E3 2011 Is A Wrap!

Oh man was that a lot of gaming. John, Devin and I just spent the last week deep in the bowels of the massive gaming convention that is E3. We went to the press conferences, played the demos, and livestreamed the show floor thanks to Ustream and John and Jon from TechCrunch TV. It was a bit overwhelming, and, as viewers of our livestream quickly realized, gaming isn’t exactly our niche. But we trudged on, forced to play unreleased games, eat free food and hit on booth babes.

Nintendo and Sony brought their A Games this year with the Wii U and the PS Vita. Both will no doubt be hits in their respective markets. The Wii U will finally usher Nintendo into the age of HD while freeing gaming from a dedicated TV. The Sony PlayStation Vita is a wonder of technology. The graphics pumped out of the small handheld are simply astounding, but the novel control schemes of the back buttons, touchscreen and gyroscope opens up portable gaming to newfound experiences. Oh, yeah, Microsoft added Bing to Kinect proving you can’t win E3 every year.

E3: Microsoft reveals new Kinect features

Microsoft wants the Xbox 360 to be the portal to everything on your television - games, movies, music and even live TV. Today at E3, the video game industry's annual gathering, it unveiled a new Kinect-powered interface for accessing a variety of media using voice controls. The company also added its Bing search to the console, allowing users to say things like "Xbox Bing Harry Potter" in order to access both Harry Potter games and films.

It's a futuristic vision inspired by Star Trek's ever-present computer, but will it work? Voice commands are still notoriously unreliable, meaning there's no guarantee you'll actually get to watch Harry Potter straight away - the Kinect's microphones can struggle to pick up the current voice commands available on the system.

There's also the question of just how you will access media on the Xbox - will you only be able to watch content bought through the console, or can you also use voice commands to access videos and music stored on your PC? Given Microsoft's closed nature, it seems unlikely that you'll be browsing your iTunes library with Kinect any time soon.

The voice-enabled media-hub wasn't the only new announcement at Microsoft's E3 conference. In addition to a range of Kinect-enabled games, the company revealed a range of features seemingly inspired by the boom in amateur Kinect hacks since the sensor launched. Gamers can now create 3D photos and draw on them using their fingers, and scan their face, clothes or even objects into the system, letting you manipulate digital versions of your real-life possessions.

Nyko Shows Off Its Kinect And 3DS Accessories For E3

Want to experience the joy of Kinect, but happen to have a small living room? Nyko wants to help you out. They also want to help you out if you are in any way unhappy with your 3DS. Well, no, it can’t actually make the 3D “sweet spot” bigger, but their new accessories do help in other ways.