E3 Day 1 Aftermath Report

Welcome friends to the first of four days of what I'm calling "aftermath reports".  Every day of E3 I listen and write down every single piece of news to deliver it to you, my faithful readers.  One of the goals here is to simplify all of the day's news on one page instead of you having to go to fifty different websites to find out what was the best and worst of the day.  So this post will work like this:  I will list all of the announcements and events of the day in a sentence or two a piece. Then I will provide you with a relevant video or demo video for that news. Because of time constraints and the sheer amount of news, this will not have opinion.  That will be reserved until after the show is over.  This is just for news you might have missed. Let's get this started.

GENERAL
-Fallout: New Vegas will release on October 19th. 

-Microsoft's Summer of Arcade is revealed.  The lineup will consist of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, Hydro Thunder Hurricane, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, Limbo, and Monday Night Combat.

-SEGA announces a launch title for Kinect called Sonic Free Riders, which will continue the hoverboard racing game from the Gamecube era.

XBOX CONFERENCE
-Call of Duty: Black Ops is given a demo at the MS conference, release date of November 9th.  The demo took place in Vietnam, and had the same shooting mechanics that the Call of Duty franchise is known for.  The demo also showed a new feature, which was the ability to control a helicopter completely. (WATCH DEMO) 

-MS announced they have a deal with Activision to get Call of Duty DLC first before any other console for the next 3 years.

-Metal Gear Solid: Rising is given a proper gameplay trailer detailing some gameplay elements.  These include the new idea of "zan-datsu", which is described as a martial art form which translated means "to cut and take".  Gameplay shows lightning fast gameplay, along with the ability to cut anything, enemies and environments, with Raiden's sword, and with high accuracy. (WATCH TRAILER)

-Gears of War 3 is given a demo.  Along with the same formula of past games, new features expanded include 4-player co-op, the reveal of a new female character, Sam, and the re-introduction of the Berserker, who was last seen in Gears of War 1. This time it is in the form of the new enemy, the Lambent. (WATCH DEMO)

-Fable III is given a gameplay trailer and a release date of October 26th.  The game puts you in the shoes of the king's son who must take back the crown from the antagonist of the game, and then must rule with tyranny or fairness.  (WATCH TRAILER)

-Microsoft announces a new partnership with Crytek with a new game "Codename Kingdom".  A small live action teaser is given which seems to indicate some type of gladiator or sword and sandle theme.  (WATCH TEASER)

-Halo: Reach is given a singleplayer demo trailer.  It shows off many of the games new features, including the exciting return of the Elites.  The demo does end with quite a surprise ending indicating that the campaign will have sections of space combat.  (WATCH GAMEPLAY)

-Project Natal is given an official name: the Xbox Kinect ( a pun of the word "connect" with the word "kinetic"). It will release November 4th. No price was given, but Gamestops around the country have begun listing the peripheral at $149.99. Features include 1:1 recognition of body movement, sound recognition, and many other features. (WATCH DEMO 1) (WATCH DEMO 2)

-ESPN announces a partnership with Microsoft to deliver content through Xbox LIVE.  Features include live games of NCAA football and basketball, NBA, MLB, and MLS Soccer, along with previous game archives.  (WATCH DEMO)

-Several games are shown off for the launch of the Kinect.  These include:
     -Kinectimals, a game similar to Nintendogs or EyePet. (VIDEO)
     -Kinect Sports, a game similar to Wii Sports. (VIDEO)
     -Kinect Adventures, an obstacle course and activity game.  (VIDEO)
     -Joy Ride, a previously announced kart racer with Kinect capability.  (VIDEO)
     -Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, a fitness game. (VIDEO)
     -Star Wars lightsaber game (VIDEO)
     -Forza 2011 (VIDEO)

-A new Xbox 360 is announced.  With a new, smaller, and sleaker design, along with a quite as a whisper processor, built in wi-fi, a 250GB hard drive, and all for $299.99, the new 360 begins shipping out today, and will be available in stores within the week.  (WATCH VIDEO)

EA CONFERENCE-A new Need for Speed game entitled Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is announced.  The game was given a demo, and shows the old feature of cop vs. racer that brings the series back to its roots. It will release on November 16th. (WATCH DEMO)

-Dead Space 2 is given a demo and a release date of January 25th.  Interestingly enough, the demo is a two part demo, with the second part at the Sony conference tomorrow morning. The demo showed off much of the sequels new features and its new setting, the Sprawl.  (WATCH DEMO)

-Medal of Honor is given an amazing 18 person multiplayer demo on stage at the conference.  It will be released on October 12th, and the multiplayer beta will begin on June 21st on 360, PS3, and PC.  (WATCH DEMO)

-A new service called Gun Club is announced by EA.  It will give features and in game extras for those who sign up for the service and buy EA shooters in the future.

-Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is given a new expansion called "Vietnam".  It will be a multiplayer expansion, released sometime in Winter 2010. (WATCH VIDEO)

-EA Sports shows off three major titles: EA Sports MMA, EA Sports Active 2, and Madden NFL 11 are all given special treatment.

-Crysis 2 is given a major singleplayer demo and a targeted release date of Holiday 2010.  The demo shows the amazing graphics and engine capabilities of the game. (WATCH DEMO)

-Bulletstorm is shown off by Epic Games, and boy does it delight.  The demo shows off the over-the-top gameplay of the game, and the great score system for unique kills.  The game also gets a release date of February 22nd.  (WATCH DEMO)

-The Old Republic closes EA's conference with some great announcemnts and another amazing CGI trailer.  It is revealed that players in the game will get their own unique starships along with their characters as an extension of their character.  The devs also revealed more of the PvP of the game, revealing that Sith and Jedi will face off in warzones.  A live demo will be shown tomorrow afternoon.  (WATCH VIDEO)

UBISOFT CONFERENCE
-A new arcade type game entitled Child of Eden is shown off for the Kinect.  (WATCH VIDEO)

-Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is shown off extensively, with a trailer and a demo, showing off many of the games new features.  A focus on the continuation of Ezio's story and new gameplay types such as improved combat and horse combat are shown off, and the new multiplayer mode is described.  It will be released on November 16th.  (WATCH VIDEO)

-Shaun White Skateboarding is shown off for the first time.  The game is shown to differentiate itself from other boarding games by allowing the player to color the environment as they do tricks and literally change the environment as they skate.  (WATCH VIDEO)

-Another sports title for the Kinect is revealed, called MotionSports. 

-A new Raving Rabbids game is revealed, entitled Raving Rabbids Travel in Time.  It will be a Wii exclusive to be released on November 9th.  (WATCH VIDEO)

-Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is also shown for the first time ever, revealing the new camo system and future warfare technologies of the game.  It is also revealed the game will have 4 player co-op and 3D gameplay when it releases sometime next year.  (WATCH DEMO PART 1) (PART 2)

-Driver: San Francisco is announced.  It will follow the old series of Driver games and bring the game series to the next gen audience. (WATCH VIDEO)


-Project Dust is announced to be in development for a release in Spring 2011.  (WATCH VIDEO)

-A 2D side scroller Rayman game is revealed, called Rayman Origins.  The game is ambitious, and is being developed by only five developers.  (WATCH VIDEO)

-The Ubisoft conference ends with a surprise reveal of some type of Michael Jackson game.  As dancers take to the stage, it can be assumed the game is a dancing game.  (WATCH VIDEO)

Just a few reminders and helpful hints for those who have other priorities and cannot follow E3 as it happens.  Of course, my blog is a great resource.  You won't find a better summary of today than this.  But I also suggest that you use this in a pick and choose style if you don't want to watch every video.  Read the news, and if you're interested, watch the video.  Now, if you like E3 in general and want to watch all of them, I suggest you just watch the entire conferences, or just watch the games you really want to see now, and wait to watch the rest later.  You can catch the full conferences on IGN and GameTrailers.  Secondly, a great way to see some live demos is to go to IGN's live feed here.  There are great demos that you can see over and over and over of all the great games of the show, and you can check out the conferences there to.  I HIGHLY SUGGEST that if you'd like to explore some gameplay and just see what's going on, you go there.  They have a schedule of what they will be showing off on the left side of the page, and you can catch those live or go back and watch them later at any time. 

Enjoy your night/day, and the rest of E3.

P.S.- If any of the links do not work, just go to GameTrailers (gametrailers.com) and do a search for the game.