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So over the past few days I've broken down a couple of key games I got to check out during E3. Some hands-on, some not. I played and saw a lot of other games that maybe don't warrant their own post, so I'm just going to go over a few of them here. Read on for my time with NiGHTS 2, skate, Carnival Games, Call of Duty 4, Project Gotham 4, Guitar Hero III and Hail to the Chimp.
Nights 2 (Wii) 
After all these years I finally get to take a look at a sequel to Nights. Another hands-off demo, but this was such an early build I totally understood. Hell the only controller integration done so far was nunchuck support, the Wii-mote did nothing. Of course that won't be true for the final product. It was really more of a tech demo but I like what I see already. The cinemas were fantastic and the world seems perfectly suited for the Wii. It's bold bright and colorful, and just like the old game really gives the impression that your inside a dream world. I was so happy when they announced this game and after seeing it in motion I'm even more excited. Like most Wii games the graphics aren't as sharp as on other systems, but a game like Nights doesn't benefit from hyper-realistic graphics. skate. (360, PS3) 
I was very impressed coming out of this demo. The best way to think about the controls is to think about Fight Night's "total punch control". all your tricks will be done using the analog stick, and it's all very intuitive. Want to ollie? hold the stick down to crouch then flick it straight up. Flick it to the side to flip the board. The shoulder buttons control your hands, so to do a grab just get the air and press a shoulder button. Grinding isn't done magicially by pressing a button when you hit a rail, just land on the rail and you'll grind it. It took some hands-on time to get used to, but once you got it down it was amazingly fun pulling off tricks. To those tired of the Tony Hawk franchise, skate will bring you back to the fold.  Carnival games (Wii)
Yipee! Another collection of minigames! This one centers around the carnival atmosphere and features the "Test of Strength" mallot game, dunk a guy in water by hitting a target, Skee-ball, etc. All the games I played were essentially timing games, and while I like the atmosphere the games looked like they were gonna get old fast. I call this one a pass. Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat (360, PS3, PC?) 
Hands-off demo, which sucked the big one. Graphics are as smooth as everyone's been saying, and the thought of taking the CoD style game play into present day is enough to get me excited. I told the guy doing the demo how much I enjoyed listening to them make sure they mentioned part 1 and 2, but never Call of Duty 3 (of which development was taken away from Infinity Ward). This one looks like it's going to play just like Call of Duty 2, even the health system is the same. There's a cool "hyper-realistic" mode that doesn't use any HUD at all if you really want that extra challenge. There's supposed to be a beta online at some point. Project Gotham Racing 4 (360) 
We all heard about the addition of bikes, which is all fine and good but that's all they let you play in the demo. Against a full field of cars. It sucked. Everytime I'd get into a turn I'd get rear-ended and crashed by some computer controller car. Lame. You can pull wheelys for Kudos, so that was pretty cool. Graphics looked incredible but I'd offer more than riding a bike in the rain for a demo. Guitar Hero III (360, PS3, Wii) 
It's almost exactly the same as Guitar Hero II. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but there's no innovation here. The 2 player competitive power-ups seem really lame, but so far the track list kicks ass. Rock Band will be light years ahead of this game, but I still anticipate it being loads of fun. Plus Slash is in it. Hail to the Chimp (360, PS3) 
I really wanted to like this game, but I just can't find a good reason to. For a collection of Mario Party style games, they should be quick and a little frantic. The characters move WAY to slow to be interesting. There's a funny political satire storyline running through the game that is very cute, but that don't make up for the gameplay.
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And I concur with his analysis. Hilarious, but slow-paced and uninteresting gameplay doesn't do it any favors.