Courtesy of Microsoft

There’s been a great disturbance in the Force blogosphere. It’s as though millions of video-game journalists suddenly cried out in orgiastic joy and were suddenly shushed by impatient PR stormtroopers.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the above passage was uttered by Obi Wan Kenobi in the original “Star Wars” film, as it’s nearly verbatim from George Lucas’ first draft. It’s also an apt description of what happened last week in Los Angeles, which hosted the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo, an event perhaps best described as Nerd Mecca.

E3 – as it’s better known – is a cacophonous explosion of hardware reveals, game unveilings and journalistic feeding-frenzies, the latter of which gradually lose momentum until, by the final day of the expo, participants are half-sloshed and stagger from booth to booth, pausing every few meters to vomit.

It’s a lot like our company’s annual picnic in that way.

But enough blather. As always, the biggest ruckus was made by Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony – makers respectively of the Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 gaming platforms – which held pre-event press conferences to flog their latest wares.

Microsoft went first and also generated the biggest headlines with its Kinect (formerly Project Natal) peripheral for the Xbox 360. Kinect is simply (if underwhelmingly) described as a hands-free control system for games. In essence, it gets you to stand in front of your TV jumping and spazzing about like a complete loon. Expect to hate any neighbors who buy it.

One of the titles Microsoft has lined up for Kinect is called “Kinectimals.” This is a game which “invites children, their parents and animal lovers of all ages to build lasting friendships with some of the world’s most exotic creatures,” like tigers. A curious choice, that.

Techeye once had a cousin who built a friendship with a tiger, you see. Had.

On the upside, there will be a “Star Wars” game allowing players to engage in “real” lightsaber duels. By strange coincidence, most of the men who play this game will never know the mystery that is woman.

Microsoft also showed off a slim version of the Xbox 360 and a few big-brand games, but Kinect – which hits shelves in the US on November 4 – was its big offering.

Nintendo, meanwhile, officially unveiled its 3DS, a 3D version of its DualScreen handheld requiring no special glasses. This too is headed for shops in Q4.

Otherwise, Nintendo’s E3 presence was mainly about new games from some of its best-known brands, such as “Donkey Kong Country,” “Kid Icarus,” “Zelda,” “GoldenEye” and “Mario Kart.”

For its part, Sony talked up 3D capability for its PS3 console, touted Move (its answer to Nintendo’s motion-sensitive Wii Remote controller) and rather ungraciously pointed out that, after almost four years on the market, its competitors still have nothing like its Blu-ray player. New titles for the “Gran Turismo,” “Twisted Metal” and “Portal” series were also announced.

There was supposed to be a lot of other news coming out of E3 last week, but after hearing of the lightsaber game most of the journos spent their time fighting with broomsticks. Nerds will be nerds, after all.

Ever built a friendship with an exotic creature? Let us know: techeye@wbj.pl