I really feel like a kid at Christmas, it's E3 time baby!! Probably the biggest event of the year for gamers alike. And this year looks like it is going to be bigger than ever. We've got precisely 5 hours and 40 minutes (at the time of writing) to go before the first of the "Big 3" kicks off the festivities.

Don't know about you reader but it seems like Microsoft have been sincerely quiet about their presentation whilst it seems like everybody else is "accidentally" leaking trailers and informations on their upcoming games, hardware. What does it mean? Does it mean Microsoft has huge announcements to make that will blow the competition out of the water or does it mean that the race is on for all competitors to show off their babies first? I was thinking that Microsoft has huge announcements to make (such as an Xbox portable, or something bigger, I could be wrong) and since the competition knows it, they're trying to distract the attention by leaking their info early. Who knows? Speculations are pretty wild right now.

In the lines of speculations, I also heard Nintendo were also pretty secretive about their announcements. I read that we could be in for a treat with a new Zelda game and a new Mario game in the pipeline, now that would be really cool. There is also rumours that a new version of Wii Fit currently dubbed Wii Fit + will hit the shelves for christmas. Nintendo, I think, will be the dark horse of E3 this year especially since their poor presentation last year (Wii Music anyone? *blows his trumpet*).

Sony, on the other hand, seems to be the only one pretty open about this year show. First off, we already know what games they will be bringing to the table. The biggest one being God of War 3 for a lot of people, but also FFXIII versus, Heavy Rain, a new Metal Gear and some other titles. Their worst kept secret, the "PSP GO!", is also something to look out for. Despite some very few details about the specifications, we're still not quit sure of what this baby is capable of. I sincerely hope that Sony is going to announce a price cut for their flagship system, maybe in the form of the PS3 Slim, which according to speculations (again) is much cheaper to produce. We'll just have to wait and see.

We've got a lot to look forward to from the "Big 3", personally, I am looking forward to seeing more Heavy Rain, Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2, Metal Gear Solid news, Halo ODST. What about you? What are you most looking forward to?

[UPDATE] I have now witnessed Microsoft's press conferenced and am still wowed at what they have shown. It certainly is a big improvement over last year's conference that's for sure!! They have announced the following: all movie content instantly accessible (no more downloads) in full 1080p HD, Facebook and Twitter will be coming to Xbox, gamewise, we have Splinter Cell: Conviction, Forza Motorsport 3, Shadow Complex, Joy Ride, Alan Wake, Halo: ODST, Halo: Reach, Crackdown 2, Left4Dead 2. All these titles will be 360 exclusives. Other games were Rockband: Beatles, Tony Hawk Ride, Modern Warfare 2, FFXIII and the big surprise: a new Metal Gear game featuring Raiden as the main protagonist. Last but not least, was the peripheral I was least looking forward to, Microsoft's new motion capture add-on otherwise known as Project Natal. Let me tell you this: IT ABSOLUTELY BLEW ME AWAY. It comes very close to what we've seen in that film "Minority Report". A few demos were made, showing off what this baby can do, and, honestly, this gizmo went from my least desired to my most wanted gadget of the year. This cannot come soon enough. Full details can be found on Gamespot features.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Nintendo and Sony have in store for tomorrow, and I'll be there to comment on their conferences. Feel free to comment yourselves.

[UPDATE] Nintendo's press conference was way better than last year, the highlights being that they finally have announced quality titles for their flagship console. A mass of games were announced, most of them we already knew about, they are: New Super Mario Bros Wii, Wii Fit +, Wii Sport Resort, Final Fantasy Crystal Bearers, Super Mario Galaxy 2, The Conduit, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, DeadSpace: Extraction and Metroid: Other M. Nintendo has also announced the following games for the DS and DSi: Kingdom Hearts, Mario & Luigi: Bowser Inside Story, Golden Sun, Women's Murder Club "Games of Passion", Cop the Recruit, a fashion game, Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March again, Wario Ware DIY and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Nintendo also showcased some of the peripherals they will be releasing for the Wii, they include the Wii Motion + and the Wii Vitality Sensor. They announced that Wii Motion + will be included in several sport games bundles including Wii Sport Resort, EA Sports titles and Virtua Tennis 09.
Overall, Nintendo did good, they have finally restored my faith. They have really put the emphasis that they represent everyone's game, and I believe they have delivered.
As usual, let me know what were YOUR thoughts on Nintendo's presentation.

[UPDATE] Finally, Sony's press conference was last to go. They certainly have shown that there is going to be an enormous wave of titles coming to their platforms, most of which were showcased in the form of videos. But the most interesting was Sony's exclusive titles for the PS3, they were: inFamous, Unchartered 2, MAG, Final Fantasy XIV online, Mod Nation Racers, The Last Guardian, Gran Turismo 5 & God of War 3. Sony also unveiled their new addition to the PSP family, aka the "PSP Go!". Sony said they would wow us with the amount of titles available to both download and purchase along the release of the new PSP and they have, the titles were: Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walkers, Resident Evil Portable, Assassin's Creed: Bloodline. The others titles announced for the PS3 were Assassin's Creed 2, Final Fantasy XIII. In terms of hardware, they have announced that they are working on motion controllers and showcased what the said controller could do with some tech demos. Despite the fact the controller works well in conjunction with the Eye Toy, there was a fair amount of glitches notably the demonstrator failing to hit a ball. Overall, Sony's presentation was good, tons of games coming our way, again, let me know what your thoughts were.

MY THOUGHTS:

The "Big Three" have certainly delivered this year, the games I am most looking forward to are (in no particular order): Crackdown 2, Metal Gear Solid Rising, Alan Wake, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid Other M, Unchartered 2, Mod Nation Racers & Metal Gear Solid Peace Walkers. In terms of presentations and wow factor, my top three this year are Microsoft (1), Nintendo (2) and Sony (3). The main reasons being that Mircosoft's Project Natal is a true innovation, a leap towards the future. I especially like the idea of face recognition, voice and gesture command and I seriously cannot wait to try this incredible piece of hardware, and there is also the strong line up of titles coming our way, not as many as Nintendo but satisfying enough. I placed Nintendo second as they have a strong, balanced line up of more mature titles and games for everyone, they really were better than last year. Sony for me had to be third. One thing I really despise is arrogance, and this is precisely how I perceived their presentation. Although they have a strong line up of games coming up, they failed to impress with Sony only exclusives, instead we were treated with rolling videos of games (most of which were multi platforms) because they spent too much time boasting about the "only possible on Playstation" experience which we know isn't true. But the nail in the coffin was the Wiimote rip off, something that looked more like an adult entertainment device than an actual gaming device. I was excited to see more Heavy Rain, more of the "35" sony exclusive titles but we only got to see 8 for the PS3. Also, despite the fact the PSP Go! looked real tasty I felt that 16GB of internal memory was small and the fact that it takes M2 cards instead of SD was another big mistake (considering the M2 format has officially been dropped by most phone makers including Sony Ericsson themselves).

Please note that this last chapter contains my personal opinion on the three presentations, but I would also like to hear from you, what your thoughts were about each presentations, and what games are you most looking forward to.

Thanks for the read!