A few days ago was Sony’s E3-note, and they announced/showed off some pretty cool stuff which definitely gave Microsoft a run for it’s money.

Same format as  in Microsoft and Nintendo’s roundups, we’ll start off with games:

Games:

Sony announced several titles, as well as showed off gameplay for some previously announced titles -

MAG – Gameplay from MAG was shown off. Personally, I find MAG to be insanely cool – the concept is huge mutltiplayer FPS. How huge? 256-players at ONCE. Sony showed off a complete 256 person battle – the scale is hard to imagine – you have entire squads of actual players, fighting each other, more experienced players being tactical commanders, some in tanks, planes – this is exactly what FPS on consoles should be. I’ll be following this one closely.

Grand Turismo PSP –  Sony’s flagship racing game, finally being ported to the PSP. Launching on October 1st alongside the PSP GO! (more on that later), and the graphics are apparently incredible for a PSP game. Also, there are 800 (!) cars in the game, which can be shared with other users, to make it remotely possible to get them all, which is cool – you basically work with a buddy to unlock stuff, something which hasn’t been used so much in games.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Maker – Another MGS game, this one for the PSP. Takes place about 10 years after MGS 3.

Resident Evil, LittleBigPlanet, and Jak and Dexter, 3 big Song franchises, also coming to PSP. Little info was given on these games as of now though.

Assassin’s Creed 2 – Sony showed off some gameplay here, your now playing as Ezio, descended from Altair (the assassin from the 1st game), in Italy in the 1400s. Looks interesting, and will have special unlockables gotten by syncing with the PSP version.

FF13 – A new trailer was shown, along with some gameplay. Game still looks awesome. But that wasn’t the big Final Fantasy news….

!Final Fantasy 14 Online! – That’s right. Sony announced that the successor to the MMORPG Final Fantasy 11 would be coming out next year for the PS3. And yes, it looks cool.

God of War III – the popular God of War game, coming to the PS3 for the first time, was shown off a lot. Apparently, very similar to the 1st two, just bloodier and in HD. Fans of the series will not be disappointed.

ModNation Racers – another very interesting game from Sony, this basically is a combination of Mario Kart and LittleBigPlanet – lovable Kart Racing, but almost everything in the game, from characters, to cars, to even every aspect of the track (angle of sun, scenery, etc. Also apparently super easy to use). Looks very interesting, and can’t wait to try this one out.

Hardware:

PSP GO! – Pictured above, the PSP GO! is the latest version of the PSP. Notable in the upgrade is the new design (controls slide out), as well as the removal of the UMD slot. Instead, you’ll have to play games either bought from PSN, or on a memory stick. Future games will apparently release on both UMD and PSN simultaneously now.  In addition, Sony has added 16 GB of memory to hold these games, as well as upgraded the Sync utility for syncing music, videos, and the like from your PC. Also, PSN videos will be able to be downloaded directly to the GO.

The PSP GO! lands in America on October 1st, for $250. Similar to Nintendo though with the dual platforms of the DSi and DS Lite, the regular PSP will still be a part of Sony’s platform.

Motion Sensing Controller/Wand – Seems that Sony’s also caught on to the equation of motion-sensing = $$ + awesomeness, and has debuted their own motion-sensing controller as well. Unfortunately, this is more akin to the Wii-mote then Microsoft’s Project Natal, but still looks interesting. Unlike Natal, this one still uses a controller, and has buttons on it as well. However, it is supposed to be incredibly responsive and accurate, which is cool. It also uses the PlayStation Eye for sensing. More to come in the future.

That’s pretty much it from Sony. Readers, what are you thoughts? Sony’s motion sensing controller better then Natal? Either one convincing you to buy a new console? Sound off in the comments.

Yesterday, Microsoft wowed everyone with their E3 conference (I so want that Project Natal!), and today Nintendo had their turn to present some of their upcoming video games and add-ons to their family-friendly systems. Let me just tell you in the outset: this was NOWHERE NEAR as wow-inducing as Microsoft’s stuff, but it still had some rather interesting moments of it’s own. Read on for the full roundup.

Starting with a couple new games Nintendo and partners showed off.

Super Smash Bros. Wii

Super Smash Bros. Wii

Yup, the popular Gameboy and DS game is finally coming to the Wii. It brings the storyline and all the features and  you’d expect from the Super Smash Bros. series, with some new firsts and features to mark it’s big leap to the game console. New features include new multiplayer support (4 players can play the storyline together, and just pop in at any point of the game), tilt-able controls using the Wiimote (like with a seesaw to lift your character up, or shaking to mess up other players. Character options, by the way, are Mario, Lugi or 2 toads, though you can control Yoshi when riding on him, and use his tongue to swallow enemies or, for more interesting activities–  like other players. It also introduces new items like a propeller, and if in multiplayer story mode, it ranks every player individually at the end of each level.

Super Smash Bros. Wii is expected to drop by this year’s holiday season.

The weight of a dog in Wii Fit Plus

Wii Fit Plus

This is really just a software upgrade to the current Wii Fit, which means if you already got Wii Fit, you don’t need to go out and buy a new board to benefit from Wii Fit Plus. New in Wii Fit Plus are 15 new mini games (like juggling and skateboarding), 6 new strength and yoga activities, and the ability to tailor your workout to be in 20, 30 or 40 minute periods (which is better than in the original Wii Fit, where it never got this “intense”).  Oh, and for those who, for some reason far beyond my comprehension, if you wish you can also walk your dogs and cats (seriously, Nintendo put this in- hey, maybe soon you can give your dog a workout without having to take him for a real life walk!).

The Wii Fit Plus comes out later this year with Balance Board bundles for those who haven’t gotten the first Wii Fit and need the board, and a disc-only version for those with the Balance Board from the first game.

Metroid: Other M

Not much is known on this game in terms of details and plot, but this looks to finally (and THANKFULLY) bring the Wii to appeal to the more intense gamer. All we know so far is that it is coming in 2010, and will take you deeper into Samus’s story, with Samus even speaking for the first time! The game will also be a mix of first and third person shooter, which should be interesting, to say the least (usually it’s either one or the other).

DSi and Wii News

On the DSi front, the major news here is that you can now upload your pix straight from your DSi’s camera to your Facebook profile. This is nice and definitely makes the camera more useful.

For the Wii itself, Nintendo unveiled something that, in my opinion, is completely ridiculous and insane (in a BAD way).

The ridiculous Wii Vitality Sensor

What we’re talking about here is a “Vitality Sensor”: connected to the Wiimote, it measures pulse (yes, like your heartbeats), and I haven’t the slightest clue on what in the world Nintendo was thinking, and how in the world this can be applied to games.

That about does it folks. Nothing to really see here (literally), and I personally think Nintendo will be in for a world of hurt once Project Natal comes out for the 360 next year, which will give players not only an awesome experience, but will make the 360 even better for both the casual and intense gamer (oh, and the PS3 also has a motion system coming out soon, we’ll cover that in their E3 Roundup post in the coming days). Let’s hope Nintendo’s got something else in store before Natal comes out.

For a full list of everything Nintendo from E3, see their site here.

What do you think– if you were getting a new video game system now, and had to choose between Wii and 360, which would you choose knowing what is coming next year for both systems? Sound off in the comments.

On day 1 of E3, Microsoft began the video game bonanza with some opening shots. And by shots, I mean cannons. Or nukes may be the right word. Some seriously cool stuff was announced, and there was a lot of it: games, NXE updates, and some insanely cool new hardware. So bear with me as I try and cover some of it. (The best is at the end of it.)

Games: Microsoft showed off a ridiculous amount of games here. So here’s a brief rundown.

The Beatles: Rock Band gameplay

• The Beatles: Rock Band – The first gameplay of the game was shown off, with guest appearances from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. Yeah.. they had the REAL Beatles THERE. Looks like an improved Rock Band, but with Beatles songs. Also being added is support for 3 mics, and custom, Beatles instruments (time to clear out that living room again…) There will be 45 Beatles songs included, with some more exclusive, Xbox 360-only songs available for download.

The Tony Hawk Ride board

• Tony Hawk RIDE -Pretty cool, using a motion sensitive skateboard controller which was shown off by Tony Hawk himself, and apparently, it’s pretty much like riding a real skateboard. And one more massive chunk of plastic to fill up your living room.
• Forza 3 – Update to the popular racing game, with even MORE cars and more realistic gameplay. Seems like you actually can crash this time around.
• Halo 3: OSDT – More gameplay footage shown, release date announced: September 22. We’re looking forward to this one, as it should be interesting to see Halo from the perspective of someone other than the Chief.

New Halo announced!!!!

Above: EVERYTHING we know about Halo: Reach.

• Called Halo: Reach. Umm… thats all we really know. Coming out in 2010, with multiplayer beta included included in OSDT. Seems to be taking place during the Battle of Reach, as prequel to the series. Oh, and it has been confirmed as a 1st Person Shooter. Excellent.

Metal Gear Solid Rising

• Metal Gear Solid Rising – New Metal Gear Solid, but for 360! The once PlayStation only series is finally coming to the 360, and it will have Raiden in it! Again, not giving a whole lotta info here. Oh, and it’ll have “Lighting Bolt Action.”

Moving on to updates on the system itself.

New Xbox Experience (NXE) Updates

Being added to NXE is Twitter, and Facebook integration — allowing you to access them from your Xbox — complete with avatar integration as well as the ability to challenge your friends to games and see if they can beat your scores. There were also minor updates to Netflix, a re-branding of the video store to be Zune Video, which will be full 1080p HD quality for all shows and movies, and the ability to stream Last.fm, the world’s largest online music catalog, straight to your 360, as well as to share with your friends.

There also was the announcement, that starting in August, you can download full 360 games straight from the Xbox Live Game Marketplace, to your 360, a similar feature to the already existing functionality for the Xbox Classics.

Some fairly cool stuff. But Microsoft had one last major surprise for us – a new motion controller called Project Natal. So what is Natal?

Project Natal. Awesomeness, Reinvented.

If you remember, we mentioned in our E3 rumors post that Microsoft was rumored to be working on some major motion-sensing software. Well, its real, and to be honest – awesome. Basically, its one sensor bar that you put on/ in front of your TV, which very accurately tracks the motions of yours and others motions throughout a room. A fighting game? – punch out the enemies yourself. Baseball game? Smash a home run yourself, trusty bat in hand, out of your living room. NO controller needed! Just you…. and if this can be used to it’s potential by game developers, it could totally revolutionize the 360 as a gaming device.

For all Xbox 360 E3 coverage, see their site here.

So that’s the round-up for Microsoft. Sony and Nintendo, as well as other assorted news on the way, but before we end, we’d like to know your thoughts on Microsoft’s announcements, particularly Natal, and if your not a 360 owner, you going to buy one now? Go on, we’re great listeners.

Next month, a major video game conference called E3 is taking place, and all the big players in the video game industry– Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony, will be there. A lot of new/upcoming games and accessories usually get shown off for the first time as well. Read on to see of the rumors that have been flying around for E3 this year.

These are more hardware based rumors than anything else (I mean, it honestly is not possible to cover all the possible actual games at a major video game conference in one little post), but we know you’ll still be very happy with these.

The rumored PS3 Slim box

1. “PS3 Slim”

Kinda like the PS2 Slim. Think an insanely thin “new” PS3, that keeps all the great features found in the current PS3, while bumping the standard hard drive up from 80 GB to 120 GB. Also rumored is that this new “Slim” will, as with the PS2 Slim, cut down on the PS3’s significantly higher price ($400 for base unit over the Wii’s $250 or 360‘s $200, also base unit)

The Xbox 360 motion sensor bar– it the white thing directly in front of the TV. Pic from Engadget

2. Motion Sensing

Both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are rumored to introduce motion sensing add-ons at E3 as well, the PS3’s more like the Wii/SIXAXIS system, but using a camera as well to make it better at motion sensing, while the Xbox 360 takes on a whole new approach.

According to Engadget.com, this will be a sensor bar as well as a camera that will sense the player’s movements without the need to be carrying a control like you would on the Wii. For example in a fighting game, you kick, punch, duck, dive, jump and so forth with your body, and the sensor and camera will pick it up and make it happen with your character in the game. The sensor also is said to be so advanced that it will only detect the movements of the player, and not whoever’s watching you play on the couch.

If done right, and Microsoft has been very on target thus far with its Xbox stuff (separate from the recent Vista/Windows and Red Ring of Death debacles), this is by far the most awesome thing rumored to arrive at E3 in my opinion. Oh, and get excited because the prestigious Wall Street Journal said to expect this soon as well.

A mock up of the rumored PSP 2

3. PSP 2

Like all E3’s over the past couple of years, rumors are running wild of a real, new PSP 2 (we’re talking a complete upgrade– not some minor spec changes to the original as the case for the past 2 years). So what can we expect from this new PSP 2?

• built-in 8 GB or 16 GB flash based storage like the iPod Touch to play games will replace the noisy, slow and relatively bulky UMD currently in place
• a touchscreen (again to compete with the iPod Touch and Nintendo DS)
• a slide out keypad under the touchscreen (which as you can see in the mock up above, would be a full touchscreen), containing the analog and joystick buttons
• possible built in camera
• release date of later this year in the US. All I can say to this is: it’s about time!

Anyways, you’re now caught up to what might go down in 2 weeks in LA when E3 kicks off. E3 is from June 1st-4th, so check back for our coverage of all the major stuff that goes down.

Feel free though to speculate on what you think might be coming in the comments.

Even though Halo didn’t make an official appearance at E3 last week (though it was supposed to on Wednesday, but got scrapped at the last minute), doesn’t mean some info on the future of the series didn’t come out. For all you curious on what is next for Master Chief and one of the top video game series’s ever- Click the More link.

• More Info on the Upcoming Halo Wars- For those of you who haven’t heard of Halo Wars yet, it is the upcoming Halo game that takes place right before the first Halo game begins. This version of the game though is different, as unlike in the other three Halo games, you will not be playing as Master Chief (the main Halo character), but will rather be controlling either the Spartan (Human) army or the Covenant (Evil Alien) army. You also will no longer be doing the actual fighting, and will be more of a general (albeit here with much more control) in charge of instructing your forces and leading them into battle, setting up camps and building vehicles, and then later calling them into battle when needed. This is a whole new style for the series, and that is probably due to the change in makers of the game- from Microsoft and Bungie, to now Microsoft and a company called Ensemble Studios. You can expect Halo Wars to come in the early part of next year.

Pic of Halo Wars in action

• More Rumors on a “Halo 4″- We mentioned the scrapped Bungie announcement in the intro, but the fact that there even was one led a lot of people (including myself) to believe that perhaps we’d see another version of the AWESOME game. Well, MTV further gave fuel to that fire, when a Microsoft exec. said in an interview with MTV that Bungie was indeed developing another Halo game. What type of game this will be (is it something similar to the Halo Wars game, to the previous three Halo games, something entirely new altogether- perhaps the highly anticipated Halo Chronicles game), and when we’ll actually see it, is anyone’s guess. Though lets hope it’s soon

We know that this info isn’t much, but hey Halo is Halo right? What you guys think about this new Halo news, and what are your guesses on that rumored “Halo 4″? Let us know your thoughts and ideas in the comments.

Info from Joystiq.com and MTV’s Multiplayer Blog

Well, we covered Rock Band’s E3 info, and we know a lot of you LOVE Guitar Hero, so we got some info for you as well. O, Rock Band users- you may wanna check this out as well, as one of the big announcements involves you guys to. All the info is after the More link.

• Sequel to Guitar Hero On Tour for Nintendo DS- Yes, only one month after Guitar Hero On Tour came out for the DS, Activsion is planing an encore with a game called Guitar Hero On Tour Decades. You can’t blame them though- they sold 350,000 (yes 350,000) copies in the first 3 weeks, so a successor was obvious. So what’s new in Decades? Well as you could’ve guessed, the songs in the game will probably date back multiple decades. There is also a new song sharing capability (to let your friends with the original On Tour sample some of the new tunes), and a possible addition of using the DS’s Mic for Karaoke. Not much else is known on the new game such as price or release, but we know Activision will announce more info when the time is right.
• Latest Metallica Album to come to Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero 3 at the same time it is released on CD- This is some pretty big news, as it shows how big the impact games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are having on the music industry. It is also big news if your a fan of classic rock or Metallica. We don’t know yet how much this will cost to download, but you can expect it when Guitar Hero World Tour is released in the fall.
• Videos of Guitar Hero World Tour in action- Joystiq got some videos of this highly anticipated game in action- with everything from how the new drums will work, to using the new Song Creator, all the way down to how the game will play with a drum, guitar, and mic all at once, as well as everything in between. Check out the videos here.

Guitar Hero World Tour Demoed

• Compatibility for Rock Band Guitar and Drums with Guitar Hero Aerosmith and World Tour!!- We saved the biggest news for last, and any one who owns Rock Band, or likes its instruments better than Guitar Hero’s, has got to be thrilled by this news. This new Rock Band compatibility comes as an update to Guitar Hero Aerosmith, will be included in Guitar Hero World Tour, and will as the title of the bullet says- allow you to use your Rock Band drums or guitar in Guitar Hero Aerosmith and Guitar Hero World Tour. No news on whether the new Rock Band 2’s kit is supported, or if the new Mad Catz and Ion Rock Band add-ons will work, but it still is pretty big (and nice) news regardless.

Ok, so there is the Guitar Hero E3 info. Any thoughts, questions or comments? Let us know in the comments.

Info provided by Joystiq.com

We said we’d get you some Rock Band E3 info, and here it is. There is a lot of cool stuff here, and to find out all the info, Read On!

• 500 Songs By the End of the Year- We’re starting off slow Well, Harmonix (maker of Rock Band) said that they would have 500 songs out by the end of the year. That probably means you’ll find something to “Rock Out” to . Also, current Rock Band owners- don’t forget you can transfer your  downloaded songs to the new game, and from the new game’s downloaded songs back to the original, assuming there is no license problems- which Harmonix and MTV are currently working out.
• New Venues and Game Modes- With those 500 songs, you got to have some new places to play right? Well, Harmonix and MTV know that and have therefore added 2 new places- Tokyo and Tijuana (according to a Google search, it is a place down in Mexico). There are also 2 new game modes mentioned: a “World Tour” mode where you hire a manager (or your mother- seriously it is a choice in the game) to manage your budding virtual rock star career, and a “No Fail” mode- where there are literally no fails if you aren’t playing perfectly (or if you got some friends over and you wanna be nice and make no one feel like they can’t play- or you wanna keep things moving ).

New Venue in Rock Band 2

• New Accessories- Cheap Version- Probably the biggest news on the Rock Band side (actually that comes a little later, see Guitar Hero E3 post), but before that, there is a whole lot of new accessories for Rock Band. These are mainly new instruments made by Mad Catz, for those of you who want something beyond the standard Rock Band Kit.  These new instruments include a “Premium Mic” that offers sound that is “Studio Quality” and also includes buttons for things such as setup (those of you with the original Rock Band remember that you needed a controller and the Mic for set up, here it is only the Mic). Next up is the “Portable Drum Kit”- a simple Drum Kit that is playable anywhere and supposedly on anything. This Drum Kit comes with the whole deal: foot pedal, pads, and even fold able sticks. Next up is the Cymbals, which will give your drum set a little more of a realistic look and feel (though they look to only work with the standard Drum Kit, not Mad Catz’s portable version). The price of the Mic is $50, the Portable Drum Kit is $60, the Cymbal’s are $30 for a pack of 3, or otherwise $15 each. All of these should be available in the Fall, probably around the time Rock Band 2 is released.

Portable Drum Kit by Mad Catz

• New Accessories- Not so Cheap Version- Well, these are for those of you with some more cash to spend, or with a huge desire to be a fake Rock Star. These accessories are from both Mad Catz and a company called Ion, and these accessories come in the form of a Guitar and a Drum Kit. Mad Catz is the one offering the guitar, and it is a “full size Fender Sterocaster”, that actually looks like the real thing. It also is wireless, and offers a foot pedal for “Over Drive” play for the hardcore rocker. It definitely costs a lot for that look and features- $199, and should come in the early part of next year for both the Xbox 360 and PS3.  Ion is next with their $300 Drum Kit, which for that hefty price comes with a metal enforced kick stand, and high durability pads for quiet gameplay, that also at same time register how hard you hit the pads in order to base the sound (similar to the drums on the new Guitar Hero 4). It works with both Rock Band and Rock Band 2 and is available for pre-order right now from Ion’s site, though currently it is only for the 360, but PS3 and Wii versions are in the works.

Ion Drum Kit

Okay so as you can see, some of this stuff is for just the hardcore gamer (last bullet), while some of the others are for everyone (first 3 bullets). O, and don’t worry all you Guitar Hero 4 lovers, we got some info for you to from E3. Stay tuned…. all will be out soon.

Info and pics are from Engadget.com

Ok, this is not as interesting or feature filled as Microsoft and Nintendo’s conferences, but Sony did come out with some interesting things like a higher capacity PS3, new PS2 bundle (not everyone made the jump to the “next-gen” consoles), a new video download store and more. For all the info, just hit the “More” link.

Like the 360 post, we’ll break this down into 3 categories: PS3, PS2, and PSP. Now let’s get to the info.

PS3:

• New Higher 80 GB PS3- One of the biggest noise makers at the conference. This upgraded PS3 will slot in for $399, but this “new” PS3 doesn’t add much more, as it is not “backward compatible” with your old PS1 and PS2 games, and nothing else seems to be bundled in as well. Though for those of you interested, it should come to the US in September, with Europe, Australia, Middle East, Africa all receiving it a few days earlier on August 27.
• Updates to PlayStation Home- For those of you who don’t know, PlayStation Home is basically a virtual world right inside your PlayStation 3. It uses avatars (those virtual you’s) and let’s you interact with other people’s avatars’ to do things like play games, chat, anything you’d do in this world really. It is free and currently in a test form (beta) that is open to the public now. Check it out from your PS3 and let us know how it goes.
• New PlayStation Video/TV Download Store- Hmm, this sounds familiar. Whatever, Sony made it official here at E3, and they also announced a whole lot of movie studio partnerships- Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Turner, Funimation, and of course Sony’s own movie studio- Sony Pictures. The movies and TV shows will be available in both High Def, and regular Def (also know as Standard Def, or SD), for $1.99 for TV shows, and $9.99 to $14.99 for movies. You can also rent videos in this new store for $2.99-$3.99. This is all nice and good, but what is great about this, is the ability to then sync your downloaded videos to your PSP from your PS3 to take with you on the go. Very nice touch.

PS3’s new video store from Sony’s PS3 E3 Conference (Pic from Engadget.com)

• PS3 “Hits” to sell for $29.99- Those of you with a PS2 or PSP may have heard this before with your respective console, but now it’s coming to the PS3. The top games for PS3 will be thrown onto this list and receive a lower, and very awesome price (just to note, this doesn’t happen right away, and usually takes a long time till it reaches this status- usually when, or right before the next version comes). Some of the initial titles in this category include MotorStorm, Warhawk, Call of Duty 3, Fight Night, Need For Speed: Carbon, Assassin’s Creed, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and a few other games as well.

Example of PS3 “Hits” from Sony’s E3 Conference (Pic from Engadget.com)

For the last two bullets we do not yet know of a certain release date, but we could safely assume that it will come soon.

PS2

• 130 Titles coming to PS2 in 2008- This has got to be great news for all the PS2 owners out there- Sony has not abandoned you in favor of the PS3! Some of these upcoming new games include NCAA Football 09, the latest Tiger Woods game, Warriors Orochi 2, Singstar Pop vol. 2- Sony’s karaoke game, Madden 09, and Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
• New PS2 Bundle- For $149.99, you can get yourself a new PS2, Lego Batman, and Justice League Movie! Not much, but again, shows Sony is still very committed to the PS2.

New PS2 Bundle (Pic from Engadget.com)

PSP:

• New Ratchet and Clank Bundle for $199- This bundle comes with a silver PSP Slim, 1 GB memory card, National Treasure 2 on UMD (PSP’s disc format for playing games and watching movies- similar to DVD’s, but doesn’t work with anything other than the PSP), Ratchet and Clank Size Matters game, and a voucher for Echocrome (a puzzle game from Sony). This new bundle should come out in October.
• New Games for PSP-These games include: new Star Wars, Madden 09, a new LocoRoco game, NBA 09 (Sony’s version, though we think NBA Live 09 will also come out for PSP), a new Lego franchise, Patapon 2, and a Buzz quiz game with multiplayer play without going on the internet (called Ad-Hoc).

We told you it wasn’t the most fascinating conference ever (sadly no new PSP 2, something that was rumored to perhaps make an appearance), but Sony did have some decent stuff which you can look forward to seeing pretty soon.

Keep checking back, because we do still have some more real interesting info from E3 (Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero 4 info as a start) which we hope to have out soon.

Microsoft kicked off the E3 conference on Monday, with a whole bunch of new games and updates for it’s Xbox 360. Some of this stuff is pretty major (and at the same time very sick- in a good way), so hit the more link for all the details!

There is a lot of stuff here so we”ll break it down for you into those two parts- Updates and Games. Now let’s get started.

Updates:

• Entirely new 3D Dashboard- We said this info was huge, and you don’t get any bigger than updating the interface for the Dashboard. This new 3D Dashboard, drops the old “blades” interface for a new “panel” and “channel” interface that looks a little similar in my opinion to the “Flip 3D” in Vista. It looks pretty sweet and I can’t wait to update my 360 to this “mandatory” update as Microsoft puts it. O, and two other things on this- 1. The old interface won’t be going away entirely, as it will be going to the new Xbox Guide, which will give easy access to whats on your 360, and 2. This update adds….
• Avatars!- You know those virtual you’s like Mii’s on the Wii and on the Playstation 3’s Home. Unlike those avatars though, the 360’s will not be used in their own special game, and rather will be characters in games like UNO, and other Xbox Live Arcade games.

The new Xbox 360 Dashboard with Avatars- the guy waving in the first tile- and Downloaded Game- see below in Games, the game in this case is Lego Batman- (Pic from Engadget)

• Netlix support- Thought it would be worth mentioning, that with the new Dashboard, you will be able to use Netflix to rent and download movies straight to your 360, and thereby turning the 360 into a real media center powerhouse. Yes, Microsoft gave the Xbox Live Marketplace a video download store with loads of movies and TV shows, but even with the new addition of NBC/Universal to that marketplace, it still doesn’t compare to the offerings of Netflix. Note on this new feature: To use this, you will need both a Xbox Live Gold subscription (costs about $50 for a year), and a Netflix account and subscription.

Netflix on Xbox Live (pic from Engadget)

Look for both of these to come with the free Dashboard update in the fall.

Games:

• Some already known games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero 4, also the addition of more downloadable games from Xbox Live. These games include Geometry Wars 2, Galaga Legions, a game based on the TV show  South Park, a game based on the TV show 1 v.s. 100, Portal: Still Alive- a follow-up to the hit EA game- Orange Box, and Grand Theft Auto IV mini games (or episodes), as well as more games to take advantage of the new Avatars.
• New game from Microsoft called Lips- This game is actually pretty interesting. It is a singing game that uses only a motion sensitive mic (Lips= singing). No guitar, or drum set, just a mic. Before you turn away thinking we have no sense of what interesting is, you may wanna listen to this- in this game not only do you get to use the included songs, but you can use ANY song from your iPod, Zune, or other Mp3 Player. That is something that hasn’t been put into the games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band yet (yes we know Guitar Hero offers the ability to make your own songs, but that is only from scratch and not from a preexisting song you own). The game will also come with two of the mics in the box so you can karaoke with friends. We don’t know much more about this game yet (i.e. price), but you can expect it to come by this holiday season. O, and after watching the trailer of it (see bottom), you’ll definitely will be interested.

Lips for the Xbox 360

• Ability to save your games to your Hard Drive- This is also HUGE. For those of you with Arcade versions that don’t have a hard drive, we recommend that you start saving money to go and buy one, because you will definitely want this. What this new feature does, is it lets you download a game (after you buy it of course) onto your Xbox 360 for easy, quieter- I know personaly from my own 360, that thing gets loud when playing games- and overall better playback. You will still need to have the game in the system when you play- in order to prevent people from renting or borrowing games and downloading them without buying it- but the game will play off the hard drive and not the DVD. This new feature also probably explains the upgrade to 60 GB over 20 GB in the Pro (though if you ask us for which console to get, we’d still say go and spend the extra $100 if you can for the Elite which offers 120 GB, and comes with an HDMI cable in the box for better High Def gaming). Look for this to also come in the Fall with the Dashboard update.

There you have it, some info on the Xbox 360 E3 Conference. All in all, I’m now actually looking forward to the fall to get this update because it really looks pretty cool.

Keep checking back, as we got lots to tell you about, including PS3 info from Sony’s conference, more Guitar Hero 4 and Rock Band 2 info, some new Halo (yes, Halo) info, as well as other E3 info.

O, and check these sites out for more info, pix, and videos of the Lips game, and the new Dashboard.

New Dashboard on Video- Joystiq.com

Photo Gallery of New Dashboard- Engadget.com

Lips Trailer Video- Lips’ game site

Nintendo's Wii Music

Nintendo just concluded their press conference at E3, and announced a number of things spanning their DS and Wii range. For the hardcore gaming fans (including myself), the conference is near embarrassing, revealing nothing of true interest such as a new Kirby or Kid Icarus game. However, for Nintendo’s new target audience of “everybody”, the conference certainly showed promise for the future sales of Nintendo products.

To visit yesterdays announcement of the Wii MotionPlus, it is what we reported, an accuracy enhancing accessory for the Wiimote. However, it appears that it will not be available with all games, as the first compatible game is titled, Wii Sports Resort, which attempts to recreate a day at the beach with games such as volleyball and jet skiing.

Jet Skiing in Wii Sports Resort

The Balance Board received an initial visit, with the introduction of a new game titled Shaun White Snowboarding, which makes use of the Wii Balance Board to recreate the snowboarding experience. I’m an avid snowboarder, and this could be quite interesting.

One of Nintendo’s highest growing franchises- Animal Crossing – received a new iteration to the series, Animal Crossing: City Folk. Basically, Animal Crossing: City Flok creates a world in which you create a character and can do anything you wish with them in the game. Think the Sims meets Wii on Nick Jr. The most notable feature of this is the use of interaction online, in which you can send messages to friends using the Wii Message Board. However, Nintendo introduced a microphone known as WiiSpeak to directly talk with your friends. My main question is, “Will this be compatible with Super Smash Bros. Online?” Only time will tell.

Example of Wii Speak (it the semi-circle sitting on top of the Sensor Bar)

New games were also touched upon, the most notable of which being handheld additions of Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars for the DS and an upcoming Call of Duty game for the DS as well. This looks to be exciting!

Finally, is Wii Music. We all love Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and know and love the way they work. Wii Music, the game seems a bit unclear as to how it works. Rather than matching up the relevant notes or beats like on Guitar Hero or Rock Band, Nintendo rather wishes for you to simply pretend to play the instrument, using the WiiMote, Nunchuk and Wii Balance Board (over 50 instruments in all). This seems quite silly in my opinion, not serving much purpose, except for the, dare I say, gimmicky notion of looking like a fool in front of your friends. However, there does appear to be a rather interesting drumming component in which you use the WiiMote, Nunchuck and Balance Board together drum.

Wii Music in Action at E3

Overall, it was quite a disappointing show for me, and it further reiterates the reasons as to why I sold my Wii and bought an Xbox 360. These new games and concepts seem pretty exciting and demonstrates Nintendo continuing to elaborate on it’s notion of fun for everyone, however, personally, I hold my reservations.

What do you guys think. Any of these new games and add-ons getting you interested (or not interested) in buying them once they come out?  Let us know in the comments.

Photos courtesy of Joystiq and Engadget.

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