Introduction
By now you've probably read a good dozen or so "Best of" lists from the Electronic Entertainment Expo.  This is not one of those lists.   After all, it's incredibly hard to come up with an objective "Best Of" list that truly judges the quality of the gameplay on display at E3, mostly due to the fact that journalists seldom actually have a chance to sit down and play a game for anything more than a few minutes. (Don't blame us: when you have 1,500 games to see in 3 days the math just doesn't work out).  

"Best of" lists are the inevitable by-product of a trade show that features hundreds of good looking games and a culture obsessed with rankings, ratings, and the "bottom line."  Ultimately, "Best Of" lists do serve a purpose: They help gamers understand what games captured the hearts and minds of journalists trudging around the hot Los Angeles Convention Center.  "Seen anything good yet?" almost replaces "Hello" by the time you enter the convention center on the second day of E3 – with so many products to see, journalists are already slotting games on a "Best Of" list before they even get a chance to see them.  

What further complicates the "Best Of" game list is the perplexing issue of just how to compare a game that is shipping in a few weeks with a game that is years away from release.  Do you reward the game that is shipping this Christmas because it is nearly polished and could deserve an extra boost before release?  Or do you give a "Best Of" distinction to a game that is technically amazing but still years away from release (and will have many more E3s in its future)?  The good journalists in this industry often debate these questions.  After all, is Max Payne a better game than Star Wars: Galaxies?  One game is shipping in a matter of weeks; the other likely won't be out for a matter of years.  Do you reward completeness E3 or sheer potential?  It's not an easy question to answer.

Nevertheless, there's no question that Best of E3 lists serve their purpose.  But now that E3 has passed and most print publications have released their hit lists, I've decided to present a different kind of list: Five Forward Lookers.  These are five PC games that may not have had the best gameplay at E3, but clearly showed the most potential to change the way we think about PC gaming.    While some of these games received a lot of acclaim at E3, a few of these seemed to get lost in the mix. 

Here are Five Forward Lookers: PC games that give us a window into where our favorite pastime may go in the future.