Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream’s new cinematic third-person PS3 adventure game, was playable with the option of one of two demos: Somalia or Hunted. I played both roughly twenty-minute demos. I am very grateful for this, as both demos have two completely different feels to them, almost as if they were two completely different games.

I never got around to playing Bastion, but I did watch friends play it. The game seemed odd, the isometric camera angle weirded me out, and it lacked a hook to pull me into its world. This isn’t the case with Supergiant Games’ turn-based strategy game Transistor. When it was revealed at the Sony press conference on Monday evening, I immediately felt compelled to play it.

I met up with Greg Kasavin, Transistor’s writer and designer, at Sony’s booth. I was honest: I told him that I never played Bastion, or really had the interest to, but wanted to play Transistor. I asked him what it was about, how it was different, what I should expect. Kasavin laughed and said, “You know what? How about you go in cold. I think it’ll be better for you that way instead of me trying to explain everything.”

And boy, was he right.

Bethesda opened its E3 presentation with The Evil Within. On-hand representatives claimed, “We wanted to make a game that was truly horrifying.” Horrifying was right.

The Evil Within was so damn scary that I truly do not have faith in myself, or many others to review it. The game has an old Resident Evil or Silent Hill feel that keeps you not only on the edge of your seat, but on the edge of sanity.

With the assistance of modern technology, any of us can be scanned and accurately represented in a video game. Great examples are Ellen Page in Beyond: Two Souls, Yvonne Strahovski in Mass Effect 2 and 3, and James McCaffrey in Max Payne to name a few. If you’ve played through the Mass Effect franchise, you’re familiar with Samara the Justicar, a strong, wise Asari with incredible features. She has a defined bone structure, big blue eyes, and intense cheekbones — but were you aware Samara is real? Samara is modeled after San Diego native Rana McAnear. We wanted to know what it’s like to be the face of a well-known character, so we asked Rana some questions.

Good question. I spent nearly four years as a manager for the biggest video game distributor in the world: GameStop. I worked in different stores, districts, and regions. I hired, trained, promoted, and fired countless people. I did things both above and below my pay grade, and did it with pride. Did I leave the company on bad terms? Not even in the slightest.

I have been asked many, many questions about the behind the scenes happenings at GameStop, but as an employee I signed a contract stating I would not speak of the company in any shape or form on the Web. I left Gamestop on January 19th, 2013. I’m finally letting loose

At this year’s PAX East, Bioware lightly touched upon the idea of a new Mass Effect game. Casey Hudson was incredibly vague in regards to details, but stated that the upcoming title would be “a fresh and new experience.” The game may be called Mass Effect 4, and will be released for next-generation consoles. Bioware has also confirmed development, and if we’re lucky, we may get to see something at E3 this summer.

Sony brought a thirty-minute demo of The Last of Us to PAX East. There wasn’t a single moment when the line for this survival horror/action game wasn’t capped, and there was a damn good reason for it. The Last of Us is a damn fine game.

Fallout, Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, Metro, and other post-apocalyptic games have one shared aspect in common: A lack of realism. If the world were to be laid waste by nuclear warfare, there wouldn’t be bullets and food everywhere. That’s where The Last of Us shines.

Bioware recently released its final Mass Effect 3 DLC, The Citadel, which represents the last downloadable content that series fans will see in some time — at least until the company’s new title set in the Mass Effect universe hits store shelves. Commander Shepard’s final adventure, as expected, is both shocking and special. The Citadel is obviously designed to be played before Mass Effect 3′s final mission as much of the dialogue references “one last good run” and “one last night together.” As such, the story and its components, are incredibly sentimental, giving the fans dialogue to satisfy their head cannons.

It has been an incredibly rough year for you, Vita. You’ve only sold a little over 2 million units, while your angry neighbor across the street, 3DS, sold almost 20 million units since its release. But that’s okay! You’ve got things it doesn’t. Like a half a gig o’ RAM, and a 5-inch OLED screen, and technically 4G capabilities! Don’t let anyone put you down! You’re one of a kind, kid.

So, Sony invited journalists and analysts from the world over to share a few details on its upcoming PlayStation 4 console. And we got just that — a few details. Call me jaded, but I don’t expect much from video game press conferences even at E3; there’s just so much fluff and hyperbole. The PS4 event was par for the course.