Maybe you have to be a die-hard fanatic for one of the three major hardware and publishing companies to have found something noteworthy in this E3, but for everyone else the whole thing has been relatively by the books. In fact, with the exception of Nintendo I think the phrase “no risk” is pretty applicable. Even then, is Nintendo’s new machine really much of a gambit?

When you get right down to it, the one greatest highlight in all of E3 2011 was actually found in Konami’s pre-recorded E3 video.

Well, once you skip to 2:20…or y’know what? Just skip to 4:07, then stop at 4:10

When that is one of the major highlights of E3, well, you know you had a shitty trade show.

Microsoft’s conference might have just set everything on one major sour note, truth be told. Any game that didn’t require the Kinect was most likely a third party title that could be played elsewhere, and of the first party titles that could be played without their brand new peripheral, you have the choice of Halo: The Remake or Gears of War 3. We can’t even be certain yet if Halo 4 won’t force players to use the motion-tracking camera in order to shoot Grunts and slice Jackals (or whoever the new foe is).

Yes, friends, Fable: The Journey and Kinect Sports: Season Two are why Microsoft canceled Kameo 2 and that Mech spin-off of Perfect Dark.

I know I was happier watching Microsoft’s press conference, but truth be told I don’t really remember anything they showed off except for Uncharted 3 and some Playstation Vita (from here on referred to as PSV) stuff. There was nothing shocking to be pulled out of the hat, no new surprises or anything.

Lastly is Nintendo, who pulled out a brand new console that performs the miracle of having real honest-to-God third party support. Yet the only thing they addressed was what the controller (will probably) look like, what their plans are for the new screen and what third party games to expect when it launches.

Am I just that jaded, or was their little of substance to E3 in 2011?

I’ll be breaking down my thoughts more later on, but at the end of the day I feel as if my wallet is safe for a good amount of 2011. Shouldn’t E3 be making me feel like I’m about to be poor?