E3 2011 is just a few days away.

As Koholint transitions into BossKey, our approach to E3 will not change much. As secondary participants of the event, each one of us as members of this community has the same level of access to information coming out of E3. Depending on your dedication to games as a hobby, keeping an eye on this information can be a challenge, as there's so much to see and miss. Information provided by BossKey will be prompt and thorough, but focused, so that our audience can see the most interesting information first. Look forward to summaries of each press conference and followup articles regarding important announcements. Go here for a complete list of video coverage during the event, or go to the bottom of this article for a quick, time zone-friendly list of each press conference.

E3 2011 is shaping up to be a particularly heavy year. There are likely few surprises in store, but news is already oozing from the seams of its June 6-9 timeframe. Nintendo is showing Project Cafe, Sony is showing their next PSP (NGP or "Vita"), and Microsoft is showing... games. EA and Bioware have a lot of quality games to show off, as do many other companies. Unfortunately, Valve will not be in attendance at all, unless we've been lied to.

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From my perspective, the company with the most potential to impress at this year’s event is Nintendo. We’ve been hearing about their new ‘Project Cafe’ console for several weeks now. Should the rumors prove accurate, we’re looking at an HD system that at least outperforms 360 and PS3. Reports say the controller will have a 6-inch touch screen, a camera, and portable capabilities. Industry analyst Michael Pachter told Giant Bomb that console production will begin in October, allowing for a mid-2012 release window. We can expect to hear all about the console and its release in the days to follow.

Nintendo’s press conference can only surprise us so much, but the fanboy inside of me has to hope for the best. This console needs to be designed to appeal to developers as much as it appeals to consumers. One possible piece of evidence for this approach would be the presence of modern Internet services at least as advanced as Xbox Live. If Nintendo can demonstrate a respectable level of online support, any further appeals to the hardcore audience become icing on the cake. Or, they could bridge the gap between 3DS and console, bringing back reasons to own a dedicated portable gaming device in this smartphone-dominated world. Sony appears to be attempting that bridge with Kojima's transfarring. There are a lot of unknowns concerning the future for Nintendo. They can either come out swinging and impress the hell out of us, or bring us what we probably expect from this overly first party-focused company.

Other things to expect from Nintendo include more Skyward Sword details and the Wii’s swan song releases, new 3DS games including Mario and Kid Icarus, 3DS online service details and Cafe interactions, and something for Zelda’s 25th anniversary. I’m hoping whatever that latter item entails, it won’t cost too much. We can also look forward to their roundtable meetings, where in the past we’ve gotten some of the juiciest details about future games. Speaking of which, Pikmin would be an interesting launch title for this touchscreen-dependent Project Cafe...

Sony, in the wake of their PSN oblivion, has a lot of face to save in front of its investors. Their conference won't have the same cockiness of previous years, but it will remain confident. I would not be surprised to see them put most of their cards on the table in an attempt to draw in as much audience support as they can. "The next big thing," could be around the corner.

Expect a lot of NGP or “PS Vita” news from Sony - price point, release window, launch titles, services. That transfarring thing mentioned earlier by Kojima might have a lot to do with Sony’s approach to Vita. This system allows you to play a game on the PS3, sync it to your Vita, then continue playing on the go. That kind of capability could bring new life to the portable market, but too high a price point on the Vita could leave it in obscurity for technophiles to gloat over.

Apart from handheld news, we’ll likely get a lot of information on Sony’s exclusives, including Uncharted 3, Infamous 2, Resistance 3, Twisted Metal, Dark Souls, and god-willing, Last Guardian. It’s possible we’ll find a God of War 4 announcement there as well. HD collections for MGS, Zone of the Enders, Silent Hill, Ico, and SotC have already been revealed - we might hear more about that.

Microsoft does not appear to have a lot going on this year. Recently, they rolled out firmware updates to introduced a new disc format compatible with current 360s. This could be the forerunner to bigger news, or simply what it appears to be - giving 360 games more space. 360 owners can look forward to Gears of War 3 and probably some level of collaboration with publishers to show off cross-platform games. Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux could give us new grandiose visions of the future of games, or he could easily not appear at all. I suppose there’s a lot of room for surprise at Microsoft’s conference, since there’s really not much to expect. I bet Xbox Live will get some upgrades. Kinect probably has some new software coming, likely a Dance Central 2.

EA is launching a new game distribution service called Origin using “Star Wars: The Old Republic,” as its lead game. They'll probably talk about that for a bit, then we’ll hear about Battlefield 3 and Bioware games, among other things. Bioware’s path into the next few years is pretty much already laid out, so no surprises there. There should be footage for Mass Effect 3 and potentially some information on what's next for Dragon Age. Battlefield 3 has some branding and creative power that could poise it as the next big FPS. Former Infinity Ward heads now running the show at reSpawn could have something to show here as well.

Ubisoft will show us a lot of useless stuff and then Assassin’s Creed and maybe yet another Prince of Persia game. There is some slim chance they’ll show us Beyond Good and Evil 2. Slim. I apologize for the brevity of this, I'm still bitter from last year's conference.

Other games with news to find at this year’s E3 are numerous. If you haven't already made up your mind to play the game, Irrational’s Bioshock Infinite will have plenty of video coverage and maybe some release details. Square Enix will have more Final Fantasy stuff to talk about, plus a new MMO unrelated to FFXIV. Rockstar could bring us another intriguing new IP or, more likely, GTA5 if anything at all. Activision could show off Blizzard's Dota or Diablo 3. Then there's Deus Ex and Arkham City closing in on their release dates, ready to show off more content for potential buyers. Skyrim will be there, too.

A full game list and some general discussion towards E3 can be found in the forums. Keep an eye on the chat and front page as news starts trickling in - BossKey/Koholint be in full force for the next few weeks.

Press conference schedule:

Pacific - PDT (UTC-7)
Monday, June 6
*Microsoft - 9:30 AM
*EA - 12:30 PM
*Ubisoft - 2:20 PM
*Sony - 5:00 PM
Tuesday, June 7
*Nintendo - 9:00 AM

Eastern - EDT(UTC-4)
Monday
*Microsoft - 12:30 PM
*EA - 3:30 PM
*Ubisoft - 5:20 PM
*Sony - 8:00 PM
Tuesday
*Nintendo - 12:00 PM

Central Europe - CEST (UTC+2) - Subtract 1 hour for Ireland and UK.
Monday
*Microsoft - 6:30 PM
*EA - 9:30 PM
*Ubisoft - 11:20 PM
Tuesday
*Sony - 2:00 AM
*Nintendo - 6:00 PM

Japan - JST (UTC+9)
Tuesday
*Microsoft - 1:30 AM
*EA - 4:30 AM
*Ubisoft - 6:20 AM
*Sony - 9:00 AM
Wednesday
*Nintendo - 1:00 AM