This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles was defined by its hardware rollouts—Nintendo's E3-stealing next-gen handheld 3DS, Sony's 3D-capable PS3 and motion-sensing peripheral Move, and Microsoft's "look ma, no controller!" full-body motion-sensor Kinect.

But hardware ain't nothing without the right software, so let's take a look at the games announced at this month's E3.

Child of Eden
Xbox, PS3
Back in the early 2000s, Japanese rhythm-game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi created the PS2 cult classic Rez, a pulsing third-person shooter that somehow created trance music as you shot along (and was later re-released as Rez HD). It was an experiment in synesthesia, he claimed, but others felt it was created to help ravers come down off their trips in the morning. Either way, it has now spawned a spiritual sequel in Child of Eden -- except this music shooter will be even more immersive as it's first-person and will make use of the Xbox Kinect (with Sony Move support likely to be added later).  

 

 

Portal 2
Multiplatform
When Valve and EA released a game compilation dubbed The Orange Box a few years back, a small game -- little more than a demo, really -- named Portal stole gamers' hearts with its imaginative gameplay and sardonic sense of humour. Now the innovative first-person puzzler is back in a title of its own, with more space-time portals to play with and multiplayer to keep you gaming long after you're done defeating that damned GLaDOS. Also, we assume, more cake jokes.

 

 

Halo Reach
Xbox 360
Just when Bungie thought they were out, Microsoft keeps pulling them back in. But for reals, Reach is the beloved studio's last kick at Master Chief's can and this prequel, set just before the original Halo: Combat Evolved with war first breaking out with the Covenant, has earned enough pre-release buzz (especially after the lukewarm reception to Halo: ODST) that it looks like Bungie will be heading out on a high-note.

 

 

Kirby's Epic Yarn
Wii
This return of Nintendophile favourite Kirby to consoles is the pink blob's first such game since Nintendo 64. But while it is an old-school sidescroller in the neo vein of New Super Mario Bros Wii, this gorgeously stylized game takes a page out of LittleBigPlanet's textile aesthetic with the art style imagining if videogames were made out of cloth, felt and, yes, yarn. Talk about truth in advertising.

 

 

Scott Pilgrim
Multiplatform
With the movie adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's Toronto-based, indie rock and gaming-inspired comic book hitting theatres this summer, it only makes sense that it would be adapted into a game, as well. It was also inevitable that it would be a downloadable, old-school arcade game, a side-scrolling brawler a la Double Dragon in which you must beat up your lady Ramona Flower's seven evil ex-boyfriends (though you can play as her, too). What other game allows you to wage battle against Demon Hipster Girls?

 

 

Epic Mickey
Wii
Disney may rule cable TV and movie theatres, but their best-loved game franchise is Kingdom Hearts, a mash-up with Final Fantasy, was actually made by Japanese giant Square-Enix. So perhaps seeking an injection of critical cred, the Mouse House hired cult gaming guru Warren Spector (System Shock, Deus Ex) to craft a steampunk Mickey role-playing game for the Wii that takes its inspiration from throughout Disney history, including a 2D black & white level based on the Steamboat Willy short.

 

 

InFamous was somewhat overshadowed by the unexpected awesomeness of Batman: Arkham Asylum, but Sucker Punch's original superhero effort was a thrilling comic book-inspired open-world action game. The word out of E3 is that the in-the-works sequel is looking like the same sort of great leap forward as Uncharted 2. With electrically-enhanced hero Cole MacGrath moved from Empire City to a new, New Orleans-based gothic metropolis -- and at full super strength now that the origin story is out of the way -- InFamous 2 looks set to be shockingly good.