Microsoft E3 press event set for June 6

Last week, Sony announced it would hold its Electronic Entertainment Expo press briefing on the afternoon of Monday, June 6--the day before the all-important trade show begins in earnest. Now, a second console maker has revealed it too will hold its E3 media gathering on the same day--albeit much earlier.

This morning, Microsoft announced its press briefing will be held at 9 a.m. PDT on June 6, making it the earliest press briefing yet announced. Sony's conference will be held at 5 p.m. on the same day, with Nintendo having not yet announced its press briefing time and date. Traditionally, the House of Mario has held its media event at 9 a.m. on the Tuesday of E3 week, most recently at the Nokia Center in the LA Live complex.

Other than the locale--the University of Southern California's Galen Center, site of its E3 2009 press event--Microsoft offered few details about its E3 2011 media briefing. Last year, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant used its event to reveal the launch date of Kinect, show off the motion-sensing system's launch lineup, and not only unveil the new slimline Xbox 360, but also reveal it was shipping immediately.

GameSpot will be on hand at Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo's E3 media briefings, as well as those held by major third-party publishers, such as Ubisoft and Electronic Arts. For more on last year's E3, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.