Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3)

[King Ellis]

Monday 6th June

• Microsoft - 9.30AM (Pacific)/12.30PM (Eastern)/5.30PM (UK)
  
• EA - 12.30PM/3.30PM/8.30PM
  
• Ubisoft - 2.30PM/5.30PM/10.30PM
  
• Sony - 5PM/8PM/1AM
  
  
  Tuesday 7th June
  
  

  • Nintendo - 9AM/12PM/5PM
    

  GameTrailers: http://www.gametrailers.com/e3/

  GameSpot: http://e3.gamespot.com/

  IGN: http://e3.ign.com/

  YouTube (IGN Partnership): http://www.youtube.com/E3

  1UP: http://www.1up.com/e3/

  G4tv Online: http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011

  Xbox: http://www.xbox.com/e3

  Xbox for mobile devices: http://www.xbox.mobi/e3

  Nintendo: http://e3.nintendo.com/

  Sony will be offering a stream of it's press conference on Playstion Home. People still use that, right? I mean, other than me and a few others on here who just go on to troll? EWB MST3K style Home party anyone?!

  So i'd say the biggest thing on the horizon this year is Nintendo and "Project Cafe". All manner of rumours on it have spread in the past few weeks with many seeing it as Nintendo going back to the 'hardcore' market. Blu-ray support? Superior graphics to the Xbox/PS3? (Let's hope so, they are 5-6 years old after all ) Upgradable system innards? Touch screen controllers? No hard drive?

  It should be interesting to see how this thing turns out. If they are indeed going to try and delve into the HD world, it's gonna need to be something that is superior to Microsoft and Sony since they've been out for years now. Plus, with online gaming getting bigger and bigger, friend codes aren't going to cut it if they want to win over CoD players and the like. The possible lack of a hard drive ties into that with the Wii's markeplace, by all accounts, allowing for only 50mb for a download, leaving some titles like Super Meat Boy unable to release on the system. Maybe a bit of onboard flash storage to allow for the likes of downloadable games and map packs, which again is going to be a big issue if they want to house some of the bigger franchises. Controllers is another big issue, mock ups picture them as having a large touch screen which I imagine wouldn't be cheap, especially for the customer. Controllers already tend to be around £30 in the UK, I dread to think what one would cost if you had to factor in a touch screen. Might make people think twice about lobbing them across the room in frustration. Though, the idea of a touch screen sounds cool in theory. Imagine having a map on your controller or managing your inventory without having to stop the game to fiddle through menus. Maybe even the possibility of using a DS/3DS as a controller? It's something Nintendo has experimented with in the past with the Gamecube/GBA.

  Sony should have more on it's NGP, rumoured to be redubbed as Vita. The 3DS' launch has fallen a little flat with little in the way of support so the NGP could grab some people's interest, especially with it's comparable power to the 360/PS3. Maybe some details on price/release? I would imagine a Christmas release is in store. Sony will have to continue to face the jibes about it's recent problems with the Playstation Network too. Some expect them to come out and apologise again but I dunno, with them having already apologised numerous times, it seems like they'd just want to focus on moving forward and highlighting what they have in store for the future with NGP/games etc. Though I guess you could also argue it's something you can't really just ignore. Maybe some skit involing Kevin Butler early on to draw a line under the affair and then move on? Oh, and I guess we'll see if those '5 hour' stories are true. Maybe an hour and a half or two hours for the press conference and the rest as sort of a party for the people there but surely not a whole 5 hours worth of press conference?!

  Microsoft has slipped under the radar somewhat, with everyone focusing on Sony's issues and Nintendo's latest project, there hasn't been much said about Microsoft which could either end up with them shocking everyone with unexpected new stuff or, more likely, retreading old ground with the likes of Gears, Halo and Forza. Indeed, Gears 3 is likely to play a big role with it's release a few months away and with some pegging this as the year of the 'hardcore Kinect titles', a Gears of War title could be on the way. Mass Effect 3 is also said to have some Kinect functionality and Forza 4 has a head tracking feature which utilises the Kinect. A remake of the original Halo is also on the horizon, perhaps it too plays friendly with the Kinect?

  The rest of the year is loaded with new releases which should play a part in the next few days: Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim, Bioshock Infinite, Uncharted 3, Saints Row 3, Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3, Batman Arkham City, Twisted Metal, Zelda Skyward Sword, Dead Island, Tomb Raider, Assasin's Creed Revelations, The Lost Guardin, Ico/Shadow of the Collosus HD, Dark Souls, Earth Defence Force Insect Armageddon etc etc etc. RIP Wallets.

[Ruki]

So, according to a friends twitter, some of the Microsoft stuff leaked (Halo remake, some kinect games).

Link

[King Ellis]

My dummy American account (Halo4Pwner) will actually have context now.

[Berober]

If the words 'Persona' appear at all during the Sony conference, this will be a very good E3. Doubt it though

[Herr Matzat]

Apple starts presenting in a cupple of minutes. THey got their own little developer conference. It will be lots of talk about their OSes and the new cloud based music service. But with Gaming becomming more important to mac and esp. the iOS devices i might not the only one to be interested in what they talk about wen it comes to iOS5.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/wwdc-2011-liveblog-steve-jobs-talks-ios-5-os-x-lion-icloud-an/?sort=newest&refresh=60

[Regia]

Is the dodgy sound on the Microsoft conference an error their end, something going wrong with IGN's coverage, or just my computer being useless?

[King Ellis]

Seems fine for me, i'm watching on GT.

Tomb Raider looks pretty cool, something I might look out for now. Didn't really have it on my horizon before.

[Regia]

I may move over, the audio is definatly an issue IGN's end.

[Berober]

Missed the MW3 trailer, no big deal.

Tomb Raider and Mass Effect 3 look very nice. I was pleasantly surprised with Future Soldier too, just don't bother with Kinect.

[TKz]

Is there/will there be anywhere to watch the stuff you've missed soon?

[King Ellis]

Most stream providers will have the confereces up for replay and all the trailers and what not pretty quickly.

[Herr Matzat]

Last year some of the trailers already were apearing on gametrailers ect. while the presentation wassent even over.

[King Ellis]

Oh shit, Minecraft for 360 with Kinect support? I guess it makes sense with the Fortress Craft on indie games. I should totally get a free copy for buying the Alpha for PC.

[GoGo Yubari]

Oh man, watching child actors playing video games! This didn't go over like a lead balloon last year at all.

EDIT: Fiiist-bump!

[LL!]

Pretty sure you guys are staring into Fitzy's happy place.

[King Ellis]

Oh man, watching child actors playing video games! This didn't go over like a lead balloon last year at all.

But now they're fist bumping like Bro's!

I liked when they would crash into a wall, they'd have to respawn but it would pretty much spawn them in the path of another wall.

[GoGo Yubari]

YES. NOW THE PRESENTATION IS COOL AGAIN

[King Ellis]

I dunno, I heard this Kinect Star Wars was meant to be bad.

[GoN_]

This star wars game seems awful.

[GoGo Yubari]

Did Tim Schafer just get introduced by Cookie -- yes. Yes he did.