Sony seemed to really spill the beans at their press conference today. The 16-person multiplayer mode of the PSP is pretty exciting; racing games where everyone is a driver, football games where each key position is controlled by a person, and games of deathmatch with everyone crammed into one room. It'd be like a portable LAN party. In any case, it clearly looks like next year's E3 will be the mother of all E3s. Each of the industry's players will be showing off their new hardware for the first time and the battle between the DS and PSP will officially begin. If there's ever a year to go, it'll be 2005.

	PlayStation 3 to be Unveiled at E3 2005 The console war heats up with today's announcement by Sony that they'll pull back the curtains on their PlayStation 3 console at next year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). "'There has been some talk that development is not going well, but we expect to have a playable version at E3. We are pushing ahead with that schedule in mind,' Kutaragi told a meeting of developers, suppliers and media."
	Sony Talks PSP Sony Computer Entertainment revealed new information regarding their new portable system in a press conference today. A few of the technological revelations were that the PSP will support up to 16 players via wireless networking and there will be no need for a hub or any kind of gateway/link accessory. SCE also showed off a program called Talkman, which can interpret nine different languages as well as output voice. Finally, the PSP will connect to the PS2 via USB. On top of those announcements, SCE announced that they have confirmed working relationships with 59 third-party publishers. Along with that, they named a few new titles in the works, such as portable versions of Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven series and the popular Japanese baseball game, Powerful Pro Yakyuu. Also in the pipeline are iterations of Harvest Moon and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
	July 20th for ESPN NFL 2K5 The gaming football season starts early this year with the July 20th release of ESPN NFL 2K5. ESPN Videogames confirmed the date and that the title has gone gold. The $19.99 price tag was reconfirmed and they added, "But don't let the price fool you - ESPN NFL 2K5 will deliver the most responsive and intense football gameplay yet. Revolutionary game features, rich multi-player competition, seamless visuals, and true-ESPN presentation features create the ultimate virtual football experience in ESPN NFL 2K5."
	No More Classic NES Titles In the latest issue of Famitsu Weekly Magazine, a popular Japanese gaming magazine, it is revealed that the release of new Famicom Mini series titles, known stateside as the Classic NES series, will stop after Volume 3 ships. No reason for the decision was given. Volume 3 ships in Japan in early August and the US has yet to hear of plans for Volume 2.
	Madden to launch with the Nintendo DS? In a developer interview conducted by GameSpot, EA Tiburon developer Jeremy Strauser revealed that gamers should look forward to a Nintendo DS version of Madden NFL 2005 later this year. While absolutely nothing else was mentioned about the DS version, it appears this is first confirmation of such a project. Since the Nintendo DS is slated for a late release this year, Madden being a launch title isn't that far-fetched an idea and could greatly help sell the system.
	Sony Showcases 2004 PlayStation Awards An annual event for Sony, the company revealed their 2004 PlayStation Awards, giving eleven titles gold and platinum awards. The distinguished winners of the Platinum Award, which are titles that sell between one and two million units, were Dynasty Warriors, Winning Eleven Soccer 7, Dragon Quest 4, and Minna no Golf 4. Of the notable Gold Award winners, those selling between 500,000 and one million units, were Winner Eleven Soccer 7 International, Onimusha 3, and Grand Turismo 4: Prologue.
	Advance Guardian Heroes US-bound Ubisoft revealed today that the sequel to the 1996 Saturn title Guardian Heroes, Advance Guardian Heroes, will indeed come to the United States later this year. Currently slated for a September release, the sequel will include "...three new characters imbued with elemental powers, and it continues the story from the original game." The game supports versus and co-op multiplayer and will retail for $29.99.
	Star Ocean/Baten Kaitos/Ninja Gaiden Content Dated Two big-name RPGs received release dates today. First, Square-Enix revealed that Star Ocean: Till The End of Time will be leaving port August 31, hopefully in stores on September 1st. At the same time, Namco Hometek revealed that Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings on the Lost Ocean will available sometime in November. Finally, IGN reports that the downloadable content for Ninja Gaiden, which is now currently called Hurricane Pack: Volume 1, will be available on Xbox Live on August 2nd.
	Misc. Q&As/Interviews Eurogamer has a world exclusive interview with Dan Houser, creative VP on Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. GameSpot has a video interview with developer Jeremy Strauser, among others, about their work on Madden NFL 2005. GameZone speaks with Time Hess, producer of the Xbox fighter Iron Phoenix.
	Misc. Media/Previews
	1up has hands-on impressions of the radical Final Fantasy XII. Game Informer does it all in their preview of Ghosthunter.
	IGN takes a first look at the newly announced Scaler and previews Ultra Bust-A-Move . GameSpot starts with a preview of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow and follows it up with screenshots of Fable.
	1up locks and loads with this preview of Battlefield: Modern Combat (PS2, Xbox). GameSpy tees off with their looks at Tiger Woods 2005 (PS2, Xbox, GCN) and NHL 2005 (PS2, Xbox, GCN). GameSpot slashes up screens for Samurai Warriors (PS2, Xbox). TeamXbox has a hands-on look at Terminator 3: The Redemption (PS2, Xbox, GCN).