Gamers gather in SF for live broadcast of Sony's PlayStation event at E3

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A line formed outside a San Francisco movie theater Monday afternoon, but it wasn't for a hot new film. It's an event gamers have been waiting all year for.

If the portable game consoles weren't a giveaway, the signs will tell you. Everyone was lined up to watch a live broadcast of Sony's PlayStation event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

Most people already watched Microsoft's XBOX event, complete with an augmented reality demo of Minecraft.

"He can walk around the hologram, pan around for different viewpoints and even look inside," a Microsoft spokesperson said during the demonstration.

E3 is known for launching new games but Microsoft's biggest news out of the conference was about old games. Soon, you will be able to play old Xbox 360 games on the new Xbox One.

"It's something that the PlayStation 4 doesn't' have. If you want to play a PlayStation 3 game on a PlayStation 4, your only option right now is to subscribe to the PlayStation Now streaming program," GamesBeat Managing Editor Jason Wilson said.

Wilson said Sony has some tricks of its own -- teasing new details about the virtual reality headset project Morpheus.

"Virtual reality sounds really cool. I'd be interested to grab one myself and test it out just to see what it's like," gamer Sebastian Lazcon said.

Now, perhaps the irony here is you didn't have to come to a theater to see Sony's big event. These press conferences are streamed live on pretty much every video game website on the planet.

But to the folks who came here and lined up, watching at home would be missing the point.

"Actually go to the theaters and see the reactions of the crowd and just be a part of the crowd and just feel the energy that comes in with each new announcement," Lazcon said.

But some of the best energy at E3 was at the Nintendo World Championships.

If you're old enough, you might remember the first one.

Well, it's back.

"It just added a whole new aspect that you usually don't get at E3. It was let's go have fun and play games," Wilson said.