As you may know, the biggest gaming event of the year is a little over one month away. This will mark the tenth year of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, beginning its run back in 1995 and continuing each year to give us the finest video game efforts to come for the remaining year. Through that time, some things have unfolded between the event itself and the pre-event press conferences that have been a bit surprising. Here now are the top five biggest surprises to emerge from or surrounding the event itself.

The 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo kicked off with a bang with a presentation by Sega of America, eager to pounce into the next generation in the fall with the release of their Sega Saturn game console. But perhaps they were a bit too eager. During this day, Sega president Tom Kalinske shocked the floor and the surrounding game stores by stating that the Sega Saturn game console would be in stores THAT DAY, along with five games, such as Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Panzer Dragoon, and Clockwork Knight. This move gave Sega some reassurance, as they felt they would get a jump on Sony's forthcoming PlayStation system. But Sony's console arrived to thunderous sales, and a mere few years later, the Saturn found itself put to pasture.

During the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Tecmo was busy trying to raise awareness and hype for their forthcoming Team Ninja game, Dead Or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball, as well as Dead Or Alive Online. However, perhaps the attention was a bit too great for their own good. During a stage show that featured live models, marshals patrolling the E3 floor found that the crowds had gotten just a little too big for their own good, overflowing Tecmo's booth and moving into other booths. The marshals had no choice but to cut off Tecmo's power and end the show, leaving most of the crowd disappointed. It marked the first time that an exhibit actually had to be closed down for being too much for its own good. Not even Vin Diesel's appearance at last year's E3 had that affect on the crowds.

Sega and Working Designs had always enjoyed a good relationship with the Saturn, as the third party company had published a number of solid games for the system, including Sega's own Sega Ages classic collection and Iron Storm. But one bad placement sent their relationship into a downward spiral. During E3 1998, Working Designs found their latest game, Magic Knight Rayearth, being shown at a Sega booth- somewhere tucked near the back. They didn't even have access to a Saturn system to show the title, and ended up getting one express mailed. Needless to say, they were upset, and Bernie Stolar, president of Sega at the time, didn't do anything to really stop them leaving Sega's system development. However, ironically, Rayearth ended up being the last game released for the Saturn, due to numerous delays.

During E3 2001, Microsoft was poised and ready to bring their Xbox game console to the market, allowing gamers a choice in next-gen entertainment aside from the PlayStation 2. During a press conference, they revealed a November 8th ship date for the system, as well as such launch games as Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and a well-crafted first-person shooter called Doom. Not to be outdone at their press conference, Nintendo revealed the Nintendo GameCube and gave it a release date all its own- November 5th, three days earlier than the Xbox. The releases themselves would be spread out a little bit (about two weeks' time frame) to allow gamers to be able to afford them both, but the general announcement was one of Nintendo's biggest...but their best year was yet to come.

At their pre-E3 press conference the day before the show was to begin in 2004, Nintendo was expecting a good following by press and fans alike at their event, and even offered up a neat little bonus in the guise of a little carrying bag. But little would they know that this year's event would be their most responsive- and rowdiest- yet. Reggie Fils-Aime, the chief marketing officer for Nintendo, opened up the show with footage of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Starfox: Assault, getting the crowd warmed up. Then came the Nintendo DS, getting wild applause. But then it got more insane when, yep, Reggie explained that the system would be wi-fi compatible. But nothing could prepare for the crowd response from the new Legend of Zelda trailer, leaving them yelling for more. Shigeru Miyamoto closed the event, sword in hand, saying the game would be worth the wait. This May, we see it for ourselves- and see if Reggie and Shiggy can have an even better pre-E3 event with the Revolution.