I probably don’t need to tell you that E3 2011 will take place next week. If you’re unfamiliar with the event, the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3) is the biggest gaming convention on the planet. Publishers and developers create lavish presentations to demonstrate their product slate for the upcoming year. Comic Booked is going to be exploding with coverage of the event next week, so check back regularly for updates. Though the conference doesn’t officially begin until June 7th, our coverage will begin on June 6th, with extensive reporting on Microsoft and Sony’s press conferences.
E3 Press Conference Schedule
Microsoft – June 6th, 9:30 AM PST (Broadcast on SPIKE TV)
Sony – June 6th, 5:00 PM PST (Live stream at PlayStation Blog and PlayStation Home)
Nintendo – June 7th, 9:00 AM PST (Live stream via a special website Nintendo set up)
We’ll also be providing coverage of major publishers’ (EA, Ubisoft, Activision) conferences as they happen.
With that being said, the week leading up to E3 is always an explosion of news and 2011 proved to be no exception. Here’s a snapshot of what you missed in the gaming industry this week:
- Duke is back, baby! This morning, I finally played Duke Nukem Forever (well, it was the demo, 
but that counts). Those who purchased Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition or pre-ordered DNF at select retailers were given membership in the “First Access Club.” After years of waiting, players are finally able to assume control of Duke Nukem once again. Gearbox has not confirmed whether a demo for non-members will be available before the game officially launches on June 14th. As I said, I booted up the demo this morning and played through the three available levels. While the game isn’t doing anything particularly ground-breaking in the first-person-shooter genre, it’s an enjoyable and hilarious shooter that will most definitely sate any long-unfulfilled desires you have to kick ass and/or chew bubblegum (especially if you’re all out of gum).
- Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind such franchises as Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders, has been hard at work on a new gaming engine, he revealed in a pre-E3 press conference. The “Fox Engine” will be the new in-house gaming engine that powers all future Kojima Productions games. Kojima announced the gaming engine this week and teased at cross-compatibility between the XBOX 360, PS3, and PC. Joystiq elaborated on the matter, saying
“Kojima explained the engine, which Konami started developing shortly after completing Metal Gear Solid 4, is designed to ease the company’s fairly laborious porting process between consoles, freeing Kojima’s team to make even more games.”
- Oh, look, people are angry about Activision’s new Call of Duty: Elite service. What a surprise. The actual elite of Call of Duty seem to be rather furious that Activision is putting 
a price tag on services that are offered to other FPS enthusiasts for free (again, I point out the superb external features that Bungie offers to Halo players for free). Further poking the bear and, in keeping with a lovely tradition, Activision also announced that Modern Warfare 3 will not support dedicated servers for multiplayer. You may remember a large sect of gamers roaring loudly when the same announcement was made about the previous iteration of Modern Warfare, a movement which picked up a lot of steam through various groups on…Steam. Despite all the complaining, I’m going to channel my inner Bobby Kotick and predict that a sizable chunk of the complainers will turn around and shell out the cash for the game anyway.
- In other Call of Duty news, this weekend marks a free multiplayer weekend for Black Ops on Steam. If you’ve been hoping for a chance to check out one of last year’s best-selling games, here’s your chance. Any Steam user can download the game for free and hop right into the multiplayer this weekend.
- The highly anticipated Star Wars MMO, the Old Republic, will also usher in a new era for its publisher, Electronic Arts, as well. This week, EA announced their own digital content delivery system, tentatively named Origin, which will be the exclusive home of The Old Republic when it releases (reported to be later this year). With this, EA will officially enter the ring and attempt to cut in on some of the outrageous amounts of cash Valve rakes in from their Steam service. No word on official launch date for Origin, but I suspect we’ll know more next week.
-Oddly enough, this has been a “normal” week in the gaming industry – no strange or hilarious story upon which I can conclude the column for the week. Instead, I’ll leave you with a tease for my weekend project: a massive write-up of all the new Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm info that has come to light in the past week. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty was easily my favorite game of 2010, so to say that I’ve been waiting anxiously for the follow-up is a massive understatement. Again, check back next week for all sorts of E3-related information; additionally, if you have any project you’d like to hear about from E3, then leave some love in the comments and Zach Smif and I will be sure to keep an eye out while we pour over all the information next week.
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Tags: Black Ops Free Weekend, Call of Duty, Duke Nukem Forever demo, E3, Fox Engine, Gamer Pulse, Heart of the Swarm, Hideo Kojima, Modern Warfare 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic
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Written by Kyle Black
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