E3's oddly intoxicating cocktail of libation and lack of sleep can often give those in attendance a unique perspective on the industry. However, as we wandered into Nintendo's coolly lit corner of the LA convention center, we were quickly reminded that this is an outfit with a perspective all of its own.

If the company's ambivalence during its own pre-E3 presser wasn't enough to convince us of Nintendo's indifference toward core gamers, our sit down during the show with Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta proved that while the organization may preach that "hardcore" gamers play a critical role in Nintendo's strategy, its actions paint a different picture altogether.

After last year's detour to Santa Monica, E3 returned this year to its traditional home at the L.A. Convention Center. But the more things stay the same, the more they change, as they say (if they're a bit confused). Despite the return to the old location, much of this year's E3 had an empty, ghost town feeling when compared to E3s past. The general lack of participating developers and publishers, combined with the strict, invite-only attendee list combined to make a show that seemed incredibly small in the incredibly large convention center. To see just how small, check out our "E3, then and now" gallery, which compare scenes from previous E3s to similar scenes from this year's show.

Hopefully we're not in danger of providing Fallout 3 overload, and if you haven't gotten the idea yet, we're really looking forward to this game. It's literally a cool science fiction series skin slapped on top of Oblivion, but we're not complaining about that. Blowing away mutants in the wasteland? Yes, please.

Here's the meat and bones from our time with Bethesda's Todd Howard, and you can listen to the full audio interview below. After the break, find out some tidbits like the size of the world, how many radio stations are in the game, and why you won't be dual-wielding or buying horse armor. Oh, and be sure to pay attention to the exploding pants achievement.

Pete Hines from Bethesda shattered our crystalline dreams yesterday when he told us that the Vault-Tec 800 number for Fallout 3 means... absolutely nothing. He and Todd Howard had argued about it, and Pete wanted it to actually have something hidden inside for fans, but he got vetoed.

Although Bethesda would love for rabid Fallout fans to kick down the door of a 68 year old woman's house in Texas in search of hidden editions of the game, it just ain't happenin'. Listen to the actual audio dialogue below which busted up our hopes for a Rain Man level math secret hidden in the phone message.

Writing about video games can often expose you to those heartbreaking stories of things in development that almost made it, but never appeared. Things like the Phantom game console, Shenmue Online, and the years-in-the-making Duke Nukem Forever.

We spent time with Bethesda's Todd Howard beyond locked doors and found out about some of the dark secrets behind Fallout 3, including the massive real-life Pip-boy that would have had a screen built into it to allow you to interact with the game. Or possibly hold your PSP on your wrist to become a PiPSP-boy. Find out more after the breakage.

In the madness of E3, we got 10 minutes with Rock Band 2's Senior Designer Dan Teasdale. We rattled off a bunch of questions and jotted down his basic answers. Full quotes? We don't have time for full quotes! Check out the rapid-fire Q&A after the break.

We've been wondering what everyone's favorite Sega mascot, Sonic, has been up to lately. Since Sega's Gamers Day in May, the company has been pretty quiet regarding Sonic Unleashed -- the latest console adventure for the speeding hedgehog. To find out, we caught up with the US Producer for Sonic Unleashed, Patrick Riley, to see what sort of information he could tell us. As it turns out, we've got tons more info on the blue hero. Here's but a small taste; we've got the full interview after the break.

Joystiq: We're most interested in the day and night gameplay, specifically when Sonic changes into an unleashed beast. We're wondering if this will play out in real-time as players go through a stage, or are there set stages specifically for night time?
Patrick Riley: Certain parts of the action stages are built for both day and night gameplay. When in these areas and when in the villages, in-game time will pass and Sonic will transform. However, we're making sure that the player won't be "stuck" in a form they don't want and it will be easy to automatically advance the clock. Other parts of the action stages are built specifically for day or night gameplay. While Sonic is in these areas, in-game time will not pass.

How many stages are there? We've seen "Greece" and "Europe" but what other themes are there?
We'll be talking about the number of environments later but there are plenty we haven't touched on at all, and of course we'll be reserving some of them to be found by the players. In addition to Greece and Europe, however, players will visit China and Africa, as well. There are daytime and nighttime stages in each environment, in addition to unlockable mini-stages. Players will explore numerous locations throughout the globe, each of which has been rendered like never before in a Sonic game.

The buzz here at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles is all about Diablo 3. When will we have a playable demo? When can we expect a release? Blizzard, of course, isn't willing to commit to a date other than their standard "when it's done" answer:

• What classes are going to be available? Blizzard's answer: we're not ready to talk about that.
  
• Will there be a cow level? Blizzard's answer... well, more on that later.

Joystiq had a chance to catch up with Diablo 3's lead designer Jay Wilson (whom you may know from his work on a little game called Dawn of War) and pick his brain about how he got on the Diablo 3 project, what's in store for Battle.net, and the secret cow level.

Okay, it's confession time. This article series, as much as we hope you've enjoyed it, was originally set out to only discuss those titles of the survival horror persuasion that have been cemented into the 2008 release calendar. However, there is an ordnance that says something to the effect that you can't talk about survival horror games without devoting some face time to Capcom's seminal Resident Evil franchise. Or at least there should be. And while a date for when we can expect to continue slaughtering zombies -- or some derivative thereof -- hasn't been announced, we fully expected Resident Evil 5 to ship sometime in 2009.

That said, we nonetheless felt the game would make an appropriate end cap on our week long look at the genre Capcom helped not only create, but perfect, so we ended our week by speaking with producer Jun Takeuchi, and asked him why we should care about Resident Evil 5.

Konami's Silent Hill franchise has forgotten more about keeping us hiding beneath our covers than most games will ever know. Even EA's own Glen Schofield tips his hat to the series, telling us earlier this week that he considers the 1999 PlayStation original to be among his favorite survival horror games ever. But after nearly a decade of stumbling through the fog, it's easy to feel that the dilapidated burg of Silent Hill has gotten a bit too long in the tooth.

For the series' sixth installment, Konami has handed the blood-soaked baton over to external developer Double Helix Games, a recent mash-up of The Collective and Shiny Entertainment. The result is this fall's upcoming release, Silent Hill: Homecoming, and we recently puzzled our way out of mist long enough to ask the game's lead designer, Jason Allen, just why we should care about this latest return trip to Silent Hill.

Looking one part System Shock and another part Event Horizon, Electronic Arts' Dead Space is another of 2008's most eagerly anticipated experiments with freaking us right out. In development by a "renegade" team of devs at EA Redwood Shores, the game represents one of the few truly original offerings from a company that has rightfully earned a dubious reputation for recycling IP.

However, if our interest was piqued by the sci-fi survival horror romp through outer space, it completely pales to EA's own enthusiasm for the project, which has seen Dead Space cast in both comics as well as an upcoming animated prequel in the run up to the game's release this Halloween. But EA throwing money at a game to keep it in the news is hardly surprising, so we spoke with executive producer Glen Schofield about the project, asking him point blank why we should care about a game that, as he tells it, is about "a normal guy in a horrible situation."

The survival horror genre is set to get a shot in the arm in 2008 with a number of high profile, not to mention highly anticipated entries all vying for the opportunity to keep us jumping at shadows and screaming like little girls. Or, for those gamers who are, in fact, little girls, just keep them screaming.

But as all of us know, build-up seldom equals pay-off, leaving us to look upon these titles with what could be described as a mixture of cautious excitement and malaise. However, rather than simply sit and wait to see what the games have in store for us, we decided to corner the teams working on this year's more notable survival horror titles, and pick their brains in true survival horror fashion -- with an ice pick.

But having left the ice pick at the office (my bad!), we opted to simply ask those working on these titles why we should keep their games on our collective radar. This week we'll be talking with people working on such games as Dead Space, Silent Hill: Homecoming and Project Origin, and kick things off today by asking Eden Games' producer Nour Polloni about her studio's re-imagining of survival horror architect Alone in the Dark, particularly, why should we care?