E3 2005

At E3 2005, the PlayStation 3 is officially named and shown (along with its batarang controller). They also introduced the new Eye toy, as well as a tech demo of Final Fantasy VII on PS3 hardware, and a bathtub full of rubber duckies. To the surprise of many, they also had many trailers on hand for the PS3, such as a new Tekken and Devil May Cry 4, but they were all vague and just represented the franchises in general. However, Sony mysteriously gave little news on their PSP.

Nintendo shows off another variation of its popular Game Boy (the Game Boy micro) and its Revolution console (but refuses to show any controller or videogames that will appear on the console). They also revealed that the Revolution would be a "Virtual" console, one that would be able to download & play NES, SNES and N64 games. The Gamecube showed many of the same games from E3 2004, although there were some previously unannounced titles like Kirby and Super Mario Strikers. Their strongest showing was for the Nintendo DS, which showed off new titles like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and the brand new online gaming service that would be available before 2006 for Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World.

Microsoft, having jumped the gun by premiering its Xbox 360 on the wonderful land of teen commercialism known as MTV a few weeks earlier, shows up with some football player to extoll the virtues of its next console. They also showed off the interface and features of their new console, which allowed people who don't even like games to, say, make T-Shirts in it that could be sold to use in games. They described the 360 as a multimedia center that incorporated all forms of digital entertainment devices into gaming. It would also launch before the end of the year, simultaneously in Europe, Japan and North America.

Notable games

• The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
• Okami
• Super Mario Bros. 4
• Shadow the Hedgehog
• Spore
• Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse
• Burnout Revenge
• Soul Calibur III

Controversy

• Killzone 2 wows many, but there is still heavy debate if the trailer was pre-rendered or running in real time. Sony insisted that they were real time graphics while many in the media remained skeptical based on their track record at previous E3's.
• Infected makes the crapiest trailer ever [1] (MEETY CHUNKS!).
• J. Allard, the founder of the Xbox and corporate vice president of Microsoft, wore a blazer over a hoodie for the Microsoft Press Conference. Is that what the kids consider hip these days?
• During the Microsoft press conference, many people ridiculed the obviously hand-picked & planted members of the audience that sat behind the stage, in full view of the camera. They were evenly split among genders, all young, clearly not members of the press, and too enthusiastic for the most average announcements.