Last week, my PS3 died on me for unknown reasons. Luckily warranties exist, and I soon won't be without one for much longer.

But now as E3 comes and I frantically watch and download gratuitous amounts of video previews, I feel a little different now that I currently don't have the system that those games are on. It's a strange feeling, really. You see all these games that won't come out anytime soon, but yet it drives you to play the games you already have. You feel motivated to go back and appreciate what came before as you try to funnel your inescapable anticipation.

However, I cannot. With a bricked PS3, my games just sit there, looking depressed. Super Stardust HD waits in cyberspace for me to download it again, like a jilted lover.

Poeticisms aside, because of mitigating circumstances, this year's E3 is less like a personified wish-list and more like the two weeks before Christmas when you've already seen the presents in the basement, because you sneaked down there at 2 A.M. because you're a terrible person.

PS3 problems aside, E3 was definitely one to instill enthusiasm back into the gaming community, no matter who you are. It's good that smack dab in the middle of the notorious summer slump that games go through, we have this to whet our appetites, and to keep the faith among the ranks. Reports of Core Gamers dwindling be damned, we're still here