Trailers are interesting things. They’re created to build enthusiasm for a new release, but sometimes they transcend the medium and open our eyes to a whole new world.

Gears of War did this back in 2005. Dead Island‘s trailer emulated the success and even brought Giles Lamb some coin from iTunes in the process.

So here are the trailers of 2011′s E3 (the ones we liked the most):

Skyrim

The level of detail is remarkable. Gameplay footage shows all of the wandering glory of Oblivion with upgrades worthy enough to reach the Playboy mansion. We’re looking forward to exploring the constellar talent trees as much as we are the free-flying, roaming dragons. Skyrim releases on November 11, 2011.

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Ezio is back, and from the looks of it, he’s going to murder everybody. He’s also seeing Altair walking in his midst, so that means we have a man in an animus living through a man in his memory who is seeing someone who isn’t really there. Wonder if this game comes with a free hit of ecstasy. AC: Revelations will be released November 15, 2011.

Tomb Raider (We know…)

It’s been years since Tomb Raider was a relevant game. But this trailer shows something afoot in the world of Lara Croft. We think it’s attitude. Gritty fucking attitude. We hope it plays that way at least. Tomb Raider hits shelves Fall 2012.

Mass Effect 3

Commander Shepard will probably blow up the whole fucking universe, but it’s a fair trade as long as we get to hear more one-liners and snarky comments. And Garrus. Lots of hype on this game; we need a heavy payoff. ME3 will be released on March 6, 2012.

Dead Island

We love the follow-up trailer to quite possibly the best trailer of the year. Now that a good chunk of gameplay footage has been released, we are excited to start another zombie massacre. Dead Island releases on September 6, 2011.