The gaming world converged on USC Galen Center, a sports arena buzzing with the quiet anticipation of half-asleep gamers.  As we settle in to our seats, the crowd looks like it’s mostly filled with game industry professionals.  A fairly select crowd, considering how numerous it is.

With the time counting down, we have a little breathing room where we can start to speculate on what Microsoft might have in store.  There shouldn’t be too many major announcements this morning.  I expect most of the presentation to be on Kinect and its impact on the global gaming market. Granted, I would love to see some Fable 4 announcement, but that might be a bit far off considering Lionhead is still cranking out DLC for the third game in the franchise.

There will most definitely be Gears of War 3 news, as well as Modern Warfare information in some form, probably pushing the 3D gaming angle.  The trouble with 3D tech is that it’s still prohibitively expensive, so chances are that most gamers wouldn’t be able to afford the equipment necessary to take advantage of it – and Xbox is all about the common gamer.  Therefore it’s more likely that we’ll see some cross-platform gaming news, perhaps integration with the 3DS.  It’s times like these that I wonder if there isn’t a Microsoft handheld in the works – I mean something serious, not like the Zune.  The minute they enter the handheld war things will get interesting, and it’s only a matter of time.

Well, the five minute countdown has begun.  Sit back, relax, and let the gaming news wash over you.  E3 2011 has officially begun.