Your guide to the gaming event of the year

COMING SOON: Final Fantasy XIII will be released on the Xbox 360 at the same time as on the PlayStation 3, a coup for Microsoft.

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Have you heard of E3? Unless you’re a gamer, it’s probably passed you by. But for those who know their Snakes from their Sonics, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is the major video game event of the year – and it just came to a close in Los Angeles.

The Big Three

As is the case every year, the major focus was on the “big three” console makers – Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – to see who could hold the most inspiring and entertaining press conferences, and come out with the biggest announcements.

NZGamer.com was live-blogging all the events: here are the Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo conferences.

In general, gamers seemed to be most impressed with Microsoft’s showing. They closed with the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII would be hitting the Xbox 360 at the same time as on the PlayStation 3 – a huge coup, considering the main series has been Sony-exclusive for over a decade.

Other games were also impressive: they are hoping to tap into the popular SingStar market with their own karaoke game called Lips; keep hardcore gamers happy with anticipated titles such as Fable 2 and Gears of War 2; and broaden their market with Viva Pinata 2 and the new Banjo Kazooie game.

Sony had fewer exciting announcements, but did show off a number of promising titles. Little Big Planet, a highly original – and cute – game that allows players to create their own levels and play in them with their friends, is still highly anticipated. Resistance 2, promised some intense action, as did its younger sibling on the PlayStation Portable, Resistance: Retribution.

Some impressive video rental and purchasing features were shown off, but unless you live in America, don’t expect to see it any time soon – New Zealand won’t be high on the list to get downloadable movies via the PS3 or Xbox 360 for a long time yet.

But at least everyone can look forward to God of War III and MAG, an online shooter game that puts you in a battlefield with 256 other players.

Nintendo once again went along with their own thing, making it clearer than ever that they are moving along a completely different trajectory to Sony and Microsoft. There were brief glimpses of ‘hardcore’ games, such as a Grand Theft Auto title for the DS, but they spent nearly all their time talking up a small number of games aimed at the casual market.

Of these, the most interesting were Wii Music and Wii Sports Resort. The latter comes with a new add-on for the Wii remote that gives it a greater degree of accuracy, and the bundled software lets you try it out in sports such as jet skiing and fencing. Wii Music, on the other hand, allows you to simulate up to 60 instruments on the Wii remote and jam with your friends. It looks like a great title for kids and their parents to get into, although there are few solid details on how it’ll play at the moment.

HOT TITLES

As well as the big three, almost every major publisher came to the party to show off their upcoming games. Here are the ones we’re looking forward to the most:

Rock Band 2 looked even better than its predecessor – not that we’ve had a chance to officially play the original, as it has yet to even be released in New Zealand! Perhaps the sequel will end up coming out at the same time?

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe pits the stars of the violent MK series against the likes of Batman and Superman in this strange cross-over fighting title.

Sonic Unleashed promises to take the speedy blue hedgehog away from mediocrity – but will Sega be shooting themselves in the foot once again with the new gameplay ‘twist’?

For those who like to scare themselves, Resident Evil 5 looks to keep up the standards set by its predecessors.

And for those of you who’ve had enough of The Sims, keep on an eye on SimAnimals, which lets you take control of bears, squirrels and much more!