Hey there fellow denizens of Xbox Live! I know it's been a long time since we last spoke, but a few things came up. First, the release of Battlefield 2: Modern Combat absolutely destroyed my productivity, as I was more concerned about moving up in rank and becoming a couch-bound General than sitting down to write. I've also recently been infatuated with the Xbox Live Spring Update, which improved upon many of the service's features and added plenty of others (my Active Downloads queue is constantly full). Between those two events, I was busy at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the yearly video game show that gives everyone (who can get in) a chance to check out what might be the "next big thing" in gaming.

There were a ton of great-looking Xbox 360 games at E3 this year, many of them with what are sure to be strong multiplayer modes. It looks like the future of Xbox Live will be full of plenty of shooting, fragging, and, um, sporting. While there are a lot of titles, a few stood out more than the others, even though we didn't get to check out the multiplayer modes for many of them. Yes, I'm basing this list mainly on what the developers have planned, so you'll likely see some changes when the games are finally released. So, without further ado, here's the official My So-Called Live's Top 5 E3 Multiplayer Games That Might Be Totally Awesome (or Might Not) on Xbox Live. Hmmm, maybe we need to work on that title a little bit...

5. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

We've only heard whisperings about the multiplayer aspect of the latest game in Gearbox's hugely popular WWII series, but it sounds like the Xbox Live play will be getting a complete overhaul. It still remains to be seen whether or not this is a good thing (after all, the first two are among my favorite Live games), but it sounds like the developers are trying to make the gameplay more balanced by taking the players' online and offline experiences into account. This should help make it easier for newbies to get in on the action, as the previous games tended to painfully humble first-timers. The one thing we're not all that happy about? No more Skirmish mode. Waaaaaaaah!



4. Huxley

Do you like first-person shooters? How about MMOs? If you answered yes to both of those questions, this is undoubtedly the game for you. If what Miguel Lopez (our resident MMO expert) tells me is true, it sounds like this may be the first game that is truly able to unite Xbox 360 and PC gamers. The 360 game will feature a unique single-player mode, in which you'll play as Sabato, the villain in the PC game. This will also translate to the online game, as teams of PC players will do battle, aided in combat by a "hero" controlled by a 360 player. I'm assuming that this player will be more powerful, as the PC players have the advantage of using a keyboard and mouse. Will it work? It's tough to say, but this very well may be the most ambitious multiplayer game we've ever seen