Sadly, not all of us are able to make the yearly trip to gaming's Mecca - E3.  But sometimes you gain more insight sitting in your cubicle pretending to work and watching keynote address than you can by rushing around a hectic show floor.  Well, at least that's what I like to tell myself.  So while Commodore and I are busy enacting our master plan to attend E3 2011, I'd like to share my thoughts on what I've seen from all the hoopla the Big 3 have put out in the aether over the past couple days.

And I've also noticed some of you have already got to talking about E3 presentations in our video game forum, so I encourage all of you to join in.  Hell, I can't think of a better time to use it!  And now, after seeing each major keynote as it happened, here are my initial impressions on the recently revealed gaming news.

Microsoft
    - Xbox 360 Slim is pretty nice, but it doesn't really change a lot in the market.  It's more like a needed update to 5-year-old technology for late adopters.
    - Gears of War 3, Halo Reach, and Fable 3 appear to be the big exclusive games this year (though I personally never got Halo or Gears).  It seems like a bit of a slim year for the 360.
    - At least Kinect (Project Natal) seems to have some promise - what with its innovative controller-less interactivity.  Oh, I'm sure there won't be any worthwhile games for it in the next couple years, but at least it's something new and innovative, as opposed to the Playstation Move, which is more of a "me too" response to the Wii.

Nintendo
    - I was impressed.  This was the first impressive Nintendo keynote in years.
    - Lots of interesting titles, but most are throwbacks to classics (Other M, Donkey Kong) and heavy on nostalgia.  It's what Nintendo does best.
    - A new Zelda - Skyward Sword.  I'm not blown away yet, but perhaps they just had a bad demo.  I've read the game controlled perfectly on the show floor.  Oh well, I'll buy it anyway.
    - I believe the reveal of the 3DS won them the show - new consoles always makes for an exciting E3, and Nintendo's the only one with something new to show in that respect this year.
          - It appears to work using lenticular stereoscopic imaging - basically the same technology that's behind those "morphing" images on cards with ridges.  I'd like to dedicate a whole other blog post to this tech and whether or not it'll be impressive enough for the public at large.
          - I think the slider on the 3DS that turns the 3D effect on and off is brilliant and necessary.  If the 3D has negative effects on some people, or if for some reason you're in a situation where 3D doesn't work well (maybe riding in a car or something), then its critical to have this option.  Miyamoto's brilliance on display yet again.
          - There appears to be some GREAT 3rd party support for the 3DS.  This tells me the industry is starting to believe in Nintendo's crazy ideas again (see: Success of the DS, Wii)
          - A new Pilotwings game, finally!  I was wondering why one wasn't made for the Wii, but not I'm almost glad they waited.  The 3DS seems like a natural fit for this game series.
          - Kid Icarus...  It's about time.  But it's a shooter on rails?  Oh well, at least the graphics are very impressive.  I'd liken it to something like a Gamecube.  Nice for a handheld game.
          - Square Enix support - Could Final Fantasy VI 3D be far behind?  Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease.

Sony
    - 3D games on a super-expensive TV that requires glasses - very meh.
    - Playstation Move - It feels expensive and tacked on.  As far sa I can remember, no add-on peripherals (or games that depend on them) have ever really been hot sellers for a console.
    - Only exciting exclusive games: Twisted Metal (though I'm not a fan), LittleBigPlanet 2 (I really wanted to hear more about this ultimate genre-bender), GT5 (though I'm not a sim racing fan, it looks awesome).
    - Kevin Butler is super-awesome but sadly unrelated to any real gaming news.
    - Final Fantasy XIV Online - It's still very hard for me to get behind a Final Fantasy MMORPG, doubly so for a console.
    - It still seems like they're fighting Sony vs. MS, and that suits the big N just fine.

PC
    - Games I'm excited to find out more about: Portal 2 (excellent trailer, and how many of you have whiplash from Gabe Newell's quick reversal on the PS3?), Star Wars: Old Republic (AMAZING trailer), and Civilization 5.  I'm going to have to search this stuff out, since there's no unified PC gaming keynote.

    Another thought: When will the next gen of consoles appear?  Next E3 if the 5-year cycle is to be kept.  But that seems not at all far away...  Maybe there's some truth to all that hot air from Sony about 10-year console cycles?  Nah, probably not, but next E3 will be very interesting indeed.  Here's hoping the ticket fairy fays me a visit before then.

    So what do you guys think?