So what should we expect out of the annual E3 game convention that starts July 14? Well, the secret announcement that everybody knows about is that Microsoft will be cutting the price of the Xbox 360 by $50. (Leaked photos of retail fliers with the lower price are everywhere.)

That's decent, although a $100 cut seems more appropriate three years into the system's life cycle. Even with the $50 reduction, the Xbox 360 Pro (the cheapest model with a hard drive) will still be $299. It's unknown whether Sony will follow suit with a PlayStation 3 price cut, although I would guess so.

Tent-pole games

Gears of War 2 and Rock Band 2 will likely be tent-pole games for Microsoft, while Sony will probably lean heavily on Resistance 2, LittleBigPlanet and perhaps even a bit of Killzone 2. Buzz has also picked up around the potential announcement of a PSP Phone, sort of Sony's version of Apple's iPhone. If Sony does have something like that in the works, E3 would be a good time to raise the curtain.

So-called hard-core gamers, though, have reason to be excited. Marc Franklin, director of public relations at Nintendo, recently told GamePro magazine that the baseball title Super Mario Sluggers should please die-hard Nintendo-ites.

E3 Boost

Beyond the specific platforms, though, a lot of people will be monitoring the health of E3 itself. After shrinking last year and scattering the presentations all over Los Angeles, the convention is back in a single building. But there have been a series of reports of big-name publishers dropping their membership in the Entertainment Software Association, the group that organizes E3, and rumblings that E3 might have outlived its usefulness.

This might be a make or break year for E3, especially if it loses money.