E3: The net reacts to the PlayStation and Xbox events

The games themselves took centre stage at E3's press day this year.

Sony and Microsoft competed to claim they had the better exclusives, while the developer giants and indies unleashed a flood of computer-generated animations and live gameplay.

Nintendo will get its moment in the sun later this week - but for now it was all about titles for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Here's what a variety of experts made of the day, based on their posts to the net:

The Xbox press conference

Microsoft was the first of the major video games firms to host a press conference at E3

Cliff Bleszinski - ex-Epic Games design director

Microsoft focused on THE DAMNED GAMES. Good job!

Martin Gaston - Gamespot

When they said they were just going to show games they certainly weren't lying: 90 minutes of back-to-back announcements, no executive waffle, no awkward celebrity cameos, no mention of Kinect and only one mention about Xbox TV shows.

I feel sorry for anyone that was playing a Microsoft drinking game during that, because you'd basically still be sober now.

Mike Lowe - Pocket-lint

Microsoft is milking the franchise somewhat, with Halo: The Master Chief Collection - the first of the new releases, coming in November 2014 - essentially a re-mastered edition of the first four Halo games on one disc... The bigger deal will be the release of Halo 5: Guardians. But for that you'll have to wait.

Halo 2's multiplayer maps have been remastered as part of a wider upgrade of the title

Mike Jackson - CVG

One thing to note at this point is that the updated visuals added to Halo 2 appear to be on par, technically speaking, with those of the assets in the Halo: Combat Evolved remake.

In other words, it looks like an Xbox 360 makeover, which may come as a slight disappointment to those who were expecting to see Halo 2 sporting super high-end new-gen visuals.

Sebastian Anthony - Extremetech

Microsoft's E3 presentation. Lots of games. Some of them quite interesting, but nothing mind-blowing.

Microsoft showed off an anarchic promo for its mutant shooter Sunset Overdrive

Piers Harding-Rolls - IHS Technology consultancy

Strong show of games, but a little bit of tech innovation magic was missing.

Keza MacDonald - Kotaku

Xbox light-up wristband still glowing green, hours after the conference. Feel like if I try to remove it, it'll shoot talons into my wrist.

Sony's event

Sony will soon make it possible to post games clips directly from the PS4 to YouTube

Martin Gaston - Gamespot

Sony's E3 show was long. Really long. Compared to the other press conferences at E3 2014, it felt like the running time clocked in at about 23 hours.

Paul Tassi - Forbes

The PS4-focused event was pretty heavy on games, but not 100% focused the way Microsoft was with the Xbox One this morning... So far, this hasn't been a terribly revolutionary E3 outside of a few bright spots, but Sony performed adequately, narrowly appearing a bit more attractive than Microsoft.

Ian Miles Cheong - Gameranx

Uncharted 4 is being handled by the duo who directed The Last of Us. There's good reason to be excited for it.

Sony's bestselling treasure-hunting series Uncharted gets its first PS4 entry next year

Pete Skerritt - author of Consoleation

No Last Guardian? Big surprise... to nobody! "In full development", but there's nothing to show. Again. So sad it's laughable.

First Adopter

Sony E3 press: No Last Guardian/Agent/Grand Turismo/God of War. Order 1886/Uncharted pushed to 2015. 2014 looks weak for Sony exclusives.

Ones to watch

Polygon

Everyone in the Polygon press room reacted in some way when the brief moments of Cuphead's play were shown, and the idea of aping the look of classic animation for a modern game is inspired.

Cuphead was inspired by cartoons from the 1930s

Michael Pachter - analyst, Wedbush Securities

The big reveal at Ubisoft is a great looking multiplayer version of [hostage rescue game] Rainbow Six ;-). Go figure.

Rainbow Six: Siege involves two teams of gamers trying to either hold or rescue a hostage

Maxwell McGee - Gamespot

No Man's Sky looks like the fulfilment of a promise sci-fi and space exploration games have been making for a long time: a massive universe filled with unique planets players can seamlessly hop between with ease.

Jonathan Morin - Creative Director, Watch Dogs

Ok I want to play No Man's Sky like yesterday...

No Man's Sky was created by a four-person team based in Guildford, England

Vincent Ingenito - IGN

I am in awe of the scope and scale of No Man's Sky. Just wow.

Tom Philips - Eurogamer

Star Wars: Battlefront looks stunning.

EA only showed off brief teases of its next Star Wars title

Susan Arendt - Joystiq

People ask me what could possible surprises E3 can still offer. Stuff like that Phantom Dust announcement is right up there. People who didn't experience the first one - ie most everybody - get a look at something new and intriguing, and the five of us who played the original are freaking out at the idea of revisiting the game's ideas.

Phantom Dust was originally launched for the first Xbox in Japan in 2004

The Sixth Axis

Ubisoft have revealed a new trailer for Valiant Hearts: The Great War, the forthcoming game set during World War I.

The game is inspired by letters sent by soldiers during the war and if the hopeless, sad tone of the voice over doesn't get you then the quiet piano soundtrack and whimpering dog will. What a refreshing change from all the shooting and explosions usually found at E3.

Ubisoft's Valiant Heart: The Great War is a puzzle-adventure game set during World War I

Other thoughts...

Jim Sterling - Escapist magazine

When you mention more than once how much your game isn't a clone, I'm gonna think you're making a clone.

EA says that Dawngate is not a clone of Valve's Dota 2

Anita Sarkeesian - Feminist Frequency

Ugh. Rainbow Six Siege uses a helpless woman as the flag in its capture the flag-style multiplayer game.

Rapael van Lierop - game director, Hinterland Games

The thing I least look forward to during E3 week: the compounded vitriol and cynicism directed towards blockbuster games. Takes all kinds.

Megan Farokhmanesh - Polygon

Bioware still hasn't given us anything substantial on the new Mass Effect and now I am crying.

Bioware showed off concept art for a new game in the Mass Effect universe, but little else

Patricia Hernandez - Kotaku

And The Best Game Name of E3 Goes To: Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha, the DLC for Dead Rising 3. Boy, that's a mouthful.

Tim Turi - Game Informer

At the end of this busy, super-fun day, I'm way happy I own both an Xbox One and PS4. That's a win! Also NO MAN'S SKY!!!