Sony's E3 press briefing slated for June 6

Traditionally, the Tuesday before the Electronic Entertainment Expo has seen the gaming press scramble from Nintendo's early-morning briefing to that of rival Sony, which has been held midmorning for the past several years. That won't happen in 2011, as today the company announced this year's E3 media conference will be held at 5 p.m. PDT on Monday, June 6.

Sony will also be changing up the venue as well. The company is forsaking the world-famous Shrine Auditorium, former home of the Academy Awards, in favor of the much larger Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena near USC. E3 itself is held at the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown LA.

What exactly Sony's E3 2011 press presentation will consist of remains a mystery. A virtual certainty is new details about its Next Generation Portable, the price and launch date for which have not yet been revealed. Because of the handheld's power and complexity, analysts have put its launch price as high as $350. Other analysts have predicted Sony may announce a further price cut for the PlayStation 3 this year--an announcement likely to be made at E3.

At last year's E3 press briefing (see below), Sony made a number of major announcements. It dated and revealed the pricing scheme for the PlayStation Move motion-sensing system, which came via $100 starter pack or $400 PS3 bundle. It also unveiled the new PS3-exclusive Twisted Metal game, which was just given an October 4 launch date. One of the biggest surprises came when Valve Software's Gabe Newell, long a vociferous PS3 detractor, took the stage to announce Portal 2 was coming to Sony's console.