e3 2012
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We're live from E3 2012 in Los Angeles!
Well friends, a barrage of gaming glory is about to descend on southern California. The 2012 edition of E3 begins today with a handful of pre-show press conferences from the industry's big three. We're on the ground at the Los Angeles Convention Center and surrounding area to bring you coverage of all the happenings. While we don't anticipate any big console reveals from Microsoft or Sony, we are looking forward to Unreal Engine 4, Wii U news, Smart Glass, some sort of PlayStation news and a dash of mobile gaming. If you're looking to follow along easily, keep an eye on our event hub for all of the latest game-centered coverage.
Tournament play coming to XBL with new app
Virgin Gaming's occasional prize-dispensing video game tournaments are setting up shop in your house, through an upcoming Xbox Live app designed to integrate skill-based tournaments into home games.The new "Xbox Live Tournament Service" will offer a variety of tournaments, both free and paid entry, for Xbox games (exclusive to XBL Gold). Users will also be able to track progress in ongoing tournaments. No specific game announcements were made – though Microsoft and Virgin assure users it'll include "their favorite games" and the service is due to launch later in 2012.
E3 2012 Xbox pre-show, live with Joystiq and Engadget [update: (pre)show's over!]
Joystiq and Engadget are on site at Microsoft's E3 2012 presentation. Join us right here for a live pre-show featuring our predictions, expectations, worries, and other ruminations on the spectacle that is about to burn through a couple million bucks right before our eyes.Update: Our pre-show with Engadget is done! Thanks for watching! If you missed it, check out the recorded version above.
The Daily Grind: What do you hope to learn from E3?
So E3 2012 is a day away, and Massively is gearing up to stagger drunkenly around the Los Angeles Convention Center schmoozing with game devs. Oh wait, that's not us, but we are excited to see some of the MMOs on display at this year's con, including The Elder Scrolls Online, Neverwinter, Defiance, the Riders of Rohan expansion for Lord of the Rings Online, and dozens more. For some of us, it's our first E3. For others, it's old hat at this point. One thing's for certain, though: Gaming's Graceland has a lot to offer both vets and newbs alike. For today's breakfast topic, share your thoughts on this year's event. More specifically, what do you hope to learn from E3? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
We're liveblogging Microsoft's E3 2012 keynote at 12:30PM ET!
E3's about to get real, y'all. Microsoft's getting this party started with today's Media Briefing at 12:30PM ET. Will we be on hand? You can bet your Smart Glass we will be. Our crew is going to be liveblogging the whole thing, and you can follow along right here. What can we expect from this year's event? Most likely we won't be seeing a successor to the Xbox 360 just yet, but we're sure that Microsoft's got plenty up its sleeve this time out. Stay tuned!
Super Joystiq Podcast Special: 'E3 2012 Pre-show' - Microsoft, Sony, and Wii U announcements
It's the evening before Microsoft, Sony, and a number of other companies take the stage for Pre-E3 media briefings.Xav, JC, Richard, and Mike Schramm discuss what we can expect from tomorrow's E3 2012 "Day Zero," react to Nintendo's recent Wii U announcements, and ask what Rare is up to these days.Joystiq will have new Super Joystiq Special episodes every day this week. Keep it locked! And stay up-to-date with everything during E3 with our brand new E3 2012 Event Landing Page.Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Super Joystiq Podcast is also available in the Zune Marketplace Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directlyA stream of the show and details about each segment is available after the break.
End of Nations E3 trailer gets play-by-play treatment
Trion's MMO real-time strategy game End of Nations got a new E3 trailer loaded with in-game battles and voice-over commentary. The free-to-play game will go through a "PvP preview" period this summer, and is slated to launch this fall.
The final Wii U: What's new, different, gone
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata unveiled the final product version of the Wii U in today's pre-E3 Nintendo Direct livestream, and while you can get a look at it here, we wanted to point out the major differences between it and the prototype.The product version has two full analogue sticks that are clickable, replacing the prototype's circle pads. The back of the WiiPad (seriously, that is what we're calling it) has rounded grips and the buttons and direction pad have been shifted toward the screen "to maximize comfort even if you are playing for a long period of time," Iwata said.The final Wii U has near field communication technology on the left side, under the D-pad, for scanning applicable real-life objects into games.The product version also adds a TV button, positioned next to the power button, that turns the Wii U into an infrared TV remote, Iwata revealed.%Gallery-156763%
Nintendo's pre-E3 press conference video is now available -- relive the magic again and again
Did you miss any of the magic that was the Nintendo pre-E3 press event? Great news: it's now online in pre-recorded form, so you can watch it to your heart's content. Using the Wii U controller as a TV remote? The Wii U Pro Controller? The unveiling of the Miiverse? It's all there, friends. Experience the magic after the break.
SOEmote brings your facial expressions to EverQuest II, lets fellow gamers know when you stub your toe
So, you love you some EverQuest II, but how much of you is really in that Ogre character of yours? Sony Online Entertainment has unveiled a new way let players put a bit more of their own personal stamp on the game, in the form of the SOEmote. The new feature, unveiled a few days ahead of E3, uses a computer camera to track facial movements, bringing player expressions to the characters themselves. Also new are voice fonts, allowing players to tailor the timbre of their speech, so your character can sound a bit more like the killer in Scream, just as you've always imagined.
Wii U unlocks the key to the Miiverse, Nintendo promises mobile integration to come
As its pronoun heavy name indicates, the Wii U is all about the social. With that in mind, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata unveiled the Miiverse, a coming together of players' avatars that will live on the console's home screen. Log in, and you'll see your Mii, your friends' Miis, Miis on your Wii U system and Miis of folks playing the same game as you in your locality. The Mii Wara Wara features Miis gathered around tiles representing Wii U games, with speech bubbles offering up real messages from other players. There's plenty of social functionality built into the touchscreen controller, as well, users can text with other players to get information -- like gaming tips. Info can be input with a virtual keyboard, smartphone-style or can be handwritten or doodled with a stylus, à la the 3DS. The controller also seems to be a useful tool when using your system to teleconference on the big screen, so you can, say browse the web for info while chatting, tablet-style. Nintendo has also promised more integration with non-Wii devices -- functionality that likely won't hit at launch. Since the information is accessible via mobile browser, you'll be able to carry social functionality over to your 3DS, PC and mobile phone -- it's not Super Mario for iOS, but it's a small step toward a more mobile Nintendo, we guess. Update: Join us past the break to view the webstream for yourself!
Catch up on Nintendo's pre-E3 Wii U brief from Satoru Iwata right here
Weren't around a stable internet connection during Nintendo's pre-E3 Wii U presentation? Don't you worry, friend – we've got a full copy of the video care of Nintendo's YouTube channel embedded just above. Magical!
'Miiverse' announced for Wii U, greatly expands Mii Plaza from Wii
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata announced Miiverse today, a "Mii universe" for Wii U, during the company's Nintendo Direct pre-E3 livestream. Miiverse is an online system planned for the company's upcoming system that displays a Mii plaza on the Wii U GamePad – it's looking like a much expanded version of the Wii's Mii Plaza feature.The plaza will show Mii characters gathering around game icons and feature a messaging system for players to connect with players they both do and do not know, as well as a variety of other asynchronous functionality. The messaging system includes a "spoiler" checkbox to prevent players from wrecking a friend's game experience (should they choose to use it), as well as the ability to send images and drawings to one another. Miiverse will also feature a social networking-style "wall" of sorts, where players can post screenshots from games.Miiverse will also inhabit the 3DS and mobile devices (Android, iOS) in the future, though it will not be available immediately at launch. %Gallery-156765%
Black Wii U shown during Nintendo Direct presentation
It took some time before we had the Wii in diverse colors, but it appears Nintendo plans on offering two colors with the Wii U console close to launch. During today's Nintendo Direct presentation, during an extended and awkward vignette, the company showed off a black console – along with video chat.%Gallery-156764%
Wii U 'Pro Controller' unveiled, looks awfully familiar
Beyond the WiiPad's big unveiling during Nintendo's pre-E3 presentation this afternoon, president Satoru Iwata also briefly showed off the Wii U "Pro" controller. As you might imagine, it looks awfully similar to the Wii's "Pro" controller, not to mention the Xbox 360 controller we've all gotten so used to.
Nintendo shows final Wii U Gamepad, TV remote app (update: video)
Looks like Nintendo didn't want to wait for its proper E3 press conference to spill some Wii U details early -- it just used its preview event to show the finished version of the Wii U controller, called the Gamepad, as well as a TV remote app. The Gamepad is decidedly wider than what we saw a year ago, with comfort clearly the top priority in other areas: the analog sticks have been moved further outwards and made clickable, while the back grip has been tweaked in the process. There's also no doubt as to where to interact with NFC gadgets, either, as a dedicated spot below the directional pad will take all your device-to-device taps. As for the remote, it looks to be a straightforward number pad navigator with a programming guide, all steering your TV through infrared. Between this and the Wii U Pro Controller, though, it's clear Nintendo hasn't been sitting still in the past year, and has some home theater ambitions in the process. We're curious as to what Nintendo is saving up for its bigger gala on Tuesday. Update: Join us past the break to view the webstream for yourself!
Look at the WiiPad all grown up
Nintendo just showed off the final consumer version of its WiiPad (yes, that's what we are calling it), during its pre-E3 Nintendo Direct presentation.%Gallery-156763%
Nintendo pre-E3 press conference liveblog!
We can't wait for the E3 showroom floors to officially open -- and thankfully, neither can Nintendo. The company is upholding its promise to blanket the media with news by kicking things off with a pre-E3 press event, getting the upperhand on Microsoft and Sony by a few days. The company's president Satoru Iwata will be on-hand for an event that will most likely involve some game announcements, for starters. Will Nintendo offer up some more info on the Wii U or some welcome changes to the 3DS? Join us right here at 6PM ET to find out! June 3, 2012 6:00 PM EDT
Battlefield 3 Premium trailer leaks, 'Aftermath' expansion officially acknowledged [update: removed]
Before it gets disavowed, here's Battlefield 3 Premium. Everything you see above had previously been confirmed in the leaked spec sheet.Also worth noting is that the previously announced pack of three expansions is now four. Close Quarters and Armored Kill are now joined by "Aftermath" before End Game hits this winter.Update: As expected, the video has been removed since going live. We're gonna take a wild guess that you'll see the full video tomorrow.[Thanks, Freddie]
Watch Nintendo's pre-E3 Wii U briefing right here
Nintendo cares not for your meaningless "parameters," E3. It's starting the big show early this afternoon at 6PM ET with a special Nintendo Direct presentation starring none other than Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. The presentation is focusing on "the vision behind the Wii U," according to Nintendo's Twitter account. Set your expectations accordingly, as Nintendo also said, "No Wii U game info until Tues," referencing the company's Tuesday, June 5 presser.Should you be in an area that prohibits streaming video, we'll be breaking out news alongside the presentation, and our friends at Engadget have a liveblog going, if that's your kinda thing.
