The top 15 swag shirts of E3 2012

If you’re a journalist who hits enough behind-closed-doors appointments at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, someone will offer you something. Maybe just a bottled water. Possibly an art book. Almost certainly a USB hub that transforms into a USB robot (nope, not making that one up). Swag is the universal language of E3, as ubiquitous as booth babes and banner ads.

Apparel, however, rules the show. Nothing marks status like walking around the L.A. Convention Center with a fairly exclusive — and free — t-shirt nonchalantly draped over your shoulder. And these were the absolute best shirts (plus a few extras) we saw…or took home ourselves.

shirt_halo 4 HALO 4. They passed this one out at a special Halo after-hours event. Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk got them. We just have no idea what it means.
shirt_gree GREE. Interestingly, social game developer Gree only seemed to pass out babydoll tees. Read into that what you will.
shirt_spec ops the line SPEC OPS: THE LINE. They tossed these out of a bus on the show floor. They handed them off in front of the L.A. Convention Center. They must've brought a whole lot of 'em.
shirt_Unreal 4 UNREAL ENGINE 4. Just wearing it makes you next-gen.
shirt_Gears of War Judgment GEARS OF WAR: JUDGMENT. Or else it's a Black Panther Party t-shirt.
shirt_neverwinter NEVERWINTER. This might be the coolest Dungeons & Dragons shirt made since the '80s.
shirt_persona 4 arena PERSONA 4 ARENA. Voted "Shirt most likely to get you noticed in downtown Tehran."
shirt_borderlands2_front BORDERLANDS 2. The "thing kills you" PSA at the top of this article is on the back of this beauty.
shirt_parappa PARAPPA. Wait, there's a new Parappa game? I couldn't hear over the sound of The Last of Us.
shirt_wreck it ralph WRECK-IT RALPH. That's right, player. 8-bit 4 lyfe.
shirt_Family Guy Online FAMILY GUY ONLINE. The man behind the shirt started shouting "Free shirts!" He didn't mention it'd cost you five minutes to sign up for the game.
shirt_orgarhythm ORGARHYTHM. Don't ask us to pronounce this one. We can't tell you who decided to add real-time strategy to a dance game, either. But we got a shirt out of it, and that makes it brilliant.
shirt_hawken HAWKEN. The official shirt of mech pilots everywhere. Throw on a pair of aviator goggles and you're good to go.
shirt_world of tanks WORLD OF TANKS. And it has a tank on it! But no world.
shirt_injustice INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US. Because the DC Universe has never met an alternate reality it didn't love.
shirt_epic mickey 2 (Non-shirt Bonus #1) EPIC MICKEY 2. Oswald ears turned out to be the most popular non-shirt swag of the show. Now give the guy his own mousekteers.
shirt_nyko free fighter (Non-shirt Bonus #2) NYKO FREEDOM FIGHTER. Actually, that's a fighting-game controller, and capes just don't cut it compared to the red wigs Nyko gave out last year.
shirt_aliens colonial marines (Non-shirt Bonus #3) ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES. Instead of shirts, the Aliens crew passed out bandanas. Perfect camouflage for your next bug hunt.