E3 is coming soon, and this year promises to be interesting.
Starting June 6th and
ending June 9th, coverage of Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, and third-party developer's newest junk that satisfies our empty lives will begin!
Last year, we caught a glimpse of Nintendo's new 3DS handheld system, Sony's PlaystationMove, Xbox's Kinect, and many games.
Some of which have yet to be released, and are eagerly awaited.
Links:
Official WebsiteWikipedia PageG4 Coverage PageNintendo-Only Coverage Page (live online coverage, courtesy of and only for Nintendo)
GameTrailer's E3 pageGameSpot's E3 page (Complete with countdown!)
IGN's E3 pageE3's YouTube ChannelE3 ScheduleG4 TV ScheduleE3 2011 Live TV and Online Streaming Schedule
(All Times EST)
Monday, June 6th
12:30 PM MICROSOFT Press Conference (Online Only)
3:00 PM E3 2011 LIVE Preview Show
This first day of E3 goodness includes a LIVE HANDS ON DEMO of Modern Warfare 3, commercial free coverage of the Ubisoft & Sony press conferences, plus WORLD PREMIERES for Gears of War 3 (exclusive campaign demo), Saints Row: The Third, Dead Island (exclusive Multiplayer demo), and Prototype 2. Live guests include Cliff B & Ice-T. And we’ll have the exclusive reveal of Ice’s character “Griffin’ from Gears of War 3.
3:30 PM EA Press Conference (Online Only)
5:00 PM UBISOFT Pre-Show
5:30 PM Spotlight: UBISOFT Press Conference
7:00 PM UBISOFT Post-Show
7:30 PM SONY Pre-Show
8:00 PM Spotlight: SONY Press Conference
9:30 PM SONY Post-Show
Tuesday, June 7th
11:00 AM NINTENDO Pre-Show
12:00 PM Spotlight: NINTENDO Press Conference
2:00 PM NINTENDO Post-Show
2:30 PM Spotlight: MICROSOFT Press Conference
4:00 PM E3 2011 LIVE
The first day of the convention begins with LIVE COVERAGE from Nintendo followed by a commercial free presentation of the Microsoft press conference at 11:00am ET and runs through 9:30pm ET. We’ll have an exclusive two part Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim HANDS ON DEMO from Todd Howard. Then the legendary Hulk Hogan joins us on stage, a new look at Bioshock Infinite plus HANDS ON DEMOS of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Uncharted 3, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Twisted Metal, Mass Effect 3, Battlefield 3, and several unannounced mega hits.
Wednesday, June 8th
6:00 PM E3 2011 LIVE
G4's E3 2011 LIVE show on Wednesday focuses on EXCLUSIVE HANDS ON DEMOS and INTERVIEWS from the G4 stage at the convention center. Coverage begins at 6pm ET and runs through 9pm ET, with a special E3-themed episode of Web Soup at 9pm ET. We’ll have LIVE HANDS ON DEMOS of Batman: Arkham City, WWE 2012, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Tekken X Street Fighter, Resistance 3, SSX Deadly Descent, plus a FIRST LOOK AT HORDE MODE for Gears of War 3 and many more.
Thursday, June 9th
6:00 PM E3 2011 LIVE
Our final day of LIVE E3 COVERAGE begins at 6pm ET and runs through 9pm ET. We’ll have HANDS ON DEMOS of Forza Motorsport 4, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Rage, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, Madden NFL 12, and MORE UNANNOUNCED GAMES.
Read more: http://www.g4tv.com/e3-2011/tv-schedule/#ixzz1OKDKZJEj
Rumors, expectations, and announcements:Nintendo:
This year, Nintendo is planning to show their hand in HD with their latest system known as "Project Cafe".
Last month,
rumors started surfacing about this new console. It has been rumored that it will either be on par, or better than PS3/360 systems as well as a new controller with a form of touch-pad in the center.
Nintendo has also confirmed this sweet thing will be out in 2012.Unofficial, and possibly fake "leaks" of the prototype system and controller designs:
(Click on images to enlarge in new tab)Quite interesting. It's exciting to me because I can't help but think of an HD Zelda title.
What excites me more is that Nintendo has confirmed that it WILL be at e3, and it WILL be open to the public to play with!
Officially, practically nothing has been said about this new console, so it's hard to determine what we shall see. But that also makes it more unnervingly exciting to see what they will roll out as demos and whatnot.
But enough about that lovey gray box. The 3DS and the Wii are not dead yet.
It has been confirmed that many 3DS games are to be shown, and at least Skyward Sword will be shown off for the Wii.
For the 3DS, we've got quite a few first-party titles. Mario Kart 3DS, Super Mario 3DS, Animal Crossing 3DS, Paper Mario 3DS, and more. It excites me that they will finally be getting some first-party titles out and about for the 3DS, as it lacks it ever so much. Personally, I find most of these confirmed titles to be a must-have for the 3DS.
The 3DS is also lacking in many promised features, such as an internet channel and eShop channel. Perhaps more details of these features and more will be revealed during their presentation.
Although last year we saw Skyward Sword on the Wii, the demonstration was butchered with technical difficulties. It makes sense that we would see more of it again. As a huge Zelda fan, I'm excited to play any they release and the combination of Wind Waker-Twlight Princess graphics makes me drool.
Other then that, not much is known of what will be shown for the Wii. But Zelda is better than nothing in my book.
Overall, Nintendo has got much to show, and probably many surprises to be unveiled (perhaps Pikmin 3, a new Star Fox, or maybe a Yoshi game). Time will tell, but Nintendo appears to be the most exciting of the trio showing off this year.
Sony:
Unlike Nintendo,
Sony and Microsoft do not plan to bring out any new home consoles for at least another two or three years.With their recent embarrassment with PSN, perhaps they can regain some trust with something interesting this year.
The most talked about thing with Sony, other than PlayStation Network (I laughed as I wrote that, poor Sony), is currently known as the Next Generation Portable, or PSP2. Sony's successor to Playstation Portable.
It was officially announced at the end of January, and has been quite interesting to look at. Some footage shows that is obviously the most advanced handheld device in the gaming industry. Although it does not have glasses-free 3D as the 3DS has, it's graphical and processing capabilities are by far superior.
It has been said this thing is just under the capabilities of the Playstation 3.
(Click on images to enlarge in new tab)Kotaku's Various NGP Topics Compiled into OneGame
titles for this system are scarce, but with LittleBigPlanet, "Untitled Hideo Kojima game" (no doubt a Metal Gear Solid title), and a handful of First-Person-Shooters, it's probably already popular.
No doubt this will be their main course this year, with many demonstrations and game titles. I'd assume something related to PSP will be talked about as well, it's not completely dead yet.
Personally, I don't care about it. I never liked Sony's handhelds.
NGP aside, they still have some games to get worked up over, if you're into them at least. Fans of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus will be excited to see The Last Guardian at e3 this year. Twisted Metal, Ratchet & Clank, and Uncharted will be shown off, and I can't help but expect a few surprises.
Sony needs to get back in the game if they want to keep their fanbase,
otherwise many more will migrate to Xbox.
Good luck to you, Sony.
Microsoft:
Again, unlike Nintendo,
Microsoft won't be bringing home big bacon this year.For the most part, they've called this "Xbox 360 E311 Media Briefing". Sounds boring, probably filled with charts and stuff gamers don't care about. I'd at least assume something interesting about Xbox 360, the future, or Kinect. Microsoft isn't one for handhelds it seems, but hell they might go that far.
First-party wise, not much is confirmed with the games. Gears of War 3 is confirmed, and some sports racing game. Since this is the first E3 where Microsoft owns Halo, I'd expect to see a something there.
They've already decided to make an HD-remake of Halo: Combat Evolved, so perhaps we'll see that this at E3.
Unfortunately, Microsoft keeps its secrets so their section in this topic is dry. On to the next.
Third-Party developers:
This section is dedicated to the various games to be expected by developers such as Square Enix, SEGA, Activision, Ubisoft, and so on.
This is usually juicy and filled with stuff that can be exciting. But I'm not going to make it look that way.
I shall start out by letting you down before I amp your spirits.
Valve is not showing off anything, so let that sink in and we'll continue.
2K Games will be showing off Bioshock: Infinite, and Duke Nukem Forever(lol).
Konami will be showing Silent Hill: Downpour as well as Metal Gear Solid: Rising. (yay!)
Activision will please some with another Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3, as well as a couple DC Comic games and such.
Capcom has Megaman Legends 3, Street Fighter, and Resident Evil (I personally am hoping for something related to the Ace Attorney series).
EA is bringing Mass Effect 3, Need for Speed, and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
SEGA has something new called Binary Domain, as well as Sonic Generations (< hopeful for that one).
Square Enix wants to show us more Final Fantasy, as always, and a hint of Tomb Raider.
Finally, for my list off, Ubisoft will be showing off Assassin's Creed 4, Driver: San Francisco, and other things.
That is just a taste of confirmed titles. Surprises always happen with third-party, I expect some interesting stuff.
Most of these games are for PC, 360, and PS3, so most will be playable for all.
tl;dr - Nintendo's show promises to be awesome, Sony has NGP, Microsoft is in the dark, and third-party games are abound.
Show Posts
