For the last few days, I’ve been hanging out at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) at the Los Angeles Convention Center. I got the chance to meet a lot of great people from the computer and video games industry. As I explored E3, I also met a lot of other computer and video game characters, like Mario, Sonic and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The JumpStart Team and I also got to hang out with the staff of Woot, an online community and store. And guess what! They chose me as the best mascot of E3 2009! loved playing games with the Woot staff, and I’m glad they had a great time too.

Some of my favorite demos included EA’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince video game. The game allows you to play your favorite characters and duel with different spells using the Wii remote as a wand. I was also blown away by the new Beatles Rock Band! Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr from The Beatles, along with Yoko Ono, made an appearance to premiere the new game. This includes some of my favorite songs such as Octopus’ Garden, Here Comes the Sun, and Day Tripper.

Happy exploring,
Frankie

For those of you who love both social networking and gaming (we do!), you might be interested to know that Microsoft has announced integrated Facebook and Twitter functionality will be coming to Xbox 360 this fall. If straight gaming is more your thing, be warned that Microsoft is on the verge of making gaming possible with no remote at all! Their new camera attachment for Xbox captures full-body movements to let players control games without wielding a remote of any sort. Watch a preview! Sony is also developing a whole new way to play games and showed off a prototype of a new motion controller at a recent press conference.

Over at the JumpStart booth, Executive Producer Jeffrey Kessler and Associate Producer Jeremy Holmes gave a number of great demonstrations of the new JumpStart Pet Rescue game. A few lucky visitors had the chance to try their hands at the game, and quickly managed to teach their virtual pets to backflip, jump, spin and dance with the help of the Wii remote – such fun! We also showed off MarineLand, our upcoming addition to JumpStart.com, complete with mermaid tails and underwater Punk Punks! We’re currently gearing up for E3 Day 3 and hoping it will be as busy and fun as the first 2 days of the show!

If you happen to be attending E3 this year, be sure to stop by Booth #2461 in the South Hall to say hi. If you aren’t attending, stay tuned here and @JumpStart_Erin on Twitter for updates on the show!

Down one of the aisles, visitors found our Knowledge Adventure booth – complete with stations to try out our new DS, Wii and online games. Our producers and artists were on-hand to show off their creations and everyone was very excited to see (and try!) JumpStart Pet Rescue – our first game for the Wii. Visitors also had the chance to see into the future, literally, as they explored a demo of what JumpStart.com will look like over the next few months. Get excited…there are llamas involved!

Plus, JumpStart’s own Frankie made an appearance in the flesh…errr fur…and delighted the attendees with his stellar dance moves. He even played Dance Dance Revolution and won – in spite of those clumsy paws!

Frankie showing off his dance moves!

But Frankie was not the only game character on the show floor at E3. A quick stroll around the booths and you just might run into a pair of furry bunnies or Bayonetta, a leather clad warrior from one of Sega’s new games.

Elsewhere at the expo, Michael Gallagher, President of the Entertainment Software Association, delivered his State of the Industry Address. Gallagher announced that “an impressive 68 percent of American households play games together and 42 percent of families own a dedicated game console” (source: E3 Official Show Daily). Now those are the type of numbers we like to hear – especially with our new Wii games in the works!

Part of the JumpStart crew hanging out with Frankie

If you happen to be attending E3 this year, be sure to stop by Booth #2461 in the South Hall to say hi. If you aren’t attending, stay tuned here and @JumpStart_Erin on Twitter for updates on the show!