Impressions of E3 happenings thus far:

MS conference:

- Beatles Rock band = rent it, beat all the songs/get achievements, return it. (Like I've done with the past 3 Guitar Hero releases).

- Halo ODST looks good, and I'd be more pumped for Halo Reach if I read the Halo books. 

- Forza looks sweet, but I've never been into the hyper-realistic driving series.

- Alan Wake, L4D2, Crackdown 2, FF13 are all first day purchases for me.

- New Metal Gear? Meh.

- Splinter Cell conviction looks awesome.

- Natal has much potential...  For the next console gen, or for electronics in the home, office, schools, or cars.  I can really see MS making billions off this, if it pans out.

Nintendo:

- Sales. Boring.

- Wii Vitality Sensor.  Uh, ok.

- Wii Motion Plus - I'm not sure how this fits into the Wii Sports / Wii Fit machine business model, but we'll see.

- Mario mario mario mario mario mario mario.  Metroid.  I'm sure this will make certain fanboys happy as hell.

- I don't have / won't be getting a DS, so I'm not going to fap over remakes and sequels.

Sony (I missed a good portion of this one):

- GT5 - I'm not sure that NASCAR really gets you anything here.  PS3 = formula one/rally car, not stock car.

- PSP heavy.  Am I the only gamer without a portable console?  Also, PSP Go! sounds like engrish to me.

- FF13, Last guardian look sweet.

- MAG looks like crap.  Overly ambitious much?

- FF14 Online - There's a niche group that will be excited by this.  I call them Japan and South Korea.  And a couple dorks from the west.  If this releases before 2011 I'll be surprised.

- Motion control - reminded me of the purple wang in GTA. heh.  This isn't going anywhere.

- Assassin's Creed 2 is the shit.

Other thoughts:

- Perfect Dark, Monkey island confirmed for XBLA.  Words cannot describe the awesome.

- I'm waiting for reviewers to get some hands on with Brutal legend.

Honestly, nothing so far has been Megaton, at least nothing like FF13 to Xbox last year.   Sure, each console maker threw their own fans a few bones here and there, but again, no major surprises.  (Hint: Nintendo announcing Mario & Metroid is not a surprise.  If you were surprised, you clearly do not know Nintendo by now).

Last year's E3 was a bust too save for one single announcement that made people on the internet cry. Besides that, E3 has become mostly awful for gamers. Don't set your expectations too high. Also, I hope Beatles Rock Band has a ridiculously hard achievement (e.g. beating Helter Skelter on Expert?).

Judging by the notes charts they showed, it doesn't look like the game should be too difficult. I'm thinking they'll make it easier than RB to draw in the casuals, but we'll see.

Also, I saw a video of DJ Hero. I'm not sure I can do it, but I'll probably try. Makes you look like more of an idiot than playing with a toy guitar.