In just two days the Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo press conferences will be over and “the big three” will be showing off their latest innovations in hardware and games on the show floor at their respective booths at E3.  Let’s dive into each company’s plans and dissect what they have in store for us.

Xbox 360: You can expect massive titles like Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3, and Fable III to be demoed in real-time and hyped up during the Microsoft press conference.  But the buzz around Microsoft this year surrounds their gaming without controllers initiative codenamed Project Natal.  With a pre-E3 event called “Project Natal for Xbox 360 Experience imagined by Cirque du Soleil” you can expect the motion-capture accessory to dominate Microsoft’s offerings throughout the week.  With Natal Microsoft is first and foremost targeting the casual gamer, looking to expand to the same market Nintendo captured with the Wii.  Natal’s initial launch lineup will be announced and this first batch of games will likely take advantage of Natal in simplistic ways.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Richochet and Paint Party games that were previewed last year end up shipping with it.  And there’s always little Milo who may certainly star in his own game.  If you’re the hardcore type, it would be remiss for Microsoft to ignore you after all these years of support.  I’ve seen video of Burnout Paradise being used with Natal and Fable III lead designer Peter Molyneux stated in an interview that the next Fable will incorporate Natal functionality.  Whatever the launch lineup may be, I would hope Microsoft has at least a dozen casual games to entice new gamers to their console and a sprinkle of hardcore experiences to satisfy their longtime users.  Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if a new version of the Xbox 360 dashboard took advantage of Natal with a gesture-based UI.  As of now we know Natal is expected to launch this holiday season; the press conference should make things more clear with not only a definitive release date and a price (fingers-crossed under $100), but also a final name for the hardware (although “Natal” has grown on me over the months).

Enough Natal.  Let’s talk games.  I’ve already hit on the big sequel exclusives like Bungie’s Halo: Reach, Epic’s Gears of War 3, and Microsoft Game Studios’ Fable III.  First person shoot XCOM from 2K Games looks fantastic (also available on PC), Capcom’s Dead Rising: Case Zero brings another compelling zombie shooter, and Microsoft Game Studios’ Avatar-based racing game Joy Ride will likely use Natal in more ways than one.  And you can’t forget about the next Assassin’s Creed game from Ubisoft subtitled Brotherhood.

Read on for PS3 and Wii/DS discussion, plus more about third-party games and some “bizarre predictions”! Continue reading E3 2010: What to expect →