We apologize, but we still have some belated E3 stuff to share with you guys, since, as I've said earlier, we were slightly short-staffed this year - in this case, Gears of War 2, Fable 2 and Halo Wars, all of which you'll be hearing about soon.

As for our overall impressions are concerned, the E3 show left plenty to be desired. In fact, the E3 Media & Business Summit (damn, even the name sounds boring as hell) is losing its reputation with each passing year, as attendees and publishers becoming increasingly more disappointed with the event as well as its organizers. From our perspective, it was a fun show, but not nearly as fun as a few years back. Besides from an apparent lack of babes, the E3 was left with little to no surprise announcements. We've already discussed the absence of Microsoft's X360/PC title, Alan Wake. While the game skipped another E3, today we've heard it may pop up at the TGS, which starts in September. Well, it would about damn time too, since there hasn't been any new media or info since Microsoft's X06. Another last-minute decision from Microsoft, resulted in the cancellation of Bungie's new project (one of your disappointments this year).

We were hoping for Valve to dish out more stuff about an official sequel to Portal, but all we got instead were hints of Portal: Still Alive (XBLA), which is essentially a standalone game with extra content that includes maps from the Flash version. Portal, sorry to say, wasn't the only game that was missing this year from Valve. They also haven't made an effort to showcase Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Okay, at least they told us up front that Ep. 3 won't be at the show.

Highlighting a variety of cool new surprises just wasn't part of the experience this year and we found ourselves complaining about what we could have seen, as opposed to talking about what we have seen. In that respect, Ubisoft also didn't offer any tangible evidence for their two highly anticipated projects, including Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction. LucasArts shifted their attention on Fracture and a selection of new Star Wars games, without showing any the new Indiana Jones game (not to be confused with LEGO Indy).

Well, at least some of them were honest. Sony, for example, admitted they couldn't demonstrate the latest build of WipEout HD because of a major technical blunder they weren't able to sort out before the show. "There is a specific technical problem with WipEout HD that we have to solve. I can't go into details but it is a really, really tricky technical problem that no region has been able to solve at the moment," explains Sony Europe boss David Reeves.

Of course, we still want to give you some idea of which games have impressed us during this year's show. So, here are the E3 2008 Awards:

Best RPG
Dragon Age: Origins


Though generally disappointing, the E3 itself at least managed to satisfy our hunger for good old-fashioned RPG goodness. We've witnessed Fallout 3, Fable 2 and BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins. While all three games looked very promising, we've come to appreciate BioWare's effort to return to the classic form. This is the kind of RPG I'm sure most PC veterans have been yearning for all these years - well, ever since the release of The Witcher, that is. Trouble is, it's going to arrive during Q1 2009 and that seems like a long time to wait.

Developer: BioWare

Best Action Game
Left 4 Dead


It may be the new Counter-Strike or it may not. The fact of the matter is that Left 4 Dead from Valve Software and Turtle Rock Studios was one of the most enjoyable E3 presentations we've been privileged to this year. The really good news is that it's coming this November.

Developer: Turtle Rock Studios

Best Strategy
Halo Wars


Very nice indeed. The developers have improved things drastically since the last time we saw it. Ensemble Studios succeeded in conveying that familiar spirit of the Halo universe. It has the potential to become a great real-time strategy and they obviously made a huge effort to fine-tune the game for console owners. We'll post our full impressions of the E3 demo shortly.

Developer: Ensemble Studios

Best Game of E3 2008
Mirror's Edge


It wasn't a difficult choice this year. Still, Mirror's Edge deserves to be named Best Game of E3 2008. Having received the opportunity to create something beyond the Battlefield franchise, DICE has shown talent and creativity. Mirror's Edge features heart-pumping combat and parkour-style action better than any other game on the market.

Developer: DICE

That about wraps it up. There are a few things we would really like to see next year - the return of Babeage. We'd also like to see more new games and essentially more originality from developers and publishers. But, these days, it may be too much to ask for...