While the perception is that this is a bad thing for the gaming industry, this will prove ultimately to be a good thing for all involved: publishers, console developers, and the consumers. The bloated costs of running these events ends up wasting good development resources, and the costs are ultimately passed on to the consumers. With the monolith of the current E3 format removed, there should be more energy devoted to development of actual games, consoles, and ideas- not just "get that demo done, and make it look glossy. We need it for E3. Don't worry about the game, we can always delay the launch..."

Whoa, Gamespot. Rough weekend? Sounds like someone's got a case of the Mondays! Windows games? Minesweeper times? Didn't bring your A game with this article, guys. Better luck tomorrow. BTW, my Minesweeper INT best time is 18sec :)

No particular order: 1. Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)- I'll actually have time for the 24hr races! 2. Tetris (NES)- The Tengen version- a game that can be played ad infinitum. Never boring. 3. Super Mario Bros 3 (NES)- BEST. GAME. EVER. 4. Chrono Trigger (SNES)- Multiple endings mean oodles of replayability. 5. Grand Theft Auto- Vice City (PS2)- open ended play for endless exploration.