After plenty of waiting and even more speculation, we're now down to less than a week before the E3 Business and Media Summit 2008 kicks off - and expectations are higher than ever. With the usual baited breath for the unknown, this years line up of new games is extensive and the sniff of major announcements in the air makes it almost an understatement to view E3 as the herald for a year of gaming bliss. Even the official E3 trailer gets a 9/10 rating from almost 50,000 views, and if Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo's press conferences are anything to go by the reason for game-salivation is very real. The war between the giants of the video gaming industry is shaping up to deliver the little guy - thats us - just what the doctor ordered, and it's not a war limited to the big three. Capcom and LucasArts just to name a few have something to put into this E3 showbag too.

The question on everyone's lips, as always, is who will steal the show - or rather what. Truth is, the line up for new games is so extensive that to speculate one over the other is as difficult as trying to determine whether or not Sub-Zero really can beat Batman - and yes, we are referring to Midway's launch of the Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe demo at E3. The chance to take on Raiden in the Batcave - who would have thought. Game Troopers HQ is home to long time DC comics and MK fans, so a merger of the two spells many late night hours of fun that we can't refuse. We'd say early mornings too, but as we keep writing this list of anticipated games it is obvious we need to allocate other time to other games too.

Whilst we're talking about Mortal Kombat, who would we be not to mention Street Fighter? The two almost go hand in hand if you were around when these games were first released. Yes, Street Fighter IV will be on display at E3, but don't get too comfortable, Capcom are at least a year away from delivering a final version.

In addition to the rumored possibility that Microsoft will be announcing a portable version of their gaming system, Microsoft will be bringing Gears of War 2 to the Xbox 360. GoW2 is the sequel to the game without the 2 at the end that previously brought the E3 house down. Groundbreaking they called it; will the sequel do the same? Maybe, but then we've also got Far Cry 2 which is sure to be a winner, especially since Ubisoft announced it will be simultaneously released across the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Far Cry was in it's day a winner but a little performance hungry by comparison to the common machine of the day (it chugged on our PC's when we first got it), whereas Far Cry 2 is going to look something nearing the amazing realism found in Crysis whilst performing comfortably on the average machine (by today's standards). And whilst we're on First person shooters, how does the term 'ultimate first person shooter' grab you? One thing we've learned in the games industry is to guard against hype, but that's exactly how Sony are touting Killzone 2. Overhyped perhaps, but from all accounts this is one impressive game and is sure to attract interest to Sony's neck of the E3 woods.

We can't really mention Far Cry without mentioning Crysis: Warhead, the sequel to Crysis and Electronic Art's contribution to the lone PC release franchise. Crysis was simply mind-blowing, there's no other way to put it, but in the end we were a bit solemn about the 80% shoot the Koreans/20% battle the aliens weighting. Yes the alien battle was fantastic but oh sooo short! We're told Warhead will be more action oriented and involve less strategy than the original. That's a good enough start for us to take notice. Not interested in the action and want the strategy? Well Electronic Art's are also bringing Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 to their E3 table.

Another game hot on fans lips is the upcoming release of Halo Wars, said to be so good that it's going to revolutionise the real time strategy gaming market. Real time strategy? We bet you thought Halo was a First Person Shooter? Well anyone who plays first person shooters (and is good) knows there's no substitute for a mouse and keyboard. It seems Microsoft respect this and have built Halo Wars specifically to be played with an Xbox 360 controller. Hence Halo Wars is targetted as an RTS, not FPS. Makes sense to us, and opens up a whole new market of Halo fanboys. We don't know any more than that - that's what E3's for.

Another highly anticipated game - and highly controversial - is the post apocalyptic role playing Fallout 3, set to hit PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 a few months after E3. Anticipated because of parallels to a cross between Oblivion and Fallout 1, controversial because the nature of the role playing game includes a little too much drugs and violence for some classification bodies; can anyone say 'Australia?'. Though it might be banned down under, it won't be banned from E3 (and for the record, the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (AOFLC) really needs to grow up and respect the size and intelligence of the Australian adult gaming community).

Oh yes, and not to forget Capcom's release of Resident Evil 5, easily the most anticipated of the RE franchise to date - apparently the game engine will be more realistic than ever having been designed around mimicking the way the human eye adjusts to light and dark to create perfect atmosphere and fright moments, such as when you walk into a darkened area from a bright area and have to wait a split second for your eyes to adjust! We can already just imagine how this one is going to play out...

LucasArts are not going to be out done either, with the release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Just another Star Wars game we hear you cry? Apparently not - this one is being marketed just like a full scale movie. Who cares we hear you far-cry (sorry, couldn't help it), it's only the game that matters? Right you are, but a great game with action figures, books, comics, and virtually anything else you could want to keep your fan-gland running is a game to take notice of - and that's what's on the horizon with this one. But if that's not your cup of tea, that's ok because this Star Wars game is going to be the most interactive and visually stunning one ever. The level of ingenuity that will be available in using realistic force powers, such as using the environment against your enemies, and the level of AI as your enemies struggle to stay alive is shaping up expectations no end. Further, this game forms a part of the Star Wars story, and as such will be considered as much Star Wars as the movies themselves. Perhaps a big call, but that's the word.

But wait, there's more: Resistance 2, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Fable 2,Spore, Diablo 3, Final Fantasy XIII...and the list goes on. What a year for gaming this is shaping up to be. In fact, perhaps it's time to get working on our most anticipated article of the year - our list of most anticipated releases of the year....

Official E3 website: www.e3expo.com
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