Big news came out of all three camps during the press-conference days of E3 2010, with all three having a fairly strong showing. Recap all the biggest news, broken down by conference, below:MICROSOFT
As usual, Microsoft's press conference kicked off the week-long convention, this time having been preceded by the reveal of "Project Natal" as KINECT. No price was announced, but Microsoft did unveil a November 4 release date for the voice-recognizing 3D camera, as well as a slew of exclusive launch titles, headlined by the WiiSports-esque Kinect Sports and Rock Band-creator Harmonix's Dance Central. Microsoft also capped off their press conference with the reveal of a redesigned Xbox 360 (dubbed simply "the new Xbox 360"), which retails for the same $299 as the current Elite, but comes with a spiffy new design, "whisper-quiet" fan, 250GB storage, built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi, and the ability to connect Kinect (haha, sorry) without the need of an external power source (a requirement for Kinect for "classic" Xbox 360 owners). Furthermore, it's already available for purchase.
Despite the buzz around the pair of new hardware, Microsoft's conference focused, as usual, on the games. The only real surprise was the announcement of an exclusive partnership with Crysis-developer Crytek on a game called "Kingdoms" that so far looks a lot like the movie 300. Aside from that reveal, Microsoft's conference--and show--revolved around already-known big-budget heavyweights that will undoubtedly carry the Xbox 360 until the next E3, including Halo: Reach (space combat and expanded Firefight!), Fable III, Call of Duty: Black Ops (Xbox-first DLC thru 2012), Gears of War 3 (reverse-Horde "Beast Mode"), Crackdown 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Marvel vs Capcom 3, Metal Gear Solid Rising, and much more.
NINTENDO
By consensus, Nintendo stole the show at this year's E3 convention--somewhat of a surprise considering the company's lackluster (to put it lightly) showing the past few years. It was almost as if Nintendo finally felt like it wanted to make up for all that lost time, particularly to "core" gamers, by showcasing Wii games that actually matter to follow up the just-released, critically-acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy 2. Metroid: Other M looms on the horizon, of course, and Nintendo finally pulled of the lid of their MotionPlus-enhanced third pillar in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. They also revealed Metroid Prime developed Retro Studios' latest project, a 2D side-scrolling romp in Donkey Kong Country Returns. Shooter lovers finally get a bone with a much-improved Conduit 2, and Activision pulled the lid off a Goldeneye 007 remake. Other highlights include Kirby's Epic Yarn and the similarly-titled but completely different Disney's Epic Mickey. And finally, Nintendo straddled the line between their hardcore and casual fan base by revealing Wii Party--basically the lovechild of Mario Party and Miis.
Somewhat surprisingly, the ballyhooed Wii Vitality Sensor was conspicuously absent, but in its place Nintendo blew the lid off E3 with its ace in the hold: the 3DS. Leaks forced Nintendo to prematurely announce its next-generation handheld earlier this year, but details had up to this point been non-existent aside from the obvious 3D display (with no glasses!). The device features a 3.5 inch 3D widescreen on top with a slider to adjust 3D depth (all the way down to 2D). The bottom screen is your standard DS touchscreen, albeit with upgraded resolution. Above the d-pad on the left is what Nintendo is calling a "slide pad" that basically serves in place of an analog stick. The handheld also boasts an internal camera as well as two external cameras on its shell that are capable of taking 3D photos. Perhaps most surprising is visual quality of the 3DS's games, which some people are saying exceed the Wii's and even approach 360/PS3 territory. Nintendo also showed off 3DS's showing 3D movie trailers, hinting that a Hollywood partnership is in the cards as well. To top it all off, the system is completely backwards-compatible with DS/DSi games. Initial hands-on previews with the system have been overwhelmingly positive, and it seems the 3DS has impressed so much that it has stolen much of the thunder from Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PlayStation Move. The revealed line-up of games is equally impressive, featuring the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Paper Mario 3D, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D: The Naked Sample, Kingdom Hearts 3D, Mario Kart 3DS, nintendogs+cats, Resident Evil Revelations, DJ Hero 3D, Super Street Fighter IV 3D, and much more in the cards.
SONY
Sony closed out the Big Three press conferences with a strong showing that many hailed as even better than Microsoft's. Just like their main HD rival, Sony's focus was largely on the games, although they did stress the PS3's 3D capabilities (and upcoming implementation in their lineup) as well as their already-detailed Move motion controller. Many were expecting the announcement of a successor to the PSP, but in my opinion, if that was happening it was completely scrapped in the wake of the 3DS announcement. Sony did, however, re-emphasize their commitment to the PlayStation Portable platform, highlighting upcoming heavyweights Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and God of War: Ghost of Sparta while announcing Patapon 3.
On the PS3 side of things, Killzone 3 arguably marked the centerpiece of Sony's show, highlighting both its 3D capabilities and PlayStation Move support. There was also LittleBIGPlanet 2 with just-revealed community support via LBP.me, inFamous 2, and a new 3D-enabled MotorStorm. Sony also announced that the PS3 version of Dead Space 2 will come bundled with a Move-enhanced port of the Wii's Dead Space: Extraction, while PS3 version of EA's Medal of Honor reboot will come with an HD remastering of PS2 classic Medal of Honor Frontline. Sly Cooper's PS2 games will also get the God of War treatment with an HD remastered collection for PS3. Square Enix's next MMO, Final Fantasy XIV Online, also made an appearance, so far staying a PS3-exclusive.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Of course, E3 is about much more than just the Big Three press conferences, and many promising games made an appearance. Given my limited resources here at the Paradigm-Shifting Blog, I will simply give you a list of the most promising titles with links to featured videos and/or previews. This list represents the better-looking games of the show, while the our elite crop will be highlighted by an asterisk (*):
*Halo: Reach [space combat!]
Gears of War 3 [Beast mode!]
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