The problem is'nt E3 being public, its that it's TOO public. This is supposed to be an industry trade show. Not a consumer show. E3 in the last years, has become less about showcasing technology and developments within the industry and more about feeding the consumer machine with eye candy and customer-friendly game teasers. 3rd party developers used to be a mainstay, but now their booths seem to pale in comparison (if theyre there at all now) to the display of the 3 behemoths big-****ing each other to the buyers pocketbooks. The spirit of the show is lost, and at best, it's become a costly and irrelevant expense to the industry year after year.

Now, I've just finished watching the Microsponge (absorbing your world) E3 Press conference, and within it's 90 minute expanse of data the demo for Resident Evil 5 emerged. The demo screened 2 young adults re-enacting their own form of the Darfur genocide with AK's, High powered sniper rifles, and a knife that would make both Crocodile Dundee and Rambo start padding their pants with vegetables and start a support group.

I may be mistaken... But typically, isnt the most exciting part of a survival horror the SURVIVAL and HORROR!? You know; the feeling of uneasyness as you tread through a misty swamp with a 9mm with your last 4 rounds in it (and you're a horrible shot), or when your about to enter an infested hospital with nothing but a flashlight and a stick? It's that lingering feeling of vulnerability that sells suvival horrors.

Now, I'm a HUGE fan of shooters. Bar none, they are the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences in current gaming. Its a fact(Your opinion is irrelevant). But this game seems to want to fall into an awkward middle of horror and shooter. Is it really scary to slaughter hundreds of zombies in a well-lit area with .44 Magnums and a box of ammo? Or it Doom meets Dead Rising? Fun... but not scary.

With a market flooded with mediocre shooters I was disappointed to see one of my favorite lasting franchises fall further into the equation of Ammo=Revenue. Then again... this is a 2 minute press demo...

In closing: How much high-caliber ammunition is necesssary for a game to stop being a survival horror, and start being an action shooter? And why the hell would we want another OK shooter?

All I can say is that I am genuinely excited about the upcoming "gaming season" (which as we all know magically coincides with the christian religion retail-gift-giving cluster-**** season)

So far, GTA was good, but not as amazing as everyone professes. It seems rockstar (or DMA for those of us who were born before 1995) can release the same game 7 times, title it the 5th, (with a numbering system only as obscure as Resident Evil's), and have fan-fare hell unleashed... each and every time. Good Job take-two! Polished mediocrity gives new game developers a new level of averageness and lack of innovation to shoot for! You've artfully kept us in this 'comfortable crap' medium we tend to get stuck in. Of course it could be because the mass-purchasers rarely have any interest in progressivley good games ...Then again, I could just be bitter because I sold my TTWO stock literally seconds before they were propositioned by EA... grrr....

AOC is an undershined and underpopulated accomplishment by a truley and utterly talented development team. It's engrossing and epic, albeit, a work in progress. Few things in this world are more beautiful than pummeling a snow-hare into bloody oblivion with a spiked mace whilst horseback, and FunCOM pulled it off perfectly. AND they did it with boobs in an American-realeased title!

Sid Meier's Revolution looks even more calculating and innovative than its 25 predecessors and bravo for jumping a successful PC franschise to the console. Ill be picking this one up soon.

And my beloved Battlefield franchise has released a new installment in Bad Company. Though I doubt it can ever live up to the gory nostalgia that 2142 holds for me,(oh! how I miss jumping off of titans during the largest, live, in-game scripted explosion in video-game history) it seems like a title worth getting elbow deep into.... So long as I can pull myslef away from my thorough and invasive examination of AoC before Fable arrives for it's appointment.

Which brings me to the fact that Fable 2 and Spore top my list for holiday purchases (and NO I will NOT pre-order). I've already been retail-****ed and pumped 10's of creatures into Will Wrights frankenstein compendium he's dubbed 'spore-pedia'. And the best part is: I paid HIM so I could do HIS work! Genious.

Finally, tagging along for the credit-card charging trifecta is the long-awaited and ever-delayed: Too Human. I can't remember the last time I've salivated over any games more than Spore, Fable, and Too Human. Except for maybe LAST YEAR when they were to be released during the holidays... At least when Final Fantasy VIII said it was going to be released 9/9/99 IT WAS! Arguabley, it was one of the last times this mythical 'on-time' delivery of a hyped game was achieved.

Anyway, I just hope my new collective of $160+ in games is worth the purchase and doesnt end up being like my last Assassins Creed/ Kane and Lynch letdown...