(Posted by: Alex Clippinger)

   In a shocking revelation at E3, Ubisoft has apparently declared a multi-referential addition to their Brothers in Arms series: Furious Four. Set in Europe in 1944, the game features a small group of gritty, hardcore American soldiers placed behind enemy lines, apparently to wreak havoc and spread terror among the German military machine. They are (apparently, though if only by evidence of frequency of dialogue) led by a crazy, violent officer of at least partial Native American ancestry.

    Stop me after the break if this starts to sound familiar.

(Posted By: Alex Deckard)

Well, the NGP is officially called the Playstation Vita!  It's big, beautiful and powerful.  Is it going to flop like the PSP?  Or will it take off in the face of Nintendo's stillborn 3DS?  Only time (and sales figures) will tell, but as far as this bad boy goes, sign me up.

(Posted by: Harrison Milfeld)

Do you love FIFA? Do you love Lil Wayne and FIFA? Well, guess what? You can't have both. So, you'll have to settle with blasting Lil Wayne records as you attempt to pummel my boys from Chelsea FC online with FIFA's new online experience. But, I digress from Weezy's cameo d Electronic Arts' 2011 E3 press conference.

EA showcased during their E3 presser new additions to their premier video game soccer franchise. One of these additions is the EA Sports Football Club, where you can choose your favorite team and earn points from challenges that will add up to your overall ranking online. For example, some challenges include "avenging defeat," which will mirror a real-life defeat from your favorite team. In the demo, it showed off Tottenham Hotspur losing to Manchester United in real-life, only for the player avenge their team's defeat online for challenge points. So, to recap, you can avenge your favorite futbol club without any of the mess from the movie Green Street Hooligans. Success! Plus, you can brag about this via Facebook as well by posting your accomplishments on your own wall. The service will also be at "no additional charge" at launch.

EA is calling this "the most authentic FIFA ever," with improved precision dribbling, a new collision system, and tactical defending. These gameplay mechanics, along with the Football Club, should add more depth and realism to FIFA 12 when it hits store shelves this fall.

Sadly, Lil Wayne is not included in FIFA 12.

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

Look at that. I took up a bunch of our website's real estate to show you what Forza 4 is aiming for in the next iteration of it's racing game genre. At their press conference today, Microsoft showed off their racing darling in all of it's graphical goodness. Earlier when these pictures were released and said that they were "in-game" footage we all scoffed and had a good chuckle but after the presser today, this is what Forza 4 will look like, all the time.

Word around the industry is that Forza 4 is packing over a million polygons per car in this sequel, up from 300,000 on each in Forza 3. That's a huge difference. And the fact that it all runs at a smooth 60 frames per second should get you really, really excited. But the thing that was most addressed at the press conference today was the Kinect integration. There will be 3 modes that will use Kinect, the showroom floor, the "hands on" driving and the "head turning" mode. Hit the break to read up on Forza 4.

(Posted by: Harrison Milfeld)

Lightsaber. Check. Pod racing. Check. Force powers. Check. Kinect support. Check. Clunkiness. Possibility. 

(Posted by: Harrison Milfeld)

Since last year, we all have been wondering what a Star Wars title with Kinect support would play like and how it would appeal to casual gamers. Now, we will know what it feels like to control a lightsaber...with motion-based gestures. But, is the force strong with one?

At Microsoft's 2011 E3 press conference, we were treated to a live demonstration of Star Wars Kinect. The demo showcased the ability to control famed Star Wars vehicles such as the X-Wing and having the honor of slicing and dicing Trade Federation droids. All that's missing is a Gungan genocide or two. The game will also take place during both the prequel and original trilogy sagas. In addition, the player will have the ability to control various force powers. Judging from the demo, this looks to have endless possibilities with all the tools a Jedi possesses. If only it allowed to correct the dry-as-sandpaper dialogue from the prequels.

Now, the demo itself looked clunky on a first showing; enough to warrant a caution. Still, we have until the fall of 2011 to train ourselves from young Padawan learner to Jedi master.

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

People at the Microsoft presser may have been falling asleep with all the Kinect announcements today but the last couple minutes had the audience erupting in applause as the curtain closed. Halo 4 was announced in a small teaser trailer that showed Master Chief waking up out of the cryo tube he was seen in at the end of Halo 3's legendary edition. Shit hits the fan and in true Master Chief form, he grabs Cortana and heads in. That was the clip in it's entirety more or less but it was enough to get Halo's fans everywhere drooling for more.

Earlier on in the presser Microsoft came out and said that this year, the original Halo Combat Evolved will be remade with HD graphics. They announced that 7 classic maps and 1 firefight map will also be included so that multiplayer will be a go but other than that, the changes are slim to none, which is what the gamers wanted. In an interview with one of the developers it was said that there is a graphical skin overlaying the "exact" original Halo CE. This means that it will handle the same as it did back on the original Xbox Most of the fear surrounding this announcement was that the company making it would try and re-do too much of what made the original game great but it sounds like this is going to be a good compromise. The best part about this? It's not going to carry a $60 price tag. It will be a full retail game but will be at a smaller price. Stay tuned this week to see if we can find that price point. All hail Halo!

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

A huge part of Microsoft's press conference today was showing off the power of Kinect and telling players of all types why they should be getting one and why their motion capture is better than the competition. One interesting point was the integration that Ghost Recon Future Soldier showed off.

Many hardcore FPS are understandably weary of motion controls muking up their shooters and killstreaks and today was showing a little bit of how Kinect will be used from here on out. What was shown is called "Gunsmith" a mode that lets you take a look at your loadout, a staple of the FPS franchise now, and you can "blow apart" the gun with just a swipe of your hands. From there you can see and inspect every part of the gun and switch it out based on what you want from it. There is also a voice-recognition system implemented that will optimize your gun for close combat or ranged just by speaking it out loud. Very cool stuff.

From there the demo went on to show a "test drive" of the gun load-outs that had the demo man standing on stage using the Kinect controls to fire his gun. In all honesty he looked like he was riding a horse and he opened and closed his hand to fire his weapon at the enemies on the screen, turning his body towards each of them. This is what the hardcore are fearful of and down the road things will pan out more we hope. Time remains to be seen how Kinect and shooters will play together.

(Posted by: Eric Rees)

Microsoft announced today that live television would be coming to Xbox Live soon along with a bevy of features. Not just stopping at Youtube, Microsoft went so far as to show of Kinect's integration with the TV during their press conference today. 

It remains to be seen how quickly they'll implement this because there was no talk of partnerships with any television providers but Microsoft has the money and the push to get it done. The most interesting thing shown was a UFC partnership that might be the downfall of pay-per-view channels. Xbox Live was showing weigh-ins, stats on each of the fighters and interactive polls that people can take during the fight to keep people busy. Sounds pretty awesome right? We'll see how this is implemented "this fall" when the new "New Xbox Live Experience" comes out.

(Posted By:  Alex Deckard)

Tim Schaefer from Double Fine showed off Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster for Kinect.  Yes, it's for kids.  Yes, it's for Kinect.  But it's also Tim Schaefer.  So it's going to be brilliant.  Keep an eye out for this if you have children or younger relatives.  It's sure to be a big hit.