E3 2011

It's that time of year again where L.A. gets transformed for E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011. Mere days away now, we shall all soon be able to get a look at some of the most hotly anticipated games titles and hardware that's to come over the next 12 months or more.

Graphs shall be wielded, games shall be hyped to ludicrous levels, press conferences may get embarrassingly bad and PR reps and games journos alike will be hammered by the time it's all over.

Every year there is usually at least one reason to pay attention, both in terms of actual products and mere spectacle. Last year's was the 3DS and Cirque de Soleil's bizarre wood nymph show for the Kinect. What about this time? Who can say for sure but this is what I'll be looking forward to, the 'known unknowns', right now:

• Mass Effect 3 - The final entry in the Mass Effect trilogy sees Commander Shepherd back on Earth and on trial as the Reapers show up to invade. Shepherd escapes and has to roam the galaxy, recruiting allies and finding a way to retake Earth and defeat the Reapers once and for all. New features abound including imprived graphics and sound, weapons mods, proper homosexual relationship options (male and female), and deeper skill trees. Cannot wait!
• Silent Hill Downpour - There really hasn't been a really good Silent Hill game in a while, so fingers crossed that Downpour can deliver some good quality psychological horror. Having an escaped prisoner as the main character certainly gives room to tell an interesting story and the visuals are evoking just the right level of creepiness.
• Uncharted 3 Drake's Deception - Uncharted 2 was a highly polished third person shooter with a great cast of characters and strong production values throughout, with a surprisingly good multiplayer to boot. 3 is simply looking to take all that and make it bigger and better, which is perfectly fine with me.
• Hitman Absolution - It's been a few years since Agent 47 had an outing (thanks to messers Kane and Lynch) so it'll be interesting to see what is on offer this time around. The games were basically all about solving an elaborate puzzle, albeit a one where you had to eliminate the target in the stealthiest way possible. Here's hoping IO and Square come through.
• Batman Arkham City - Similar to Uncharted in that it's a sequel to an excellent game, looking to do things bigger and better. And this time we'll have a playable Catwoman along for the ride. Ambiguous friend/foe/flirty dynamic with Bats ahoy!
• Project Cafe/Stream/Wii 2 - Probably the thing I'm most interested in seeing more of, this thing has already been rumored out the wazoo. All we know for sure is that graphics will be at least on par with the 360 and PS3 and the controller will be more traditional, having a touch screen and camera built in. After that, who can tell? All I know is if it doesn't do toasted sandwiches and have a built-in fleshlight I'm not buying it.

Unlikey To Happen/Appear

• As an apology for the PSN debacle Sony exec Jack Tretton shoots marketing gimmick Kevin Butler (VP of fuckups) live on stage.
• Hideo Kojima debuting a game that isn't Metal Gear related.
• Tetsuya Nomura announces his resignation from designing Square Enix games ever again (enough with the zippers already!)
• A sequel to Rogue Squadron will be announced
• Duke Nukem Forever will be revealed as an elaborate joke and it really is never coming out... forever.
• Half Life 3. Again.

Anyone else got something they're hyped to see?