During E3, trailers and other announcements are lost in between the big media briefings that make up the bulk of E3. One of my most anticipated games, BioShock Infinite, shows off what we can expect to see when the game drops next year. See what I did there?

Check out the trailer above. Spoiler Alert: Sky-Hooks and damsels are still very much intact.

Speaking of Sky-Hooks, if you fancy winning a life-size model of the sky-soaring device, follow @IrrationalGames on Twitter and retweet the contest announcement. Full details on the competition can be found here.

Despite being leaked ahead of the keynote (Microsoft have a habit of doing this by the way), Halo 4 was announced at Microsoft’s E3 briefing. The trailer, or teaser if you will, shows Master Chief and Cortana floating through space in true Dead Space style.

Details were scarce, but it was mentioned that Halo 4 would be the first in a new trilogy being developed exclusively by 343 Industries. That means 4, 5 and 6 people. Get mad!

Rapper, actor and co-op go-to guy Ice T joined Cliff Bleszinski on stage at Microsoft’s E3 event to demo a portion of the Gears of War 3 single player campaign. We join Marcus and company on a ship two years after the fall of Jacinto, and as usual, things are going to hell. A sea creature is after them and it’s “pissed”.

After our sea creature’s tentacles tear apart the ship, the crew attempt to reach the upper deck and stumble upon a couple of Silverback mech suits. Armed to the brim with machine gun turrets and grenade launchers, these fully controllable Silverbacks also provide cover for you or a co-op partner when debris or traditional cover points aren’t available. Video after the break.

I’m glad we’ve finally seen some more of the campaign – albeit a brief segment. Recent months have been so focused on the beta and the multiplayer component that I was starting to feel as if a certain portion of the game didn’t exist, so I’m pleased to see the game’s riveting story take center stage once again.

Only a few months now until Gears 3 hits shelves. Let the waiting game begin.

At today’s Nintendo E3 keynote, the Big N teased the audience with five first party 3DS games slated to launch before the year is out. Reggie took the stage, teased the company’s new console, and then dove right into a bunch upcoming 3DS titles. Trailers aplenty after the break.

Mario Kart

The first 3DS title shown was Mario Kart. According to NOA President, Reggie Fils-Aime, this iteration in the series is a “tricked out version”, slightly different from previous Mario Kart titles. The footage shown revealed that both gliding and underwater racing will be added to the classic formula. Mario Kart will be on store shelves this holiday season.

Star Fox 64 3D

The next game discussed was Star Fox 64 3D. In addition to showing off the game’s ability to use the gyroscope to control vehicles, Reggie also revealed that the 3DS’ camera could be used to record the reactions of players in multiplayer squads. Star Fox 64 3D will be available in September 2011.

Super Mario 3D

A couple months back at GDC we saw Nintendo tease an upcoming Super Mario title for the 3DS, leaving the audience with only a logo that sported a tanooki tail “mysterious raccoon tail”. This year, however, Nintendo pulled back the curtain on Super Mario 3D and showed a gameplay trailer featuring the fan favorite raccoon suit. Reggie told the audience that Super Mario 3D will be out “before the year is over.”

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus: Uprising was the fourth game shown during the 3DS spotlight. While the game was shown at last year’s E3, the new footage shown this morning looked to be a polished build of the game. During the presentation Nintendo revealed that Uprising will sport a battle mode and multiplayer that takes advantage of the 3DS’ ability to read AR cards. Kid Icarus: Uprising is also slated for release later this year.

Luigi’s Mansion 2

Finally, in one of the biggest surprises of the keynote, Nintendo unveiled the brand new Luigi’s Mansion 2. This isn’t a revision folks, this is an entirely new game and even features several mansions for Luigi to explore. A release date was not announced for Luigi’s Mansion 2.

Ubisoft stopped by the Microsoft briefing to show off Kinect functionality in Tom Clancy’s upcoming Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The feature, dubbed Gun Smith, allows players to create over 20 million unique weapons through gesture and voice thanks to Microsoft’s handy Kinect sensor. A shooting range demo was also briefly shown.

As wild and intuitive as it all is, I’d still rather be doing most of this on an actual controller. How much Kinect compatibility will appear in the final game is still yet to be confirmed.

In recent years we’ve become used to seeing the latest and greatest games running alongside a shiny new 360 dashboard. In fact, I’ve become so accustomed to seeing one every E3 that I almost expect it. This year’s show pulled no punches.

Using the Metro UI, made famous in Windows Phone 7 and Zune products, the new dash looks to line the 360 up with the upcoming Windows 8, as well as the rest of the Microsoft family. I’m a fan of the Swiss-inspired user interface and judging by these screens, it carries across well on the console, giving the dashboard a refreshing but familiar look and feel.

Also carried over from the Microsoft product line is Bing, which brings search to the 360 in a big way. Using Kinect’s voice recognition, finding games, movies and music on both the Xbox Live Marketplace and your console has never been easier.

What if you could find your favorite games, music, movies and TV shows, just with the sound of your voice? The solution: voice search with Bing on Xbox 360. Bing on Xbox searches Netflix, Hulu Plus and ESPN, as well as music, video and Xbox LIVE Marketplace to find exactly the entertainment you want to enjoy. With Bing on Xbox and Kinect for Xbox 360, you can effortlessly find the games, movies, TV shows, sports and music you want. You say it, Xbox finds it.

Microsoft have also cosied up with YouTube and plans to have the video service running on the 360 later this year.

Available fall 2011, YouTube on Xbox LIVE will deliver access to great Web original content from around the world, including the latest videos, gaming tips and more.

While the news of YouTube coming to Xbox Live is exciting, I’m less excited about its implementation. Like other services on Xbox Live, I fear they’ll only be accessible outside of games. I won’t go into this now but expect more on this in an upcoming post.

As the years tick on it’s undeniable that Microsoft have turned the Xbox 360 into the ultimate entertainment device, and I believe they’ll continue to do so if they keep striking up great partnerships, as they’ve been doing. The new dashboard launches this fall.

As expected, Sony finally revealed that the NGP will now be known as the PS Vita at its E3 keynote yesterday. In addition to the details previously revealed, Kaz Hirai discussed a new feature for the handheld called “Party” which will allow players to use voice chat while playing different games at the same time. Although being met with some mixed emotions, Sony also revealed that the Vita will have both Wi-Fi and 3G functionality, with AT&T being the official wireless carrier. The Wi-Fi model will retail for $249 and the 3G model will go for $299. Both models will launch by the end of 2011.

Several PS Vita games were demonstrated on stage during the conference as well as a montage of upcoming content.

One of the first games shown was Uncharted: Golden Abyss. During the demonstration, John Garvin and Chris Reece of Bend Studios showed off the ability to switch between traditional controls and the new touch controls.

The next game to be demoed was a cross over of Street Fighter X Tekken built for the PS Vita. Yoshinori Ono took the stage to show off the current build of the game and reveal that Cole McGrath of inFAMOUS fame will be a special character for the Vita and PS3 versions.

Ruin, PlayStation Vita’s “social-action-RPG” was demoed by Jeff Litchford of Idle Minds and showed off the Vita’s “cloud” save technology. This new save system will allow you to save your game on the handheld, then pick up and continue playing almost instantly on a larger screen television attached to a PS3.

A Vita version of ModNation Racers was also demonstrated on stage. This version will feature touchscreen creation controls and all of the content created by users for the PS3 version of the game will be available for the Vita version.

Among the many surprise announcements made at Sony’s E3 keynote was news of a 3D TV monitor and glasses designed to make 3D gaming more accessible to mainstream gamers. Arriving in bundle form this fall, the package will retail for $499 and come with the 24- inch 3D television, PlayStation-branded 3D glasses, a six-foot HDMI cable, and a copy of Resistance 3.

Interestingly, The 3D display will boast an innovative design that does away with split-screen gaming and allows two players to see two different screens when looking at the device if they are wearing 3D glasses. By splitting the 3D signal and only showing what one eye would normally see to one set of glasses. Additionally, the 3D Glasses will retail separately for $69.99 and include a rechargeable lithium ion battery to enable quick charging time. A three-minute charge will result in three hours of use, while a 45 minute charge will provide 30 hours of use.

The Sony 3D Display bundle will be available this Fall.

At Sony’s E3 press conference, the company debuted a gameplay trailer for the recently revealed Star Trek. Just as Paramount Digital Entertainment teased in the game’s announcement several days ago, the new Trek title will offer an “unprecedented co-op experience” and retain all of the action associated with the J.J. Abram’s film.

Star Trek is being developed by Digital Extremes for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Via – IGN

After months of sneak peeks and previews, Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider was demoed on the big screen this morning at Microsoft’s E3 media briefing. Taking place right after last week’s shipwrecked trailer, our hero finds herself held captive, swinging from a rope. Video after the break.

While it’s clear the demonstration borrows a lot of cues from Uncharted, its moody and immersive setting is exactly the sort of change the series has been in need of — even if Lara talking to herself seemed a little too heavily borrowed from a certain treasure hunter.

Such little gameplay bundled with tons of scripted segments and QTEs left me wanting more, but judging by the crowd’s reaction, it demoed well on the big stage. What stole the show for me though, were the cinematic moments the game presented. Dynamics’ claustrophobic camera stays in close and presses up against the back of a more vulnerable Lara Croft, a character we’re not used to seeing.

Crystal Dynamics look to be pushing the series in a brave new direction, and with a year left in development I’d expect to see more on this title in the near future. Stay tuned.