E3 2013 was a quiet week for arcade sports games, with only two titles, Powerstar Golf and OlliOlli, being playable on the show floor and one additional game, Trials Fusion, showing a short trailer during Ubisoft's press conference.

During the show, Operation Sports' Glenn Wigmore posted his hands-on impressions of Powerstar Golf. This week, I'm looking at the other two independent titles coming out of E3 and what to look for:

OlliOlli
(PlayStation Vita)

When Operation Sports first discovered OlliOlli back in May, the game's levels were randomly generated and infinitely long, but during the weeks leading up to E3, developer Roll7 altered OlliOlli's gameplay philosophy, deciding that the game will use prebuilt levels instead.

Roll7's company director, Thomas Hegarty, explained OlliOlli's sudden design departure during an E3 interview with Joystiq:

"In the last three weeks, quite a lot has changed. We've moved away from the infinite-runner mode. What we realized is the best part of the game is tricking, learning the combos--so we're actually building levels out so people could understand it, learn it, get the replay value and the trick system. We're not sure how many tricks there are at the moment; there are so many combos and ways to vary them."
 

OlliOlli's release date and pricing have also become more concrete since E3, with Roll7 now promising to launch "when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One come out" for "£4 in the UK." North American pricing remains unconfirmed, though Roll7 estimates OlliOlli will cost "somewhere around $6 or $7."

Various E3 reports have also uncovered OlliOlli's control scheme, which uses the X button to push forward, the left joystick to perform tricks and grinds, the triggers to spin and the X button to land tricks. OlliOlli's quasi-realistic physics mean the gameplay will be more Thrasher: Skate and Destroy than Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, with much of the game's difficulty coming from timing the X button during landings.

OlliOlli's development continues to be directly funded by Sony, which helps explain why the game is releasing exclusively for the PlayStation Vita, a system that had sold only 2.2 million units worldwide when Sony last updated its sales figures on June 30, 2012.

Unlike current PlayStation Network darlings, Guacamelee and Papo & Yo, which emerged from Sony's Pub Fund program, OlliOlli will be published by Roll7, meaning the London, England company will retain all intellectual property rights.

RedLynx's next-gen Trials game debuted at Ubisoft's E3 press conference, teasing a futuristic art style and controversial trick system:
 

A release date has not been announced for Trials Fusion. RedLynx representatives were available for questioning at Ubisoft's booth, though Trials Fusion was not available to play at E3.

Thus far, Ubisoft and RedLynx have only released a few bullet points summarizing what Trials fans can expect from Fusion:

"Retained and Enhanced" Features

• Intuitive and addictive physics gameplay
• Multiplayer
• Skill games
• Track Editor & Sharing
• Leader Boards
• Global Competition

New Features

• Futuristic, high-tech world
• FMX Physics Tricks System
• Next-gen visuals
• New social features
• Linked to mobile version, Trials Frontier

Gamers' initial skepticism of the "FMX Physics Tricks System" spurred a RedLynx developer to quickly respond on the official Trials forums, assuring fans that tricks will not break or ruin Trials Fusion's gameplay:

"There's been a lot of speculation about what FMX tricks will mean for gameplay in Trials Fusion. [RedLynx is] not quite ready to announce specific game modes and how they will all fit together but rest assured, we understand what Trials is and what our fans love about it. The essence of Trials will not change. When we added Supercross mode to Trials Evolution, it was an addition, not a revision of the core game. Similarly, the FMX trick system will be an enhancement in Trials Fusion, not a radical reworking of the basic idea. I hope this can ease your worries until we are ready to release more detailed information about how the FMX tricks will fit into Trials Fusion."

An E3 video interview from outsidexbox further clarified that tricks will be featured in a separate game mode in Trials Fusion, while the traditional time trials gameplay will remain undisturbed: