Dead Rising 3's optional use of the Xbox One's mandatory Kinect gifts its zombies with a level of situational awareness you may not want them to have, truth be told. "They can hear," a Capcom representative told us during a demonstration at E3. "If you want to call a zombie or distract [a zombie], you just yell at your Kinect and they'll respond to you."

Sounds useful in a stealth situation, but what if you're not as good at staying quiet as you'd like, or your roommate comes home at a tense moment, taking the frustration of his lousy day out on your front door? Are the zombies listening that closely?

"That's part of the joke," executive producer Josh Bridge said. We asked whether the zombies would respond to specific words or just sounds in general, and while exact details regarding the mechanic won't be revealed until further into production, "for the most part, zombies don't understand English." Bridge added that the microphone sensitivity will be tuned to a "threshold that makes sense," so that attracting zombies will, by and large, feel like an intentional decision. Of course, the functionality can be disabled entirely.

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Microsoft kicked off yesterday's firestorm of E3 announcements with a press briefing focused on its plans for the Xbox One, launching in November at $499.

Minutes before Microsoft's conference began, Rare's Danny Isaac revealed Kinect Sports Rivals, an Xbox One launch title that uses the console's improved Kinect sensor for a new collection of minigames. Microsoft began its briefing with a look at Konami's Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. Despite initial speculation as to whether it was a platform exclusive, it was later confirmed that The Phantom Pain is still planned for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4.

Microsoft then dedicated a few minutes to the Xbox 360 before moving on to the Xbox One. A new Xbox 360 hardware model was announced, along with news that Xbox Live Gold members would receive two free games per month up until the release of the Xbox One. Gold members can now grab Fable III free of charge, and Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed II will be available for free starting July 1.

The company additionally revealed that a free-to-play Xbox 360 version of World of Tanks is in the works. The console's Summer of Arcade lineup was later detailed, and is set to launch in August.

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Outside of its E3 press briefing, Microsoft had two McLaren MP4-12C cars emblazoned with Forza Motorsport 5 logos. We've been made to understand that these are very impressive cars. We went to Jordan Mallory, Joystiq's resident car lover, for some expert commentary.

When shown the photograph above, a single tear rolled down Mr. Mallory's cheek, at which point he looked away from the screen, staring wistfully into the distance. He has not spoken since.

Update: These are MP4 12Cs, not P1s.

Crimson Dragon, originally designed as a showpiece for Kinect, is now controlled primarily with a controller. The once Xbox 360 and now Xbox One exclusive abandoned full Kinect control after feedback was received from "passionate fans" – possibly from an accidentally released demo – Microsoft Studios lead producer Yutaka Noma tells Joystiq. The game will still feature Kinect support alongside the traditional control, though it will be used for "intuitive" gestures.

The game is being developed by Yukio Futatsugi and Grounding Inc, and it shares a great deal visually and mechanically with Panzer Dragoon, Futatsugi's most well-known series. Now that it's primarily controlled with a standard controller, it shares considerably more. We'll have a preview later this week.

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Update: We're going live in just a minute, internet allowing. Click here for the liveblog.

Today's glitzy gauntlet of E3 media briefings kicks off with Microsoft at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. The event starts at 12PM EDT (9AM PDT, 5PM GMT) and should wrap up within 24 hours, which is roughly how long Microsoft employees can exist outside of Redmond before turning to stone.

Once the event starts, we'll switch this post over to liveblog mode and share descriptions and commentary on the event, which Microsoft says will be focused on games, games and games.

You'll be able to stream to Twitch directly from your Xbox One, Microsoft just revealed. Demonstrating the Kinect integration for the service, a Killer Instinct match was instantly streamed with a quick voice command.

"The integration of Twitch into Xbox One will enable Xbox Live Gold members to broadcast games directly to their Twitch channels, as well as view content from other streamers on the Twitch platform," the service revealed in a press release (embedded after the break).

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Microsoft has announced that Crimson Dragon, a planned XBLA Kinect title from Yukio Futatsugi, the creator of Panzer Dragoon, will release as an exclusive on Xbox One.

The company showed a quick video of the game during today's press conference, and it looks very similar to the original build, with dragon-riding, Kinect-controlled shooter gameplay. Stay tuned for more, including a release date, when we hear it.

During a Spike interview about Kinect Sports: Rivals, Rare let slip news of a November release window for the Xbox One console. While this is an obvious window for a new console, Microsoft only officially said "later this year" in its reveal event last month. Retailers have said "holiday 2013."

Microsoft will reveal more details about the Xbox One console at its E3 2013 press conference, which will start momentarily. Follow along as Microsoft reveals news on purpose in our liveblog.

Update: The live pre-show is over, but stick around for our liveblog of the Microsoft conference and another live, post-show video wrapup with Ludwig Kietzmann and Ben Gilbert.

Original story: Joystiq Editor-in-Chief Ludwig Kietzmann and Engadget Senior Associate Editor Ben Gilbert are live outside of Microsoft's E3 press conference, and they're ready to hear all about the Xbox One and its lineup of next-gen games.

In the week leading up to the conference, Microsoft announced more details about the Xbox One: To play games, it will require an internet connection at least once a day; it supports a one-time-use system for pre-owned games; and the Kinect won't monitor any background noise, Microsoft said. This conference is supposed to focus on games, games and more games, and we'll have a liveblog documenting every moment of the show.

Watch the live, pre-show video below (it auto-plays):

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The second great leak of E3 2013 and it's a megat... minorto... okay, so we all figured it was probably going to happen. Just Dance 2014, which will apparently now see the franchise numbered by year, has been revealed on the Xbox Marketplace.

"This new opus will be even more social as you will be able to connect and dance with players from all over the world and share a unique dancing experience with them," reads the marketplace description. The only song we can pretty clearly guess is included in the game is the theme to the movie Ghostbusters (pictured).

We're sure to hear more about this multi-million sellling franchise during tomorrow's, er, today's Ubisoft E3 press conference.

E3 kicks off tomorrow, June 10, with four press conferences. Four! We'll be at all of them and we hope you join us for all the gasps, heartbreak, triumph and screaming. Here are the start times and feel free to bookmark these links:

• Microsoft at 12PM Eastern (9AM Pacific, 5PM UK)
• EA 4PM Eastern (1PM Pacific, 9PM UK)
• Ubisoft 6PM Eastern (3PM Pacific, 11PM UK)
• Sony 9PM Eastern (6PM Pacific, 2AM (June 11) UK)

It's going to be a full day, so drink your Ovaltine. Don't be surprised if the decoder message is that you'll never rent a game again.

Microsoft's Twisted Pixel studio (The Maw, 'Splosion Man) announced today that its upcoming LocoCycle will be an Xbox One launch title. An Xbox 360 version of the game is also under development, with a "not yet determined" release window.

The game will be playable at E3, but here's a preview of the game from late last year.

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Doodle Jump for Kinect on Xbox Live Arcade will launch for 400 MS Points ($5) this summer.

Smoking Gun Interactive will adapt Lima Sky's popular vertical platformer to Kinect, adding "three brand-new worlds, treacherous bosses, challenging achievements, engaging power-ups and intuitive gesture controls." Those gestures include lateral full-body movement and "a flap of the arms" to control flying, just as you would in real life.

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Harmonix is teaming up with Disney to develop Fantasia: Music Evolved, a new motion-driven audio game for Kinect on both Xbox One and Xbox 360. It's not an overt adaptation of the 1940s feature film, but a contemporary, interactive take on Fantasia's evocative melding of music and visual artistry. Nix "Night on Bald Mountain" for Bruno Mars and you're halfway there.

You complete songs in Fantasia: Music Evolved by responding in rhythm to on-screen symbols and willing your feeble sausage arms into various pushes and directional swipes. You can also augment the music and its accompanying input pattern at several points by seamlessly swiping into one of two different possible remixes. In a demo shown to press, I was able to switch to an oddly formal but pleasant orchestral rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Harmonix has also included a strong freestyle component in Fantasia, reflected in abstract but intuitive symbols that allow further augmentation of the current track. Drawing shapes on a sphere with your hand, in one example, can create new instrumentation and layer that on top of the active track.

Once a song is completed, it spills into the level hub and gradually enriches the environment. One such hub, "The Shoal," is an aquatic playground for fish that becomes more dynamic as you complete songs and prod the scenery back to life and sound. The musical progression, so perceivably tied to the gorgeous environments, does conjure memories of Fantasia, even though the two share no characters – save for a certain wizard.

Fantasia: Music Evolved is currently set to debut in 2014. In the meantime, you can enjoy the game's first trailer (above), in which a bunch of gyrating Bieber-mages duel to the max. The track list as announced thus far is right after the break.

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Lionhead Studios has launched a brand new set of Fable-related forums, now available on the developer's website for users to discuss and dissect the popular series of role-playing games. Lionhead's also giving away virtual founders' medals to anyone who signs up in the forums' first two weeks of existence, and you can log right in using your Xbox Live ID.

The last game in the series, Fable: The Journey, arrived back in October of 2012, which raises the question of why the Microsoft-owned developer would announce brand new forums for an IP that's all but fallen off of the radar. Don't forget, though, that E3 is next week, and Microsoft has $1 billion worth of games coming to the Xbox One. The fates may dictate a return to Albion very soon.

Update: That didn't take long. Lionhead is teasing a Fable HD remake.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is planning major changes within company management, AllThingsD reports. The changes would focus on making Microsoft a "devices and services" company, a focus Ballmer outlined in his shareholder letter in October.

"This is a significant shift, both in what we do and how we see ourselves - as a devices and services company," Ballmer wrote. "It impacts how we run the company, how we develop new experiences, and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses."

This restructuring could impact Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment (Xbox) division, giving President Don Mattrick a larger role, the report says. Other top executives may see expanded responsibilities, including Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft's Servers and Tools division, and Tony Bates, president of the Skype communications division.

Last week, Nomura Equity Research analyst Rich Sherlund suggested Microsoft sell off its Xbox and Bing divisions, noting that shareholders may demand more influence in the company as they seek larger returns on their investments.

Sony, Microsoft's major console competitor, is currently considering an IPO of its entertainment division, following a proposition from Third Point LLC's Daniel Loeb.

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Microsoft is investing $1 billion into games on the Xbox One, financing not only new studios but also securing exclusives for Microsoft's next-generation console. This is an unprecedented investment for Microsoft, much more than its most expensive game yet, Halo 4.

Xbox One is planned to have 15 exclusives from Microsoft in its first year at retail, including eight new intellectual properties - the product of two years that has seen the formation of new studios in London, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia. Phil Harrison, former Sony exec, was brought on to oversee internal projects; Lionhead's new boss is John Needham, a guy with a heavy MMO background.

Microsoft Studios boss Phil Spencer told OXM Rare is returning to one of its older franchises (Killer Instinct, anyone?) and Black Tusk Studios is hard at work on Microsoft's next big franchise. Lift London is working on smaller cloud-based games, while Microsoft Studios Osaka has a project under way - something Don Mattrick says will illustrate how Microsoft is "committed" to Japan. Finally, Press Play and Twisted Pixel are in Microsoft's bullpen, working on "weird, unique" games for Xbox Live.

And that's not counting the continuing Call of Duty exclusivity deal and games Microsoft did talk about during its Xbox reveal event: Turn 10's Forza Motorsport 5; Remedy Entertainment's Quantum Break; and four games from EA Sports in UFC, Madden 25, FIFA 14 and NBA Live 14. Later, Crytek confirmed its Kinect-powered brawler Ryse is coming to Xbox One.

Xbox One is due later this year, with more to be shown at E3 between June 9 and June 11 in Los Angeles, California.

Zumba Fitness World Party will bring the generations together with sweaty support for current and upcoming platforms. The fitness franchise, which has sold over nine million copies, will launch its latest installment this October on Wii U, Wii and Kinect for Xbox 360. An Xbox One edition will launch after the new console comes out later this year.

If you or someone you care for is likely to pick up Zumba Fitness World Party (or could stand to), registering at zumbafitnessgame.com will net you a $10 coupon for the game at GameStop.

The bullet-point features for the latest game are over 40 new tracks, a new visual presentation with 14 celebrity Zumba instructors and 30 cultural dance styles. Our Zumba dance style regularly devolves into a crawling motion toward the nearest water spigot after any five-minute routine.

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