We are just one week away from the start of Neowin"s live E3 2011 coverage, direct from Los Angeles. While there"s going to be a ton of gaming announcement that week, the preceeding week will have its share of special reveals as well. We will be posting up game news round ups at the end of the day until E3 starts. Get ready:
- Blizzard has revealed the first details for its first StarCraft II expansion pack, Heart of the Swarm (that"s a screenshot from the expansion above). The expansion pack"s official web site has info, trailers, screenshots and more.
- Nintendo has announced that its portable game console the DS Lite will get a price reduction on June 5 to just $99.99.
- The 2011 edition of PAX Prime, the huge game convention in Seattle, has officially sold out of tickets three months before the show is held on August 26-28.
- THQ has officially revealed Metro: Last Light, the sequel to 2009"s post apocalyptic shooter Metro 2033 from developer 4A Games. The game is due out in 2012 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
- Bungie apparently has an announcement planned for June 7, or "Bungie Day" but there"s no hints as to what it might be about.
- Xbox Live Gold members can download and play a free demo of Dungeon Siege III, the upcoming action-RPG from developer Obsidian Entertainment and publisher Square Enix. The PC version of the demo will be released on June 7.
- Atari has sold off its MMO game developer Cryptic Studios, makers of Champions Online and Star Trek Online, to China-based Perfect World Entertainment for $50 million.
- There are big hints that the long dormant shooter from Gearbox Software, Aliens Colonial Marines, will be reintroduced at E3 2011.