EA at E3
From the E3 Blog: Jeff Green's 15th E3
Because I'm older than you, I've done many things in life more times than you have. Some of those things aren't really suitable for discussion on a family website. We will skip past those. Other things, maybe a tad more relevant. Take, for example, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, as it is known amongst the lower classes. When I walk into the hallowed and gamer-BO'ed scented hallways of the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 15, it will be the 15th time I have done so. For the historians out there, that means I've only ever missed one: the first one, in 1995, when I was still toiling away at MacWEEK magazine.
E3, if'n you don't know, is the biggest games industry convention in North America each year. Over in Europe, you've got Games Com, and in Japan, you've got the Tokyo Game Show, but here in Amurica, we've got E3, dammit, and if you don't like it, well, you know where the airports are.
There have been good E3s and bad E3s. For a solid decade, the E3 convention followed a large upward trajectory as gaming got bigger and bigger. Unfortunately, it also got more unwieldy, more unbearably crowded, and more expensive, until it finally imploded in 2006, a victim of its own success, with publishers and developers and media types all begging not to have to go anymore. As a result, what we got in 2007 and 2008 was the "E3 Media and Business Summit", a pathetic, invitation-only event that had about as much excitement and energy as a convention of traveling shoe salesmen. Yes, it sure was quiet, and boy the beach view was nice in Santa Monica, but...where was everyone? It was a classic case of "be careful what you wish for," as the games industry realized, after all, that no matter how big and loud and expensive and insane E3 had become---making it the beast we all loved to hate---the fact is that we needed that beast, if for no other reason that as a celebration of self, a chest-beating declaration to the world that the games industry is here, and it matters. And so, last year, in 2009, it was restored to its former glory, with everyone in the industry and their grandma going, with the multimillion dollar booths and overcrowded parties and undressed booth babes and tens of thousands of attendees all jostling each other to see all the upcoming new games and buy cold $8 dollar hot dogs. In other words, it got fun again.
I can't really remember everything about every E3 I've been to. Nor would that be interesting to read about. But I do recall certain highlights from years past, and so, kids, gather 'round grandpappy's knees here and lemme tell y'all a few of my fondest memories. And stop hitting each other!
