Well it’s another year of E3, come and gone. Compared to some years in the past, this E3 felt a little quieter and lacking in big reveals. I think the next unforgettable E3 will be when Microsoft and Sony announce new consoles, but personally I’d happy if the “PS4″ and “Xbox 720″ are another 3-4yrs out at least. When Sony first brought out the PS3 they mentioned a 10yr cycle, and with today’s always online gaming world, that’s highly plausible. The older consoles weren’t capable of online firmware updates and graphics technology was pushing new boundaries every month.

Even without the hype surrounding new console reveals, there were plenty of things from this year’s E3 to talk about. First I’ll be taking a look back at the Big 3 and their press conferences. Who came out on top this year, and why? The I’ll be discussing some of the bigger reveals, trailers and omissions from the past week. I’d love to hear some comments, so please feel free to leave your own opinions or let me know what your shopping list is going to look like for this fall.

A Look Back at E3 2011

E3 2011 – Day 0

E3 2011 – Day 1

E3 2011 – Day 2

E3 2011 – Day 3

Third Place – Microsoft

Coming in at last place with this year’s Big Three press conferences was definitely Microsoft. Being the only big name with no new hardware to show off definitely hurt MS, but they really didn’t have much in the way of any cool new games to show off either. Most of their conference revolved around Kinect, which a lot of people seemed pretty meh over. To be fair though, they’ve been taking a lot of fire the past year for having almost nothing interesting to play with Kinect. People have been clamoring over some “hardcore” experiences on Kinect, and MS tried to show off all the cool things they have in the works for it this year beyond the party game genre.

I will say, a lot of what they did show for Kinect looks to be pretty decent at the least. They showed off a lot of minor game tweaks that will only be possible with Kinect, such as the voice commands with Mass Effect 3 and the weapon building for Ghost Recon, which was admittedly cool. With that said, their game line-up for their press conference had some great titles.. but a lot of the big names are going to be multi-platform anyway, such as their opening with Modern Warfare 3 and Mass Effect 3. One of the biggest exclusives on show was Gears of War 3, which was already shown last year, so even that wasn’t some big reveal.

Their biggest showings were probably Fable: The Journey that people weren’t expecting, and would have been Halo 4 if they hadn’t blown the surprise that morning with it showing up on their own website. People didn’t know about the new trilogy aspect though, so that got some attention. Ryse from Crytek looked really interesting though, and could be a huge Kinect hit if it lives up to the way the video showcased it.

Second Place – Sony

Many people wondered what Sony would say about the obvious elephant in the room, and I think it was a good idea coming out with Jack Tretton right at the start to formally and publicly apologize to everyone over the PSN outage and hacking. After that, Sony hit the ground running with one of their most anticipated and successful exclusives: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Following this was another big exclusive for Sony, Resistance 3, and both games are looking great.

Unlike MS, Sony wasn’t pushing too heavily on their Move peripheral, which was nice but also somewhat surprising. They did manage to tell us about all their great 3D games coming out though, which isn’t surprising coming from a manufacturer who also happens to be making 3D TVs in addition to gaming platforms. They followed this up with some exclusive mentions for both their system as a whole and some EA deals that will give their versions of coming games a nice bonus. Sony didn’t have much in the way of big game reveals either this year, but the news of Dust 514 being a PS3 exclusive surprised a lot of people. The reveal of a new Sly Cooper game got a lot of cheers as well, being such a loved classic.

The big reveal for Sony this year however, was their new portable’s naming from NGP to Vita. Most of this was known weeks before E3, but it’s always nice to get some confirmation on the rumors. The system looks really damn good though, and as someone that hasn’t felt like buying a portal gaming device since the original GameBoy, the Vita looks like a portable worth picking up. The graphics look great and showing off the system with a new Uncharted game which isn’t a port was brilliant. I also really liked that the device can utilize dual analog sticks as well as a multi-touch screen without restricting you to use only one method in a game. The price unveil was well received also, with a wifi only price point of $249.99 and a wifi/3G model priced at $299.99. This price point also puts the Vita wifi edition squarely against Nintendo’s 3DS price. There was an audible grown from the entire audience however when Sony announced their exclusive contract with AT&T for the 3G model.

First Place – Nintendo

I almost hate to say it, but for the second year in a row, Nintendo seems to have stolen first place out of the Big Three. Their show basically consisted of 3 parts: Zelda’s 25th, 3DS games that don’t suck and the all new Wii U system that may actually have games worth buying. That probably sounds pretty harsh, but the fact is a lot of Nintendo’s hardcore gamer fans have felt anywhere from slighted to all-out abandoned by the company since the Wii came out. The system has produced a ton of vaporware over the years, with most of the games for it being nothing but gimmicky. The 3DS that Nintendo hyped up last year launched a few months back to critical acclaim, but quickly saw sales plummet as people realized there really were no decent games out for the system.

After showing off a ton of Zelda news and game releases all coming before the end of the year, Nintendo cut straight to the point and said to their fans, “we hear you.” Knowing their 3DS lacked a lot of titles that people have been clamoring for, Nintendo went straight into a showcase of 5 1st Party titles being released by Holiday 2011, not counting the highly anticipated Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time which is coming out next week. After showing off some great new 1st Party titles for their 3DS, they showed a video teaser of all the big name 3rd Party releases coming soon for the 3DS as well.

Rounding out their show they revealed their new console for the first time, known until now as simply Project Cafe. A ton of rumors were circulating, but nothing was revealed until E3, and they didn’t disappoint. Their video reveal of the new Wii U ended up raising tons more questions while barely answering a handful, but the possibilities of the new system are incredibly intriguing. Many people were worried that if the new system didn’t support HD that Nintendo would have a riot on their hands, but thankfully the new console will support HD graphics up to 1080p. The new controller looks enormous but everyone that got to try it out said it feels good in their hands so far. Nintendo also showcased a lot of their 3rd Party support for the new system with some previews of games slated to be coming out on their console once released (even though people later learned all of the videos were from Xbox and PS3 versions of the games).

So once again, Nintendo had the best press conference at E3 out of the Big Three, but they also have a lot riding on gamer’s waiting to see if they can live up to their promises. With flagging sales of both the 3DS and Wii, they really need to start backing up their promises and innovative ideas with some software that captures both the casual and hardcore markets without alienating either group. A lot of people were disappointed that the Wii U didn’t come with a price announcement, but with the system not slated to release until after Q1 2012 at the minimum, there’s way too much time between then and now to give more info. Let the speculation begin!

Now for some “Top of” lists, cause everyone enjoys those right?

Top E3 2011 Reveals

#8 – Sly Cooper – The revitalization of a beloved franchise is always big at E3, and many people were happy to see the acclaimed series making a comeback.

#7 – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – Not a surprise announcement, but a game everyone was looking forward to seeing at E3 to learn what it was about. Between the trailer and the demo, this will probably be one of the most pre-ordered games of the year, especially with GameStop’s announced free upgrade to the “Signature Edition”.

#6 Overstrike – Almost nothing was shown about this game other than it’s trailer, but everyone wants to know more now. The trailer sparked a lot of interest in what looks to be a really fun multi-player co-op experience.

#5 Halo 4 – After kind of spoiling the surprise by posting the trailer on their website early, people were still excited to see Master Chief back in action, especially at the news of there being a new trilogy in the works.

#4 Vita – Sony’s new hand-held got a lot of attention this year. Even though a ton of info was already known about it, it was awesome to see it in action, and the new brand new Uncharted game was a great demonstration of what the system is capable of handling. The pricing felt fair to most people as well, especially since it’s on par with Nintendo’s 3DS.

#3 Super Mario World 3DS – Everyone loves a good Mario game, and unlike so many of the usual hand-held ports, this one was built from the ground up specifically for the 3DS. The biggest cheer from the attendees came when the Tanooki suit was shown, which always conjures up great memories of Super Mario Bros. 3.

#2 FarCry 3 – There were only a handful of game reveals this year that people didn’t already know were coming or hadn’t already seen plenty of trailers for, but Ubisoft did an awesome job of keeping this one secret. The long intro to the game had the entire audience captivated, and when it was revealed to be FarCry 3 there were lots of cheers. This definitely is a game to keep an eye on.

#1 Wii U – Even though it still needs a thousand questions to be answered, Nintendo’s new system was the talk of E3. With all of the wildly differing ways to play a game, this could be a really intriguing console if developers can get creative and learn the tech inside and out. Even without the new controller though, being an HD system that’s fully backwards compatible with the Wii gives both the hardcore and casual crowds a system to be happy for. One of the biggest issues gamers had with the Wii was that most games were just a gimmick and all of the best multi-platform releases were 360/PS3/PC instead of all 3 consoles. With possibly a year or more still to go in it’s development, we should be hearing a lot more about the system over the next six months or so.

Top E3 2011 Omissions – “Missing In Action” Games

#9 – Guild Wars 2 – To be fair, I knew well ahead of time that ArenaNet wasn’t going to be at E3, but I still wish they would have showed off their game at E3. They’re making appearances at all the other major game conventions, but I’m guessing that their Korean publishing partner NCSoft doesn’t feel like paying the large expense of showing their game at E3 either.

#8 – Diablo III – Another game that wasn’t likely to be at E3, but a LOT of people wanted to see. Considering Blizzard has their own big convention coming later this year, I’m sure they wanna hold stuff back in order to pack their own convention (at $175 a pop no less), but now that they’re part of Activision I almost hoped that they’d have their arm twisted into demo’ing the game this year.

#7 – Final Fantasy XIV – I definitely didn’t expect Square Enix to show off their game this year, but after the sudden showing of it at last year’s E3 with the surprising release right around the corner, you would have thought E3 would be a good time for them to come in and show off how they’re updating it to actually be a decent MMO. With as slow as they’re moving though, they probably still don’t have enough changes implemented to impress anyone enough to spend the money on an E3 revealing.

#6 – Final Fantasy Versus XIII – Considering the game was revealed at E3 2006, very little is known about the game still, 5yrs down the road. Director Tetsuya Nomura said earlier this year that E3 would be the earliest time this year that they would have more information, but another E3 has come and gone with no information. After 5yrs since announcing this game, I think SE is going to have a rough time trying to rebuild some hype on this title when they finally decide to release it. Look for more info maybe at this year’s Tokyo Games Show in the Fall.

#5 – Respawn – Not a game, but the company. Since the highly publicized exodus of Infinity Ward founders and high-level staff and later reforming of a company as an EA Partner, nothing has been mentioned of what they’re working on. Last year most people assumed they wouldn’t have much to say, especially in the midst of their legal battle with Activision, but with another E3 come and gone, it’s a little surprising to not hear anything at all.

#4 – Metal Gear Solid: Rising – After last year’s reveal trailer, almost nothing’s been mentioned of the game. People had expected to see more of it at this year’s E3, but I guess Konami’s holding off on showing people where they’re at with the game just yet.

#3 – Sorcery – Shown off at least year’s E3, Sorcery was one of the games people looked forward to checking out for the new Move peripheral. A year later there’s still no release date and the game was nowhere to be seen at E3 this year.

#2 – Beyond Good & Evil 2 – After showing off a trailer at Ubidays in 2008, very little has been said about the game since. Every E3 people hope to be surprised by an announcement from Ubisoft, but once again there was no mention of the sequel’s progress. During E3, Michel Ancel, the creator of the original game, stated that the sequel probably won’t be put out for the current generation of consoles.

#1 – The Last Guardian – Formally announced back at E3 2009, this game from Team Ico has been highly anticipated around the world. Since then information has been extremely scarce. The Last Guardian was one of the MOST anticipated games to be seen at E3, but just a week or so before E3 Director Fumito Ueda tweeted that he wouldn’t be attending this year. The game was scheduled for a 2011 release, but with no new information since last year’s Tokyo Games Show, everything is uncertain at this point.

Top E3 Games to Watch in 2012

#10 – RYSE – The full-body Kinect game from developer Crytek, this could be an amazing workout and powerful use of the tech, or it could be a huge gimmick that doesn’t end up selling well. Considering how little is known about the game yet, and considering who the developer is, I’m hoping it turns out to be the kind of game people buy Kinect just to play.

#9 – Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time – Considering how beloved the series was, this is the kind of game people will pick up out of nostalgia, but it also looks pretty fun.

#8 – Fable: The Journey – Fable is the game that always sells itself on hype and tends to fall far short of what it promises, yet people continue to buy it anyway. The organic magic system shown at E3 made the game look pretty fun to play, and if it really is an open world and not on-rails, it could end up being a pretty cool game for Kinect.

#7 – Tomb Raider – Seems that series reboots are all the rage lately, but this reboot for Tomb Raider actually looks really promising. Tomb Raider games are fickle, always promising to be better yet falling flat, this is a Tomb Raider game I can actually see myself wanting to get and play.

#6 – Kingdom of Amalur: Reckoning – This game has a lot of promise and could be a huge sleeper hit next year. With all of the big names attached to the project and it’s style of action/RPG, Reckoning looks to be shaping up as a really good game with lots to offer.

#5 – Overstrike – Considering barely anything was mentioned about this game, yet it was one of the most talked about trailers at E3, this is definitely a game to keep an eye on. It’s zany characters, wild weapons, off the wall humor and 4-player co-op features seemed to strike a chord with everyone. Can’t wait for more information from Insomniac.

#4 – FarCry 3 – Having one of the other most talked about trailers of E3, FarCry 3 looks like it could be an awesome game to check out next year. FarCry 2 had a lot of mixed reviews, but the series is still a strong contender, so hopefully Ubisoft can make this one a great game again.

#3 – Bioshock Infinite – The first two Bioshock games were great, and the world of Rapture won a lot of awards. Tossing out all the old assets and lore in favor of a completely different setting in the clouds, Irrational and Ken Levine are looking to recreate that magic with Bioshock Infinite. So far the game is looking to live up to that hype, so here’s hoping for a release next year with a new Rapture to marvel at.

#2 – Halo 4 – All that we learned about the new Halo game is that it’s going to be a new trilogy, Master Chief makes a return and we got a cool new teaser trailer. Halo is such a huge name with gamers, so you know this game will be big. Hopefully the game will be just as amazing without Bungie at the helm this time around.

#1 – Mass Effect 3 – The reason this game is getting the #1 slot is because it brings to a close an epic trilogy. I honestly hope BioWare makes more games in the Mass Effect universe, because these games beg to be played and replayed. The hype around this game should be building to a frenzy by next Winter.

Top Trailers at E3 2011

#13 – Super Mario 3DS

#12 – Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

#11 – Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

#10 – Battlefield 3

#9 – Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

#8 – Star Wars: The Old Republic

#7 – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

#6 – Mass Effect 3

#5 – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

#4 – Halo 4

#3 – FarCry 3

#2 – Overstrike

#1 – Wii U

Hope you guys enjoyed the E3 coverage and recap. Leave some comments and tell me what you’re looking forward to from E3 and what you agree or disagree with from here.