It’s that time of the year again. E3, the largest conference of the gaming industry, is just a month away. This year will be special: it’s been 5 years that the “next generation” consoles started appearing, yet no new consoles are expected to appear. Here’s a quick overview of what to expect.

New hardware

High expectations are held for this year’s hardware reveals. The big three (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) are expected to demo new extensions for each console:

Sony: the Playstation Move controller, which is a push towards a Wii-HD type  of experience. Possibly also a follow-up to the PSP (PSP2?), after the flop of PSP Go last year.

Microsoft: a 360 Slim with a price drop, maybe a 3D revision, and the demo of Natal, by Cirque du Soleil.

Nintendo: the first showing of the 3DS, as well as demos of the Vitality Sensor, which was announced last year.

New games

We can expect the software demos to be equally as interesting.

Microsoft: full reveal of Natal games (both new and backwards compatible games), as well as new titles from Rare. Demos of Fable 3, Halo Reach, Gears of War 3.

Sony is expected to demo The Last Guardian, Resistance 3, Little Big Planet 2 and Agent (the PS3 exclusive title from Rockstar).

There have been sustained rumors of Sega releasing their Dreamcast backlog on PS3 and 360, with echos of new Jet Set Radio and Virtual On titles.

Nintendo will demo the new Zelda title, Picmin 3, a new Pokemon Game, Epic Mickey, and is rumored to announce plans for a revamp of their online offering and possibly of Virtual Console for 3DS.

Lastly, demos and trailers of expected franchises, such as Marvel vs Capcom 3, a new Resident Evil game, GTA 5, a new Half Life game, Portal 2, Final Fantasy 13 Vs.

I’m eagerly awaiting the event. These will be the most significant reveals since the launch of next-gen consoles, and will shape the industry for the years to come. In addition, the adoption of motion controls by all 3 manufacturers will lead to more fluid user experiences.