta version -- there may be kinks and rough edges to be worked out, so bear with us, mind the dust and be sure to send us any feedback you have so we can make all the final fixes. Unlike certain products that stay in beta forever we hope to remove the beta tag with all due swiftness and come out with guns blazing. Big guns.

We hope to see you at Big Download, where all the news is big and all the downloads are above average!

What word is perhaps most synonymous with the current MMO playing field? Grind. Realtime Worlds' Dave Jones (no relation?) is setting out to change that with the studio's first massively multiplayer title All Points Bulletin we caught wind of back in September. He's hoping the formula Crackdown + MMO = crack will be proven true with variables like infinite, professional-looking character and vehicle customization, contemporary setting, integration with last.fm and dynamic, variable team-sized missions hidden in the equation.

In today's innocuously-titled "My first MMO" panel at GDC, Jones revealed a number of details about those variables and showed off some gameplay and character customization demos that left a packed house audibly oohing and ahhing. Read on for a breakdown of the session and details on the game.

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Rob Pardo, Senior Vice President of Game Design, spoke earlier today on Blizzard's approach to multiplayer game design. Pardo shared what the iconic company has learned over the years of releasing titles like WoW, Starcraft, and Warcraft regarding game balance, PvP and UI design, player psychology and more. Head over to WoW Insider to check out the full transcript from the talk and the Q&A session plus a gallery of all the slides (and Pardo's handsome mug).

The new WoW patch 2.4 is already up on the Public Test Realms, and we're here to help players parse all the changes coming in 2.4 as well as what's new in Sunwell Isle content. Check out the patch notes and highlights below plus a compendium of new items and other changes after the break.

PATCH NOTES: 2.4 Patch notes are up The Sunwell Isle is now available for play. This area includes a new quest hub and 5-player and 25-player instances. Join the Shattered Sun Offensive in shutting down Kael'thas' nefarious operations. This new force is comprised by both the Aldor and Scryers and is led by the Naaru. Players will take part in claiming Sun's Reach and setting up a larger base of operation to stop Kael'thas and the Legion.

PATCH NOTES HIGHLIGHTS: What you really want to know about the patch 2.4 notes Yeah yeah, the full patch notes are a good read, but why read those when we can pull the good stuff out? Here's what we thought was big in patch 2.4.

Gallery: Patch 2.4 Sunwell Isle

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We've been working diligently behind the scenes to put the finishing touches on our new offering to the MMO-crazed among you, and we're super proud to announce Massively, a blog that obsessively covers massively multiplayer online games. If you like WoW Insider you'll love Massively -- and if you've been itching for in-depth coverage of other worlds you currently inhabit, Massively is the place for you. We've assembled a team of top-notch writers and players to deliver breaking news, original features, and expert analysis about the MMOs you play, and the titles you're most looking forward to.

Hop on over and check us out -- to sweeten the pot we're doing 24 hours of Tabula Rasa giveaways to celebrate our co-birthday with Richard Garriott's new opus today, and 2 more weeks chock full of schwag after that. Hope to see you there!

Here's a one-stop list of all the goodies we managed to get our mitts on here during E3 -- check out our impressions of your favorite upcoming titles (and hardware!):

• Army of Two
• Assassin's Creed
• Beautiful Katamari
• Boogie
• Burnout Paradise
• Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)
• Civilization Revolution
• The Club
• Crysis
• DDR Hottest Party (Wii)
• Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
• Fable 2
• Fallout 3
• Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings
• Fracture
• Halo 3 campaign
• Halo 3 Game Films
• Halo Wars
• Hands-on with the new PSP
• HORI VF5 joystick for Xbox 360
• LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
• Marathon Xbox Live Arcade
• Mass Effect
• Medal of Honor: Airborne
• Mercenaries 2
• The Orange Box
• PlayStation Home
• Rock Band
• Joystiq hands-on: The Simpsons
• Spider-Man: Friend or Foe
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Stranglehold
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Thrillville Off the Rails
• TimeShift
• Unreal Tournament III
• Wii Fit: Joystiq toes-on
• Wii Zapper

Joystiq live at Konami E308 press conference
2:41PM PST: We've taken our seats! Jay Boor, Konami's head PR guy welcomes us. Here we go! 2:43PM: Anthony Crauz, vice-pres of Konami's marketing welcomes us too and expresses his pleasure with the success of Metal Gear Solid 4. "Thank you very much for your support!" He also thanks SCEA for their support in developing the game. The "Gene" expansion is mentioned for Metal Gear Online -- it's coming July 17th complete with new maps and characters.
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Joystiq live at E3 2008 Take-Two press conference
10:51 am: Ben Fedder tells us that BioShock is the most anticipated game of E3. Wait, what year is this? Ohhh, for PS3. Really, most anticpated? 10:52 am: Video time. Showing off a bunch of games we know like Don King Prizefighter, MLB 2K8, The Bigs, Top Spin 3.
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Ubisoft's E3 2008 press conference liveblogging
5:42 The soft rock fades and a driving bass beat comes in. Silhouettes from a bunch of Ubi games filter in from the void. I saw a Rabbid, a soldier, a dancer, and a bunch more I couldn't place. Read on for more from the Ubisoft E3 2008 press conference!
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Capcom's E3 2008 press conference liveblogging
4:55 PM Pacific The press flows in amid a ridiculously loud and thumping, yet low-key bass beat. The seating area doesn't seem nearly as crowded as the UbiSoft conference. Must be all those journalists covering the tween girl market ... 4:57 Diving right in with Lost Planet, the movie. Seems the event is going to be focused on this new theatrical project. Cause who cares about the games, really...
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Joystiq live at Activision's Non-E3 press conference
7:24: Ladies and gentleman, please welcome actor, comedian and video game freak Nelson Diaz. He wants us to give us a round of applause. We're scared already. He list his street creds (over 45,000 gamerscore and a game forum contributor). We're suddenly so relieved. 7:26: Activision president Mike Griffith takes the stage, still holding onto his DS and Guitar Hero On Tour. Don't pause the game, show us how it's done!
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Highlights from Sony's E3 2008 press conference
In case you couldn't keep up with all the announcements, here are the highlights from Sony's E3 2008 press conference: Sony announces PS3 greatest hits: Resistance, Oblivion, others $30; New PS2 bundle has Lego Batman, Justice League movie, $149 price; Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty $14.99 this summer; read on for more!
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Engadget & Joystiq live from Sony's E3 2008 keynote
11:29: SOCOM is looking fun. Lots of players on screen. Of course, the dude playing MGS4 has been staring at a cutscene since the moment we walked in. 11:32: Just chatted with Xbox's Aaron Greenberg – he's been following our liveblogs from his phone, so now he's totally reading this and thinking, "Whoa, meta."
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Highlights from Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference
In case you couldn't keep up with all the announcements, here are the highlights from Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference: Ubisoft's Shaun White Snowboarding to use Wii Balance Board; Nintendo selling 200k Wiis a week, 700k a month; Animal Crossing: City Folk coming to Wii in 2008; read on for more!
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Engadget & Joystiq live from Nintendo's E3 2008 keynote
8:12 am PT: We're inside the Kodak Theater, waiting to be let in - a Nintendo representative encouraged us to grab some food and, after a brief period spent searching, we informed her that there was in fact no food. None. Anywhere. Do they expect us to resort to cannibalism!? 8:40 am PT: And we're in!
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Joystiq live at Electronic Arts E3 2008 press conference
2:53 pm PT: We're live at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles (seventh row, to be precise), ready for Electronic Arts' E3 2008 press conference. It should get underway in just a few minutes! 3:05pm PT: The screen blackens and a white EA logo fades in... read on for more!
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Highlights from Microsoft's E3 keynote
If you're looking for the unabridged version in all its glory, look no further than our liveblog with our fine friends at Engadget. If you're afflicted with crippling bouts of ADHD like we are and just want the meaty (beating, bloody) heart of the announcement highlights, please direct your eyeballs here!
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Engadget & Joystiq live from Microsoft's E3 2008 keynote
9:47 am PT: Alright! We're waiting in line for the MS press conference! We're feigning excitement through gratuitous use of exclamation points! Read on for the full live rundown from Microsoft's presser.
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Microsoft E3 2008 press conference: Let's play bingo!
We're going out on a limb and giving Avatars away as the free space. Click on each of the slides above for more information about our predictions. Microsoft's E3 press conference is scheduled for next Monday at 10:30 am PT (that's 1:30 pm Joystiq Time / ET). As always, we'll be liveblogging the event, so you can play along in real-time with us.
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Nintendo E3 2008 press conference: Let's play bingo
Today's card is for Nintendo (special thanks to Wii and DS Fanboy). Our fingers are crossed twice over (trust us, it's painful) for the no-brainer Pikmin sequel. Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference begins Tuesday, July 15, at 9:00am PT (that's 12:00 pm Joystiq Time / ET). As always, we'll be liveblogging the event, so you can play along in real-time with us.
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Sony's E3 2008 press conference: let's play bingo!
In anticipation of next week's E3 Media and Business Summit, we've prepared bingo cards for each of the big press conferences, filled with some likely (and some not-so-likely) predictions for what each of the big three console makers intends to announce at arguably the biggest trade shows of the year. First up to bat is Sony (special thanks to PS3 and PSP Fanboy), whose Tuesday conference we hope sheds some new light on Home, the next Heavenly Sword and perhaps some new PSP functionality. Sony's E3 press conference is scheduled for next Tuesday at 10:00 am PT (that's 1:00 pm Joystiq Time / ET). As always, we'll be liveblogging the event, so you can play along in real-time with us.
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Big Download's E3 Week Prediction Bingo
E3 is right around the corner, and that means one thing. Press briefings and conferences galore. Of course, our focus is on the PC which will have information spread throughout the event. What could be announced? There are so many possibilities. Picking and choosing among all of them is almost like a game ... of bingo!
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Massively's E3 Week Prediction Bingo
Every year it's customary to roll out predictions on what will and won't show up at the current year's E3 event. With Massively heading in the direction of the LA Convention Center already, we thought it might be fun to offer up some likely (and highly unlikely) predictions of what might get talked about next week. In reality, this is sort of a "future of the MMO industry list" as everything on here is more-or-less a current or upcoming trend. The only question is whether any given item will get discussed next week.
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Big Download's most anticipated PC games at E3
Despite what other articles might tell you the PC game industry will be represented very well at the expo this year with a number of highly anticipated game titles due to be shown to the invited press (and there may very well be a few surprise announcements in store for E3 that we don't know about yet). So what PC games are we most looking forward to seeing at E3 2008 next week? We've compiled a list of our top 25 picks.
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Can't say anyone's too surprised, but apparently the general reaction to the Xbox 360 launch in Japan today was lukewarm at best. Microsoft does have first-mover advantage there on the next-gen console playing field unlike last time around, and they're hoping that will be the ticket to increased sales in a market that, if first-day reaction is any indication, may end up preferring to wait for the PS3 or Revolution to arrive next year.

You know, people will turn an NES controller into just about anything, and lord knows we love 'em for it. This dude apparently got bored one Saturday and figured what else does one do on such a day but turn a cheap USB stick MP3 player into an NES DAP? Indeed. Witness the fruit of Martin's efforts, fully controllable by the NES controller's buttons and chargeable via USB, and then go figure out how to make yourselves more useful on boring Saturdays, will ya?

This one's for the masochists in the house — hacker Neisha Stadelhofer documents how to boot up the venerable old (well, maybe not so venerable but certainly old) Macintosh System 7 on the PSP via the Bochs emulator, running vMac in FreeDOS ("yes, an x86 emulator running a 680x0 emulator on a handheld gaming console"). She reports boot time is on the order of four hours so, you know, bring a magazine (rack) or something with you if you plan to recreate this proof-of-concept hack.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Well, don't get too excited because this is just analyst speculation, here. But a report out of Piper Jaffray has Sony releasing a new version of the PSP in mid-2006 — one that includes an internal hard drive. A couple of reasons are given — one, that Sony wants to have something to counter a potential next-gen Game Boy from Nintendo, and two, that Sony wants to expand the multimedia capabilities of the console and go head to head with the iPod. The release could also act as a stopgap until the PS3 finally rolls out. Still, you gotta imagine Sony execs sweating under the collar about giving up that money-fleecing Memory Stick racket, so we'll be taking all this with that proverbial grain of salt.

This isn't the first time we're hearing of a PSP-HDD configuration. Joystiq covered the same speculation from a different analyst in February.

[Thanks, DaGreasyGuide]