Take. My. Money. - Nintendo E3 Conference 2012.

So with the other two big hitters having done their conferences, it was left to Nintendo to close up with theirs and they did it a little differently this year. Instead of having one big conference they used other means to tell us all what they’re doing over the next year. First of all before the conference itself they did a Nintendo Direct to reveal a few things with the gamepad being the main news, then they had the conference itself where they focussed entirely on the Wii U and its games, and then they finished off with a 3DS showcase, showing off several upcoming 3DS games.

Compared to their big rivals, Nintendo’s conference was much more modest and humble. Whereas Sony had a ridiculous arena full of people, Nintendo used a much smaller venue to set the stage for the Wii U. This played out pretty well for Nintendo as it felt a lot more homely and it allowed Reggie Fils-Aime to do what he does best.

There's life in the old PS3 yet - Sony E3 Conference 2012.

After Microsoft had had their say Sony were able to respond quickly having their conference only a few hours later. Was it any better? Well yes, miles better.

Sony’s conference was a far cry from last year’s effort where they spent forever talking about how 3D was going to revolutionise the way we play games. This year there was no mention of 3D and there was an actual focus on games.

Whereas Microsoft kicked off with their ace of spades Sony trickled them out bit by bit and had a much more balanced conference to show for it. After the typical long-winded montage opener we’ve all come to expect from Sony, Jack Tretton emerged onto the stage to give his spiel about how Sony loves the fans and how great they both are together. Seriously, he was either trying to get laid or attempting to farm more money from them, probably the latter in fairness.

Everything is better with Kinect, right? - Microsoft E3 Conference 2012.

Microsoft were the first major company to take centre stage at E3 this year and many were looking forward to what they were going to show. Rumours were flying here, there and everywhere of a new console, the fabled 720, but rather disappointingly this was not to be.

Instead it started pretty much from where they left off at last year’s E3 with Mr Green Helmet Man and his everlasting adventures in space. Yes, it’s Halo 4 and to be fair it looked pretty good! We were treated to an over-the-top trailer that Halo’s getting a reputation for and then a small playthrough of an early level which featured a lot of cinematics and a new feature that sees Chief using his visor to scan objects in a way that has echoes of the Metroid Prime series.

The Highs and Lows of E3 2012.

Last week the games industry came together once again for the annual E3 conference in Los Angeles. It’s the time of year when all gamers get excited and glue themselves to live streams of conference after conference hoping to get a good look at some of the games developers have to offer.

Overall it was a decent expo; some developers did well, others less so. There were plenty of highlights to be found and of course inevitable lowlights… All in all there was something for everyone.

If you like shooters for example you should probably check out EA’s conference as that’s pretty much all they’re bringing out in the coming year with Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Battlefield 3 DLC (no idea why this was shown), Crysis 3 and Dead Space 3 all being shown off. For those who don’t like shooters there’s always SPORTS! Sigh.

Enrolling at the Wii U - Nintendo Conference.

Nintendo were last in line to do their conference at E3 this year and of the three they were probably the winners. Sony should take notes regarding the start to the conference; they chose to show a boring five minute montage of game footage, while Nintendo blew the audience away with an orchestral rendition of various Legend of Zelda themes mashed into one, in honour of the 25th anniversary of the Zelda franchise.

Shigeru Miyamoto was out first to talk about the Zelda franchise as a whole. He started off talking about the music and he used the orchestra in front of him to full effect, having them play chimes from the game such as the classic ‘item get’ music and the fairy fountain theme. Ah fairy fountain, that takes me back, already I sense this is going to be a good conference! I do love Miyamoto though, he’s like 58 now and he’s still a child at heart, mucking about on stage, doing the actions for opening a treasure chest. It was great, even if the orchestra played it too quickly and the translator spoke over him the whole time.

The Elephant in the Room - Sony Conference.

Sony were second in holding their conference at this year's E3 and they started off a lot worse than Microsoft did. First they handed out 3D glasses to everyone in the audience, before showing them a promo reel of some Playstation games, the PSP and of course the Playstation Move. All of that would be fine if the promo wasn’t insanely boring and ridiculously long! Seriously it’s like four and a half minutes of footage, most of which we’ve seen; it was just so so boring. And 3D…really? Did they not get the memo about Nintendo’s 3DS? I can’t believe people are still running with 3D. It’s 2011, give it up already!

But Sony’s conference did improve, firstly they got rid of the ‘elephant in the room’ when Jack Tretton immediately addressed the Playstation Network problems, and credit to them for that. People wanted an apology, a real one, and this was probably Sony’s best chance to do that.

In-Out, In-Out, Shake it all About - Microsoft Conference.

Microsoft were first to hold their conference at this year's E3 and they kicked it off with some Modern Warfare 3 footage which included a demo run in a submarine and then on a speedboat. Yes of course it featured some bullet time again, there’s nothing quite like some overuse of bullet time in a game but overall considering I’m not a big Call of Duty nut it looked quite cool. It’s very high impact, very over-dramatic, very Call of Duty. It made me want to at least try the other two games.

Next up was the new Tomb Raider game which actually looks really good! It’s set to go back to the origins of Lara Croft and it might just tempt me into playing the franchise again. The demo shown appeared to be the start of the game where Lara is escaping captivity on an old ship that could be in the Bermuda Triangle, which I‘m only guessing because of the old ships Lara finds at the end of the demo. It’s a lot darker than we’re used to and looks very gritty, much more than the old ones. I haven’t played a Tomb Raider game since the PS1 and I’ll keep an eye out for this one as I’m interested in how it turns out in the end.

The Good, The Bad and The Downright Embarrassing - E3 2011.

The biggest video game event of the year took place a week ago and I’m always happy when it comes around. The Electronic Entertainment Expo has been visiting Los Angeles now for 16 years, and although in recent years it has downsized a little, it still has the magic all gamers know and love.

I love it when E3 is approaching, the anticipation for what’s going to be shown, what’s going to be playable, new hardware, new games, new ideas. It represents the biggest stage video game companies have in showing off their products to us. And boy do they like to show off!

I personally love E3 because it reignites the gaming industry and gets me interested again. People start talking again, forums start buzzing, Twitter explodes, everyone has an opinion and there are plenty willing to argue til their faces turn blue!