E3 press conferences begin; here's how you can sit in without traveling to L.A. [video]
Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of Mondays, but this week is different. This week, Monday means the unofficial start of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the biggest North American event dedicated to all things computer and video game related.
It should be a good show this year: Nintendo will be showing off its new home gaming console (still code-named Project Cafe) and revealing the future of its 3DS handheld system; Sony will be showing its new handheld, code-named NGP (possible final name: Sony Vita); and Microsoft will be outlining what's next for its Kinect sensor, which has sold really well since it launched last November.
The show floor doesn't open until Tuesday afternoon, but one of the most exciting parts of E3 is always the various press conferences, and those start in full force today. (At least one company, Konami, held their pseudo-press conference late last week. The ending, in particular, is pretty bizarre: watch it below.) The best part is, you don't have to be in LA and a member of the press to watch in real time.
If you're near a TV today, you can watch the Microsoft and EA press conferences on Spike TV. Coverage starts at 9 PT with the Microsoft press conference starting at 9:30 PT and EA at 12:30 PT. Sony's event runs from 5-10 PT and will be broadcast on G4 TV; that 5 hour time slot includes a concert and hands-on time with the NGP, so hopefully the actual press conference part will run from 5-6:30 or so. Then Tuesday morning at 9PT Nintendo gets its turn, and that will also be available on G4 TV.
But what if you're at work? Well the 'big 3' are all streaming their press conferences, and here're the links you need: Microsoft's Xbox.com, Playstation Blog, Nintendo's E3 portal. If all that jumping from site to site seems like a pain, there are plenty of gaming sites streaming everything too. Personally I like GameTrailers since video is their primary business so their feeds are usually solid (though when it comes to E3, you never know until the fun begins).
So what are you looking forward to hearing about? I'm curious as heck about Nintendo's Project Cafe and am also really looking forward to learning more about Sony's NGP. I'm a little concerned about Microsoft; there's been a lot of rumors about them unveiling an Xbox Live Diamond service that has a cable-tv like 'channel' included, and some rumblings about bringing Kinect to the 'core gamer' but neither of those ideas get me all that excited. Hopefully they'll surprise us all with some unexpected games or even some kind of new peripheral announcement. I'd be happy with a version of Kinect that I can use in my living room without re-arranging the furniture!
