E—what?

We’ve approached that time of the year again, when video game developers and publishers unleash a torrent of information regarding future game releases at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3.

Any previous year, they would have indeed been right, but I just can’t really get worked up in 2009. I’m not sure I can even explain why. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact I was disappointed after last year’s showing. Sony and Microsoft barely revealed anything that hadn’t been leaked months in advance to the enthusiast press. Nintendo absolutely dropped the ball for its core gamers by focusing not only on so-called casual titles, but casual titles that, unlike the already-released Wii Sports or Wii Fit, looked as if they were doomed to mediocrity.

Things already seem to be looking up a little bit, though. I’m intrigued by Activision’s DJ Hero, a disc jockey simulator that seems to be the first title to genuinely do anything remotely innovative with the already over-saturated music game genre since Rock Band hit store shelves in 2007.

Meanwhile, third-party developer High Voltage Studios is apparently determined to fly in the face of the Nintendo Wii’s family-friendly image, previewing footage of Gladiator A.D., a visually beautiful fighting game set in the Roman Empire, and The Grinder, a cheesy but bloody four-player co-operative first-person shooter with a horror theme.

Of course, High Voltage actually has yet to prove itself. Their first retail Wii game, The Conduit, is rather anticipated, but the shooter won’t be released publicly until a few days after E3, and their two new projects don’t even have publishers yet, which means they have no actual guarantee of being released.

The big three themselves are playing things close to the chest, though. Sony and Microsoft are not really showing any exclusives they haven’t already told the public about so far, and Nintendo is, frankly, not showing anything at all.

That’s actually the exact same situation we were in last year, which is why I’m a little bit concerned. Will this be another E3 where every game that’s worth being excited about has already been spoken about weeks or months in advance? Or are MS, Sony and the Big N actually saving worthwhile announcements for their respective press conferences? I hope it’s the latter case. After all, it would be a bit redundant to write another column with the title “Worst…E3…Ever.”