Day one of E3 has been really exciting with some good, some ‘meh’ and some really awesome news revealed. Sony are just about to go into their briefing and news announcements but I’m going to recap on what I thought were the most lacklustre, most exciting and the most surprising announcements so far for Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, Konami and Sony:

Microsoft

• For fans of the Halo franchise, we’re betting that the announcement of Halo 4 was a really good one, especially with 343 Industries onboard as the key developer – GOOD
• The push for Kinect has been pretty obvious throughout Microsoft’s E3 announcements, but was that really ‘news’ to us? Nope, not really – MEH
• Modern Warfare 3 looked pretty good, unfortunately (like many other gamers), we’re still dealing with news of the Call of Duty: Elite subscription plan (so much so that we discussed it on last week’s podcast) – MEH
  
• The new Tomb Raider game looks absolutely fantastic and the game play footage: HOLY CRAP!
• While Mass Effect 3 itself looks great, the voice recognition and use of Kinect is kinda lost on me – MEH
• Kinect and voice recognition use in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier however – HOLY CRAP!
• YouTube coming to Xbox Live – GOOD
• Bing on Xbox - MEH
• Gears of War 3 is awesome enough but the campaign introducing MECHS!! – HOLY CRAP! (bonus points for having Ice T present it with Cliff)
• Ryse, a game about the rise of a roman hero during tumultuous and dark times looks fantastic – a surprise title for me (at least) – GOOD
• Kinect Star Wars – again, I’m still not sold on Kinect but it does look a lot more fun with Kinect than some of the other games – GOOD
• Kinect Fun Labs – more than a gimmick? Possibly, Finger Tracking looked pretty interesting – GOOD

EA

• Need for Speed: Run looks lovely but didn’t really push me outta my seat – GOOD
• Star Wars: The Old Republic – I want so much to like this game but they showed us old footage and didn’t announce a release date either – MEH
• SSX however, really surprised me and looked pretty kick ass, especially with the NASA satellite data incorporated to create the open world – HOLY CRAP!
• EA Sports dynamic player performance for Madden NFL 12 might excite sports fans releasing August 30th – GOOD
• The Sims Social for Facebook might find a huge target audience, but I’m definitely not one of them – MEH
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning looked beautiful, and is definitely worth a look – GOOD
• OverStrike looks interesting and is a very different tack for Insomniac Games – GOOD
• Battlefield 3 from DICE using the Frostbite 2 engine technology was by far the most exciting footage on offer with the tank battles looking so realistic, it was almost impossible to tell the difference between the game and the real thing – HOLY CRAP YEAH! (not to mention the online content such as organising squads and statistics is free!) The game releases in New Zealand on October the 28th.

Ubisoft

• “Mr Caffiene” presenting Ubisoft’s games is allll – GOOD
• Far Cry 3 – the cinematic featuring a rather scary character that seems just a little obsessed with the definition of insanity is totally kick ass, not to mention the gameplay footage – HOLY CRAP!
• I’ve always got love for Ghost Recon and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier looks sooo very – GOOD
• Double the goodness for all that FREE online PC gaming in Ghost Recon Online – GOOD
• Raving Rabbids looks fun, especially with Kinect capabilities – GOOD
  
• And I loveee me some social gaming. Just Dance 3 IS - GOOD (most successful party game with 30 million gamers releasing October 11 in the U.S.)
  
• And the HOLY CRAP! goodness of Rocksmith. If you like Guitar Hero but you’re ready to take things to the next level and play a REAL instrument – Rocksmith will get you there. Seriously, how cool is it to play a game that teaches you how to play a real guitar?
  
• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations – an awesome finishing piece by Ubisoft which looks as good as expected with beautiful graphics and engaging storyline with the continuation (and conclusion) of Enzio’s quest to discover Altair’s secrets – HOLY CRAP YEAH!

Konami

• Metal Gear always looks good, but wasn’t so sold on the 3DS game unfortunately – MEH
• NeverDead has an engrossing story for a third-person shooter, including a protagonist that is immortal and can never die. What’s unique about him? He can detach limbs at will seriously deserved of – HOLY CRAP! And who doesn’t like Megadeth?? Mad props!
  
• Silent Hill Downpour – I can’t say enough about this franchise although no Pyramid Head means sad face. Still anything Silent Hill has to be – GOOD
• “Transfarring” – take your game from the console to the handheld and back again – simple in concept but HOLY CRAP! is that amazing technology. Hideo Kojima – you are indeed the man!
  

Sony

• PSN apology from Jack Tretton was a nice touch but as one eager twitter fan tweeted – “We forgive you, just show us the games!” and we’d have to agree! – GOOD
• Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception in 3D – Yeah baby! – GOOD
• Uncharted 3 beta access (June 28th) via Subway stores promotion – nom nom nom! – GOOD
• Resistance 3 Sharpshooter Bundle – 3D experience with PlayStation Move? – GOOD
• Shadow of the Collossus and Ico collection fully playable in 3D: rating – HOLY CRAP!
• Co-op gaming will be better (split-screen be gone) and cheaper 3D glasses - GOOD
• The push to have Move in every game and 3D gaming – MEH
• Dust 514 and EVE Online combining exclusively for PlayStation – MEH
• Bioshock Infinite looked fanstastic – HOLY CRAP!
• Irrational Games working on NGP content, that can only be – GOOD
• NGP ‘official’ name – PlayStation Vita?! Sounds like a drink mixture…- MEH
• That said the games that were featured (especially Ruin) looked badass – GOOD
• And the ‘touch’ features of the PlayStation Vita – HOLY CRAP!
• The price point for the PlayStation Vita ($249.00 USD for Wi-fi and $299.00 USD for Wi-fi/3G) – HOLY CRAP!
• No mention of the battery life for the PlayStation Vita – MEH
• Street Fighter vs. Tekken looked totally bad ass… - HOLY CRAP YEAH!
• Cole from inFamous as a playable character in Street Fighter vs. Tekken - GOOD
  

I’ll be doing the same thing tomorrow where I update you all Nintendo’s announcements and news.