E3 2015:.  Our  Top  Video  Game  Picks:.

From the most beautiful to the most weird, we give you the lowdown on the hottest games from this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo. C'mon, you know you wanna play..

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(Image: Tomasz Mikołajczyk via Pixabay).

The gaming year has two different holiday seasons. The first is the actual Christmas season, when all the best games come out. The other is theElectronic Entertainment Expo (E3), where all the hottest upcoming games are announced. E3 is wrapping up in LA this week, so we're giving you a look at the best games to include in your letters to Santa this year and beyond..

In addition to hot games, several big trends in gaming emerged from E3, including improvements in mobile gaming and the latest salvos in the ongoing video game console wars. But the real excitement for video game enthusiasts is in the news of upcoming releases..

Every year the list of compelling video games seems to grow. To make things easier on myself, I decided to break the games up by category. For example, Microsoft announced two of its staple alien shooter franchises at E3, Gears of War 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. Those are known quantities that we can all get excited about, but how much space do we need to devote to them? So I stuck them together..

In the process, I made room for indie games and new IP. The gaming industry is a franchise industry, as is the movie business, but for everyAvengers or Star Wars, game producers need to put out future tent pole titles so when their stalwart franchises dry up, they've got others ready in the pipeline. This list features several new franchises that stand a good chance of spawning sequels and becoming regulars at E3..

Check out the list of old and new video games and tell me, in the comments section below, which ones have you drooling..