We’ve covered a lot of E3 related stuff over the previous week. And we feel that it’s time to start handing out awards. It’s cliche, yes. However after we’re done listing some of the nominees and giving our feedback on why they deserve to be the pick of the category, we’ll leave it up to you, the reader, to vote for your favorite game of E3 2007 in Part 2 of our E3 Awards. You can check back here next week for the official results.

Before going any further, you can take a look at some of the featured categories for our E3 Awards:

Best Graphical Presentation

Most Improved

Best "WTF?!" moment

Best Wet-Seat Initiator

Most Lame Showing

Most Likely To End up In A Budget-Bin After A Week

Most Hyped (And Followed Through)

Most Hyped (And Disappointed)

Winner of E3 2007

Best Game of E3 2007 ______________________________________________________________________________

CB Games has been at the forefront of E3 news. We covered the good, the bad, and the ugly. But it only makes sense if we discussed these highlights with simple awards; our take on what should be said or given to the top of the crop and the worst of the bunch. The first award is as follows:

Best Graphical Presentation: Heavenly Sword

Will: All right, this is a tough one. At first I'm thinking this award should go to KillZone 2...geesh the game looked really polished. I was also highly swayed with the always-impressive Metal Gear Solid 4 and the much improved Halo 3. But then there was Mass Effect...every time I see this game it just looks freaking awesome. My vote is on Mass Effect. But only by a narrow margin.

Andy: I think you're right in that Mass Effect looks awesome, but only in the conversation sequences. When they actually get out there in the field, it seems like things are scaled back some. For me it's a difficult choice between Metal Gear Solid 4 and Heavenly Sword. On the one hand I think MGS4 looks better in pre-render realtime-engine cutscenes; on the other hand, Heavenly Sword looks better when the game is actually running. But, my vote goes to Heavenly Sword.

Brian: I agree with Andrew. Not only did I not have enough tissues to make it through the trailer (and it's not because I was crying) (at least not from my eyes, anyways), but this game makes running on rope look like fun. I have no idea if they'll be able to pull off the controls, but, until I get a copy, I can only say that this game looks like it's going to be great for players who like action-adventure games as well as Kleenex stockholders.

R. Knight: Best graphically? Color me estupido, but I'm actually going to give it to Smash Bros, because nothing else explodes like Pikachu.

(Editor’s Note: Rich's name is shown to us in the color pink)

Andy....in the Spanish culture that's the color given to those who are estupido. Ridiculous. Smash Bros...best Graphical Presentation? Surely you're senile.

Will: Whoa, whoa, whoa...Smash Bros.?! Best Graphical Presentaion?! Whatever floats your boat, dude. I know they improved the texture mapping; the character models have also seen major overhauls from the GC era, but it still looks so-so in my eyes.



Most Improved Award: Turok

R. Knight: I'm tired of people not believing in Silicone Knights. Of course Too Human was EVENTUALLY going to turn out looking amazing. Lots of people were saying the same thing about Eternal Darkness and look how THAT turned out. One of the best-games-EVER!

Will: I guess I’m with Rich on Too Human as Most Improved. I think the game made a huge comeback after its dismal showing at E3 2006. I know we didn't get to see the gameplay the way we wanted, but it's definitely improved.

Andy:Are you kidding? All Too Human did was hide it's gameplay. We're giving away awards for best hidden failure now? They failed last E3 and they gave us no reason to believe that they've fixed anything. Dennis Dyack got too scared to run the E3 gamut again. Running away with your tail between your legs is not something to be rewarded. I don't vote for anyone. I think the games that were amazing last year we're just so this year, and the games that were crap last year showed nothing too surprising to change my mind. And (Rich) you just want a most improved category so Too Human can win something...I'm on to you Knight. I also know that your love of Silicon Knights is only because you share the same surname.

Brian: I’m saying Turok. Just as a franchise, this is such a reversal of course. I loved the original storyline of Turok, so skepticism settled in pretty hard when I heard they were doing some rewriting. That changed real quick though the first time the camera switched out of first person to third just so you could get a better look at Turok give a soldier a Columbian tracheotomy.

Will: Okay...upon further recollection, I concede your points about Too Human. Still, it all looked really nice. And (Brian) I nearly forgot about Turok during all the hassle. I guess it never really cemented itself in my mind. But it is massively improved over its last (over-embarrassing) outing on the PS2, GC and Xbox. Not to mention that this new Turok has sweet vehicle phsyics, weapons that are looking really good and the AI looked fan-darn-tastic. Too Human is still more memorable, but I'm switching my vote to Turok.



Best “WTF?” Moment

Andy: I was originally going to go with the Halo 3 360 bundle not including H3. But I’ve decided that my WTF moment will be for when Sony announced the 60GB price drop only to discontinue it hours later. Talk about a marketing scheme.

Brian: The Wii-Gun. When I saw the headline about this on Google News, I could not have been more skeptical. And, like every trailer that Nintendo puts out showcasing people playing the Wii, the footage of a couple using the gun initially made me feel awkward as I made eye contact with my own Wii. "I don't look like that when I use you, do I?" I asked my Wii. Then I thought about the potential for the Wii-Gun in terms of First Person Shooters and realized just how cool I actually am--which is a lot. I'm just a heap of coolness that can't wait to see if this results in a FPS for the Wii that is actually good. (And I realize the name Nintendo is using for this thing is "The Zapper," but there's no chance I'm calling it that unless it turns out this thing can double as a vibrating strap-on harness. Then, by all means, get out "The Zapper.")

Will: I’m thinking it was the four-player coop in Halo 3 that did it, for me. It wasn’t on display but it has been mentioned on several occasions and reiterated in several interviews at E3. Just think of the possibilities?



Best Wet-Seat Initiator: Star Wars: Force Unleashed

Brian: The first ten seconds of the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed trailer. Shamefully cleaning midi-chlorians off my computer screen and all, watching a Star Destroyer get pulled out of the air by a Jedi was more than worth it. I've never unleashed the Force harder.

Will: Stranglehold’s gameplay is a tough sell. However, I'm with Brian, Star Wars: Force Unleashed was on a whole other level of presentation...and while a lot of people were left speechless, some people were left with a dire need to change pants.

Andy: I have to go with my love on this one. Halo Wars. When I saw how masterfully Ensemble had adapted the Halo universe to RTS form, I nearly wet myself. Runner up goes to Burnout Paradise. I've played hundreds of hours of Burnout so I'm immune its charms, but if I was watching Burnout for the first time I would have passed out after seeing this game in action.



Most Lame Showing: Ghost Squad

Andy: Whoever did Ghost Squad. Good lord. Could you imagine having Nintendo tell you that they were going to showcase that abortion of a game during their press conference?

R. Knight: Most lame showing? I'm going to have to give it to the game that will also end up in the bargain bin in a week, Soul Caliber Legends. I'm with you, Andrew. Flashing that Wii-mote in the trailer was Dumb with a capital D-U-M.

Will: So you say Soul Calibur Legends? I was thinking Soul Calibur IV and Ghost Squad should have tied. There was nothing more obnoxious than that overtly long video of Ghost Squad that seemed like it just wouldn't end. Not only that, the game is like a decade-and-a-half dated. It's like Virtua Cop went on Extreme Makeover and came out with a butt-load of Boring with a capital 'B'. Same goes for Soul Calibur IV: Was it me or was that all about T&A? There were more clips of Ivy's derriere than the actual fighting, I thought I was watching a clip from a Tecmo game. And speaking of the fighting...talk about one-step to the side and half-a-step backwards. I thought "next-gen" meant evolution, not stagnation.

Brian: Guitar Hero III. As I already established, I am a very cool guy. Therefore, I can give or deduct "cool points" from whoever I see fit. Harmonix: for going ahead with this game when you should've known better, I'm taking 2,000 cool points away from you. Neversoft never knows when to quit, but you, Harmonix, you should've said no instead of letting them do this to Guitar Hero. It's practically the same game as Guitar Hero II! And II wasn't even that huge of a step for the series’ first game!



Most Likely To End up In A Budget-Bin After A Week: Ghost Squad

Brian:: Hellboy: Science of Evil. As much as I like Hellboy, I just don't see this game doing well. It's probably even going to be a good game when it comes out, but I just don't think Hellboy has the kind of fan base that's going to slap down $60 for Big Red. It's just very likely the game will be overshadowed by other, better-looking titles coming out within the year.

Will: Ghost Squad. Enough said.

Andy: Lair. I don't care how good it looks, everything I know about game design tells me that this game is not going to be fun. Everyone will buy it up because the commercials will be amazing, but then when they sell it back to Gamestop en masse, prices will plummet.