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One Man. 3 E-s. A story of two days at the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Date: 2006-05-26
Author: Vaga
From the author:
As I stared at the dozen pages of scrambled, chicken-scratched notes that I
emerged with after this year's E3 (or, as I think of it, THE E3, since it was my
first one), I realized that I have a number of choices on how to write this
article. I could focus on the games. I could focus on the girls. I could
(always!) just focus on humor. Or, I could focus on the experience. As I
recalled the years of E3 articles that I have read on other sites, and as I
browsed around those same sites to see how they are covering the show this year,
I saw an invariable trend to zero in directly on the games, the announcements,
the hardware. Which is great, to be sure, except it gives you very little feel
of the atmosphere and the look and feel of the show, which are quite fascinating
in themselves. And so, my choice is made. What lies before you is a story of
what it is actually like to be at E3, and for a first time, at that. I really
hope you enjoy it.
Day 1
Because of circumstances beyond my control, I arrived at the E3, or to be more precise, at the LAX hotel from which I was to be shuttled to E3, on the second day of the show - Thursday. My flight from an undisclosed location got in just in time to get me to the hotel by 10:35 am - 25 minutes before the last shuttle for the morning. This left me barely enough precious seconds to check in, mentally curse out the credit card company that decided to suddenly block my MasterCard, run upstairs, change, grab my pass and camera and jump back into the elevator by 10:50.
As the doors open I spot a guy in his early 20-ies, Far Eastern in appearance. Around his neck hangs a pass to the E3. "I guess that means I am in time for the shuttle," I joke, nodding at the pass. "I don't know," my elevator companion cocks his head. "The 10:30 one never showed up." Before I can begin to worry, however, we exchange a few more phrases, and it turns out that my new acquaintance has a car waiting outside, in which I am promptly offered a ride. I wisely accept. We meet two of his friends by the front door and proceed to the car which is standing by the curb.
I have to say that I have never seen a more pimped out Scion in my entire life. Oh sure, it looked like any other Scion from the outside. That is, until the doors swung out upwards, like on a Lamborghini. That's right, Lamborghini doors on a Scion. Touch?. The inside was likewise properly equipped with a fancy navigation system, a killer aftermarket stereo and a bunch of other gadgets. As the car revvs out onto the freeway, we begin to chat again and it turns out that the guy I spoke to in the elevator has his own production house, and is thinking of getting into video game production. That, at least, is my excuse to be here, he laughs. My own excuse, of course, is that I run a gaming website. Production house. Gaming website. Yeah. I ask if Wednesday was a good day at the show, and find out that they met Hideo Kojima and that, apparently, every day here is a good day. I smile. Suddenly it feels really freaking great to be a gamer.
I part ways with my new friends right outside the Los Angeles Convention Center where the show is taking place - they head straight into the South Hall, whereas I have to go over to the West Hall to register and get a badge holder for my press pass.
Just as I make my way to cross the street I run into a huge installation by the America's Army - Special Forces contingent -
an actual chopper, a Humvee, and a large-breasted girl in a Special Forces uniform sporting a really big machine gun are splattered smack in the middle of the sidewalk.
Enthused fans are allowed to crawl on top (the Humvee, not the girl), one by one, for pictures. After a few minutes of ogling I take in the larger view of the convention center, which looks like a mad gamer's Christmas tree magnified a whole bunch of times and then some. Huge Times Square style billboards with ads of hottest new games and systems (Huxley, Unreal Tournament, Band of
Brothers) give an awesome preview of what's to come inside. Prominent among them is the ubiquitous PS3 "rock-paper-scissors" ad, which I have been noticing all over the city. It's kind of silly, but I am just proud that a gaming ad is taking up that much billboard space.
I am trying real hard not to run.
I am surprised to discover that access to the lobby is actually open to the public. I wonder if LA gamers know this. If I hadn't been able to get a pass to the show and lived in LA this is where I would be hanging out. There is actually quite a bit to see in the lobby areas: G4TV's E3 studio, the E3 merchandise store, a couple of big-screen trailer installations, and I believe even one or two games are being demo-ed right out here. There are also a some free E3 publications and even some free chuchkies to be gotten. There are people giving out Xbox 360 shopping bags everywhere, but I hold off on picking one up quite yet - I want to see my choices. After a quick run to the second floor I get my badge holder and head back downstairs and towards the center of the convention center (now they check my id!), leafing through a thick E3 guide booklet on the way. The primary sensation I am experiencing right now is excited confusion - I am frantically trying to figure out what to see first and where to go next. I decide I'll start with a quick survey of the entire show (easier said than done!) and make mental notes on where I want to come back to on the second pass.
As I make my way through, the overall impression from
this place is like I am at some kind of super-cool
theater production. This is nothing like the boring car
or consumer electronic expos I've been to. The place is
full of huge video screens filled with gaming action,
there are costumed characters, themed installations
(think Apcot Center, except for games!), and, of course,
scantily clad girls all over the place. All of this
(except for the girls :) ) will surely get tiring after
a while, but it's working great for my E3 newbie ass
thus far. Watching younger and older gamers alike
interact with the girls is often quite amusing, by the
way. A fat man climbs up onto a throne to get his
picture taken with two girls from the Age of Conan:
Hyborian Adventures booth, and I just have to snap a
picture: it's simply too comical to miss.
Prime among all the installations are, of course, the PS3 and Nintendo areas (calling them 'booths' would just be wrong based on sheer size). There are big lines right now to get into both; for curiosity's sake I try to find the end of each line, I find Sony's, but Nintendo's is clearly longer. I let them both be for now and keep looking around.
The first game I actually get to play is Rockstar Games Ping Pong for the Xbox 360. The line to check out this one is only a few people, so it fits into my "quick pass" schedule. All right, all right, so I am also a ping pong junkie. I used to play semi-professionally (I can just see Al Bundy's face here as he tells about how he used to play high school football!), so I pretty much have to try this one. A developer walks me through the controls (I know it's my first time here and that must be why, but I still find that fact incredibly cool!) and we set off. Ping Pong is what you call a party game - there is skill involved, for sure, but you can also pick it up easily and swing away - kind of like Tekken. Yes, I am aware that I just compared Ping Pong to Tekken.
The game looks fantastic (more fantastic than it will in my HDTV-less house, to be sure, but still!) and I am pleased to see that all of the major moves of ping pong have been authentically reproduced. Yes, my friends, there is more to ping pong than just the famous "push the ball over the net" move - think of it as tiny tennis to get a truer approximation. There are all sorts of spins, and slices and fancy serves and things - and, what's more important, Rockstar has managed to make it all accessible and fun for the casual gamer. There are cool slow-mo replays, and impossible dives, and fancy camera work to better illuminate the critical shots - it's quite fun to look at. The only small gripe I have is that the overall speed of the game is just a touch on the slow side - real ping pong is a frantic, high-speed affair believe it or not, but it doesn't really spoil the experience. I chat a little bit with the dev and get a Rockstar ping pong ball for my efforts. Sweet! This game is definitely going in my house.
One important thing I learn from my Ping Pong experience is that here at the E3 it seems much more efficient to try the games alongside a developer. You don't waste time figuring out the controls (even though they are always posted, it's obviously not the same as getting a personalized walkthrough), you can ask them questions, and to top it off, they point out all sorts of cool features for you that you may have not had time to discover on your own, what with "the next guy in line" always breathing down your neck. I make a mental note of this, and glance at my watch.
I have never ever gotten anyone's autograph. I don't
really know why; I suppose it was some mixture of
shyness and proud disinterest - whenever there was
someone whose autograph I wouldn't mind having for a
change, one had to work way too hard to get it, and
conversely, whenever a chance for an autograph did open
itself up, it was usually for someone whose 30 seconds
of personal attention I didn't really care to bid for.
In any case, I am about to break the streak, because
Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb of X-Play are signing
autographs in the South Hall Lobby from 12-1 pm. Step
aside, Madonna, the King of Geeks has arrived, and it's
Morgan's autograph that he wants! Yes, it's stupid, but
who cares. These guys are the best thing G4TV has going
for them, and the only show with that real sharp,
twisted, quick sense of humor that makes me tickle in
places. I snap a couple of shots while I wait in line,
and then it's my turn. I just have to crack some kind of
a joke here, of course, so I tell them I have 3 TVs in
my house just to watch X-Play. I don't tell them about
the ADD, let them figure it out. From what I can tell in
my 30 seconds they seem like a cool couple of
characters. Morgan says "thank you" and Adam says "good
bye", and I notice that Morgan is not wearing shoes. I
don't ask why, just like you aren't going to ask why I
noticed it, but it gets her extra points.
It's about time for lunch (all I had so far in the day was a moldy cracker with some bloody mary mix on the plane), but one look at the lines in the lunch area sends me back to the show floor - as hungry as I am, I prefer to spend time playing games rather than standing in line. Packing a brown bag lunch to this place is a really good idea if standing in line for an hour to pay 8 bucks for a cheeseburger is not your idea of a good time. I wonder if that line for smoothies is longer than the one to see the Nintendo Wii. Chuckle.
In the next couple of hours I see a whole bunch of things. The folks over at Webzen have pulled out all the stops to push their new MMOG Huxley as well as a few other games. They've got a whole stage show with costumed characters, contests, dancers and God knows what else. They are giving out the biggest size shopping bag at show (3 Xbox 360 bags fit in easily) and a whole bunch of other glowing, shining, julienne-fry-making things, including some kind of blow-up rafts (or are they dolls?!!) that can be spotted all over the place. Right next to them the Tony Hawk people have set up a half-pipe and real skaters are showing off their tricks in front of the crowd. The tricks are cool enough, but nothing beats seeing them fall from 30-feet up in the air and slide down on their kneepads.
These kids definitely have extra pairs of balls.
I swing by the EA area and check out some of their trailers on a 360-degree panoramic screen. The screen as cool, but as has been the case lately with EA, the games are nothing special. All the usual sports stuff, and Superman. There is a playable build of the latter right outside in which you can completely take apart the environment and chuck it at a big blue guy who doesn't do much in return. The coolest thing about it is the "40% complete" sign in the bottom left corner of the screen. I walk away hoping the other 60% has better stuff in it than the first 40.
Sierra has a trailer of very constipated looking groups of soldiers moving absentmindedly around a battle field (they refer to this as Caesar IV), but not far from them NCSoft is making somewhat better use of their admittedly larger floor space: they've got scores of playable games, a stage show with fire eaters, dancers and all sorts of characters, and a live commentary of some people playing the latest Guild Wars expansion on a huge projection screen. The message this company is trying to send is pretty loud and clear: we are the kings of MMOs. In addition to Guild Wars they are showing off the new Aion and many others, all running the way they wouldn't at my house - on souped up Dells with double SLI Nvidia cards. The graphics, are, of course, stunning, but the gameplay is the same old affair - run, group, kill, die, respawn, repeat. I play a few of the games briefly and watch other people run around a couple of more. It's pretty, but it's not real innovative. They've got one of better looking bags here, though, and I pick one up before moving on.
By 3pm I have a veritable volcano in my pocket - no, it's not what you thought, it's just my lunch money desperately waiting to get out. I head back to the cafeteria ready to stand in a line of any size necessary. Thankfully, by now things have finally settled down a little, though it still takes a quarter of an hour to place my burger order. Without a doubt, a burger line at E3 is not quite like any other burger line out there: ahead of me are a bunch of Ziff-Davis media "journalists" who don't look old enough to have passed the 18-year-old age limit check (or to eat solid food, for that matter); behind me, a level 28 Oblivion player is imparting wisdom onto a level 4 as they both peruse their signed copies of the official Oblivion Strategy Guide. It's not for the faint of heart or the weak in the knees, to be sure.
As I finally get my food (I grip my tray harder to make sure I am not delusional) and stroll to the outside seating area, I run into a bit of luck, and a table opens up on my left. I plunk down my food and start attacking the packets of ketchup. Three bites into my burger later, a couple of guys ask if they can share my table and accept my muffled squeal as agreement. They turn out to be a Chinese developer and a British journalist, having an informal interview. The Brit asks all sorts of questions about what's happening with gaming in China. The Chinese developer explains. I listen. Turns out China is all into free online games with micro payments, but what they are trying to figure out is how to balance things out so as to not alienate the poorer players. I wonder if this will be the next big thing here in the US. There is already quite a bit of talk, of course, but there isn't any real steam yet. The steam, apparently, is in China. I guess we have to wait for a fresh new wind from the east to bring it over. The Brit also asks about piracy, but his Chinese friend is, unsurprisingly, unconcerned. Piracy is an unavoidable evil, he says. There is very little we can do about it. I could definitely argue with that statement, but it's very evident that it is simply not a big concern there. They are clearly aware of it, though - it's no wonder they are moving to a micro payment model.
After lunch it's back to exploring the exhibits. On one of my by now countless ambles between the South and West Halls I stop by the Lucas Arts area only to find out they are letting people in by appointment only until Fri. Rats! My media badge does nothing for me here, but mostly I am just wondering what they have in there that is so secretively special. I don't remember the Lucas Arts name in any of the big pre-E3 announcements. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.
Next to Lucas Arts is a nice little exhibit called Into The Pixel - one that I probably would have missed otherwise. It's a nice change of pace from the rest of the show - there are no games here, no girls, no loud banging noises. What's here are a some tables for quiet chatting or just rest, framed by a great selection of video game art - original paintings and other artwork that came before all the textures and the bump mapping and the 3D models. There are some really cool pieces here - paintings from Jak II, God of War, Metal Gear Solid, Turok. I walk around for a while, taking my time, slowing down. This place has a different perspective to it, more library- or museum-like. For some reason it makes me remember the first of the Gabriel Knight games. I like it.
After my little art detour, I go back for another check on the Wii line, where I am told that at this point it's 'special guests' only until tomorrow, and then spend the rest of the day checking out some of current gen games. I reminisce about the good old days with Midway's Mortal Kombat, and get a laugh out of a graphical bug in their SpyHunter game - if you drive the car off the cliff into the water, and then drive back out onto dry land, the car retains it's "submerged" look - except, of course, now it's submerged in concrete. They are also showing off their new Rise & Fall: Civlizations at War strategy game for the PC, complete with a dude in a Roman helmet to demo it. It's a pretty standard strategy installment, buffed up with detailed naval warfare, heroes, and crappy pathfinding. I get a large crowd of warriors firmly stuck in a ditch between a hillside and a town, and wonder off.
Square Enix has a number of current gen Final Fantasy games on display, but to be honest, they are looking quite pale in comparison to the flashy Xbox 360 and PS3 games being demo-ed on high end high-definition sets. It doesn't help that the gameplay mechanics of these titles is even more dated than the graphics. The online FFXII proudly claims departure from turn-based combat to a real-time scheme, but all they have really done is take away the timers, and that's just the way it feels - same old turn-based affair with self-expiring timers. They haven't bothered to really re-invent the dynamics of the battle system with the move to real time, and the final result really suffers. Add mind-numbing loading times between zones and you've got yourself one really stale pretzel. I have been growing tired of FF games for a few years now, but I can't imagine even a real dedicated FF fan feeling too good about this one. This is old news, to boot, and I wonder why they bother to even bring stuff like this to the show. The funniest part of it all is that they actually have someone standing around asking people not to take pictures of this "exclusive" content. I have lots of respect for Square Enix, but this just strikes me as pathetic.
Battlezone for PSP proves a memorable title, not so much because of the gameplay (it's a pretty standard Twisted Metal clone), but because I get to play it from the luxury of a comfortable armchair, which is immensely welcome by this time in the day - smart planning by the
Atari marketing team. I also get a good view of a bunch of people playing Guitar Hero II - an immensely popular game here. Not every player will shell out the extra bucks for the guitar controllers required to play the game at home, but they are definitely happy to have a good go at it here - and with a good reason - it's a great sounding, great looking, extremely stylish and overall slamming game. I haven't the energy to try it myself at this point, though, and as the clock rounds the 6pm closing time, I make my way out and onto Shuttle Bus #13. I doze off to the sound of chirping GameBoys. Bebeep!
Day 2 >>
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