We're Heading to E3!

E3 2010. Los Angeles. We're going.

June 2010 ushers in three days (with hangers on) for frantic and joyful journalistic goodness for the writers at NZGamer.com. Myself, Shaun Hunter and Angus Deacon will be the posse in LA from 15-17 June, as we report back on all the gaming world's next big things. And what do we expect to see this year?

The big three are there, of course, their press conferences looming large on our calendars. Once they have such an epic cross section of journos locked up in one room, they need to pull out all the stops to keep us engaged. It breaks down something like this...

Microsoft: Natal.
Nintendo: 3DS.
Sony: Move.

That seems like a pretty hefty platter in itself right? Well, this isn't where it stops. 2K Games, SEGA, Activision, Ubisoft, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment, Eidos, Square Enix. E3 is the biggest gaming trade show anywhere, and that means it attracts the biggest names. Are you getting a sense for how keen we are to get there? Yeah. We are.

Microsoft's press conference from E3 2009.

Microsoft's Project Natal is a strange beastie: what secrets lie herein? What's it really going to be like having no controller? How does it work with current Xbox software and how does it integrate with the machine itself? Around Natal, there are certainly more questions than answers, but you can be sure Microsoft will dole out the goods when the time comes.

Sony's Move looks like an ice cream and reminds us all way too much of the tech behind the success of the Wii to get us leaping out of chairs. But these are smart people, right? This is a group who knows what they're doing with interactive gaming. This is a group who has sewn up Godzone, the PlayStation Nation, for one. We can't imagine that a few black sticks with colourful blobs on the end is where it stops. Move is actually my pick for the technology with the most potential to surprise - they just have to have something up their sleeve. Rumour is that Sony will be showing off big things in the world of 3D gaming, so we'll look forward to that, too.

Also in the 3D market, but banging that well-worn handheld drum is the Big N. Until just a couple of days ago, this press conference was limited to just one NZGamer Staffer (yours truly) but Shaun had managed to weasel in and steal some of my thunder! Not that I'm greedy... I am just as keen as custard to see what these folks have done with the 3DS - the FIFTH iteration of the company's phenomenally successful handheld system (DS, Lite, DSi, DSi XL and now the 3DS). The info that's out about the 3DS is a bit scant, but essentially what we're looking at here is a system that you don't need 3D glasses for (at $120 a pair for the sets that are on the market right now, that's gotta be a good thing!). I... don't... see... how... it... well, you know what I'm getting at. But hey, much like Move, just because we're still waiting for the details doesn't mean that the big picture has no substance. There's a fraction too much friction forming between these rubbing hands.

Nintendo's press conference from E3 2009.

NZGamer.com's contingent heads for the City of Angels on 12 June. Make sure you're checking in regular-like over the next couple of weeks as we patch together our schedules and get info up in our E3 hub. When we land, it's going to be Tweet, blog and feature central as we report back on every announcement, every developer soundbite and every shred of intel about all your favourite franchises - what's happening in 2010/11? We'll be able to tell you.

Ahead of the event, we want to hear from you. Have you heard rumours? Do you want to tell people everything you know about Microsoft and Nintendo's mashup project, the WiiBox? (Put down your keyboards - that's a joke). Tell us what you're thinking/hearing/wondering/pondering/...plundering? This is a democracy, after all.