The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 doesn't open its doors until noon on Tuesday, but the fireworks start going off today, when the biggest names in the gaming industry hold their press conferences.
Sony, Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft are all holding press briefings the day before E3, and Nintendo is holding its own big event hours before the expo floors open tomorrow.
Microsoft will be hold its own press conference early Monday morning, with additional events going on throughout the day. The company has been very quiet and low-key about its E3 offerings, which could indicate a major hardware reveal, or possibly a surprise "Halo 4" announcement.
EA's 12:30pm Pacific press conference will highlight upcoming, inevitable third-chapter-blockbusters "Battlefield 3" and "Mass Effect 3." Other notable titles scheduled to be shown off at the press conference are previously revealed "Star Wars: The Old Republic," which was developed by Bioware (the same people behind "Mass Effect 3"), "Need For Speed: The Run," "Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning," and "SSX." The company is running the gamut of genres, from MMOs to snowboarding games.
Early in the afternoon, Ubisoft will hold a press briefing of its own. While new games will likely be announced, if the three-story-tall Altair and Ezio portraits outside the Los Angeles Convention Center are any hint, "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" will have a big part in the conference. The company might also tease "Assassin's Creed 3," and bring the series forward, abandoning its 11th and 15th century assassins in favor of someone new. While he's not an assassin, Splinter Cell series protagonist Sam Fisher easily rivals Altair and Ezio in neck-breaking and throat-cutting, and Ubisoft will probably give him some attention as well, with hints of a new Splinter Cell game in the air.
Finally for Monday, Sony will throw an outright shindig. The belle of the ball will be the Next-Generation Portable (NGP), which will get details and possibly pricing and a release date. Sony says it will have 120 different kiosks with games for the PS3 and NGP, which means plenty of opportunity for hands-on time with Sony's new games.
Tuesday morning, Nintendo will drag those of us in the Pacific time zone out of bed early for its own press conference. The biggest news will be details on Nintendo's unnamed, undetailed new console. Besides the new system, "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword" will get some more attention, along with myriad Nintendo 3DS downloadable content. This all coincides with the launch of the 3DS eShop service, scheduled to go online today, June 6. PCMag will be live-blogging the event.
And you know what happens a few hours after that? E3 officially begins. We're just getting started, so stay tuned to PCMag for all the details.