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Five most unlikely E3 2012 announcements

These new gaming inventions won't happen. But if they do, you saw them here first.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Scott Stein Editor at Large
I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR/AR, tablets, gaming and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.
Expertise VR and AR, gaming, metaverse technologies, wearable tech, tablets Credentials
  • Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
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Dan Ackerman
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Sarah Tew/CNET

The days before E3 are always filled with endless pontificating and predictions. The lesson? Throw enough predictions up against the wall and something is bound to stick. Of all the ideas we've heard, you'll probably agree that these are the least likely to happen, although each one still seems like a potential blockbuster to us.

Nintendo SmellDS
Nintendo finally explores the next dimension in handheld gaming: olfactory. (Nintendo promises: sense of smell not necessary to enjoy SmellDS; scent slider included.) Reggie Fils-Aime promises, "You've never smelled Super Mario...like this."

Double-glasses 3D
We tried regular stereoscopic 3D, didn't catch on. We tried no-glasses 3D, not much better. The answer is finally here: combining two sets of active-shutter lenses for extreme depth, with only a slightly increased chance of migraines.

Double the fun, double the headaches. Sarah Tew/CNET

PlayStation Vita 4K
Now with a DoubleRetina(TM) display for graphics, for details the human eye can't see! With 4,000 lines of resolution, this upgraded handheld console needs to store some of its pixels in another dimension.

FreemiumVille
The ultimate social media game. Free to play, except for the parts where you pay to play more for free.

No-motion gaming
First there was motion gaming, and now, the newest post-Kinect, post-Move, post-Wii invention: a tiny controller that fits in your hand, complete with its own physical buttons. All the convenience of motion gaming, without having to actually move around.

Click here for CNET's full E3 2012 coverage