Sega's E3 presence was among the weakest at last week's event, trumped only by the pitiful showing at Camp Belmont, a notion not helped by the absence of Gearbox-developed Aliens: Colonial Marines from either the show floor or Sega's own booth. Videogamer.com cornered Gearbox president Randy Pitchford about the missing shooter, a no-show he blamed squarely on Sega's marketing strategy, adding that "the game is in great shape. People are going to freak out when they see it."

By people, he obviously didn't mean Sega's own marketing VP Sean Ratcliffe, who told us that while the publisher was considering showing the game at E3, Sega didn't feel that it was quite ready for prime time. "I think it needs a little more time before we want to put it in front of the press," the exec told us. He added that more news regarding the status of Aliens: Colonial Marines will be announced sometime after E3, though we continue to hope that Sega will release game as planned in late 2008 and not nuke the site from orbit.

[Thanks Cellien]