Xbox Entertainment Range Boosted (Xbox 360) [E3 2012]

Microsoft announced a number of new content partners and new features which will be coming to the Xbox dashboard over the next year, yet again though if you're not in the US then you're getting next to nothing interesting. In fact getting nothing would probably have been preferable as now my dahboard is going to be full of even more adverts and content I really coulcn;t care less about. Internet Explorer is finally bring web browsing to the console and as usual Microsoft are doing things differently to the other console manufacturers by taking the approach that "keyboards don't belong in the living room." Through the use of Kinect voice functions and the new SmartGlass approach, you don't need to have a keyboard or be tied to the console with a wire, instead you can browse the web on your television using your tablet or phone to be able to scroll, select and type using on screen keyboards.

Bing search is gettign a boost with a feature that nobody asked for, you can now browse by genre, search "sports" for example and all sport content will appear.

Lastly some new partners providing content on the dashboard have been announce, but if you live in the UK like me then you're pretty much getting shafted yet again. Whilst the US get some new content from the likes of Nickelodeon, Paramount Movies, Comedy Central, live NHL and NBA and not to mention a slew of ESPN updates, including 24 hour streaming, we in the UK have to be contended with Absolute Radio, Napster and the AOL network. Seriously, who the hell uses Napster and AOL anymore? I feel like i've gone back in time to the late 90's.

Here's the full List of Partners;

• Absolute Radio -U.K.
• Ameba TV - Canada, U.S.
• BreakMedia - Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, U.K., U.S.
• Comedy Central Stand Up - U.S.
• Comoyo - Denmark, Norway, Sweden
• Corus Entertainment's Franklin the Turtle - Canada
• GameSpot TV - Australia, Canada, U.K., U.S.
• Headweb - Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden
• Indie Flix - U.S.
• Machinima - All Xbox LIVE markets
• Napster - Germany, U.K.
• Nickelodeon - U.S.
• Paramount Movies - U.S.
• Picturebox - U.K.
• Quickflix - Australia, New Zealand
• Rakuten ShowTime - Japan
• Revision3 - Canada, U.K., U.S.
• Rhapsody - U.S.
• RTL XL - Netherlands
• Slacker Radio - Canada, U.S.
• SnagFilms - U.S.
• Terra (Sunday TV) - Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico
• The AOL On Network - Australia, Canada, Netherlands, U.K., U.S.
• The Weather Channel - U.S.
• The Whistle - U.S.
• TOU.TV - Canada
• TV3 - Spain
• Twitch TV - U.S.
• Univision - U.S.
• Wuaki - Spain
• Youzee - Spain

Power A's MOGA Mobile Controller (Android) [E3 2012]

Whilst the Nyko controller i've already posted about looks quite professional and pretty much the dog's bollocks for playing games on a phone or tablet, this solution from Moga is equally impressive. It holds your phone for a start, which makes for a better gaming position overall than having to have you tablet/phone supported serperatley or on a table whilst you have two hands on a controller.

It comes bundled with a free Android app that takes you through syncing the controller via Bluetooth and presents a list of the games it currently supports, the controller itself has the standard buttons you'd expect from a modern day device.

Forza Horizon (Xbox 360) [E3 2012]

Forza's new outing seems to be going for a more 'Need for Speed' vibe than the usual 'Gran Tourismo' style that we're used to. This new approach has been shown off  in videos teasing street racing and drift competitions which look to replicate the best of previous Forza games. The title aims to include the attention to detail on the cars and tracks that players have come to expect from a title in the series but give the gameplay an update by adding a narrative, this further helps to differentiate between this and the usual simulation style.

Gears of War: Judgement (Xbox 360) [E3 2012]

A new Gears of War game is on the way touted for release in Q1 2013 and is being made by BulletStorm developer People Can Fly, the rumour before the big reveal was that the new game would follow the series main protagonist Marcis Fenix on his journey through the pendulum wars and we'd see the events leading up to his incarceration where we find him at the beginning of the fist Gears game. Instead Epic Games have thrown a curveball and delivered a game focusing on Baird and his 'Kilo Squad' which thankfully includes the one and only Cole-train. We see from the trailer that the squad is on trial for various crimes including treason and theft of military tech. This is a great move in my opinion as these two were clearly some of the best characters in the series and filling in the back story for them can only make for a good tale in the long run and serves to refresh the series.

Here's the announcement trailer which looks great as usual for most GOW games;


The gameplay in Gears is expected to follow on from the last three titles, however multiplayer is getting an overhaul with the introduction of a class system, meaning now there's a greater variety of gameplay and hopefully will add to the longevity of the gameplay with multiple ways to play wit the COG armies choosing between soldier, scout, medic and engineer while the Locusts have wretch, ticker, kantus, grenadier, bloodmount, mauler, serapede and corpse. all of these have unique abilities which will help set them apart from other titles which have a similar system.

Here's a look at some gameplay with developer commentary;

Square Enix: Next-Gen Demo [E3 2012]

Called' Agni’s Philosophy' the tech demo was shown off at E3 from Square Enix and shows off their next-gen engine called 'Luminous Studio'. It will power new games across consoles, tablets, phones and PC's enabling greater ease in development. The video is said to be likened to in-game content and easily matches anything we're used to seeing currently in cutscenes.

Star Wars 1313 [E3 2012]

The new Star Wars game is the franchise's first foray into the world of the mature rated game,  you play as a bounty hunter exploring the criminal underworld on Coruscant's infamous level 1313. This is a cover based action game which looks amazing it has to be said,  so amazing that it must be for next generation consoles,  especially as this is a pre-alpha demo running on a high end pc at the minute and it's not out until around November 2013 which is coincidentally around the time the next xbox and ps4 are due. 

Feast your eyes on the below gameplay videos and remember that all of this is the in game engine,  not cut scenes.

Nyko Bring Gamepads to Android [E3 2012]

Sometimes (read as: always) the touch screen controls on mobile games are awful, I own GTA III, Minecraft and Sonic CD on my Galaxy S2 and I don't play any of them like I should because the controls get on my nerves. This new device from Nyko in partnership with Nvidia would solve all of my mobile gaming woes, and i'm sure i'm not alone.

The PlayPad and PlayPad Pro connect to your phone through bluetooth and the Nyko app, the only requirement seems to be that you have Android 3.0 or above. The Pro seems to be a bigger, housebound device whereas the standard PlayPad is smaller and more portable with slider thumbsticks instead of the usual analogue ones..

Game & Wario (Wii U) [E3 2012]

Usually the prospect of Wario being in a game would excite me, but as Nintendo generally does nothing but rehash old products they have seen fit to disappoint me again by not letting Wario live up to his full potential, seriously, just let Waluigi take over the minigame fest and give Wario a platformer again, having just watched the Wreck-it-Ralph trailer I feel like Wario should be the star of that film, constantly having to put up with the same old crap, whilst Mario gets like 60 hundred million games every year...what a dick.

Anyway this crapfest looks all shiny, but evidently its just another title full of minigames and you'll be bored after an hour, thanks Nintendo.

There's no official video as yet, but here's some show floor footage...enjoy.

Mass Effect 3 (Wii U) [E3 2012]

So the reveal for Mass Effect 3 on the Wii-U is pretty lacklustre and was just part of a sizzle reel of third party software, no details about how they'll get new players to the series up to speed, something along the lines of the PS3's interactive comic will surely do the job also there was nothing in particular about what makes the third in the series stand out on this console.

The only thing Nintendo and Bioware are giving us at the minute is the old ME3 trailer, which while being very pretty (apart from the lack of the true Shepard..where's the FemShep love?)isn't exactly a new thing.