E3 round-up – it's all a blur

E3 round-up – it's all a blur

May 15

I was, as Matt mentioned previously, on the floor at E3, and I was workin’ like a dog. So my key thoughts and reactions to E3 are slightly limited and from a wierd angle.

I’ll write a few of them down here;

PS3/Wii – It’s fair to say that Wii ruled the show. To touch the 27 games they were demoing, you had to wait in line for what was anywhere from 3-5 hours long. But anyone who did get to touch them came out gasping for air, the awesomeness of the system overwhelming. Nobody talked about what the games looked like – they looked very good apparently, but what people loved was just playing the games. The controllers and their varied uses really excited people. Sony meanwhile wasn’t super-visable, they had only a handful of games you could get hands on with, and despite poo-pooing Nintendo and its controllers as being gimmicky, they dumped their crappy initial controller design, and we back to the old design with gimmicks.

The kicker was their announced pricing – in a perfect world, waiters would have roamed the convention floor, handing out cups of coffee, so people could take a sip, hear the release price of the PS3, and then spit it out in startled surprise. Then they’d wipe their mouths and exclaim, “holy shit!” As it is not a perfect world, they only did the last bit.

Dead Rising – it’s a game where you kill zombies and it’s fun. I’m so there.

Game Quest – situated right across from the booth I was demoing at, these guys get the rights to reproduce games that still have an aftermarket audience. For example, they just acquired Rez for the PS2. They basically saw that these games were going for $100US, used, on eBay, so they figure they get the rights, they produce a few thousand, and sell for $30 instead. They have a selection of games for every system going back to the PSX. I bought, finally, a copy of Super Puzzle Fighter Turbo. Happiness ensued.

Industry Nerds Only Please – Over the past few years, E3 has worked to be more tradeshow and less nerd circus. Last time I attended E3, they demanded business cards to prove you worked in the industry. This year, they demanded a lot more, like copies of your incorporation, insurance card (Canadian companies don’t have those, by the way), W2 form (ditto), paystub, and advertisment with business card. In the end, I actually had to drag a rep from our publisher to vouch that we weren’t dirty nerds, but developers (ie dirty nerds that get paid for it.)

The end result was an E3 that the press loved, as they didn’t have to fight the same massive crowds and a less vibrant E3 for exhibitors, where we actually want fanboys to come see our game. We’ll see where this all goes.

America’s Army – They were once again out front, promoting they game while promoting signing up for a tour of duty. This year they had a big banner on a nearby wall, pitching the Army as “No power-ups, no costumes, no cheat-codes.” Oh, and no respawns. There were also demonstrators, but they got hustled off pretty quick, which was a shame.

Booth Babes – There was a lot of noise about restrictions on booth babes, which was pretty much completely ignored in practice, but it did produce a second wave of protestors, this time by booth babes. While I can’t say that having a scantly clad woman in front of your booth is in any way progressive, at least it’s more honest and less creepy than the GDC I was at, where a woman in a t-shirt that read Touching is Good, wandered around wearing a Nintendo DS utility belt (ie a belt housing four DS systems on tethers), asking people to play with her. Shudder. And she was wearing jeans, too, which made it creepier.

Sword of the Stars – Undoubtably the best kept secret of the show. yee haw.

Frogger – Frogger is 25 years old. Jesus, I’m a fossil.

History of Gaming – a local amusement dealership provided a SHIT-LOAD of old arcade games and handheld systems of days gone by. I played a lot of Elevator Action and remembered why I hated the Return of the Jedi arcade game. Isometric driving sucks ass.

That’s all that comes to mind for now – If I think of something later, I’ll give you a call.