The Top 7... E3 announcements you missed

Ah, another E3 over. And what an E3 it was. It was a veritable clusterf*ck of news. Megatons were going off so often a casual reader couldn't possibly keep up. Hell, we here at GamesRadar barely could and it's our freaking jobs. So it can be forgiven with all the Natals, Metroids and Final Fantasy XIVs that some news that would have been a big deal any other week got missed. But GR has you covered with the 7 most important news items you probably weren't aware of.

1) You will be able to download real 360 games, but no new Xbox Originals

The Microsoft press conference was chock full of games and celebs, but there was so much going on that Microsoft had a post conference luncheon to cover the stuff that got cut from the show. And the biggest deal that could have even more impact than Project Natal on the market? The fact that, very soon, you will be able to download full 360 games to your system. The examples given were the original Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed and BioShock.

Above: If you haven't purchased Mass Effect by the time it's available to download, for shame 

Don't think crusty two year old games are a big deal? Think about it: this is a huge step towards original, full games like Mass Effect 2 and BioShock 2 being available for download on the same day. It might not make GameStop or Walmart happy, but the convenience of getting major AAA releases, not just bite-sized arcade games, whenever you want is a whole lot closer.

One unfortunate downside is that Microsoft will stop making any more Xbox Originals available. In several statements the company has made it official that after one final Xbox game, it's only committed to putting 360 classics available to download. Rats, looks like we'll never get to repurchase Blinx, what a shame.

2) Nintendo silently announces tons of games

Love it or hate it, the Nintendo press conference focused on a handful of important games, but they're a big company, so there's got to be more right? Well immediately following the end of their showing, for those who went to Nintendo's E3 page you got to see a ton of info on more than a half dozen games not seen at the press conference.

 Most strikingly, it had info on four new RPGs: Monado from Monolith Soft, Glory of Heracles, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorer of Sky and Fossil Fighters. Admittedly those are mostly aimed at the more informal RPGists, but what about the intriguing platformer/pinball mash-up Span Smasher? And lastly it announced Picross 3D, a whole new spin on the awesome and underrated puzzler. The most exciting news around the GR office was that not only is a new Professor Layton coming out, but it comes out in just two months. Looking at that list, it's odd they were left out considering Nintendo's desire to earn back hardcore cred.

3) The guy who wrote Apocalypse Now is making a game

John Milius is one of the heavyweights of cinema (at least he was in the 70s and 80s). His top credit is writing the cinema classic Apocalypse Now, but he was also involved in Dirty Harry, Conan the Barbarian and Clear and Present Danger. And now he’s entering gaming as a concept he created is being made into the game Homefront from Kaos Studios and THQ. The story sounds like Milius is ripping off his own film, Red Dawn, only replacing Soviets with North Koreans. You play as American soldiers out to free the USA from its evil occupiers, through violent and explosion filled FPS action. Not much else is known about it, but our interest is piqued.