Typically what you'd find at E3 is the nigh impossibility to get anything constructive done while on the show floor during the mass hysteria of sights and sounds. Thankfully most companies have organized meetings with journalists away from the hubbub of their booths where someone like me can really soak up information without trouble. Here we journalists can calmly sit down and enjoy a nice explanation from the developers about why their game kicks ass and take all the copious notes we desire. Usually this is where the detailed write ups about a company's lineup gets jotted down and you the reader end up enjoying some time after that. It's been said before and I'll say it again; thank god this is done.

Eidos had a plethora of titles they were showcasing this year in their meeting room for virtually every platform out on the market. With next-generation development in full swing it was nice to see Eidos still strongly supporting the current systems with a variety of games and even a few portable surprises thrown in the mix. With limited time I decided to check out three highly anticipated titles; Hitman: Blood Money for the Xbox 360 and Tomb Raider: Legend for both the Sony PSP & Nintendo DS.

Hitman: Blood Money (Xbox 360)
The star of Eidos' lineup is the newest sequel in the Hitman series and it seems like it'll score a big hit among the stealth fans. After nearly three years of development Hitman: Blood Money is another successful improvement on the formula and also marks the series' first outing on a next-generation system. Agent 47 comes with a couple of new tricks in addition to the clothes swapping and piano wire kills. Multiple new ways to kill and dispose of the bodies are available to the player further enhancing his stealth repertoire. Improvements to the game include random goal placements, picture-in-picture events, and the new bounty system that punishes players if they aren't secretive. All three of these additions were demoed in the New Orleans level where Agent 47 had to find and assassinate a few targets which were randomly placed in the level. The picture-in-picture was shown when Agent 47 drugged someone and the bounty system took effect after the mission where it tallied up all your mistakes and increased the bounty. The cool part about that feature is that it makes the future levels more difficult since you're better known and the A.I will recognize you easier. To further dramatize that, you're shown a newspaper clipping that details the events that transpired in the mission. The player has the choice to pay off the bounty or to spend it on weapons, a nice decision that forces the player to be more strategic. I was pleasantly surprised by this series a few years back and I'm glad to see it going strong, be on the look out for it at the end of the month.

Tomb Raider: Legend (PSP)
As you might have guessed, Tomb Raider for the PSP is a port of the PS2 version sans a few graphical effects. Although not a perfect port the game looks nearly indistinguishable from its bigger PS2 cousin and even comes with a few enhancements such as costumes, levels, and most importantly an exclusive multi-player mode. The multi-player dubbed Raid 'n Seek is hide-and-seek game of sorts with one player hiding a treasure somewhere in the level and the other player going out to find it. It seems like an interesting and logical addition to the formula and provides some worthwhile replayability to the title. One of the cool features is the ability to transfer your save file between the console and portable versions. For those of us who're rich and own both versions you can continue your journey on the PSP when you leave the house and revert back to the console when you're back. Although the game doesn't provide anything substantial to the veterans of the console iteration Eidos has packed in a few extras to make it worth a look when it launches this fall.

Tomb Raider: Legend (Nintendo DS)
Unlike the PSP release the DS version is a completely new game based roughly on the events of the console iteration. Featuring 2.5D gameplay, players take Lara through a side-scrolling romp while utilizing various features of the Nintendo DS to make it a wholly unique experience. Examples include using the touch screen to move Lara when she's underwater or to change her equipment and using the microphone to dust off items you find throughout the adventure. Even the wi-fi capabilities are put to good use by trading items with a friend to get a better advantage or to help them out. Though the DS isn't a 3D powerhouse like the PSP the game still has a nice engine featuring fully polygonal stages similar to the Crash Bandicoot series on the PlayStation and even a few compressed videos thrown in for good measure. Though the game was a bit early it played well enough and handled similarly to the previous Tomb Raider games on the Game Boy Color. Eidos plans on shipping the game sometime during the fall.