E3 @ Home

For the past few years I've made an annual pilgrimage, not unlike some Chaucerean wanderlust through Olde England except that my destination was southern California and not once did I say 'soothe'. In total, I've enjoyed my E3 experiences, in part because there's something validating about being immersed in the immediate future of the games industry, but mostly because I like meeting people face-to-face with whom I usually only have a digital relationship. Covering E3, even for a relatively low-maintenance audience like GWJ – and I say that with infinite gratefulness – is a hell of a lot of work. I'm not complaining exactly, because in the process I get to play video games still months from release, but there's a lot of jockeying through understaffed PR folks to see canned demos by over-tired developers who've spent too many hours over the past three months just trying to make their E3 demos look good.

And in the end, from the uncomfortable chairs of the media center, my olfactory processes abused by the stench of sweat and stale caffeinated drinks, I end up reporting basically the same information as everyone else.

That sounds cynical I suppose, and it could have something to do with why I'm reporting to you this year from my favorite office chair, but don't misunderstand me. Good content can come from E3, and I maintain a position I had last year that outlets not called Gamespot or The Official Anything Magazine should use E3 as at least an opportunity to show that you're willing to make an effort. I suppose it's one thing to keep quiet in the group meetings during Q&A if you know you're getting one-on-one time later with Peter Moore, but if you're reporting for Kevin's Big Video Game Site.com and you can't think of a good question to ask Ray Mazurka after watching the latest demo of Mass Effect, then you may need to come to terms with the reality that you have the journalistic instincts of a rather pensive oak tree.

I hope the general reporting from E3 will be better this year, that perhaps in the aftermath of the show's shake-up the people who really want to make an effort will be sending back the news from Santa Monica. On the other hand, I feel like we did good work the last few years, and here we are on the sidelines waiting to see how it all shakes out. I almost feel guilty sitting here in the cheap seats and passing judgment. Almost.

As far as the experience of E3, whatever that may prove to be this time around, I'm not sure I feel like I'm missing out yet. I'm far better informed here in front of my PC, able to monitor events in real time, than I'd ever be at the actual show, and while one may imagine that E3 is a paradise of fondling fresh and untested code, in reality it is an endless sea of lines, crowd, noise and sensory overload. Only a few times per show do you really _feel_ like you're getting good, fun playtime in, and it's usually around that moment that I remember I've got twelve game write-ups to do and fifteen people behind me waiting to play the same damn game.

Being able to leisurely sip at the succulent core of E3 in my own time and at my own pace, if only through the digital ether of 1,500 miles, is itself something of a treat. But, best of all I sleep in my own bed tonight, and when I feel like not being at E3 anymore then I get up and go in the other room. E3 on demand is far better than I'd remembered.

In truth, I had kinda hoped that I would feel out of the loop here in my chair, and that I'd hear from people that it was a great experience and I was a fool for missing out. What I'm hearing instead is that it was an exhausting, poorly planned and somewhat uncertain event that didn't quite know what it wanted to be anymore; like E3 of old had exploded and its detritus had been littered about the city of Santa Monica stunned and disoriented. Only through online absorption has the show approached anything apparently cohesive, and that's through the diligent efforts of tired web-writers.

Not surprisingly, it seems like the fun is more in being the consumer than on the wait staff.

Does this mean I don't plan to go back? No, I like getting to see people too much, and for better or worse I do like doing the leg work to get my voice heard. But, believe me, being at home and consuming the show on my own time, playing the occasional new demo on my own 360, well that's certainly more fun from a gamer perspective.

Comments

Elysium wrote:

and not once did I say 'soothe'.

I don't believe you.

I wonder if this year's lackluster E3 will inspire either

1) no E3 next year

or

2) a fantastic E3 next year

because I can't see it being the same dull event that happened this year - it costs money to do this stuff, and if you come away with very little positive press, why bother?

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Elysium wrote:

and not once did I say 'soothe'.

I don't believe you.

My first thought: "Liar!"
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My sentiments exactly.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I wonder if this year's lackluster E3 will inspire either

1) no E3 next year

or

2) a fantastic E3 next year

because I can't see it being the same dull event that happened this year - it costs money to do this stuff, and if you come away with very little positive press, why bother?

Probably not 1, since I heard Sony had a decent showing so they won't be a whiny little Female Doggo again.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I wonder if this year's lackluster E3 will inspire either no E3 next year or a fantastic E3 next year because I can't see it being the same dull event that happened this year - it costs money to do this stuff, and if you come away with very little positive press, why bother?

How much do you think this year's E3 cost to setup versus 06's? How much positive press was generated this year versus last?

You have to judge the cost to benefit ratio; and you have to evaluate the actual benefit of the previous, orgy-style extravaganza. 1st and 3rd parties each spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to pull consumers towards their respective wares, only to cancel each other out with no net effect. Why even spend all that money?

Then there is the actual intent of the expo. What is the actual purpose of E3, sway consumer opinion or reassure investors that the upcoming holiday season will be a tropical downpour of cash money?

I can't imagine that investors are dialled in to E3. Analysts are, but they'd be dialled in without it. And institutions like the managers of mutual funds would probably prefer for news about the future to get out more slowly, so that they have time to make their moves prior to the general public getting the same info and taking the same action. Not that much of interest to a stock price happened at E3 anyway.

Imho. Or possibly nsho.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I can't imagine that investors are dialled in to E3. Analysts are, but they'd be dialled in without it. And institutions like the managers of mutual funds would probably prefer for news about the future to get out more slowly, so that they have time to make their moves prior to the general public getting the same info and taking the same action. Not that much of interest to a stock price happened at E3 anyway.

Imho. Or possibly nsho. :smile:

Given the charts for MSFT and SNE, I'd say you're right. Then again, if there was something new presented, there might have been a change. As it is, no news and no change may or may not correlate.

Fair enough, maybe it's not for investors, but what was missing that made this E3 dull? Any big reveals would have just been saved from the last few months for the sake of having something for E3. We got all the cool stuff we expect from E3, but dribbled out at a more practical pace through other channels over the past few months. Personally I prefer it that way.

What was the point of a crazy spectacular event? What is lost by not having one?

Danjo Olivaw wrote:

What was the point of a crazy spectacular event? What is lost by not having one?

To generate sales?

If the purpose of this year's E3 is only publicity, I don't see how it could have been any better. If you are missing most of your retail buyers and most of your development community, then E3 ceases to grease the wheels of the industry. Better to move important announcements to strategically appropriate times like the holiday season.

However, I suspect that 1 concentrated event generates more excitement than individual publisher-specific media shows.

I'm just saying that I used to really anticipate E3; last year I was in England while it was going on, but I was feverishly reading the news on my laptop at a Starbucks. There used to be a bunch of exciting announcements, but this year the only thing that interested me was a little news about Rock Band.

I can't believe Konami had the nerve to build up hype about a suprise announcement, only to reveal that they're making Silent Hill 6849. I mean, "that you were not expecting"? Wrongo - I totally expect for franchises to continue to have the souls sucked out of them ad infinitum. And I'm sure Silent Hill has its fans, but I can't imagine that anyone but the most devoted fanboy sees this as a big deal, and worthy of the hype.

Was it Konami who made the non-announcement a while back that just reiterated something they had already announced? 'cause this was a similar move, and these people need new jobs as muckrakers at a pig farm.

Can I just say that I was right?

I, on July 5th, wrote:

I predict that a lot of these predictions won't come true and this E3 won't have a tenth of the stuff that past E3s have had. Face it, it's all in the individual events held by publishers now; the days of the big unified conventions are rapidly dwindling.

I prefer the new toned down E3. I personally don't see the need to try and consolidate a bunch of new industry information into a very short amount of time.

*sniff*

I miss the Certis v Elysium pillow-fights.

VicD714 wrote:

*sniff*

I miss the Certis v Elysium pillow-fights. :(

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

"Those aren't pillows!"

IMAGE(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/protoleo/planestrains.jpg)

BWAHAHA!

I had to do a double-take. For a second there I thought that was Certis instead of Steve Martin.

Well done Doc, well done.

Kudos to the ESA for separating the cool people from all those stinky nerds! Selling games should be much easier now without all that crazy mad hype!

IMAGE(http://www.fordcomic.com/img/good_job.jpg)

I think this is what you all came here to see.

IMAGE(http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/elysiagwj/seanshawnpillows.jpg)

You'll be hearing from my lawyer!

"I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

Every. Single. Time.

The Pillow of Heterosexuality!

Ouch! Pwned by his own wife, I tell you!

Certis wrote:

"I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

Every. Single. Time.

Yeah, that's usually my thought, too. After wondering who told you that it was OK to stop dancing for the camera.