E3 Update #1:

Hey Guys! As I’m sure you know, tonight marks the end of the first full day of the E3 Convention in Los Angeles, CA. For those that haven’t already checked out the specs, here’s a comprehensive list of everything you need to know so far regarding the Big-3’s press conferences.

Monday was filled with press conferences from Microsoft, Sony, EA and Ubisoft. Nintendo’s press conference was Tuesday morning. Here are some of the biggest announcements for the Big-3:

Microsoft Conference:

• Xbox Live will be updated with several new features this year, including the addition of live TV, Xbox Dashboard search capabilites powered by Bing, Youtube, and Pay Per View. All of these modes support Kinect gesture navigation and voice recognition.
• Halo, Halo, Halo. Not only did Microsoft officially announce a Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary edition, a remake of the 2001 classic, but also left us with a teaser trailer announcing Halo 4, due out in 2012. Don’t act surprised, even though they said Reach would be the last Halo game, we all know that franchise makes waaaay too much money to stop producing.
• Microsoft also showed new footage of a slew of new sequels out this year: Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, Fable: The Journey, Forza Motorsports 4, Minecraft, and more. Fable: The Journey is controlled entirely by Kinect, while Mass Effect noted Xbox360-exclusive Kinect voice-commands.
• The upcoming Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier also announced Kinect support, and announced that all upcoming Tom Clancy titles will support Kinect in one way or another.

Sony Conference:

• Sony unveiled the name of their new handheld system due out this fall: The Sony PS Vita. The system supports PS3-comparable graphics, and will be priced at $250 for the Wi-Fi only version and $300 for the 3G model, which is powered by AT&T’s network. I thought the PS Vita was the worst name for a system I had ever heard… well, until Nintendo announced the name of their new system.

Nintendo Conference:

• Someone at Nintendo decided it was a good idea to name their next-gen console the Wii-U. SERIOUSLY? Did no one at Nintendo think of pee-u, weeyoou, or any of the other playground insults it will inevitably be called? Nonetheless, the system claims to be more powerful than the PS3/360, though it failed to show anything that supports these claims. The system in controlled by a tablet-like controller, sporting dual analogs and a 6.2″ touch screen, infared support, dual triggers and an accelerometer. The Wii-U is also compatible with various past Wii accessories.
• The 3DS unveiled a few new titles coming out this year, including a new Mario Kart, Super Mario, Luigi’s Mansion 2, showed new videos of Kid Icarus and various other 3DS titles. Let’s hope these games actually come out before I stop caring about my 3DS entirely.
• Nintendo announced some kind of cross-platform compatibility, stating games like Kid Icarus and a seemingly far-off Super Smash Bros. that would somehow be playable on BOTH consoles. Details to come on how exactly that will work.
• The Wii-U was not priced or given a specific release window, just a target year of 2012.

More details to come, including pictures and hands-on previews of a lot of the biggest games at E3! So check back soon for more info!!

-ivan.

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