For video game fans, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is the most exciting time of the year. Games that have been kept secret for months are finally revealed, and in the past it's been the exclusive place for major hardware announcements.

That may soon be coming to an end.

The rumor mill keeps churning as speculation mounts that Sony and Microsoft won't wait until June's E3 to unveil their new consoles.

According to the Guardian, there are "strong indications that both Microsoft and Sony will run their own events this spring, possibly as early as March, to announce their new hardware."

These individual events would give the world its first glimpse of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720, though it's likely that many of the juicier details will be saved for E3.

While this would be a break from tradition, it makes a lot of sense for Microsoft and Sony. By creating their own events for their consoles, they ensure that media coverage will be dominated by whatever they decide to reveal to the public. E3 is a huge event that, while headlined by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, is made up of significantly more news. Coverage of the three console manufacturers' press conference is often reported through a competitive lens, and if one company fails to live up to the others' presentations it is often billed a failure.

While early spring events have been mentioned in a number of reports, the question of which company will reveal its console first remains unanswered.

In an interview with The Times, courtesy of IGN, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai hinted that it will be Microsoft.

"Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?" said Hirai.

Despite his comment, it's highly doubtful that either company could change its hardware specs this late in the game, especially if the consoles are unveiled only a few weeks apart. It may be, instead, that Hirai is simply suggesting that Sony prefers to go last so that it can better tailor its messaging against competitors.

So the consoles might be revealed in March, but when will they actually come out? And for how much? Again, nothing has been confirmed, but analysts, reports, and expectations suggest a late 2013 launch for both systems, as well as a price point around $400.