CrunchGear Does E3: Day One

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CrunchGear is on the scene down here in LA, and today was the first big day of the show — even though it doesn’t really even start until tomorrow. Today was actually the day of press conferences by some of the big players, where they drop all their big news and tell you where to check out the latest big franchise games. It’s also a showcase for the latest acquisitions and technology, as well as announcing partnerships and that sort of thing.

Today’s events included Microsoft’s Xbox event this morning, then heavyweight EA’s press conference in the early afternoon, then Ubisoft in the later afternoon (they win the guest presenter contest, with both Pele and James Cameron). They dropped some interesting stuff, though I’d be lying if I told you they didn’t introduce a game where you do fantasy make-up. Ubi had the most interesting non-game talks: they’re working with Hollywood in a pretty ridiculous fashion and are going to be using their in-game engines and assets to help in creating actual films.

If three events in a day sounds like a light schedule, well, it is for a team of like 10 guys, but there’s just two of us right now and we’ve got to liveblog, shoot stills and video, transcode, watermark, upload, and post like five things for each event — all while trying to stay alive in downtown Los Angeles — a full-time job in itself.

Here are a few highlights from the day:

Project Natal camera-based gameplay (looks ridiculous)
Project Milo, AKA a real child in your console
Metal Gear Solid: Rising for Xbox 360 (along with Natal, these things were denied earlier)
Twitter on Xbox Live
EA’s semi-exciting press conference resulted in footage of The Saboteur, Brutal Legend, APB and The Old Republic
First gameplay footage of Red Steel 2 (now bundled with Wii MotionPlus), Splinter Cell: Conviction, and first trailer for Assassin’s Creed 2.

We’re going to have lots of hands-ons tomorrow, so watch the tag or check back late tomorrow for another omnibus post.