Well now, thank goodness that's all over now, eh children? No more hourly checking of the forums for new slivers of information you might have missed in the precious seconds that you spent away from the computer. No more anticipation. No more speculation and wild theories about what will be seen and what won't be there. Wonderful.

Or is it? This year's E3 was something of a disappointment for all concerned, and it's hardly surprising given that we are only just leaving the infancy of this console generation. All the major players have most of their hardware cards on the table, so now is the time to impress with glitzy and showy software pieces that keep gamers an pundits guessing until the next sneak preview is revealed.

Unfortunately for the aforementioned pundits and gamers, this "new" E3 (much like "new" games journalism) was remarkably light on facts, and extremely unimpressive of what was shown. Virtually every format had excellent games that were practical no-shows at the event � Smash Bros and Halo 3 being the most notable. Other games that were revealed were already out and in the public consciousness, so their presence there was obligatory rather than compelling.

New Mario Galaxy video? Great� can we have the game now, please? More Metroid Prime 3? Well, it at least it looked better than last year. Oh, and surprise-surprise, there's going to be another Mario Kart on the Wii. But this one with re-hashes of DS levels. Now that certainly doesn't smell of rushed production for the big show!

In fairness though, what can we, as Nintendo gamers, expect? With the Legend of Zelda already out for the Wii, there are only so many more franchises to come for the console. What we could have hoped for would have been a new franchise, a new game from Miyamoto or something wild and quirky like this generation's Pikmin. The most worrying aspect is that after the first quarter of next year, it is only the second-string franchises that we will have left to wait for. Games such as 1080, Waverace, Animal Crossing and a new Starfox will all have their fans, but hardly set the world on fire in terms of sales or public buzz.

In fairness, however, we did get Wii Fit with the new balance board, which is sure to be a system seller among those parents and lifestyle junkies who want computer games to be more interactive. This single peripheral could prove to be Nintendo's EyeToy and really drive console gaming to a more exciting and sweatier level. Imagine snowboarding 1080-style across beautiful alpine vistas, or busting some wicked-cool moves to a new DDR style game. The potential for the peripheral, when combined with the already proven Wiimote, could be limitless.

But when all's said and done, there was a certain air of smugness about Nintendo's presentation this year. The self-congratulatory newspaper clippings, the quotes from all the non-gaming press and the whole thing smacked of "I told you so". Nintendo were flagrantly waving their success in the faces of their competitors in retaliation to the endless stream of vitriolic criticism poured out against the innovative ideas that really are pushing the gaming industry forward. The question is, what will they come up with next?

Iun Hockley
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