E3(Electronic Entertainment Expo) 2013

[B-DRAGON]

■E3(Electronic Entertainment Expo) exposed

Over on our sister Gamesblog, it's a big week.

Quite aside from a relaunched design and snazzy new features, GB is heading along to Los Angeles to Electronic Entertainment Expo - E3: the world's premier videogame showcase.

Be sure to log in and see what's going on.

■E3 2013: Microsoft announces sales date for Xbox One

By Daniel Emery Technology reporter, BBC News

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Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment division, explains the firm's Xbox One strategy

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Microsoft has announced the launch date and price for its new Xbox One.

The new console will go on sale in November this year, with a recommended retail price of £429 in the UK, $499 in the US and 499 euros.

The announcement was made during its keynote opening event at the E3 games expo in Los Angeles.

Rival console manufacturer Sony said its console would be out during the "holiday 2013" period, although no official date has been set.

If both the PlayStation 4 and the XBox One go on sale in November this year, it would be the first time the two rivals have launched simultaneously. Previous consoles were released at least a year apart.

Aoife Wilson, a Staff Writer with Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine, told BBC News that there did not appear to be any reason for the increased price in Europe compared to the US.

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View from E3

Dave Lee Technology Reporter

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Prior to this event at E3, much criticism was levelled at Microsoft over rumours it would force gamers to be "always online" when playing Xbox One.

After the lukewarm reception a few weeks ago, Microsoft opted to focus on the games.

Titles like Forza Motorsport 5 gave a glimpse of "cloud" gaming, while others - such as Konami's Metal Gear Solid 5 - hinted at real-time missions. Even when you're not playing, "you" still are - things will happen, stories will move on, missions may change.

The demos here were not merely theatrical trailers, but gameplay footage - the first real indicator we have had as to how the console will actually really feel.

Minor technical issues aside - at one point sound was lost, prompting some overly-enthusiastic audience members to create their own noises instead - it was an impressive way to kick off this year's E3. Your move, Sony.

"There's a 34% mark up on the price this side of the Atlantic and there's no real reason I can see for that", she said.

"The price seems to be a real sticking point for many people, based on the comments I've seen on Twitter. But the XBox One has so many unique capabilities over its rival, that it might just give them the edge."

"I think people will be willing to pay that price and I do think that price will come down next year", she added.

By comparison, when Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005, it had a launch price in the UK of £279.99, $399 in the US and 399 euros.

New games

Most of the event was used to showcase the new titles that would accompany the launch.

Ryse has been in development for at least two years

As both Sony and Microsoft know, a good exclusive title can dramatically increase the popularity and sales of a new console. Many have put the initial success of Microsoft's first console - the XBox - when it launched in 2001 down to securing the exclusive on the first person shooter Halo.

The first game shown at the event was Ryse: Son of Rome. A first person hack-and-slash action game, developed by Crytek, it puts you in the boots of a soldier of the Roman empire. The game had originally been announced as a XBox 360 exclusive at E3 two years ago.

Other exclusive titles, such as Killer Instinct and Forza 5 were also shown.

Microsoft also announced it was going to set up five in-house development studios to create exclusive content.

A number of other titles were also showcased, including Minecraft ,the block mining and building game; a new version of Halo due out in 2014; DeadRising 3, a zombie horror game; and a new version of the first person shooter Battlefield series.

Copyright © 2013 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc

■E3 2013: a guide to the biggest gaming show on earth

What is this crazy event that dominates the mainstream gaming calendar? Here we provide a quick guide

• guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 June 2013 14.45 BST

Gamers play Playstation 3's Hitman Absolution at E3 2012 in Los Angeles. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP/Getty Images

This week in Los Angeles, the future of the mainstream games industry will be announced. Over 200 developers will show up, spending many millions on huge stands and massive banks of monitors and demo machines. They will show their latest titles to more than 40,000 attendees and the whole thing will be broadcast, tweeted, reported and recorded by more than 4,000 journalists, all endlessly trudging the show floor. This is the most important event of the year as far as retail games are concerned.

If you've never been, here's a quick rundown of what happens and what you should look out for...

The press conferences

The Monday before the E3 exhibition officially opens, the biggest companies in the industry all run their own big press conferences, usually in the ornate old theatres littered around downtown LA. Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft and Sony will use their respective conferences to reveal what they'll be demo-ing when the actual show begins. This are all streamed live over the internet and most of the big game sites, the likes of GameSpot, IGN, Joystiq and CVG, will be hosting the streams. Also, I have organised a livestreaming event in the UK, EToo London. We'll be running all the conferences, with debate and analysis, via the EToo London YouTube channel. Here are the times of the conferences:

Microsoft – 9am Eastern (5pm UK)
EA – 1pm Pacific (9pm UK)
Ubisoft – 3pm Pacific (11pm UK)
Sony – 6pm Pacific (2am, June 11, UK)

The E3 event

E3 itself kicks off at the LA convention centre on Tuesday morning and continues through until Thursday. The event takes up two huge halls of the complex, as well as a number of other smaller locales around the site. Last year over 45,000 people attended, most of them video game publishers developers, retailers and journalists. It is a trade-only event, so there's no public access, though these days, the lines are blurred – lots of bloggers and YouTube video-makers will apply for press passes, and many will be accepted. Hence, the show's unique atmosphere – part-business event, part-showcase, part-community get-together.

How to stay up to date

We'll be covering the key events here on Games blog, but all of the specialist game sites will be absolutely bloated with E3 coverage over the next few days. If you want a UK perspective, go for CVG, VG247, Eurogamer or VideoGamer. Also check out the official websites of all the key publishers and developers, who'll often publish new trailers and footage as soon as it's announced. There's also an official E3 Expo site that will be jammed with footage. The key players you want to be following are:

Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Activision, Bethesda, Warner, Capcom, Konami, Sega, Square Enix and Namco.

What should we be looking out for? The four big questions from the press conferences

Here's what the gaming press want to know from Monday:

1. What does the PlayStation 4 look like?
The console was announced at an event back in February, but Sony didn't actually show the machine itself. Everyone wants to know how it will compare to the rather boxy Xbox One.

PlayStation 4: glimpses of the console itself have been elusive. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

2. What is going on with 'always on' internet connectivity.
Lots of console owners are worried by the revelation that the Xbox One will need to be connected to the internet every 24 hours if you want to continue playing games. There are also likely to be restrictions on the selling of pre-owned titles. Microsoft and the major publishers are keen to find new ways of preventing piracy and ensuring they make money from every copy of a game that gets distributed. However, how this works is highly ambiguous at the moment. Also, Sony hasn't revealed whether it has similar plans for PlayStation. The head of worldwide studios, Shuhei Yoshida, has stated that PS4 won't require a constant internet connection, but details are sketchy.

3. What will be the big new gaming announcements?
There are lots of titles we know are going to be at E3 (see our gallery of anticipated titles), but there will also be plenty of announcements – especially at the Sony and Microsoft press events. Some of the titles people are hoping to see confirmed are LittleBigPlanet 3, Fable IV, Dead Rising 3 and Mirror's Edge 2. We're also expecting to get glimpses of Bayonetta 2, Saint's Row 4 and the second season of the excellent Walking Dead adventure series from Telltale Games. The likes of Dead Souls II and the Wii U versions of Mario Kart and Super Mario will also be popular.

4. That's a lot of sequels, how about original titles?

Knack: Sony will show off the PS4 platformer at E3

Good question – and always one that journalists dwell on during the E3 week. Sony has open-world racer DriveClub and platformer Knack, both for PS4. Microsoft is promising 15 totally new "franchises" and we're expecting one of those to be Crytek's Roman hack-'em-up, Ryse. EA should have Titanfall from Respawn Entertainment, the studio set up by the original creators of Call of Duty. And Activision is has space opera Destiny, from Halo originator, Bungie Studios. Elsewhere, look out for Bethesda's survival horror opus The Evil Within (from the original creator of Resident Evil) and Square Enix's intriguing thriller, Murdered: Soul Suspect.

Industry insiders on the E3 experience

We asked a number of developers and journalists about their E3 thoughts and memories. Here's what they has to say...

How would you describe the experience of E3 to someone who has never been?

Tom Bramwell, editor, Eurogamer: For most people who attend E3, it is a frenzy of appointments to hear product pitches and discussions conducted in dark, imposing exhibition halls full of ludicrously expensive fibreglass dioramas that have been designed to reflect product features - usually science fiction, military or fantasy settings - while providing space to house demo units. It's like a funfair where you're also supposed to do business. It's very silly.

The weird thing is that I love it, probably because it creates so much work and allows for so much interesting analysis of how games are made and sold, although these days I prefer to enjoy it from afar.

Ste Curran, game developer and writer: Imagine fighting through a cardboard city constructed from adverts; through a slow-shifting swamp of unlikable men, saran-wrapped in logo-stained T-shirts, shambling like the dullest zombies. Imagine 100 desperately-competitive bloggers holding their iPhones above their heads to capture a Picadilly-Circus screen showing a digital countdown to the same Call of Duty trailer that has been playing on loop for six hours. Imagine a migraine.

Jon Hicks, editor, Official Xbox Magazine: It's like three days in a violence-obsessed Disneyland, only crammed into a couple of warehouses with no natural light, and you know that nearly all the rides are going be really similar to ones you've already tried and got bored of but you have to go on them anyway. The small children have been replaced by shuffling 20-something men grimly determined to harvest as much terrible merchandise as they can carry, and the wandering Disney characters have been replaced by scantily-clad women who they take cameraphone pics of. There is a constant, deafening soundtrack of rival booths trying to have the biggest explosions, interspersed with looping sales pitches that by the third day you can quote verbatim. You are usually late, and hungry, and reaching an appointment in a blank, white, air-conditioned meeting room away from the main hall feels like finding an oasis in the desert.

Destiny: eagerly awaited space opera for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Rich Stanton, veteran freelance writer: E3 is a show in the truest sense – the bottom line is money, but what really matters is the performance. It's well known how closely the big platform holders and publishers brief their retail partners before and around E3, but then the job is to convince the people in attendance and the millions watching that your console, your particular game, is the best. It's a competition for attention, and so brings out the very best and worst of the industry – from amazing surprises to booth babes. There are other events comparable to E3, but none offers quite this level of exposure – for one week, LA is the biggest stage in video games, and everyone's watching. For the biggest companies in gaming that makes it, for once, as much about the performance as the business.

What do you think are going to be the big themes this year?

Simon Barratt, develoepr and founder of FourDoorLemon: The PS4 vs Xbox One battle is going to be the ongoing theme for the whole week and I expect a new battleground will emerge with every new announcement from third parties throughout the show.

I'm excited to see how much VR sneaks in, certainly it has been getting great coverage and with the new Omnidirectional treadmill Kickstarter doing well and new devices coming from Razer, there is certainly a wave of exciting stuff for 'early' (early for the new dawn of VR at least) adopters. I hope to see indie games become more of a focus for the show, although IndieCade and larger indies have attended for a long time there has been something of a spotlight put on the indie community by the new platforms and their support for them.

Neil Long, editor of Edge Online: It'll be a good old-fashioned format war – Xbox One versus PlayStation 4. Microsoft and Sony know this is the most important E3 for years – they each have a new console to sell at the end of the year and the hardcore games player has a straight choice between the two. In terms of game announcements, they have to dazzle; big name games are vital, but a few fan favourites and some credible indie projects will show that they each understand where the future of their business lies – they need to empower and harness this new generation of independent game developers.

Meanwhile, I honestly think Nintendo has done the smartest thing for them by stepping out of the race entirely. With its simple, cost-effective Nintendo Direct videos it is ditching all the silly bombast and taking its news straight to its audience. I think Nintendo could really surprise us: its Wii U hardware is confusing, but its games have never been in question – we're guaranteed a new Super Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Bros and more Zelda. Nintendo always throws in a few fan-pleasing favourites, too. A huge Wii U price cut is essential, though.

'A huge Wii U price cut is essential.' Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Nicholas Lovell, industry analyst and author: Microsoft will do a bunch of pointless stuff about you can watch sports on your console. The F2P guys will be less visible (E3 isn't for them) but Microsoft and Sony will both showcase F2P games on their new consoles. Publishers will unveil a bunch of new IPs, because the best time to launch a new IP is at the start of the console cycle. It will set the stage for the launch of PS4/Xbox One, but everyone will be disappointed: there won't be enough new IP. There won't be enough information on console launch plans. There won't be enough F2P or there will be too much. There will be too much about TV and sports and films.

Andy Payne, CEO of Mastertronic and AppyNation: It's going to be all about the new set-top boxes – sorry, consoles – that Microsoft and Sony want to launch. And the games that will look ace. But eyes must also be peeled for more Oculus Rift action and ears open to see what Apple reveal at WWDC up the road in the eminently more cooler San Francisco. Whatever happens it will all be mad and bad in equal measure. Oh yes and there will be some very cool action in London at EToo. Don't miss it!

What is your most memorable E3 experience?

Ellie Gibson, associate features editor, Eurogamer: I always love the press conferences. Nothing beats that heady combination of exciting announcements, laughable hyperbole and graphs. And the highlight of every press conference is the bit where the executives try to do some comic banter.

The best ever example of this can be seen in the video of Sony's 2007 conference (skip to 13 min 45), where a virtual version of Jack Tretton shows us his "new tricked-out apartment" in PlayStation Home. "I've left the door open, so hopefully a few of those hot chicks from the square will pop in and join us," he says, before pretending to be surprised to find a virtual Kaz Hirai on his balcony.

"Hey Kaz, what are you doing here??!?!?!"

"HA HA HA HA HA," says Kaz. "I got some burgers and some hot dogs on the grill, what can I do you for?"

There follows a bizarre exchange about turkey burgers and PSP before Tretton announces he is going to "chill here on the deck".

At Eurogamer, we enjoyed this so much we even created a special trophy for our annual E3 awards – the "Let's Chill Here on the Deck Memorial Award for excellence in strained banter."

Jon Hicks: 2010 was just weird all week. Microsoft's Cirque du Soleil event unveiling Kinect was a long, baffling fever dream that felt like a religious sect gathering for the birth of a new and highly confusing deity. Activision's peak Guitar Hero moment was a live event featuring an unending string of massive music acts that went on so long I actually went to another event for an hour and came back. And then a variety of work-related crises required me and a publishing rep to work 20-hour days trying to coordinate across different time zones, which ended with me having a little breakdown in a Hollywood diner from a combination of stress, malnutrition and sleep deprivation. We've tried to look back on it and laugh, but the scars run a bit too deep for that.

Cirque du Soleil at Microsoft's launch of Kinect for Xbox 360 at the World Premiere Experience at E3 2010. Photograph: Casey Rodgers/AP Images for XBox

Martin Hollis, developer: The indiscreet charm of a video game arcade as large as two fields must be acknowledged! but the ambience destroys most games and bleeds out the soul of many others. E3 is a meat-market for bangs. The same broad strokes apply to any industry-led exhibition including, sadly, Tokyo Game Show. Fewer games, fewer genres, less interesting work and marginal opportunity to discover fun new ideas. Rezzed, EToo, IndieCade, GameCity are all enormously more exciting to me than E3.

An illustrative example: E3 2011 was notable to me as a show which included a game built around a kissing controller by Hye Yeon Nam and Deep Sea, a sensory deprivation and negative experience game by Robin Arnott, both in the IndieCade E3 booth. If I went again it would be for IndieCade.

by bbc

■E3 a chance for gaming industry to address questions

By Associated Press, Associated Press Jun 09, 2013 03:33 PM EDTAP Published: June 10

LOS ANGELES — What is the next generation of gaming?

It’s a question the video game industry hasn’t quite figured out yet, but it’s one it must confront at this week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, the much-hyped Los Angeles trade show where about 46,000 attendees are expected to play, poke and prod new video games and gizmos from more than 200 exhibitors.

Possible answers have included better graphics, cloud computing, increased social networking capabilities, smarter artificial intelligence, more computing power and new entertainment options. While the actual answer is likely a combination of all the above, it doesn’t seem like next-gen console creators have been able to effectively communicate that idea.

The move from standard- to high-definition graphics, as well as the introduction of a simple-to-use doodad called the Wiimote, made the last transition between console generations easy to see — and feel. But it’s been a tougher proposition this time for companies attempting to sell difficult-to-describe consoles to consumers more interested in mobile devices.

Nintendo already kicked off the next generation with a thud last November with the launch of the Wii U, the successor to the popular Wii system featuring an innovative tablet-like controller yet graphics on par with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3. Nintendo said it sold just 3.45 million units by the end of March, well below the company’s expectations.

Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. both plan to go into deeper detail at E3 about their forthcoming systems that were teased earlier this year. Sony called the PlayStation 4 a “supercharged PC,” while Microsoft described its Xbox One as an “all-in-one” entertainment solution for living rooms. The announcements of both consoles were met with mixed reactions.

“There’s a lot of anxiety about the console transition,” said Stephen Totilo, editor of the gaming blog Kotaku.com. “These transitions can flip a company’s fortunes. Sony was up for two generations, and then they came in third place this last time. It’s also difficult for the third-party publishers, who have to figure out where to allocate their resources.”

The gaming industry is expected to focus more on games at its annual gathering this week at the Los Angeles Convention Center since each of the next-gen consoles have already been revealed. The technology and creativity on display on the E3 show floor could potentially shape what’s to come in gaming over the next decade.

Among the titles that will be pushed at E3 are first-person shooter “Call of Duty: Ghosts”; stealth series reboot “Thief”; a motion-controlled rendition of a Disney classic, “Fantasia: Music Evolved”; Caped Crusader prequel “Batman: Arkham Origins”; shadowy action-adventure “Watch Dogs”; and new sci-fi game “Destiny.” from the creators of “Halo.”

With the world’s attention on E3, the event could also serve as the ultimate opportunity for Microsoft and Sony to address head on the concerns over connectivity and privacy issues with their new systems. Other questions that remain unanswered include just how much the PS4 and Xbox One will cost and exactly how the new systems will embrace previously played or used games.

In a note posted on Microsoft’s site last Thursday, the company outlined many such plans. Microsoft, which intends to showcase 15 exclusive games at its Monday presentation, said the Xbox One must be connected to the Internet every 24 hours to operate, and there are specific restrictions on how games could be shared with friends and family members.

Instead of a typical flashy E3 presentation, Nintendo is hosting demonstrations at its booth on the show floor, as well as previewing upcoming titles at more than 100 Best Buy stores in North America. The Japanese gaming giant will be showing off “Mario Kart” and “Super Smash Bros.” installments for the Wii U, and they might unveil a new “Legend of Zelda” game.

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“We are past the days where one game alone has the power to change the course of momentum for any given system,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America. “I think consumers need to look at an overall line-up and see three, maybe four games that they look at and say, ‘These are exciting and will get me engaged with this platform.’”

There will likely be less games promoted at E3 than in previous years, a sign of the times as developers continue to focus on launching sure-fire franchises like “Call of Duty,” ‘’Halo” and “Assassin’s Creed,” which are capable of attracting consumers not only willing to buy new installments but also downloadable content and associated merchandise.

“The development costs and risks associated with into getting into developing games for the PS4 and the next Xbox is steep,” said Tony Bartel, president of GameStop. “It is more movie-like in terms of making products for these systems. The barriers are high, but what it’s leading to is phenomenal game-making, a concentration of talent that makes great games.”

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Online:

http://www.e3expo.com

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.

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