Highlights of the 2012 E3 Expo

Every year, the biggest names in the video games industry gather for the E3 Expo to show off the new games, apps, and hardware that fans can look forward to for the next year.

This year, the event featured a number of exciting new games from the biggest companies, as well as details for Nintendo’s new Wii U and their upgraded 3DS system, the 3DS XL.

E3 started off this year in similar to past years with Microsoft’s press conference. According to the official Xbox website, Microsoft began by showing off “Halo 4.” a new installment in the main Halo franchise, which is now helmed by 343 industries.

Microsoft also demoed the new South Park RPG and even had South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker come up on stage and talk about what it was like writing for the game.

Microsoft also showed off the new “Tomb Raider.” Other highlights from the Microsoft press conference were “Gears of War: Judgment” and “Call of Duty Black Ops 2.”

EA showed off their lineup of games and some new features next. The EA website details that one of the games that was shown was “Medal of Honor: Warfighter,” which is a sequel to the most recent “Medal of Honor” reboot. EA presented a brand new “SimCity” for PC, “Dead Space 3” with an all new co-op feature and “Crysis 3.”

EA also detailed a new premium service for “Battlefield 3” called “Battlefield 3 Premium”, which gives the customer more weapons and early access to any new downloadable content for the game. For a full list of other games, release dates, and information shown at EA’s press conference, visit www.ea.com/e3.

Ubisoft’s press conference showed off a slew of long awaited sequels as well as a couple of brand new properties. According to the official Uplay website they showcased sequels like “Far Cry 3” and “Assassins Creed 3” a game which takes place during the American Revolution and features a half Native American as the protagonist. Ubisoft also showed a spinoff of “Assassins Creed 3” with the first female African American protagonist in the entire series.

Ubisoft also showed huge support for the Wii U with games like ZombiU,  a new zombie fighting game with an emphasis on survival, as one bite from a zombie will kill you. They presented “Rayman Legends” which introduced the concept of a fifth person who uses the Wii U pad to help the four people who control the main characters to get through the game.

Ubisoft closed their press conference in style however by showing off a new title that hadn’t been even hinted at before called “Watch Dogs.” The game puts you in control of a character that seems to be able to hack anything in the city.

The skill is used for anything from disrupting cell phones to causing car accidents by messing with the lights at an intersection. It looked similar to “Grand Theft Auto” but with quite a unique twist of being able to hack what looked like anything. For further information on games coming out from Ubisoft and release dates you can go to www.uplay.ubi.com/en-GB.

Sony took the stage next and promised games with both new and old faces. According to the official PlayStation website they presented games like “PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale,” a game that plays like Nintendo’s “Super Smash Bros.” but with Sony characters. Sony also previewed “God of War Ascension,” and a new “Little Big Planet.”

One of the major highlights of the show was the reveal of a new game made by the same development team as “Heavy Rain,” Quantic Dream. The game will be called “Beyond: Two Souls” and features a character modeled after and portrayed by Ellen Page who seems to have a supernatural influence around her. Like “Heavy Rain,” “Beyond: Two Souls” will support PlayStation Move technology.

The absolute biggest show stopper was gameplay of Naughty Dog’s new game “The Last of Us.” The game looked both beautiful and quite brutal. In it, the characters must combat enemies in a post-apocalyptic environment where ammo is scarce. For more on what Sony showed as well as release dates and the entire press conference you can go to www.us.playstation.com/e3-2012/.

According to the Nintendo All-Access @ E3 2012 website, their show started off with Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind most of Nintendo’s major games like “Super Mario Bros.” and “Legend of Zelda” showcasing “Pikmin 3,” the long awaited next installment of the “Pikmin” franchise.

Nintendo’s conference was filled mostly with specs on the Wii U. They did feature a couple of games here and there, with some of the highlights being ports and enhanced versions of  “Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition,” “Mass Effect 3,” “Ninja Gaiden 3,” and “Assassins Creed 3.”