Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is one of those things that's tough to explain in preview text, but easy to understand once you've seen it in action. It starts with a series of real-life plastic toy characters, 32 in all, molded in the style of Spyro the Dragon and his friends, old and new. These real-life toys can be placed on a drum-like device called a "portal," that then connects up to your gaming console (the Wii to start, though Activision promises more later on). Once you're all set up, the action is surprisingly easy: Place the toy on the portal, and instantly that character appears in your game, playable and ready to go. Switch toys, and your character switches, but retains all of the XP and loot it earns on the go.

"It's the easiest pitch in the world," says Paul Reiche, studio president of Toys for Bob, the developer behind Activision's new take on Spyro. "It's so emotional and primal. It's what you expect. You have a toy, it's in your imagination, it's alive, and the fact that it isn't is strange. So when you see it instantly come to life, it's a natural, pleasant experience."

He's right -- while the actual game behind Skylanders is clearly meant for younger players (we'll get to that in just a second), the technology is pretty amazing to children of all ages. Toys for Bob has made the transition between the real-world toys and the in-game characters almost seamless, and it makes this kids' game worth a look.

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Perhaps the PS Vita game with the highest profile after Sony's E3 press event is the working-titled Ruin, a hack-and-slash Torchlight-style RPG with some interesting social features. Developer Idol Minds (Pain) showed off the title during the event right after the PS Vita's official introduction, and as soon as the event ended, we ran to see just what the game would be like.

What we found was a pretty traditional, if simple, dungeon crawler. At least a prototype of a dungeon crawler -- Ruin's most interesting features, like the social elements that will let you both build and equip a dungeon of your own, as well as attack the dungeons of your rivals, are still all theoretical so far.

But the mechanics are there; as an Infernal Warrior (the only race/class combination on display, though Humans and Elves will also be playable as an Assassin or one of two other classes), I got to take down a small dungeon of enemies and collect the tasty (placeholder) loot that issued forth.

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There are 32 different toys-turned-characters in Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, and the videos posted after the break will introduce you to seven of them, from the hack-and-slash undead knight Chop Chop to the gemstone brawler Prism Break and the blue dragon caster Zap. Each character, as you'll see, is aligned with a certain element, and various parts of the game (along with the enemies therein) are made to match up with those elements, meaning players will probably have to mix and match with friends to get the most out of the game's stages.

Each character can of course be leveled up through 11 ranks (increasing the strength and function of your abilities as you go), and they can grab items and loot while playing along as well, all of which is saved in the actual toy as you play. And players can even pit their heroes against each other in head-to-head arena battles, proving that your Stump Smash can beat anyone's Ignitor. You can check out all of the various real-life toys in the gallery below as well.

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If you're looking for footage of PlayStation Vita games, we can't think of anything more handy than the post you're reading right now. That's because it contains absolutely every scrap of video we've managed to assemble related to Sony's fantastically impressive new handheld.

It's the kind of thing you'll want to bookmark and come back to whenever you need a little encouragement to wait out the months until the system's release. It's not going to be easy. Click past the break to commence the trailer-a-thon.

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You know that list of games we posted earlier today? They came from a Nintendo U promo reel, shown during Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference. We've got the video for you now, in full-on HD -- yeah, we feel just as awkward typing out "Nintendo" and "HD" in the same sentence as much as you must feel weird reading it. We all better get used to it!

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Many predictions were issued concerning the moniker of Nintendo's new home console -- we were personally pulling for Project Cafe, indicating the device would possess cappuccino capabilities -- but none managed to nail down the system's real name: The Wii U. Unfortunately not many other details were announced, as evidenced by our Bingo card above. Check out all the stories that came from the conference below, and sound off in the comments!

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Immediately after introducing the Wii U and its bizarro controller, Nintendo gave some press the opportunity to play a selection of demos with the device. With the limited time I had before running to tell you about what I played in my limited time, I chose "Shield Pose," a distinctly Rhythm Heaven-like minigame designed to show off the motion controls in the Wii U controller, which I'm going to coin the "WiiPad" right this second.

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While Nintendo was blowing minds this morning with the announcement of its new console, the Wii U, the company's Japanese press site was quietly releasing all the juicy specs of the upcoming machine that we hunger for. As mentioned during the presser, the console will output games in high definition, now revealed as ranging from 480i to 1080p. Moreover, the Wii U will output HD by employing HDMI.

As far as internal storage goes, it's still unclear whether or not the Wii U will come packed with an HDD, but the specs sheet does amorphously detail "internal flash storage," as well as an SD slot and the ability to use USB storage. Notably, the list points out that the USB storage will allow for external HDDs. And while the disc slot gives us the impression that Wii U games will be disc-based, Nintendo has yet to reveal its medium of choice.

Though Nintendo didn't do its traditional "Here are a bunch of logos of games we're making," it couldn't resist a little info dump at the end of the company's press conference. Shown on a screen as attendees exited were logos for [deep breath] The Rolling Western, Paper Mario, Super Fossil Fighters, Rhythm Heaven, Fortune Street, Kirby Mash Attack, Kirby Wii and Mario Party 9.

What systems are these games for? Who's making them? We have no idea. Have a nice day!

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition, originally spotted back in May, will officially launch in North America on July 12. Priced at $29.99, the bundle includes the core game along with Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles. It will be available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

The North America pack also includes Collector's Steelbook case with Daedric symbols, making of Oblivion DVD, game map and a $10 mail-in rebate offer on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and a Skyrim strategy guide.

You've seen the press conference, you've read all about the games in development for the Wii U, and now we've got our first hands-on with the Wii successor's enormous, crazy controller. We'll have a full writeup for you as the day goes on, but we figured you might wanna take a closer look at the pseudo-tablet right now.

ChAIR Entertainment's Infinity Blade for iOS is a conquering hero of sales, surpassing $10 million in sales during the first six months of release.

"Infinity Blade's success proves that triple-A gaming experiences can be hugely successful on iOS and that there is a valuable, pent up demand for premium content like this," said Mark Rein, vice president and co-founder of Epic Games.

ChAIR parent-company Epic also took the opportunity to note that the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3, has reached 800,000 unique installations.

Beyond the news today that Ubisoft is bringing Assassin's Creed to Nintendo's Wii U, the French publisher also announced a handful of other titles currently in development for next year's console. Among the list of established IPs -- Assassin's Creed, Rabbids, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online -- Ubisoft also announced a "revolutionary first-person shooter for the hardcore audience."

Moreover, the shooter is being developed "exclusively" for the Wii U. Perhaps you're not too into shooters? The company is also working on a "multi-sports game" with family applications. A ... awesome? Anyway, while none of the games will be playable at E3 this year, Ghost Recon Online will be shown off on the show floor, so we'll be sure to take a peek at our earliest convenience.

Nintendo just announced the Wii U on stage at its E3 press conference, and while the new controller is interesting, we're all wondering just how powerful this "HD" console is. Game Informer's seen the demos shown off on stage in person, and apparently it's about as nice as you'd imagine: Not quite as high quality as the other HD consoles, but definitely better than the standard Wii.

Nintendo doesn't have actual games to show yet, but there are a few interactive demos running. Chase Mii has Mario characters running around a maze and uses the Wii U controller's screen to track other players in the game. Battle Mii uses traditional Wii controllers as well as the Wii U controller, and GI says controls are a little tighter and quicker than the traditional Wii can handle (though the gyroscope in the new, presumably still a work in progress, controller is still a little awkward). Finally, Shield Pose has you moving the Wii controller around to try and block called shots coming in from a pirate ship, and is supposed to be fun in a sort of follow-the-leader way.

We'll look for all three demos on the show floor this week, so stay tuned for our own impressions on just what the Wii U can and can't do so far. There's not a lot of information available yet (the Wii U is due sometime in 2012, and there's no price listed at all), but already it looks like the Wii U will definitely shake up console gaming.

Update: The Guardian also got to play with the Wii U, and says the console will be HD via HDMI, and have internal Flash memory, along with SD and USB solutions for adding more. The system will be backwards-compatible with the Wii (which we heard at the press event), and play both discs and downloadable software.

Do you know what Nintendo's successor to the Wii will be called? No? Us neither. That's embarrassing too, because we're supposed to have the scoop on stuff like this.

But beginning at 9 a.m. PDT/12 p.m. EDT, we're finally going to know what Mario and Co. have planned for the year to come. Let's go!

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Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime has announced one of the first third party titles for the Wii U. Entitled LEGO City Stories, it includes an expansive city to explore. Few details were offered, though it looks a bit like a family-friendly version of Grand Theft Auto. The title will be exclusive to Wii U and 3DS.

Here it is, folks -- the Wii's successor, the Wii U. It kinda looks like a Wii and an Xbox 360 had an adorable baby. We'll have better shots of the Wii U as soon as we can, but for now, here you go!

Update: We've got a more official shot (though similarly small, unfortunately) after the break.

Update 2: A more official, significantly larger shot just came into our tips box. The Wii U: Still adorable.

Update 3: We've got a full gallery of official shots now, just below.

[Thanks Evan!]

With a new console, there needs to be games, right? And, uh, the Wii U has 'em. Nintendo's apparently winning over third-party developers, as several have pledged support with their titles. Here's a list of what was shown in a brief montage during the E3 2011 press conference:

• Darksiders 2
• Batman: Arkham City
• "Tekken"
• Assassin's Creed
• Lego City Stories
• Ghost Recon Online
• DiRT
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Metro: Last Light
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razer's Edge

EA CEO John Riccitiello also pledged support for the Wii U: a brief montage hinted at Battlefield and Army of Two for the new console.

Nintendo has announced that once Masahiro Sakurai is finished with Kid Icarus: Uprising that he'll be working on a new Smash Bros title. The game will be for Wii U and 3DS and work together "in some fashion." Details pending.