Wow, would simply be an understatement for the opening day of E3.

Xbox came out swinging by revealing games, games and more games. Not only did Microsoft show a suite of excellent exclusive games, they opened their conference with the first gameplay trailer of Metal Gear Solid V a move that would certainly make any core gamer happy. Little time was spent on anything but games however Microsoft did reveal their exclusive partnership with Twitch for video game streaming. Unfortunately the conference was marred by a couple technical glitches, and a poor sexist joke that probably should of been kept at home with the boys. That being said though there were some great reveals by the Xbox Camp, most notible would have to be Titanfall from Respawn Entertainment. Respawn are the original creators of the Modern Warfare franchise and this game looks awesome. It’s a fast free running shooter with mech combat all rolled into one, and it looked stunning. The Titanfall reveal was definitely the high point of the conference which was a good one regardless of the missteps.

Xbox One Conference Low Points

Next stop EA, sports sports sports naw just kidding they had celebrities too! Seriously though EA had a great conference without any technical glitches. The usual suspects that fill EA’s coffers were all on display, new Madden, NBA and FIFA games were displayed as expected. Surprisingly though Garden Warfare was a new franchise reveal, from a company that isn’t known for doing anything but the usual yearly fare. Garden Warfare is a multiplayer first person shooter based in the Plants vs Zombies world, that looked like a fun new take on the genre. Of course other EA work horses Need for Speed and Battlefield 4 showed great demoes as well. In what seems to be another move to win back the hearts of gamers EA also revealed their biggest surprise a new Mirrors Edge game that fans have been demanding since the originals release.

The clear winner of the press conferences though had to be Sony. Sony’s conference was long and dragged at times but they came with the bombs and shot the opening salvo in this next round of the console war. Sony had 10 stations on stage where games were being demonstrated live during all points of the conference and showed drop in and drop out multiplayer in titles that supported it. Sony definitely delivered when it came to reveals with new exclusives from Square we saw Final Fantasy,  and Kingdom Hearts which are sure to satisfy the hardcore. A new title from Ready at Dawn called The Order 1886 is a Victorian Era multiplayer survival shooter that looks to show a lot of promise. A definite highlight of Sony’s show was the exclusive gameplay reveal of Bungie’s new title Destiny. Destiny looks to blend the world of fast paced multiplayer shooters with those of Loot driven MMO’s to breath some new life into what some may call the tired shooter genre. With that said though the real news of the conference came in the form of several megaton bombs that Sony dropped directly aimed at their competitors. Firstly the news that PlayStation 4 supports used games just like any other system released to date was huge. Microsoft has been severely criticized over their policies and the fact that they are still unclear have gamers in outrage and Sony obviously decided to side with their consumers on this issue. Next was news about DRM and that PlayStation 4 has no authentication that requires you to be connected online, period. Finally the last surprise was that the PlayStation 4 will be available this winter for $399 and with that Sony literally dropped the proverbial mic. I was 4 rows from the front of the venue and with each of these announcements the crowd went wild. There was a definite energy in the air of excitement for the next generation and Sony might have won a huge battle before the systems are even released.

I’ll try to do a roundup each day but things are pretty crazy here, just watch the Facebook page and here for any news. Check out some pics and video from day zero and remember to follow us on twitter @RicF

By Ricardo “Rico” Ferreira
@RicF