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The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo typically concentrates on the games major publishers hope consumers will either purchase or put on their holiday wish lists in the coming year. Though there's always a certain amount of hardware, in the form of controllers, accessories, and PCs, for the most part, this a show about software, not hardware.

The exception is when a new game console is launching, and over the many years I've attended the show, I've seen the launches of the Sega Dreamcast; Sony's PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PSP; Nintendo's GameCube, Wii, and DS; and Microsot's Xbox and Xbox 360. That said, 2010 is the first year without a major living room console launch where I've seen almost all the attention focused firmly on hardware rather than software.

What made this year unique was the presence of both the Microsoft Kinect platform and the PlayStation Move, as well as Nintendo's handheld 3DS console. We'd all seen the Kinect (then called Natal) and Move before, but this was the official holiday season kickoff for both, with finalized names, details, and release dates.

Both motion control systems have their strengths and weaknesses, but I thought that Kinect especially had promise for home entertainment control, and the PlayStation Move provided the kind of precision and accuracy that core gamers would most appreciate.

The 3DS, at risk of being written off as a novelty in the era of me-too 3D, was a surprising success (at least in the small doses it was offered up to attendees), with eyeglass-free 3D that actually seems to work. Though that's only a tiny personal screen for now, it makes those expensive, cumbersome active shutter 3D systems feel like a much tougher sell.

If the technology behind the 3DS holds up, it's really only a matter of time and scale before consumers expect all forms of 3D to not require glasses.

These new hardware devices were impressive in person, but they're all still a tough sell; console add-ons have traditionally not succeeded (from the Sega 32X to the Xbox HD-DVD drive), and Nintendo fans may have upgrade fatigue after the DS, DS Lite, DSi, and DSi XL.

The second major reason this year's E3 felt like it was all about hardware, was that the software largely failed to impress. This left the field wide open for the Kinect, Move, and 3DS to steal the show.

I've already detailed the overreliance on sequels and spin-offs, many on a rapidly accelerated production cycle to feed the need for annual product installments. But, there was a handful of games in development seen either on the show floor or behind closed doors that made my must-play list (and yes, most of them are sequels). In no particular order, they are:… Read more

This week on preGAME we take an in-depth look at all three major E3 2010 press conferences. If you didn't get to catch those shows live, make sure to tune in here as we run through each conference, picking apart every announcement, game, and hardware debut.

We've got dozens of videos to show, displaying the latest and greatest from the world of gaming, including Nintendo 3DS hands-on, Microsoft Kinect, and PlayStation Move gameplay. Also, we'll be checking out game trailers for blockbuster titles like Portal 2, Twisted Metal, Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Gears of War 3.

So … Read more

LOS ANGELES--Can someone please tell me why we've spent the last two days rehashing the highlights of E3 2009?

If you were here for last year's video game mega-convention, you will recall that the big news from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo was the true dawn of the motion control wars. Microsoft unveiled Project Natal, Sony showed off its prototype system, and Nintendo pulled back the wraps on some new improvements to the Wii Motion Plus.

All told, these innovations were going to take us to the next level of video game play, where it's all about gesture-based control and traditional button-based controllers became a thing of the past.

Flash forward to this week, though, and the highlights of the press conferences, at least Sony's and Microsoft's, seem someone familiar. Let's recap. At Microsoft's event on Monday, the biggest news was the formal unveiling of Kinect. This, of course, used to be known as Project Natal.

Microsoft announced that the device would be available November 4 and was able for the first time to name some actual games that will be Kinect-enabled. There will be 15 launch titles, including Ubisoft's Michael Jackson game, as well as six that were featured during the press event, Dance Central, a dancing game from Rock Band developer Harmonix; Kinect Sports, a game that offers soccer, bowling, track, and more; Kinect Joy Ride, a racing game; Kinect Adventures, a game for navigating down rivers and railroad tracks while trying to hit targets; Your Shape, an exercise game; and Kinectimals. However, the demo was very much like the one from a year earlier. … Read more

Nintendo President Saturo Iwata was on hand at the company's E3 2010 press conference Tuesday to officially announce the Nintendo 3DS, the first-ever portable 3D gaming system. The system resembles a DSi, but features a wide, 3.5-inch 3D screen on top and a touch screen on the bottom.

To the left of the touch screen is an analog "slide button" that will act as a joystick in addition to a conventional D-pad. While the technology behind producing a 3D image without glasses was not disclosed, Iwata did say a 3D depth slider will allow players to … Read more

Editor's note: We used Cover It Live for this event, so if you missed the live blog, you can still replay it in the embedded component below. Replaying the event will give you all the live updates along with commentary from our readers and CNET editors Daniel Terdiman and Josh Lowensohn. For those of you who just want the updates, we've included them in regular text here.

Welcome to CNET's live coverage of Nintendo's E3 2010 press conference.

We're live in Los Angeles, where the 3D version of the Nintendo DS is expected to be among the company's key announcements. (See our full list of predictions here.)

In addition to the live video feed (above), Daniel Terdiman and I will be providing play-by-play coverage using Cover It Live (below).… Read more

LOS ANGELES--Video game maker Ubisoft announced Monday that it expects to publish a game in time for holiday 2010 based on the life and performances of Michael Jackson.

According to a release from Ubisoft, which was timed to the E3 video game convention, the game, which doesn't yet have a name, will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, and Sony PlayStation Portable. It will also be compatible with Kinect for Xbox and PlayStation Move.

Although it is planned for a holiday 2010 release, it's not clear if it will be one of the 15 … Read more

news analysis LOS ANGELES--If one thing was clear in the lead-up to the Xbox 360 E3 press conference, it was that hard-core gamers felt threatened by Microsoft's obvious move toward casual gaming with its forthcoming Kinect motion control system.

But while the company is indeed hoping Kinect and its ease of use and accessibility to just about anyone can help it capture a much larger audience, it also wants its longtime loyalists to know they haven't been forgotten.

That much was evident at the press conference, which took place here Monday morning. Before Kinect was ever mentioned, those in the audience were blasted with demos of purely hard-core titles like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Halo: Reach, and Gears of War 3. The new Call of Duty, from the developer Treyarch, rather than Infinity Ward, which made the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, will be released on November 9, while Halo: Reach is expected in September. … Read more

Reading the tea leaves of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo is a bit like handicapping a Steve Jobs keynote. There are some things so reliably leaked or telegraphed they're virtually sure bets, whereas other announcements are so out of left field you'd never see them coming (to say nothing of the occasional highly expected software or hardware news that goes MIA).

Here, in handy bullet point form, are our collective predictions for the most and least likely news to come out of this year's E3 conference. Feel free to print this page, tack it to a wall, … Read more