With a much quieter show, the three major keynotes were also oddly restrained as well; few big announcements or "wow" moments. This, like the E3's new show format, is in stark contrast — and feels quite alien — to years past.

Lets take a quick look back at last year's E3:

Microsoft in 2006: Microsoft hit it out of the ballpark last year, if only the ballpark was filled with existing customers. A couple of the many high points were the GTA IV tat, Live Anywhere, Halo 3, Gears of War, and new hardware accessories rounded out a very solid keynote. Microsoft also had one thing the other two did not: hardware on store shelves and in homes.

Nintendo in 2006: Nintendo was smart to release the final name for their next-gen console before E3. However, most everyone was still in a daze trying to figure out if Wii was a joke. Did they really name it Wii? Nintendo had a very to the point keynote in 2006, showing games aplenty for the DS and Wii, including heavyweights Mario and Zelda. They had to prove the motion-sensing Remote would work, and their demos of the technology were quite impressive.

Sony in 2006: Sony, on the other hand, became the laughing stock of YouTube after its 2006 E3 keynote. Heck, even Tretton gave Kaz a "Riiiiiiiiige Racer" jab at this year's event. With a very long winded Gran Torismo demo that went nowhere, the reveal of the "innovative" tilt-sensing controller, the sloppy Warhawk demo, and other crimes against gaming, the audience was left speechless - literally.

This year was quite different. Nintendo had nothing to prove about the Wii, Sony desperately needed to show software, and Microsoft really only needed to show Halo 3, again.

Microsoft in 2007: Gears of War for Windows was leaked, so there were no bombshell announcements. Scene-It looks interesting, some nice exclusives were shown, and Xbox Live Arcade is again, for the second year running now, a major part of the show (not a bad thing at all).

Jeff Bell all but killed the show, his delivery was just horrible. It would have been nice to see more first party in-game demos, such as Halo 3, rather than longer than need be third party, multi-platform releases. Microsoft has a solid holiday lineup of exclusive games, they really should have made better use of the moment.

Nintendo in 2007: It is clear to me now, more than ever before, that the Nintendo Wii is not a console for the hardcore crowd. The Wii Zapper, Mario Kart Wheel, and (to some extent) the Wii Balance Board are smoke and mirrors to grab the non-gaming audience. The desire to widen said audience is wonderful, and I am all for that, but Nintendo is not addressing long time gamers well with the Wii platform.

Is the system ever going to have a usable online gaming model? The Wii might be selling like hot cakes right now, but are people buying games? I know many gamers who own a Wii, but few own more than one or two games.

Non-game announcements aside, Super Mario Galaxy (is that an official name now?), Smash Bros. Brawl, Zelda Phantom Hourglass and Metroid Prime 3 were all fine specimens of Nintendo heavyweights, but what about third party content. Oh yea, that’s right, this is the same old Nintendo after all.