Randy Pitchford, CEO and president of Gearbox
Since my studio has two huge games at E3 in 2012, Aliens Colonial Marines and Borderlands 2, I’m hoping I have enough time to look around at all of the exciting games from other creators. I think the big blockbusters are obvious excitement points, but I like to use E3 to learn more about titles I’m interested in that aren’t already automatically going to get a ton of other media attention. If I’m lucky, the new project from Team Ico, The Last Guardian, will make some kind of appearance and I’m holding out hope that I can learn more about an English localization of the Studio Ghibli / Level-5 game, Ni no Kuni or Another World. I am also really excited to see what Nintendo has in store for us this year with the Wii U.

Donald Mustard, Creative Director, ChAIR, @donaldmustard and @ChAIRGAMES
I think some of the very best games of all time tend to be released near the end of a console cycle. Games like Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo, and Shadow of the Colossus on the Playstation 2.

Developers have had time to really understand and push today’s systems and are really comfortable with the technology. I hope the true masterpieces for the current consoles will be unveiled at E3 this year!

Alex Seropian, game designer, Industrial Toys, @steakbacon
This year will be a particularly interesting one at E3 for me. I’ve been heads down for the last few months doing the formative work on a new startup and designing a new game so the show will be a crash course on what I’ve been ignoring since then! But of particular interest to me is getting the latest from our friends at Epic on UE4. Great middleware is one of the ingredients fueling the best wave of game innovation I’ve ever seen (mobile and digital being among the others). I’m also excited to catch up with my friends at Disney. I expect amazing things from the mouse this E3 – I think they will impress. And, of course, can’t wait to get a peek at Halo 4 and catch up with friends at Microsoft. So, there’s my completely personally tilted list of stuff I will be seeking out. I’m honestly not a huge fan of the obnoxiously loud and wasteful display that E3 is. But I do love the occasions we have as an industry to come together and share ideas. I’m looking forward to it.

Tim Harris, Game Designer, Producer, Industrial Toys, @thewzrd
I’m always fanboy-geeked for the big stuff at E3, but it’s the trends that always seems to show themselves in between the booths that I’m most interested in this year. New hardware specs and announcements will chart a course for players and developers alike, but I also think that those announcements will shine a light on what’s happening outside of pure console development. Since every area of modern gaming has been borrowing from one another as far as features and design, I want to see how console, PC, mobile, browser and social gaming blur the lines and compliment each other (or don’t). Naturally, I think this year mobile will make its biggest splash ever, but it seems like we all say that every year, don’t we?

Ted Price, CEO, Insomniac Games
The two games I’m most hoping to see at E3 are The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite.

I thought Naughty Dog knocked it out of the park with Uncharted 3. The Last of Us looks like they’re taking cinematic action to new heights. And Bioshock Infinite sparked a lot of conversation at Insomniac when it was first revealed. Beautiful and twisted. We’re all hoping it’s playable at the show.

Paul Raines, CEO, GameStop
We think there will be a lot of buzz coming out of E3 this year. We are definitely interested in learning more about the Wii U, which kicks off the new console cycle. As you would expect, the next wave of consoles is exciting news for the whole industry. In fact, we recently engaged our PowerUp Rewards members in a dialogue around gen 4 consoles and they clearly indicated their intent to purchase. We expect demand to be high and GameStop is better positioned than ever before to help drive gen 4 console launches. Our 18 million PowerUp Rewards members have 24 million consoles in their game libraries, meaning GameStop’s trade-in program will be instrumental in helping defray the costs of purchasing new consoles. We expect to put an estimated $1.8 billion of currency back into customers’ pockets as they trade existing consoles toward gen 4 consoles.

We’re also looking forward to seeing some of the great new games that are due out this year, like Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Assassin’s Creed III, Halo 4 and FIFA Soccer 13. We’re already hearing great buzz on these titles and expect this to increase further after E3.

Social and mobile games will also have a significant presence, so we’re interested to see what will be showcased in that category.

Casey Lynch, Editor-in-Chief, IGN.com
While I’m incredibly excited about games like The Last of Us, Tomb Raider and Metro: Last Light, I’m probably most looking forward to playing Halo 4. We’ve only seen one brief demo since it was announced last year at E3, now it’s time to play it. In addition to hands-on, I’m excited to learn about the new enemy and figure out just what this new Reclaimer Trilogy is all about. I’m also eager to see what else Microsoft has behind its heavily protected curtains. With all the talk about a new Xbox console, this could be a huge year for Microsoft to surprise everyone with a glimpse. And even though Halo and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 will be front and center, I’m still holding out for some Gears of War news. Imagine a Microsoft conference with Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, new Gears of War, and even console news… now that has me excited.