The biggest Press Conferences of the E3 are always the Big Three.  Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo hold the biggest conferences and bring out their biggest guns, even going as far in previous years to bring out the two remaining Beatles, along with Yoko Ono and George Harrison’s son, to promote the upcoming Beatles.  This, along with heavenly geek chic Felicia Day, have been used to promote future games and features.

However after the big three have shined the other companies, like Ubisoft and EA also have their press conferences, and while not as ‘extravagant’ as the big three are still a crucial part of the show.

Children of Eden

A Kinect dance game which looks like the musical games of the past like Frequency and Amplitude using hand movements to push blocks around in the tune of music.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

Ezio is back and a leader of the Assassin in his war against the Templars.  After a gorgeous introduction movie we are greeted with a demo that opens with an attack on Ezio’s villa as the Templar’s begin a full on invasion.  The demo, which has a cannonball shooting scene and enhanced horse abilities and combat, ends with both Mario and Ezio being shot and the villa completely destroyed.

Shawn White’s Skateboarding

Shawn White appears on stage for his next game, Shawn White’s Skateboarding.  They revealed a skateboarding game that allows you to transform the skate-park as you play, morphing the walls and rails as your grind and jump adding both building and screen as well as colour into the city.

Laser Tag

There was an unnamed laser tag peripheral that they announced that uses your consol as little more than a kill-counter and an exercise game-master.  The game will be released with two vest and guns, and several ‘ammo clips’, but with multiple purchases you will be allowed to play 4 vs 4 matches.

Innergy

Innergy is a relaxation game that uses a finger sense that look like the one Nintendo introduced last year.  Using cartoon version of kidneys and hearts the game help regulate your breathing and heart rate by hooking it up to your computer or consoles.

Motion Sports and Yourshape Fitness Involved

These two games are Ubisoft first Kinect only titles leaping onto the ‘controllerless platform’ with both hands.   The Motion Sports trailer shows a series of minigames, Skiing, soccer, and football, but does so in a poor method making the game looking similar to Wii Sports at its release numerous years ago, but the live demo of yourshape Fitness Involved begins to show the titles strength.  The title, which uses every aspect of the Kinect device, shows the title to be a combination Wii Sports and Wii Fit with it focus on fitness but with a series of fun games to be had.

Rabbids in Time

The press conference didn’t show any gameplay but simply a video of the rabbids traveling through time and affecting history, stopping Arthur from drawing the sword and instead allowing an old woman pulling it free, using a Time Washing Machine.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier

They open with a video that shows the leaps that the franchise has taken, in not only the time but also the technology.  They plan to focus on how the battle has been impacted by technology and how it impacts the ghost.  Gameplay shows a European coast, without an ocean, and the soldier phasing in and out of being cloaked and using his stealth to kill.  They sneak up, covertly taking out the tangos and go as far as propping up a dead opponent to look like his is still alive, and using the dead corpse to hide behind.  They also briefly showed a sniper mode and cover system used in firefights.

Driver San Francisco

Pulling a look from GTA 4 the new Driver goes back to its roots bringing both Detective Tanner and his enemy Jericho back from the earlier games, along with its original location, and memorable attributes.  The story is based around a comatose Tanner, unaware of that fact, who now has the ability to shift instantly into the body of another driver immediately gaining control of that driver and its car.  The gameplay, looking infinitely better then the last crappy driver game, clearly shows that the developers have done a lot of work to revitalize the series and ix their mistakes of the past.

Project Dust

They showed a video made up of entirely in game footage showing off a melting landscape with its fleeing native citizens.  The narrator talks about divine power that must be saved or else it will be lost.  Not much else is known about the mysterious title.

Rayman Origins

Rayman Origins is a 2D sidescroller game that draws heavily on Braid in its art style and gameplay.  It takes a humours approach to the hero’s origins and pairs it with an unknown creature known as his ID.  The gameplay focuses on co-op sidescroller gameplay as Rayman and ID battle massive artist monsters.  The game was boasted that the art team consist of only 5 people.

Afterthought:

The big game of the Ubisoft conference was easily Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.  The game, which promises 15+ hours of fresh gameplay, looks to be almost like an expansion similar to how Halo 3 ODST was an ‘expansion’ of Halo 3 but still a standalone title, yet despite the Brotherhood’s drawn I was surprisingly happy with Shawn White Skateboarding.  I like the look of the game and the on-the-fly customization features it has.

In closing a good conference that shows