The Nintendo Direct was where most of the actual gameplay footage came from, and they had some great games and surprises. That said, Directs are just videos, so it could have been played during E3 or Labor Day or some random Thursday and had the same effect. E3 itself was ok. There were definitely less exciting announcements, MUCH less gameplay footage, and too much hidden for the sake of "next gen".
Maybe i missed something, but it seems like this year had less cringe moments too, which I always enjoyed about E3. Where were the Xbox dancers and actors, the Ubisoft models playing laser tag, the Nintendo execs playing wii music, or the high profile actors not giving a shit about the thing they're there to endorse (Keanu gets a pass here)? I guess it's more professional without that stuff, but that was half of what made E3s memorable. 2010 is still my all time favorite E3 and it had very little to do with the games announced.