By James Herd

Contributor

The Electronic Entertainment Expo — or E3 as it’s more commonly known — created in 1995, has always been a location for video game companies, as well as technology innovators, to reveal groundbreaking achievements and long-awaited products to the masses. This year is no different.

Held June 5 – 7 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, thousands of innovators will attend the event, hoping to shock and amaze fans as they have done in the past.

Fans will see correspondents from IGN, Bethesda Softworks, Game Informer, Machinima, Konami and Sega among the exhibitors attending the event this year. The major question on the minds of the fans is this: What new releases will be announced?

Valve, a popular video game developer headed by Gabe Newell, has become famous for its first-person shooters such as “Half Life,” “Portal,” “Left 4 Dead” and “Team Fortress 2.” Valve has stated before that it realizes how much their constant delaying of “Half Life 2: Episode 3” or “Half Life 3” is annoying the loyal fans.

On Feb. 20, Newell told gaming website The Penny Arcade Report, “We’re acutely aware of how much we annoy our fans and it’s pretty frustrating to us when we put them into that situation.”

As a result, two new websites have emerged. One of them, Atramental-plateau.com, is a completely black website with the “Black Mesa” logo, and black colored font reading “E3 2012.” Another website, called black-aperture.com, named after the fictitious laboratory which serves as a mystery in both the “Half-Life” and “Portal” franchise, has been made as well to promote the upcoming developments.

Along with this mouth-watering breakthrough, four months ago popular image board 4chan got some users together to “write a complaint” to Gabe Newell about the delay. Each user gave one random or to-the-point word and, once complete, the letter made about as much sense as the “Mass Effect 3” ending.

“I don’t suppose it would ease your wrath if I told you we’re announcing all of your favorite things at E3 2012?” Newell said in response. “I can see how the wording caused some confusion there. Yes, we are announcing something with a three in it”.

Of course, this could mean many different products, but loyal Valve fans are hopeful for either “Half Life 3” or “Portal 3,” but since “Portal 2” released last year, it’s highly unlikely that a third will be released so soon.

Another rumor, which I think seems possibly true, suggests that Sony and Microsoft will take the time to unveil their next generation consoles during E3 2012. Sony’s Playstation 4, codenamed ‘Orbis’, and Microsoft’s ‘Xbox 720’ are giving fans a chance to imagine what could possibly make these systems any better than the current generation.

A popular rumor suggests that both of these gaming consoles will disable the use of used games, leaving players to play only new games and/or downloadable content or games.

Along with this troubling idea, some are claiming that there will be a removal of the disc drives, making the next generation comparable to the degenerating ‘PSPgo’, which did terribly in stores.

One confirmed unveiling is that of the WiiU, which was already unveiled in a limited sense at the E3 2011 show. It will be unveiled completely at this year’s show. Last year, the controllers, which developers have promised will be wireless, were still connected to the console, and the console itself was practically an empty shell, with only the software being left in the development kit. This will be Nintendo’s first console release since the Wii back in 2006, so many Nintendo fans are eagerly awaiting what lies in store.

E3 2012 has many revelations in store for fans of technology and video games alike, but that is usual for the show that has lasted the test of time. For those who cannot make the show in person, G4 (also known as G4:TechTV) will be featuring an in-depth coverage of the event, featuring news, previews, press conferences, trailers and much more when the event finally takes place.

Until then, we’re all just left to speculate on the rumors.