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So far, we haven’t really heard much about iPhone gaming at E3 — the focus has mainly been on the consoles and the PC. That doesn’t mean, however, that people have forgotten about Apple or mobile gaming.

Microsoft is very interesting in trying to horn in on that market, and their latest move shows they’re fairly serious about it. According to Pocket Gamer, Microsoft is now offering iPhone developers up-front cash to port their iPhone games to the new Windows Phone 7s. Unfortunately for Microsoft, developers appear to be declining the offer — there’s too much work involved in recoding the games into Silverlight or XNA framework.

It will be interesting to see if Microsoft ups the ante. Do you think the Windows Phone 7 will be able to take on the iPhone, or is Microsoft just wasting money on a futile endeavor?

Microsoft is paying developers to port iPhone games to Windows Phone 7 [Pocket Gamer via AppleInsider]

My first big surprise of E3 came in the form of Criterion Games’ Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The studio’s magnificence in the racing genre had me on high alert, sure, but even its pedigree wasn’t enough to prepare me for what a strong showing the game would ultimately have at EA’s press conference.

I wasn’t alone, either. Our editors’ chat — where we only talk about work and never about fluffy animals, scantily clad people (hey, Tonetta!), or The Ghoulies – blew up with happy remarks and equally happy emoticons. I’m not even into Need for Speed proper, at all, and Hot Pursuit is now high up on the ol’ radar.

Above is a trailer for the game; unfortunately, it’s not nearly as rad as what I was just talking about. This is one of those rare cases where the game mechanics in and of themselves are plenty exhilarating enough — no need for a fancy-pants trailer.

Still, this gave me a good opportunity to gush over Hot Pursuit. Anyone else feeling this antsy?

So, yeah. We all have heard about the Scott Pilgrim PSN game coming from Ubisoft. We have even seen it in action. And these new E3 screens are mostly from set pieces we have seen before. But that does not change the fact that they are awesome!

Even taking away the fact that I am a giant fan of retro video games, this game looks like a lot of fun. It’s a 4-player co-op brawler in the vein of The Simpsons Arcade and Castle Crashers, for crying out loud. And look at the gorgeous sprite work. THE GORGEOUS SPRITE WORK! ALSO, THE CHARACTER SELECT SCREEN LOOKS JUST LIKE SUPER MARIO BROS. 2! What’s not to love?!

By the looks of these screens, the potential for this game to be incredible is obviously there. I just hope the game focuses more on solid gameplay rather than clever book/movie references. If so, this really could be one of favorite games of the year. I really am in love with the way it looks. So beautiful …

I am getting my hands on this game in the next couple days, so check back here for my full E3 impressions.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game hits PSN on August 10th.

One of the reasons that EA cited for introducing the EA Sports Online Pass was a desire to keep bringing innovative online features to gamers — features that cost money to develop and implement. At their E3 press conference, EA Sports president Peter Moore debuted the newest one: EA Sports Live Broadcast.

Chances are, you don’t have the physique to be an actual MMA fighter, but using Photo Game Face, you can create a fighter with your mug. Then, you can record a “hype video” — footage of real-life you, spewing trash talk into the camera — and hopefully, an EA Sports MMA community rep will notice it. If you’re noticed, then you have the chance to compete in fights with your created character for real prizes (such as a year’s supply of energy drinks — hooray!).

To top it all off, real sportscasters will provide live commentary during your match, which will be streamed on the Internet and watchable on Xbox 360s! (According to GameSpot, Live Broadcast appears to be an Xbox 360-exclusive feature.) It sounds pretty surreal, doesn’t it? Check it out in EA Sports MMA, due out on October 19th for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

In an announcement that surprised virtually no one, earlier today Activision Blizzard told a group of analysts that Modern Warfare 2 recently broke 20 million copies sold.

To put that in perspective, that’s about 4 copies for every person in Scotland, two copies for every person in Los Angeles, or a copy for almost every single person on the continent of Australia. The craziest part of all this is that, taking into account all the money Activision Blizzard made off Call of Duty, the Wall Street Journal reports that World of Warcraft still makes up 70% of Activision Blizzard’s operating profit.

Whatever they made from Call of Duty was just a drop in their (enormous) money bucket, which pretty much blows my mind. Activision Blizzard could theoretically — not that they ever will, or should — stop production on all console games, and STILL make more money than most game companies could even dream of.

Crazy, right? Maybe that will change though — getting back on topic, it was also announced that preorders for Call of Duty: Black Ops, set for release on November 9th, are already on track to surpass the preorder numbers for Modern Warfare 2. Are you one of the 20 million people who bought Modern Warfare 2?

[via GameSpot]

NHL 09 and NHL 10 are two of my most favorite sports games in recent memory, and this debut trailer for NHL 11 has set my mind ablaze with anticipation. (Or maybe my brain feels like it’s on fire because I’ve been writing up E3 posts for twelve straight hours now. Who knows.)

Either way, what I do know for sure is that the trailer above looks awesome — it introduces a host of gameplay innovations and improvements, so if you skipped out on NHL 10 because you thought it was an incremental update, then you might want to check out this trailer. We already knew about the real-time physics system, which is going to allow for player interactions like this for the first time. But other new features include a never-before-seen face-off system, broken sticks (which become physics objects) — and in conjunction, sans-stick play such as passing your stick to another player — and quick dekes.

I can’t wait to check out the full game when it launches on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this fall. Hit up the gallery for seven screenshots that show off the newly announced features.

So, Kinect. Kind of a big deal. Or not. Who knows yet as we haven’t gotten our bodies on it proper. We’ll soon get to play with it, but until then, there’s been a ton of stuff that has been revealed so far.

Kinect will be out this November 4 and the price is being rumored to be around $149. That price comes from GameStop’s website, but Microsoft denies the price point. As for the games, well, it all looks like casual filler crap. Some of it does look good, don’t get me wrong, but they’re just not my type of games.

What do you all think? Will Kinect be worth it? Are you planning on getting it? Check out all of our coverage on all things Kinect.

The hardware:
E3 10: Kinect releases worldwide November 4th, 2010!
E3 10: Kinect requires separate power adapter for old 360
E3 10: Retail Kinect pricing ‘purely speculative’
E3 10: GameStop lists Kinect at $149
E3 10: Microsoft press conference live stream/blog
E3 10: A closer look at the final retail Kinect unit
E3 10: Our Kinect reactions… THE VIDEO

The games:
Lose big (weight) with The Biggest Loser for Kinect
Mad Catz ready with Kinect accessories
E3 10: Mizuguchi plays Child of Eden for our enjoyment
E3 10: Sonic Free Riders announced for Kinect
E3 10: Hudson bringing Deca Sports to Kinect
E3 10: Trailer for spiritual sequel to Rez looks amazing
E3 10: Kinectimals is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen
E3 10: The future of Forza supports Kinect [Update]
E3 10: Dance Central lets you dance like a single lady
E3 10: Microsoft reveals ESPN integration with Xbox Live
E3 10: New Star Wars title coming to Kinect
E3 10: Kinect Adventures! looks tech demo-y, kind of rad
E3 10: Kinect Sports by Rare brings full-body waggling
E3 10: Ubisoft reveals Your Shape: Fitness Evolved
E3 10: Kinect Joy Ride brings kart racing to Kinect
ABC News plays with the Kinect
E3 10: Cute girl tickles tiger in Kinectimals
E3 10: Using Kinect to control Xbox 360 apps
E3 10: VideoKinect is Skype having sex with Wii Speak
E3 10: BBC say PlayStation Move more accurate than Kinect
Video of Microsoft’s Cirque Du Soleil crazy event
E3 10: Look! Here is another family playing Kinect!

In case you didn’t believe Josh when he said Kinect Sports was essentially the Xbox 360’s take on Wii Sports, here are screenshots — way more than you would probably ever want — to convince you otherwise. See? See? It’s, like, the same thing. Clearly.

Soccer, beach volleyball, bowling, table tennis, track and field, and boxing are what this game entails. I don’t know how to feel about Rare being the development team behind Kinect Sports, to be frank. In a way, I’m glad it’s them instead of some no-name company, but I also can’t help but feel it’s wasted talent.

Anyway, I’m more interested in seeing the general public’s response to games like this than I am playing them. I’ll take stuff like Child of Eden and go on my merry way, if that’s okay with the rest of you.

During Ubisoft’s E3 press conference yesterday, Martin Edmondson — the lead designer on the PS1 classic Driver – premiered the newest entry in the series, Driver: San Francisco. This game is set to take the series back to its roots: Tanner, the detective from the original Driver, is back. In the trailer above, you can see that he’s still got his thrill-seeking, living-life-on-the-edge attitude — and this time around, that might have some serious consequences.

For a whole lot more on the game, check out Nick’s first look from E3. The release date for Driver: San Francisco hasn’t yet been announced, but it will be available on PS3, 360, Wii, PC, and Mac.