CNN's Top Four Games To Save Up For

Such is still the case when running between Santa Monica, California, hotels at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, the annual video game convention that serves as a peek into the future of the multibillion-dollar interactive entertainment industry.

This year's invitation-only show, with about 3,000 journalists and analysts, was in other ways dramatically different than in years past, when more than 65,000 attendees would cram into the Los Angeles Convention Center to see the biggest game franchises of tomorrow.