Binary Domain, Sega's upcoming third-person shooter set in Japan in 2080, relies heavily on voice commands to coordinate actions with your squad. While demoing the functionality on a PS3 dev kit with a headset, we asked if the Xbox 360 version would support Kinect for these voice commands. "We plan on supporting Kinect," Sega's Jun Yoshinoro confirmed with Joystiq.

You can look for our preview direct from E3 later. Binary Domain is currently slated to launch in "early 2012."

With Infamous's Cole McGrath now in Street Fighter X Tekken -- and representing neither of those series -- we commented to SF X Tekken producer Yoshinori Ono that the door was now open for pretty much anybody to appear in the game. "That's an interesting comment," Ono responded, "and if I tell you too much, we'll have no reason to meet later this year."

He didn't specify whether he meant additional outside characters in Street Fighter X Tekken or more crossover games. But he did suggest that more collaboration between Namco and Capcom was in the offing, beyond the two announced Street Fighter/Tekken crossovers. "We have these two giant companies, Capcom and Namco, working together. It would be kind of wasteful to limit it to just Street Fighter and just Tekken, and that's all I'll say."

This is just speculation, but we wouldn't be surprised to see some Soulcalibur V characters in SF X Tekken, at least. It would be effective cross-promotion. And X-promotion.

Telltale Games was staying fairly tight-lipped about its upcoming episodic release based on the Walking Dead TV series and graphic novel. What we do know is that the game won't retell the TV and comic's story of lawman Rick Grimes and his quest to reunite with his family in the wake of the zombie apocalypse.

The game will follow Lee Everett, a criminal loosed from his police escort after it runs into an erstwhile zombie. Everett will unite with a seven-year-old girl named Clementine who Telltale says will provide a sort of moral compass for the convict.

As Rick Grimes tries to make his way into Atlanta, Lee and Clementine are trying to make their way out, which means they'll cross paths with established series characters like Lilly and Glenn.

We know, we know, it's not a lot to go on. But as fans who weren't exactly thrilled at the prospect of watching Rick track down his wife and son yet again, Telltale's approach definitely seems like the right direction.

Imagine you're invited over to friend's place to watch Willy Wonka i.e. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You know Willy Wonka, you really enjoy it and you're totally ready to sing along to "Pure Imagination" (in your head) with Gene Wilder for the umpteenth time. But, when you show up, it's the Johnny Depp version. It's still great, but you don't really know it as well. That was my Battlefield 3 E3 preview experience.

Gorgeous. Battlefield 3 on PC with the Frostbite 2 engine is a stunner (as you can see here). How will it look on consoles? Good question, since DICE still isn't showing the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions. After playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on consoles for nearly a year straight, I was ready to compare and contrast BF3 to the latest installments in the series, but that will have to wait for another time.

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The half-hour long uninterrupted PixelJunk lifelike preview shown to E3 attendees was prefaced with virtually no introduction or explanation, save for Q-Games founder Dylan Cuthbert explaining to the crowd that the game which was about to be demonstrated is not a game, so that we logically shouldn't expect any gameplay.

He also added -- before handing the reins to PixelJunk Eden composer Baiyon -- that the studio's unique music generator/visualizer could only be understood by seeing it in action. However, if there was any elucidation to be gained by the bewildering, psychedelic 30 minutes which followed, it sailed far, far over my head.

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EA gave us a quick runthrough (sorry) here at E3 for their upcoming Need for Speed: The Run, a title being put together by Black Box Software up in Vancouver. The Run brings a number of new features to the series, including a deeper story than we've seen in most racing games, 325 kilometers of actual real world locations from San Francisco to New York City rendered with the hyped-up Frostbite 2 engine, and of course the much-publicized out-of-car sequences, featuring protagonist Jack running along to a series of button-press quicktime events.

So on paper, Need for Speed: The Run seems like a thrill ride, and that's what Black Box is definitely going for, with "racing" sequences that send Jack riding through the streets of Chicago while being chased by the mob, the cops, and even an attack helicopter. The problem? This is purportedly a racing game. Autolog is right here on display front and center, and if the whole point of the game is to set a great time on the leaderboards (certainly something any Need for Speed game should aspire to), then all of the explosions and over-the-top action end up distracting more than anything else.

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First and foremost, if you haven't played Far Cry 2, you're a monster. Let's just get that out of the way up front. I note as much because it's with my deep-seated love of Far Cry 2 that I approached today's hands-off presentation of Far Cry 3 ... and came away kinda worried.

To be clear, the game is early. As in, "It's coming out some time next year" and that's all we know. Additionally, the demo shown off was actually just what was demoed during Ubisoft's press conference yesterday, albeit steered by Ubisoft game designer Andrea Zanini. So, given that, I haven't seen all that much more than what you saw yesterday. What troubled me, however, was the conversation I had with narrative lead Jason VandenBerghe post demo.

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Though still presented under a working title, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge is one of the first third-party games to be announced for Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console. Fumihiko Yasuda, lead on Ninja Gaiden 3, told Joystiq that Razor's Edge would be based on next year's Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, but would offer some changes beyond the addition of a subtitle.

"Ninja Gaiden 3 for PS3 and 360 is the base of the Wii U version," Yasuda said during an E3 meeting. "Of course, we understood that we would need to implement a particular gameplay experience with Wii U, so we are studying what we can do with that console. We're thinking of different modes and different combat action -- something different."

While Team Ninja attempts to figure out the best, ultra-violent uses for Nintendo's controller-screen hybrid, it remains in the planning stages for a 3DS Ninja Gaiden game (announced at E3 2010). As it's so early in development, Yasuda could only suggest that it "may not be a sequel to Dragon Sword."

If you want the full EA press conference experience, put two strobe lights on either side of your monitor, make sure your computer is hooked into a ridiculous sound system and prepare to be bored away.

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After Japanese audiences have enjoyed an El Shaddai demo for quite some time now, North American games can finally get a taste of Namco's upcoming action title. The demo is available now via Xbox Live Marketplace for Gold Members.

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While our feelings were ... oh, let's be nice and say "mixed" on Nintendo's just-announced Wii U traders on the Tokyo Stock Exchange were pretty much clear about their distaste. Nintendo stock closed down five percent yesterday after the company's E3 keynote, settling at 16,970 yen ($212.44) -- a low the company hasn't seen since before the launch of the original Wii.

It's not good news for Big N, but we're talking about a company that's made its fortunes on seeing opportunities where others don't. And hey, look at it this way, Nintendo: History has proven we'll eventually drop our defenses, conquer our trepidation and buy one anyway. So you've got us.

It didn't make it onto Nintendo's stage presentation, or really any kind of announcement, but many of you have probably already solved the puzzle of whether Nintendo is localizing Professor Layton and the Last Specter for DS. Imagine us pointing our finger dramatically when we say ... it is!

Nintendo quietly released a trailer and screens for the localized fourth entry, the first of a new trilogy set before the three games that have already come out. The media does not include anything about the "London Life" RPG, a Brownie Brown-developed Layton RPG unlocked at the end of the Japanese release of this game. But let's be optimistic and assume Nintendo hasn't removed that great-looking bonus.

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Epic has been waiting to reveal Horde mode for Gears of War 3 for quite some time. I was able to go through two different sessions, ten waves a piece, each putting me Lancer-to-face with some of the Locust horde's toughest enemies. Make no mistake: some of the tougher nasties from Gears of War 2 make a return, but now COG soldiers have to take down Berserkers and immulsion-infected Lambent Locust, too.

But that's not the biggest change. Horde mode is now held up by a cash system. Players earn skrilla by killing enemies and surviving waves. Cash goes into everything: ammo, new guns (save for the ones picked up from dead enemies, of course), barriers, decoys, turrets and the Silverback, a bipedal mech sporting dual chainguns and some rocket launchers (it was shown during the Microsoft E3 2011 press conference). Cash can also resurrect players, and can be shared with all teammates via a handy chest.

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Animal Crossing is one of those Nintendo series, like Pokemon, that progresses glacially. If anything is a little different from a previous game, it's a big deal -- and, frankly, puts us on edge a little. Just because we're really used to spending a lot of time in there.

For the new 3DS edition, Nintendo went in and taught the lil' avatars to swim. You can now go into the water! And even more earth-shattering(ly adorable), you can hang out on a bench with your animal neighbors. Check out what's new in town with our gallery, and with the video after the break. Ah, don't ever change (too much at once), Animal Crossing.

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If you ain't plannin' on dying together, you'd best get learnin' to fight together. We got our first bite of Dead Island's co-op at E3, which adds a lot more dimension to the overall game than the single-player experience we had before.

Getting the zombified elephant out of the room first, though, publisher Deep Silver says the game's animations and combat feel aren't yet finalized yet. A good thing, since many of the melee weapons still aren't satisfying. For a game that has three of its four core characters focused on beating the infected stuffing out of the undead, the melee looks like chaotic slashing and feels incongruent with the effort put into the rest of the game.

That's not to say all the melee weapons feel awkward, which makes the whole situation even more bizarre to explain. The baseball bats actually seem to have a heft to them, so when you're attacking a zombie there's a reaction. You'd expect the same kind of look from a heavy metal rod, but it just doesn't seem to jive. Whether it's the animations, zombie reactions or something I'm just not pinpointing, the melee combat still needs work. I didn't have an opportunity to try out a gun, but Dead Island if very focused on melee combat being core to the overall experience.

As for the co-op of Dead Island, now that's something worth possibly getting stuck on an island of the undead for.

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The Entertainment Software Association's annual (dry name alert!) "Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry" [PDF link] is available now for public perusal. The latest report shows a slight increase in the average age of game players, inching closer to a midlife crisis age of 37 from last year's age of 34. There was also a two percent increase in the female demographic, which now accounts for 42 percent of players.

The report also mentioned that purchases of digitally distributed titles now account for 24 percent of the market, generating $5.9 billion in revenue. Consumers spent $25.1 billion on game content, hardware and accessories in 2010.

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Of all the surprises Nintendo tossed out during E3, none was as random as Fortune Street. And it's weird whether you know the history or not; if you don't pay attention to old imports, it's just a Mario/Dragon Quest board game for Wii, which is unquestionably bizarre. But for those of us in the know about relatively obscure crossover games, Fortune Street is the left-field localization of a series that has been a fixture in Japan since 1991: Itadaki Street.

Itadaki Street, created by Dragon Quest's Yuji Horii, is a video board game series about buying shops on spaces on the board, charging other players for occupying those shops Monopoly-style, and increasing your wealth by clever placement of yourself and your holdings (passing by the "bank" increases the value of stuff you own, as does owning contiguous blocks) and through manipulation of a "stock market."

I didn't happen to see the stock market in my quick demo, but I did buy a clothing shop and other assorted businesses on the board ... as a slime, which is pretty wonderful to think about. The corners of the Bowser-themed board had playing card suits (spade, club, etc.) which would deliver a cash bonus if all four were collected and then the Bank was crossed. I didn't hit that milestone, but I did land on one of those suits, which gave me a chance to draw a card for a random effect like more pay for my businesses, or (what I got) the opportunity to buy any one space on the board.

Some previous Itadaki Streets have featured crossovers between Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest; the 2007 DS iteration was the first to mix Mario and the RPG mainstay. This first-ever North American release will be out on Wii this holiday season. Check out a trailer after the break.

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Razer has announced that it will be producing four peripherals tailored for Star Wars: The Old Republic. The peripherals come packing the (ahem) sharp design that Razer is known for, along with a few slick technical features. The neatest of the bunch is the keyboard, which features a multi-touch LCD panel with a set of adaptive keys similar to those seen on the Razer Switchblade device. The backlit keys can even be converted to the Star Wars language of Aurebesh, which is neat, if not exactly useful.

The SWTOR Gaming Mouse features seventeen programmable buttons, twelve of which rest directly under the thumb. A 5.1 surround sound headset is also in the works. Finally, there's the mouse pad, which features "performance-grade" surfaces and a "non-slip, anti-reflective, abrasion-resistant hard coating." Presumably, you can drag a mouse on it real good. All can be customized to show either the Sith or Republic faction insignia as well.

The mouse and headset will run for $130, while the keyboard will command a hefty $200 price. If you just need something Old Republic, the mouse pad is the cheapest option at $50 but, then again, it's a mouse pad. All the peripherals will be available when The Old Republic launches, which remains as much of a mystery to Razer as it does to everyone else.

Check out pics of the hardware in the gallery below and a trailer after the break.

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