We also know that many of you have an itchy trigger finger, so we’re making sure that you have plenty of opportunities to experience the battle before launch. Many of you were fortunate to have some time with MAG at E3. Now the Shadow War continues at PAX; Join Zipper, SCEA, Jeff, Chris and fellow PlayStation.Blog readers for a MAG-centric community event in downtown Seattle. The event is scheduled for Friday, September 4th from 6:00 – 9:00 PM PDT. 200 lucky PS.Blog readers are invited to attend the 256-person function and get hands-on with a new MAG map. Members from the MAG team at Zipper will be on hand to take your feedback and answer your questions. SCEA will also be showing off the new PSPgo and a few upcoming PSP titles.

All you need to do is be one of the first to RSVP below and choose which private army you plan to join. By now, you’ve read and heard some of the information on the three PMCs in MAG—Raven, Valor, and S.V.E.R.—and it’s time for you to start choosing your allegiance. Be prepared to stand up for your private army.

And if you can’t make it to PAX, we’ll be doing something special for a select group of PS.Blog readers, so stay tuned for more details. We’ll also be releasing more information on the MAG Public Beta very soon.

Battle lines are being drawn in the Shadow War and no mercy will be shown after January 26th, 2010. For those of you who were unable to attend E3, here’s the first Web release of the MAG E3 trailer. We’ll have new assets coming very soon.

Regardless, simply hanging out with Jeff, myself and hundreds of other excited PlayStation gamers was awesome enough justify the trip. Huge thanks to all who showed up and to everyone at Mama’s. And for those who couldn’t make the trip, below are some of the highlights (check our Flickr page for all the pics). Here’s to a great PS E3, and we’ll see you next time!

This is merely half the line outside Mama’s prior to opening. I bet Mama would love PlayStation to stop by every day! And in turn, I’d love one of these tamales for lunch every day of my life.

The Slant Six crew setting up Fireteam Bravo 3 before the flood gates open.

Jeff, Chris and Mama herself!

Yes! Hip Hop Gamer is a regular at our meet-ups, shooting some vids from within the line and chatting it up with Jeff.

The first Fireteam Bravo 3 victims! Everyone who played had a chance to win some great PSP prizes.

The craziness inside. Seriously, this place was packed. Sometimes you have to endure some sweatiness to get the goods.

Shots of the winners of the Fireteam Bravo 3 co-op competition. Lucky winners took home PSPs!

We also definitively proved that I’m a better Hot Shots Golf player than Andrew Yoon.

Fast forward to 2009, and E3 is back to its former glory. I even hear that booth babes will return. So we better step up our game. That’s why I’m happy to announce the PSB E3 2009 meet-up!

On Sunday, May 31st, Chris, myself, and the rest of the PlayStation.Blog staff will celebrate the start of E3 2009 with a fiesta at Mama’s Hot Tamales Café (the Los Angeles location) from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. If I could bring San Francisco’s Tamale Lady down to cook for you, I would. Fortunately, I hear Mama makes one heck of a tamale herself.

But it’s not all about food – the PlayStation.Blog E3 Meet-up will be the first public hands-on showing of SOCOM Fireteam Bravo 3, and the devs will be on hand to answer questions and offer tips. Free food, pre-release game, what else do you need? Oh yes…

In true PlayStation.Blog meet-up fashion,we’ll also be giving away cool prizes, free schwag and a special incentive for the ultimate PlayStation fans: on top of all that, I’m happy to announce that the first 100 people through the door will be granted access to the PlayStation E3 Press Conference, taking place the following Tuesday at 11am!

Note: You must be 18 years or older to attend. It’s a school day :-)

Oh, and yes, this event is free. If you think you can make it, please RSVP on our Facebook event page (or, if you don’t “do” FB, email us your RSVP here).

We hope to see you there!

If I wasn’t working at PlayStation, sounds like something I’d want to attend. So, we figured, why not? Which is why we’re going to open up our PlayStation.Blog.Lounge to our readers and fans during a special GDC Meetup, next Wednesday evening (March 25th, 7-9pm) in San Francisco. BTW, please don’t complain that it’s not at [insert your hometown here] – we don’t run the convention!

PlayStation.Blog readers, fanboys, aspiring bloggers and gamers are all welcome to eat, drink, meet, chat, and maybe even play some stuff that isn’t out yet ;-)

Space is super limited, so you need to click the registration button below to RSVP and let us know you’ll be there:

We hope to see you next week!

PS: BRING YOUR PSP!

To celebrate the 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th) coming of the Street Fighter legacy, Capcom threw a giant launch party a few days ago in downtown Los Angeles. Many of you attended, some were rebuffed by the LA fire marshal, but all that made it in had a great time.

When I first arrived, Capcom Community Guy and Street Fighter Legend Seth Killian offered up a tour. I rolled video so you could see what went down inside:

More pics of the event here. Thanks Justin M!

Gushing fanboy time: my personal highlights were getting my phone engraved, meeting Cmdr. Geordi La Forge, and getting my butt handed to me by Destructoid’s Nick Chester 3 matches in a row.

Again, it was great meeting those who got in, and I extend my personal apologies for those invitees turned away due to overcapacity.

The party will take place at the Geffen Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown LA, playing host to both hadoukens and Hollywood elite. You know you want to go, so here’s all you need to do: email us at streetfighterlaunchparty@gmail.com, and put your first and last name in the subject line. That’s it, we’ll get you on the list! One name per email, please, as we can only get 302 of you in.

Why three-hundred and two? Because 2 of you, selected at random, will get upgraded to VIP status, with access to the PS3-only VIP area (must be over 21). Please remember, do not feed the reality show stars!

If you want in, get that 2-word email to us by 9am tomorrow morning. I’ll be there, and hope to see you as well. Challenges welcome… I’ve been practicing!

Oh, and a PROTIP from me: The optional install for SFIV is well worth a bit of your hard drive space – it drives load times in between matches down to almost nothing.

One final note from Capcom: PlayStation gamers will soon be able to experience Resident Evil 5 for themselves as the intense new two-level demo will be downloadable on the PlayStation Network for the PLAYSTATION 3 on February 2, 2009. With three modes of action- single-player with AI controlled support, split-screen two-player co-op and two-player co-op across PlayStation Network- the demo will give fans an in-depth glimpse into the game a month before it launches on Friday, March 13, 2009.

Capcom threw one heck of an event: swank hotel suite, 4 PS3 Street Fighter setups with the official, upcoming Mad Catz arcade sticks and Fight Pads, and a bracket of fighters ready to whup each other up in Street Fighter IV.

The last man standing was Joe C., who powered his way through the tourney with Sagat. He Tiger Uppercutted Major Nelson’s representative, Josh (via E. Honda), in a dramatic title match, to claim the spoils (a limited edition Star Wars Battlefront PSP bundle), and defend PlayStation’s good name.

Joe then took on Justin Wong, one of the very best Street Fighter players in the world, who came out on the winning end with Chun Li.

On the, um, less competitive end of the spectrum, I managed to take my first round match with Guile, but went down 3-1 against Alex N. in the 3rd round. Got to let someone else win the prizes, right? ;-)

Thanks to everyone who came out (some from as far as Florida!!), thanks to Joe C. for donating his awesome skills to the cause, thanks to Justin M. for taking the pics (more here), and extra special thanks to Capcom, who have something else to announce: That wasn’t your last chance to get your hands on Street Fighter IV before its February 17th release date.

If you’re going to be in the San Francisco area this week, they’re holding an even bigger event on Friday night. Want to attend? Head over to Capcom Unity to find out the details.

Sure, who doesn’t want to get their hands on Street Fighter IV more than a month before it’ll be in stores? Well, Capcom is offering some PlayStation.Blog readers the chance to do just that, later this week in Las Vegas. Better yet, your Dragon Punches, Flash Kicks, and That-Thing-Vega-Does-Where-He-Jumps-Off-The-Edge-Of-The-Screen-And-Suplexes-Fools will count for Team PlayStation in a friendly bout vs the readers of Microsoft’s Major Nelson!

Here’s how it works: We’ll hold a tournament on the PLAYSTATION 3 version of Street Fighter IV to determine the best PlayStation player. This fantastic and charismatic individual will be awarded a Collector’s Edition Street Fighter IV, before taking on the Microsoft winner. This person will then be victorious, because they’re just that special. Capiche?

Do you think you’re that person? Well, if you’re 18 or older *and* will be in Las Vegas this Saturday (January 10th) *and* know how to pull off a Super, email iwannaplaystreetfighteriv@gmail.com with your name, PSN ID, and why you think you should have a chance to compete. I’ll be in touch.

Please keep in mind that only 20 players can compete on behalf of PlayStation, as room and time are limited. Each chosen competitor will be allowed to bring one guest to witness their moment in the sun. More details here.

If you can’t make it to Vegas, look for updates on Capcom’s Unity Blog, and right here on the PSB a week from today. Good luck, and remember: You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance!

And yet last Friday we held our biggest, most fun, and best event ever. Over 150 Floridians turned out (many driving from far-off locations such as Tampa and Gainesville) to partake in WipEout HD, LittleBigPlanet beta, Buzz! Quiz TV and BBQ. It was great to get to talk with so many of you, many of whom expressed thanks for coming all the way out there.

My favorite story of the night came from the gentleman (pictured below), who bet his friend $5 that he wouldn’t win anything, “because he never does.” This, of course, is right before he won a copy of Buzz PS3.

Actually, everyone was a winner, as we surprised attendees with LittleBigPlanet beta codes, prompting the biggest cheers of the night.

Thanks again to everyone who attended, and especially to Matt and Sean who took so many great pics with their fancy SLR cameras. Oh, and to the Orlando Sentinel, PS3 Fanboy, and other bloggers who wrote about the event.

Uber-extra-special thanks to the fine folks at Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy/UCF, for proving such gracious hosts in an awesome venue. Thanks Todd, Rich, and JR.

Just so you know, we’ll be back in Central Florida (in a somewhat different capacity) in just a couple of weeks during the PlayStation Pro.

Oh, and we’ve got a few extra LBP codes for those who couldn’t make it. The first 50 people to email us at playstationblogorlando@gmail.com will receive an LBP beta key by the end of the day (Pacific time!).

UPDATE: All winners have been identified, and will be receiving their codes shortly (some of you have them already). So, um, that’s good on the emails! Thanks!