Sony

PSP GO

Well, partly. We said that, "(rumours) are swirling that the new PSP will be UMD free, with all games to be downloadable. A touch-screen will be included and more of a focus on online gaming. We got the touch-screen wrong, but the online emphasis was right. We're pumped for the PSP Go!

God of War III

This was a given. Everyone knew it was going to be on show and we got a nice gameplay demonstration of the highly anticipated game in all of its glory.

Team ICO's next title

This had been teased and while it wasn't totally expected, we had an inkling it would show up, and it did. The Last Guardian teaser trailer looks stunning, showing off a young boy and his relationship with a large and cute cat-like animal in a deserted world.

Konami's teaser site

We got two Metal Gear Solid announcements, with Metal Gear Solid: Rising on the 360 and PS3, but the confirmed Sony announcement was Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

PS3 Hardware redesign

We said it wouldn't happen, and it didn't. With more of a focus on game lineups and with the competition heating up, announcing a redesign wasn't really necessary at this point in the generation. We couldn't see it coming and we were right.

Final Fantasy VII remake

Although it was confirmed for release on the PSN Store, a remake is out of the question. People still want this, but the truth is, they won't get it. Get over it people. Move on!

Microsoft

Alan Wake

It had to be shown and thankfully, it was. Microsoft had a great conference, giving 360 fans what they wanted, including Alan Wake. It looked great and the indepth gameplay walkthrough was fantastic.

Forza 3 Trailer

Shown in all of its glory amid Microsoft hyping and claims it's the next best thing since sliced bread. Yeah...we'll see.

New Lionhead project

Didn't this one just blow us out of the water!? Lionhead showed off their pet project, Milo, as part of the Project Natal that Microsoft showed off earlier in their keynote. Milo looks amazing and while it wasn't shown on stage, we're even more curious amid good reports from journalists who saw it behind closed doors.

Motion controller Well...we KIND OF got this right. We knew there was a motion form of gameplay coming from Microsoft, but we don't think anyone saw Project Natal coming.

XBOX 720

Amid reports that Microsoft are pushing the 360 until 2015 and with the release of Project Natal, we don't expect a new console to be announce for at least another two years.

Metal Gear Solid 4 on 360

While we got a new MGS title on 360, MGS 4 won't be appearing on the console by the looks of things.

Halo 4

Although Halo: Reach was confirmed as an all-new Halo adventure, Halo 3 seems to have been the end of a great trilogy.

XBOX 360 console redesign

Just like the PS3 redesign, it would have been silly to announce this amid far more important announcements and company directions.

Nintendo

We almost hit the nail on the head with Nintendo. From Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil & Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles to Red Steel 2 all being on show, to MotionPlus getting more attention and new Zelda and Mario's being announced. Nintendo were pretty predictable going into E3, and we guessed plenty of their announcements. We got some wrong (see below) but check out our Nintendo at E3 Predictions to see how well we went.

Coloured Wii's and Wii-mote's

We sort of got this wrong. We guessed new colours, but black isn't really a colour. It's a shade. We guess it's half-half.

Sony

Playstation 3 price-cut

We really expected Sony to announce PS3 price-cuts across the board, but that's just not what we got. We assumed they would want to counter Microsoft's XBOX 360 bundles and price-cuts, but the truth is, considering how strong Sony's keynote was, we think they got away with it.

GT 5 will be shown in all of its glory

It was shown, but only in a trailer. No gameplay footage, so we wouldn't really call it "in all of its glory". The trailer we cool, but we need something fresh!

More focus on HOME

There was a hefty presentation of HOME during the Sony keynote, but it wasn't quite worthy of being explained as more of a focus for the service. Sony are still supporting it and that's a good thing. But we'd like to see more.

3D-compatible game

We hoped...and we didn't get!

Gran Turismo PSP

We didn't expect to see this coming after years of nothing after it was announced as a launch title for the PSP. But with the announcement of the PSP GO (which we assumed has been made purely to allow the running of GT PSP), Sony showed of GT PSP running on the PSP GO and it looks great!

Microsoft

Improved Avatar System

We were introduced to a few new cool features, but nothing really special or memorable. Nothing that would justify using the term "improved".

New RARE title

Disappointingly, RARE were a no-show at E3. Perhaps they're working hard on a secret project, waiting to announce it at another games conference this year?

Health and Fitness game

This would have gone hand-in-hand with Project Natal, and we guess it might be announced further down the track. The "games" that were on show on stage for Natal could be considered fitness titles (if Wii Fit is, then surely those could be as well!), so perhaps further down the line.

Nintendo

Kid Icarus Wii

We expected it (we also preyed till our knees were sore), but once again, we didn't get it. Perhaps it's time to move on?

Capcom Mystery title

We hoped, but didn't get! The surprise title might even still be a 360/PS3 game, although hope is still clinging to the prospect of the title being a Wii exclusive.

Gaetano

I don’t think anyone could argue that this years E3 conference in LA was better than last years. Even better than 2007’s. E3 lost some of its pizzazz and glamour for a few years before finally getting back to its roots this year. We’ve seen quite a few attending publications make note of how different it was compared to previous years. There has been more on show and more people meaning that companies were putting more effort in.

The three major players had been fairly quiet at E3 before this year, opting to save big announcements for their own conferences at separate times of the year. Nintendo was noticeably shallow at last years E3 and Microsoft and Sony each gave less-than-memorable keynotes. Thankfully, all three showed off the big guns during E3 2009’s keynote presentations as E3 stepped up a gear.

There have been so many great announcements and moments that it’s hard to pick the best of it all. The announcement trailer during Microsoft’s press conference was pretty cool, showing off Crackdown 2 and Left 4 Dead 2. Natal was an impressive presentation and Milo blew my socks off! I loved hearing about Gran Turismo PSP and seeing God of War III in action, but the one moment that made my jaw hit the ground was when Uncharted 2 came on screen. I’m amazed at how gorgeous that game looks. It’s tattooed on my mind more so than Milo or Natal, which both impressed me. I’m a big fan of the PSP GO and I really can’t wait to get my hands on it, so that was another memorable part of the conference for me.

Ben (ICC)

E3 this year has trumped 2008 hands down. While it’s not in the same league as past years when new consoles have been announced, every gamer should be happy with the software line-up on show for their particular system. The best thing about E3 this year was that we got big name titles for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, DS and PSP that we didn’t previously know about. There’s nothing worse than when E3 just rehashes what we already knew. Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M are both great, and unexpected, announcements for Nintendo fans of old. Halo Reach & Left 4 Dead 2 will more than satisfy Xbox 360 fans. Meanwhile, PS3 owners should be over the moon with the announcement of Agent. OMG an exclusive Rockstar game, permission to run around screaming hysterically!

On the handheld front the entire PSP announcement library was impressive. To be honest the PSP has been lagging behind other platforms for a while now, but the likes of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Resident Evil look set to change that. While it was a quiet year for the DS we did get one major revelation; Golden Sun DS. If you ever played one of the GBA games you’ll know what I regard it so highly.

Gaetano

Again, it’s hard to really pick one specific moment. I think a lot of people expected Nintendo to blow us away with something new. I hate getting on Nintendo’s back all the time, but they disappointed me once again. The Vitality Sensor does absolutely nothing for me, and going by the posts in the official conference thread on MyWii as it was announced, it didn’t do much for most people. Of the conferences, Nintendo’s was easily the less impressive. Microsoft made a note of “showing” rather than telling and Jack Tretton at Sony gave a really impressive demonstration. But Satoru Iwata of Nintendo almost put me to sleep. Literally. He took forever to get to his point and I actually wanted to nibble at my ankle in anticipation of his point. When he finally announced the Vitality Sensor, I didn’t know what to think. I was overwhelmed by a lack of interest. I didn’t think that was possible, but I was.

While they had plenty of great announcements, like Galaxy 2, a new Metroid title and some nice DS titles, Nintendo only reiterated the direction I think they’re going in – to ditch the core gamer for a non-gaming and overly casual crowd, with titles like Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort. I asked XBOX Australia’s product marketing manager Adam Pollington if Microsoft were ditching the Halo and Call of Duty gaming audience for a more casual audience with the Natal like the Wii has, and he literally baulked at the suggestion. Nintendo continue to tell us what we want, instead of assuming and/or giving us what we want. Sony has been the best at giving gamers what they want, with Microsoft close behind. Nintendo continue to make statements like, “gamers want this” and “this will be fun” instead of “we want to do this” and “we expect this to happen”, which is the direction the other two players go in. Perhaps I think too much, but the more I see of Nintendo, the more I dislike them. And this is coming from someone who backed the Gamecube and N64 more than any other console during those generations.

As much as I don’t mind Microsoft and Sony going in the direction with motion controlling, I didn’t like Sony’s motion-controller presentation. Dr. Richard Marx was overly nervous and struggled to get his words out and the presentation itself was dull and boring. I just wanted to see more PS3 games and thankfully that’s what we ended up getting at the end.

Ben

I don’t have that much to complain about this year, besides a few titles that I had really hoped for, but deep down inside I knew weren’t going to see the light of day this year. I predominately covered Nintendo’s showing at the event this year. Therefore, I’m leaning towards praising and bagging them with a majority of my answers here as I know their announcements inside and out. Fortunately I don’t have to move past them to find the worst thing at E3 this year.

The presentation from Nintendo of Japan President, Satoru Iwata, was terrible. He took to the stage and gave an extremely long, seemingly unnecessary speech, about Nintendo attempting to increase its audience. After this went nowhere, he finally got to a point (I have no idea what ‘the point’ was) by announcing the Wii Vitality Sensor. After speaking for so long about nothing important, or even related to anything, this was the anticlimax of the show. The Wii Vitality Sensor itself looks relatively useless. This man is in charge of Nintendo; that explains a lot.

Gaetano

I’d go with Microsoft, but only by a nose-hair. If someone asked me to choose one of the two to watch again, I’d probably flip a coin. While there wasn’t a single moment during Microsoft’s press conference that bored me, Sony had some great announcements with Rockstar’s Agent, a great presentation of Uncharted 2 and some amazing gameplay footage of God of War III. They also showed off the PSP GO and finally set a release date for Gran Turismo PSP. Resident Evil on PSP is also a great announcement.

Microsoft win it with me through announcements of another Halo title in Halo: Reach, the revealing of Metal Gear Solid: Rising, the announcement trailer that showed off Crackdown 2 (which looks AMAZING…or maybe I’m just a Crackdown fanboy), and the movie streaming service on XBOX Live. We got confirmation through Adam Pollington that it will be coming to Australia before Christmas, which means we can be streaming Full HD movies through our 360 in a matter of months. Natal was impressive and previews from the show say it’s just as good as the trailer shown during the keynote, and the Milo video gave me goose bumps. Gameplay footage of Alan Wake also blew me away, as this was the one game I wanted to see during the conference.

I really loved both keynote speeches and one barely outdoes the other, but for me personally, Microsoft takes the cake with an overall better presentation that I thought flowed better and showed off a few more surprises through Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Alan Wake.

Ben

It’ll be interesting to see the direction that gaming goes in the next few years. With Sony announcing the PS3 motion controller, Nintendo further pushing Wii MotionPlus and Microsoft announcing Project Natal I hope this isn’t the end of console gaming as we know it. It will either produce an array of great games in a way we’ve never seen before, or Sony & Microsoft will go down the path of Nintendo, and sell out in favour of the casual market.

Microsoft takes it home for me. Project Natal looks really interesting and I’m definitely more interested in what no controller can do, rather than another remote, so long as it’s not just a jazzed up version of Eye Toy. Sony’s controller didn’t really interest me; the demo was cool, but it seemed like a cheap attempt to cash in on Nintendo’s success. While I do think it looks more accurate than Nintendo’s Wii Remote, I think that’s all it is, and the wrong direction for Sony. Big name games were on show during all three Keynotes but Microsoft lead the way here again (maybe only just). With games such as Halo Reach, Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2 and Forza 3 now is a great time to be a 360 owner. While there wasn’t anything completely unexpected it was almost all quality, and an even better software line-up than we could have hoped for.

Gaetano

There are so many! PSP GO, Natal, Milo, Agent, Left 4 Dead 2, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Super Mario Galaxy 2. For me, it’s easily Crackdown 2. The first game has such a cult following and seems to get more fans by the day. The original developer is working on APB for PC (which looks friggin’ unreal!) and whenever a rumour popped up about a sequel they always seemed to be quickly squashed. But when that announcement trailer began and I could hear the voice-over and see the Crackdown logo, a smile went right across my face.

I understand some of you, especially the PS3 diehards out there, might find it difficult to understand how that can be the best announcement for me, but Crackdown was one of my first games of this generation. While it didn’t get outstanding reviews upon launch, it seems to get better with age, which is normally impossible for a title. It’s gotten more popular as time goes by. It’s without a doubt the Fight Club of this generation – a title that gets decent reviews but then eventually ends up being one of the best of its kind (in reference to the film, not the terrible Fight Club game). Ask any 360 owner what 10 games are a must-have and I think you’ll find that most will include Crackdown in that list. The gameplay is so addictive it’s not even funny and I can’t wait to cause havoc once again.

Ben

The PSP Go looks really cool. I never owned a PSP but I’ll definitely be entering Sony’s handheld market when this bad boy hits shelves. Alright, so technically we already knew about this prior to E3, but it was ‘officially’ announced at Sony’s Keynote so I pretended we didn’t. It was also great news for existing owners to hear that the new iteration of the handheld wouldn't make the PSP-3000 or UMD obsolete and that Sony intends to continue to support both in the future, even after the PSP GO is released.

I think it’s worth giving an honourable mention to Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 as the biggest sequels this E3. Nobody saw it coming after Nintendo opened their Keynote by revealing New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the first true sequel to a 3D Mario title, and the first time two 3D Mario adventures will appear on the same console. To clue in non-Nintendo fans this is massive news. The original title was awarded game of the year by many publications in 2007 (including MyMedia in our Choice Awards as voted by members). It was up against titles such as Call of Duty 4, and yet despite Nintendo 'selling out' we know a masterpiece when we see one. Galaxy 2 heads my list of sequels I’m most interesting in, just above Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2. The latter is the second announcement in the ‘I think I peed a little’ category. Left 4 Dead was one of the biggest games of the year and seemingly came out of know where (or maybe I just wasn’t following it). Either way it was a pleasant surprise and I can’t wait to see more of it!

Gaetano

Nintendo had a whole bunch of them. There was the Women’s Murder Club on DS, Wii Fit Plus and then the Vitality Sensor, which Iwata seemed to have taken a decade to finally reveal. I can’t imagine anyone who stayed up that late to watch the keynote would have shown much interest in Wii Fit Plus, as the people it’s actually aimed at (people like my mum) probably wouldn’t have been up watching it. I really want to care about the Vitality Sensor, but I just can’t. With Natal and even Sony’s motion-controller being revealed, this debacle by Nintendo just didn’t grab my attention at all. I was expecting something big from Iwata after he spoke for 300 minutes, but then when he brought that out, I felt like stabbing the screen.

Ben

I already said Wii Vitality Sensor, can I say that again? No wait, at least it’s something new, I’m going to go with Wii Fit Plus. Maybe I’m picking on Nintendo a little, but Cammie killed the atmosphere by following up the awesome New Super Mario Bros. Wii with Wii Fit Plus. Noooooo! We don’t care, nobody who’s watching the entire press conference live cares. Wii Fit was a great direction for Nintendo financially; they must have made a bucket load off of the game that’s good for you. It was inevitable that a sequel would come, but frankly it received was it deserved, nothing more than a ‘meh’. We’re sure Wii Fit is doing wonders for fat kids out there, but we don’t care.

Gaetano

I think the biggest shock for the crowd in attendance was Final Fantasy XIV Online. When Tretton announced that, you could actually hear people say “what!?”. It was pretty left field. I loved how he said it so calmly as well, with no emotion on his face. He wanted to smile, but he wanted to make out like it wasn’t that big.

For me, it’s the announcement of Resident Evil on PSP. I think of the possibilities of PSP GO, with the 16gb internal memory, and I hope we see something along the lines of RE4. Maybe not quite as advanced, but something along the lines. I’m curious to see how it works without a thumb pad, but Resident Evil is one of my favourite franchises and along with Viewtiful Joe is something I’ve been dying to see on PSP (Red Hot Rumble doesn’t count!)

Crackdown 2 was also a shock, but a small part of me kind of expected it.

Ben

We got two massive bombshells in the software department this E3. Sony announced that Final Fantasy XIV Online will be coming exclusively to PS3 and PC in 2010, and Nintendo concluded their show with Metroid: Other M. I believe Microsoft had the best overall line-up; however, these two were huge, but unexpected, announcements. A trailer was shown for both; the audience didn’t know how to react after watching either and sat in ore of what they had just witnessed. Microsoft may have had the best conference overall, but it was Nintendo and Sony who delivered the biggest shocks. To avoid sitting on the fence yet again I’ll go with Metroid: Other M as the biggest shock, just because the Metroid titles on the GameCube introduced me to the last generation of gaming.

Gaetano

It’s been a massive conference. So much on show, so much announced. I could say the gamers won, as Ben has below, but that would be a bit too cliché. If we want to be official, I’d say Sony and Microsoft in a tie, with Nintendo a distant third. If I want to be a fanboy, I’d say Microsoft because of Crackdown 2. But really, we have an amazing year still to come for games. 2009 is going to end incredibly strong and now with Forza 3, MGS: Rising, Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Galaxy 2 and Alan Wake on the horizon, the gaming public really did win E3. Kudos to Microsoft and Sony for helping to bring us amazing and conference – one of the best in recent memory!

Ben

You, the gamers! Is that too cliché? Who cares it’s true. Microsoft had the best showing overall. Halo Reach, Project Natal, Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2, Metal Gear Solid Rising, Forza 3, and Splinter Cell: Conviction and the list goes on. Sony fans better start saving some coin as well with the PSP Go, Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, Final Fantasy XIV Online, Agent and God of War III looking to blow socks off. Nintendo had a weaker showing, but I’m not complaining and neither should you. It was a bazillion times better than last year (yes that’s my very professionally summed up conclusion). Two new Mario titles and Metroid: Other M are more than enough to keep loyal Nintendo fans around for at least another year. Golden Sun DS wins the award for ‘biggest under the radar announcement’. Golden Sun was one of the best RPG’s on the GBA and it’s fantastic to see it back. Whether you’re a fan of Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo or a combination of, something big came out of E3. At the end of the day conference that’s what really matters.

Nintendo and Sony headlined the busiest day of E3 this year, with back to back keynotes that were sure to keep us entertained on E3 2009 Day 2.

Nintendo started proceedings with a bang. After a slight delay Cammie Dunaway kicked things off with a Mario montage, leading in to the announcement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The all new 4 player Super Mario title was demonstrated on stage and will certainly please Nintendo fans of old.

Unfortunately the excitement level dropped directly after as Cammie went on to announce the leaked Pre-E3 Wii Fit Plus - a game that is heading in a 'new direction' and would help people "create a specific workout program that's perfect" for them. Cammie showed off a range of new minigames, including skateboarding and barrel jumping, which finally puts the gamer in Mario's shoes.

Reggie then came on stage to start talking about 'innovation' and went into a promotion for Wii MotionPlus and Wii Sports Resort, two items that were announced at E3 last year. Nintendo's Bill Trinen showed us that Wii Sports Resort will begin with skydiving, and then gave us a look at the very interesting archery and basketball games. Reggie reminded us that third party developers are making use of Wii MotionPlus, including EA with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 & Grand Slam Tennis and Sega with Virtua Tennis 2009.

Reggie dropped an interesting statistic by claiming that more 3rd party games were sold on the Wii and DS than any other platforms. Wow! He used Square Enix as an example of upcoming RPGs by showing off a trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearer and Kingdom Hears 358/2 Days. Continuing the RPG trend Reggie discussed how Bowser sucks, and this time he literally means it. In Mario & Luigi RPG: Bowser's Inside Story the famous brothers have been shrunk and find themselves inside their nemesis!

The biggest under the radar announcement was that of Golden Sun DS. After a 6 year absence one of the best RPGs of the GBA era is back, and deserved way more excitement than it got.

Cammie replaced the Nintendo of America President on stage to announce Woman's Murder Club, an interactive book for the Nintendo DS. This is all about 'taking risks' and trying new things. It's definitely an interesting concept, and one we'll see more of if it turns out to be a success. Continuing with the DS content she announced COP: The Recruit. An open-world third-person urban crime game, Cop puts players behind the wheel, and on foot, as a street racer who's faced with the choice of returning to his criminal ways, or helping the police. The action packed trailer looked like GTA meets Driver mixed in with some Anime style cutscenes.

The DSi has some interesting unique features, including the ability to download content and 'applications' from an online store. In keeping with this theme Nintendo announced that it is developing a system for users to be able to share DSi pictures on the World Wide Web. Users will be able to take pictures with their DSi and then directly upload them to their Facebook page straight from their DSi console. WarioWare DIY is another DSi exclusive title and will allow players to create their own microgames, using features such as the DSi camera, then send them to their friends locally via Wi-Fi.

Nintendo President Satoru Iwata came on stage and confused everyone. He gave an extremely long, seemingly unnecessary speech, about Nintendo attempting to increase its audience. He said there are three active groups - those who actively play, those who never play and those who might. If gaming is to grow, it must come from the "maybe" group. There are 295 Million people in Japan, Europe and the US actively playing games. Then there's another 145 Million who say they might be involved in games. He continued to discuss non-gamers for quite a while and it seemed as if he didn't really have a point.

Eventually Iwata announced the Wii Vitality Sensor - a device the plugs into the bottom of your Wii Remote and receives information about your heart rate by being attached to your finger.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 was announced to the surprise of many since a new Mario title was announced at the start of the show. Check out the trailer to see Mario running around the spherical world, this time with the help of Yoshi. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the first true sequel to a 3D Mario title, and the first time two 3D Mario adventures will appear on the same console.

Reggie reads the blogs. He knows we want more mature titles from third party developers. So, he decided to show us three games on the horizon that fit this description, and one of those games was Dead Space Extraction.

Nintendo started the show with a surprise, and ended it with a massive shock, by announcing that they were teaming up with Team Ninja to bring Metroid: Other M to the Nintendo Wii. It's Metroid like you've never seen it before, and as Reggie says, it takes a name you know well and turns it into something new. The game is due out next year and features a mix of 1st and 3rd person gameplay. With that Nintendo concluded their Keynote for E3 2009.

Later in the day, at their roundtable discussion, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that a new Wii Zelda title is in development. Don't expect it until 2010 at the very earliest and reports that we won't see it again until next E3 suggest it may be further away than that.

The morning continued with Sony's Conference starting at 4am local time. Jack Tretton started proceedings by thanking everyone for coming and stated that they won't be "out done" by anyone. He discussed the success of the PS2 and that Sony was the first company to have 3 successful consoles in the industry at the same time along side the PS3 and PSP. inFamous is just one of 35 titles to come exclusively to the PlayStation 3 in 2009 and looks set to further increase the 13 million PS3 that have already been sold worldwide.

Sony played montages of various upcoming games throughout the entire keynote. Out of all the videos the show early in the piece Heavy Rain received the biggest applause.

The PSP was a major player in the keynote as Sony officially announced "the worst kept secret of E3" the PSP Go. They also confirmed that the new iteration of the handheld wouldn't make the PSP-3000 or UMD obsolete and that they intended to continue to support both in the future, even after the PSP GO is released.

Sony did have a surprise or two in store for us, however, by bringing out Kojima to announce Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for PSP. It is set 10 years after the events of MGS3: Snake Eater and is said to be a true sequel to that title. The game is set in 1974, where a powerful group takes over Costa Rica.

Gran Turismo PSP kept the good news coming for PSP fans as it was announced along side the PSP Go and showcased with an impressive trailer. There will be over 800 cars, 35 tracks and 60 layouts of those tracks. The game will also run at 60 fps. It will be a launch title along side the PSP Go.

Finally Agent was announced exclusively for the PlayStation 3. "We have always enjoyed making action games, and with Agent we are making what we believe will be the ultimate action game," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. We didn't get any images or footage but nobody is going to complain about an exclusive game from Rockstar.

Sony dropped a bombshell during their E3 2009 keynote speech when they announced Final Fantasy XIV Online exclusively for the PS3 and PC. A small trailer was shown, although no gameplay was in the trailer. The response to the announcement was one of amazement, as the audience at the keynote didn't quite know how to react to it.

In keeping with the FF theme Sony revealed that Final Fantasy VII is going to be released on the PS Store for download.

The biggest shock of the morning came when Sony announced their new motion controller for the PS3. While the controller was still in the form of an early prototype it worked in a similar way to the Wii Remote. However, with the aid of a camera it appeared to detect movement better than the current Wii Remote. Dr. Richard Marx, creator of the EyeToy, demoed the controller on stage, showing off its real-time movement and how precise it is with the gamer’s swings. We'll post the video of the demonstration shortly.

Sony also announced Mod Nation Racers - a community and creative-focused title from developer United Front Games. The title will be a kart racing title, allowing you to generate your own characters and build your own karts.

Another PS3 exclusive, God of War III will be hitting shelves during March 2010. It just snuck in towards the end of the conference and we're glad it did with a trailer. The gameplay is just as we expect it to be - gory, violent and action-packed! The environments look stunning and the enemies just as massive and aggressive as we remember from the first two mind-blowing titles. And with that Sony Concluded their Keynote.

Sony started off this generation slowly. The PS3 launch was laughably bad all around the world and the launch titles didn't help bring in a new audience, either. Slowly but surely, the console has picked up over the years and 2009 seems to FINALLY be the TRUE year of the PS3. Up until now Sony have been making the assumptions, but now, it might be safe for everyone to say that 2009 is as good a time as ever for the Playstation 3 to show its true colours.

Playstation 3 price cut

This has to happen. If it doesn't, Sony will be making an enourmous mistake. Microsoft have been releasing bundles over the past 12 months and focusing on the core family audience. Nintendo are aiming the Wii at non-gaming and casual audiences. What exactly is the PS3 aimed at? At it's current price, it's hard to decide. Sony need to cut the price of the PS3 and announce it at E3. It's the first step to making the year theirs.

PSP GO!

Will Sony show off a new PSP?

Whether it's going to be called the PSP GO! or not is irrelevant. We expect a new PSP to be shown at E3. The PSP gaming library is almost completely dry. A quick look at release date lists will see an embarrassingly short list of PSP releases over the next 8 months. Rumours are swirling that the new PSP will be UMD free, with all games to be downloadable. A touch-screen will be included and more of a focus on online gaming.

GT5 will be shown in all of its glory

This, along with a PS3 price-cut, is an absolute necessity for Sony. We can't imagine them not showing it. We expect it to be shown, because the PS3 has been out for far too long and we are still yet to get a full-blown Gran Turismo. It's blasphemy if you ask us. Blasphemy!

More focus on HOME

HOME has been a letdown thus far. You can't really argue that. Sony have come up with a brilliant idea, and kudos for doing that, but the execution just hasn't been good enough. We expect Sony to at least push the feature at E3 and announce some new aspects for it. We can't imagine Sony just giving up on it after so much effort was put into it, so E3 2009 should be the perfect showcase for them to announce a new direction for it.

God of War III

Sony will unleash the beast

Sony will show God of War III in its near-finished glory at E3 2009. That's pretty much a given!

Team ICO's next title

We don't really expect this to happen, but at the same time, we'd love for it to. Team ICO have teased us with a video that looks absolutely amazing, and if it's anything like their PS2 games, we're excited. Here's hoping something is on show at E3.

3D-compatible game

Motorstorm and WipeOut have been shown in 3D at several trade shows over the past few years and Sony have hinted at it in the past. The teasing has calmed down as of late, but we wouldn't be surprised if Sony show something of the sort at E3 09.

Konami's teaser site

No one really knows what it is or what it's about. MGS5? MGS spin-off? Kojima is teasing and counting down to other countdowns. It must in anticipation of E3, right?

PS3 hardware redesign

The PS3 isn't changing in shape anytime soon. At least we don't think it will. Redesigns just don't seem to be fashionable for consoles this generation as they were last generation for the PS2. Sony were the only company to redesign their home console with two iterations of the PS2, so to assume it would happen again this generation, where there's bigger fish to fry, would be silly.

GT PSP

It's never, ever going to happen. We should just accept that and move on.

Final Fantasy VII remake

See above.

Solid Final Fantasy XIII release date.

See above (teheheheh)

Microsoft have been steady ever since the 360 launched. It was never going to fly off shelves in Japan, but it's been a steady seller in Europe, the US and Australia. Microsoft have announced quite a few bundles over the past few weeks, including games like Halo 3, Forza and even both Gears of War titles bundled together with an XBOX 360 Pro console. Sales have never dropped or risen significantly since launch, but even if Microsoft is eventually over-taken by the PS3 in sales numbers, Microsoft really shouldn't worry. Software sales, especially in 2007, have been spectacular, and XBOX Live is the most used online gaming service in the world. In the mean time, what do they have planned for the near future?

Alan Wake

Everyone needs to see Alan Wake

It's been far too long between drinks. The highly anticipated XBOX 360 exclusive needs to be shown. If it doesn't, expect plenty of backlash. We expect it to be shown purely because it hasn't been in so long. There are murmurs that new consoles won't be announced for a few years and that this E3 will be the biggest and best as well, so what better time for Microsoft to show off their supposed "system seller".

Improved Avatar system

More of a focus on Avatar's?

Not that the current system really needs improving, but Microsoft really pushed the Avatar's at last years E3. We've seen the implementation of Mii's into party games on the Wii, so we expect to see some Microsoft-developed titles that use the Avatar's shown at this years E3. Microsoft have really pushed the family aspect of the 360 over the past 12 months, releasing family-centric console bundles and increasing support for XBLA.

New RARE title

We don't know why, but buzz has increased around RARE over the past few weeks as E3 approaches. RARE have failed to impress on the 360 as they did on the N64 when owned by Nintendo, and while their titles have been consistently good, but not great, we expect something big to be announced during Microsoft's conference. Maybe a new Perfect Dark?

Forza 3 trailer

Forza 2 is without a doubt one of the best racers so far this generation. Rumours have been spreading about the development of a third and there's strong reason to believe a new trailer will be shown as well. We expect Microsoft to show off the racer during their press conference to counter any GT5 footage Sony might show.

New Lionhead project

We expect an all-new Lionhead project to be announced, although it's doubtful it will be another Fable. It's been quoted that the developer doesn't want to be known purely for one franchise and it's heavily favoured that a new game will be shown during the conference.

Health and fitness games

With the (expected) showing of the motion controller, there have been murmur's about possible fitness titles also come to the 360, similar to the craze currently owning the Wii.

Motion-controller

Microsoft have teased it for almost a year now and we expect to finally see it at this years E3. Whether or not it's announced alongside some motion-sensoring compatible games is yet to be seen.

XBOX 720

It won't happen. At least not this year. There's no way any of the three major players will announce a new console yet, with so many great titles still to come out. It's far too early and too many analysts have come out saying that the current generation still has plenty of years.

Metal Gear Solid 4 on 360

Let's be honest - it has just as much chance of happening as GTA has of appearing on Wii. Then again, it's not like MGS has never appeared on a XBOX console before.

Halo 4

We can't imagine a new Halo sequel coming out anytime soon with the recent release of Halo Wars and a Halo 3 spin-off coming soon.

XBOX 360 console redesign

Microsoft didn't redesign the original XBOX and while we've seen upgrades/redesigns of other Microsoft hardware, we don't expect the 360 to change in appearance anytime soon.

"From Nintendo's perspective, we always go into E3 with a very high bar wanting to satisfy not only the core fans but also ourselves” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. After a disappointing show last year, fans have a right to be skeptical. However, with the recent release of the DSi, and a lack of big name titles from Nintendo themselves on the Wii, this time around the Big N need to pull out something special. If they don’t I fear many loyal fans may begin to jump ship.

Kid Icarus Wii
Where is it? It should have been announced ages ago! Nintendo need to pull out their big guns this year, making E3 the perfect time to revive Kid Icarus.

We want Kid Icarus on Wii!

Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil & Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles
One is a remake and the other is an on-rails shooter, but one thing is for sure, Resident Evil sells well on Wii. It may not be Resident Evil 5, but if sales of past games are anything to go by Wii fans love the RE series. Both of these Capcom titles will be on show at E3 and can be penciled in to sell over a million copies to the mature Wii audience.

Tatsunoko Vs Capcom
Originally released only in Japan, a western release for Tatsunoko Vs Capcom was recently announced and the game has been confirmed to be on show at E3.

Red Steel 2
The first Red Steel had a great concept; the execution just didn’t match it. Red Steel 2 will be set in a desert-bound, high-tech metropolis. The title will also take full advantage of the Wii MotionPlus peripheral. We expect to see Red Steel 2 on show at E3 and hopefully, with the help of 1:1 motion, it’ll play as it should have the first time around.

Wii MotionPlus
MotionPlus will be released a few days after E3 wraps up. Expect Nintendo to give it one last pre-launch promotion at E3. Wii Sports Resort, Ninty’s first and currently only title to use the device, was announced last year and will launch worldwide in 6 weeks. Expect Nintendo to really push MotionPlus as it is essentially transforming the Wii into the motion controlled beast we all thought it would be 2 years ago. No doubt they’ll have a few big name games in development that make use of the device.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Announced at GDC’09, Reggie hinted that we would get a confirmed release date at E3. In fact besides that the Nintendo of America President has been tight lipped regarding what we can expect from E3 (besides an improvement on last year).

Pokemon Heart Gold and Pokemon Soul Silver
It wouldn’t be Nintendo without Pokemon. The remakes of Pokemon Gold and Silver for the DS were recently announced, and we expect Nintendo to show off some more footage at E3.

Wii to DS Connectivity
The DSi has expanded Nintendo’s audience who own both the Wii and DS, making E3 the perfect time to start pushing DS to Wii Connectivity. Perhaps a new Wii Zelda could connect to Spirit Tracks or Mii’s could become transferable to the DSi menu.

Metroid Prime Trilogy
The three Metroid Prime games all on one disc with remastered Wii controls is something to get excited about. Seeing how the game itself has already been announced don’t expect it to be a big feature, but some more info would be nice.

Two new games from High Voltage Software
The developer of The Conduit teased us by confirming they will announce two new Wii games at E3.The first will be a FPS which they hope to make technically stronger than the very impressive The Conduit. The second is “a different kind of a thing.”

Sadness
The survival horror title was one of the first announced for the Wii; however, we are yet to get a single in-game screenshot or trailer. Developer Nibris has teased that we may finally get a glimpse of the title running at E3.

Coloured Wiis/Wii Remotes
Rumours of coloured Wiis and Wii Remotes have been around since the console launched. There’s nothing more concrete this year to suggest that we’ll see them than in the past, besides the fact that the console has now been out for a few years, and that’s generally when Nintendo decide to get colourful.

Is it time for Nintendo to get colourful?

Zelda & Mario Wii
Nintendo have hinted that these are in development, and now is the time to announce at least one of them. Zelda seems like the obvious choice seeing how Zelda: Twilight Princess was released back in 2006, and it was a GameCube port. In saying that, don’t be surprised if Nintendo go big and announce both of them to make up for the lack of software last year.

Capcom Mystery Title
We know that Capcom’s ‘mystery title’ is an action game and will be developed by Capcom Japan. What we don’t know is anything else. At this point in time we don't even know what console it'll be on.

Pikmin 3
Where is Pikmin 3? I’ve been playing the New Play Control version of Pikmin 2 this week and it seems almost criminal that the Wii hasn’t had an instalment in the franchise. While we’re on the topic a DS version wouldn’t go astray either.

Pikmin and the Wii and/or DS go together so well. Where's Pikmin 3?

Donkey Kong
I’d love to see a real Donkey Kong game for either the Wii or DS. We haven’t had one since DK64 (Jungle Beat and what not really don’t count). While it wasn’t the same as the Donkey Kong Country games I thought it was a solid transition from 2D masterpiece into the 3D arena.

Mario Tennis Wii
I wasn’t a fan of the controls in New Play Control Mario Power Tennis, but I’d like to see Nintendo give it another crack. Wii MotionPlus should help with the lack of accuracy which plagued the GCN remake.

GTA Wii
It’s not likely, but that’s what people said last year and seemingly out of nowhere GTA: Chinatown Wars for the DS was announced. It received critical acclaim from game publications and fans despite not selling as well as Rockstar may have liked. It’s really a matter of if they think the market is there on the Wii after what may have been a mature audience experiment on DS.

Super Smash Bros. DS
This almost definitely won’t happen, but we can dream. After doing so well on consoles it seems blatantly obvious to us that the franchise should go portable. Yet Nintendo, who must have their reasons, chose to keep it exclusive to their home console. Maybe one day, but we hope at this year's E3!