Introduction

Every year the games industry gathers around many a collective camp fire and tell stories of their past and future. E3 has long stood as the biggest and most exciting of these, garnering not only the best people and games but the most engaging fireside tales. These days, it stands as a revised and reconfigured happening - perhaps more of a jamboree than a centralised cook out.

But as the various marketing machines start to converge on LA, does this really matter to us Mum and Dad casual gamers? Well, yes and no. But much as the catwalk eventually hits the high street, these are undoubtedly the games we and our offspring will be playing in the coming months. So perhaps E3 matters most to Family Gamers as advance notice of the games the people we care about will be hoping to enjoy through the coming year [and no doubt be asking us for at Christmas - Ed]. And this year more than ever, E3 has been about targeting us casual gamers directly, with games, experiences and hardware tailored to get us playing games more.

Let's take a look at what the big three platform holders (Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony) had to say in their keynote peaches.