Your E3 Hype, Memories & Traditions

[Julius]

Ahead of E3 kicking off this Saturday, I've found myself getting very excited. Perhaps, naively, this is the most excited I've been for E3, even with big publishers like EA and PlayStation not being present, simply because the last year or so has at times felt never-ending and gaming - and N-Europe - have been great escapes for me, and I'm sure many others here, from what's been going on around us. 

Now, I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an E3-watching veteran. As I've made clear many times over the last 5 years, I still consider gaming to be a relatively new interest for me, as I'm still constantly learning new things, and this is despite growing up around certain games and having great memories of gaming from growing up. 2015's E3 of Dreams was in the summer I left high school, when by far my biggest interest had recently become films, and while gaming news would occasionally filter through from console-warring friends growing up (who didn't see the face-off between Xbox's and PlayStation's E3 2013 booths?), it wasn't until I bought myself a PS4 for Star Wars Battlefront in November 2015 that I truly started to get into games. Fast forward a few rough months in my personal life and I landed here, and fast forward a few more months and I found myself watching my first E3 live. Now, E3 had crossed my path certain times growing up, such as when learning about Pokémon news in Pokémon World or on serebii.net, or seeing the 3DS on BBC News after it debuted at E3 2010, and I've since gone back to watch older conferences, but I didn't really get what E3 was until I had spent some time here and watched my first E3 live. 

And E3 2016 was quite simply magical as my first E3 experience.

PlayStation's E3 2016, 5 years on, remains by far and away my personal favourite E3 conference - and one of my favourite gaming conferences in general - simply because it was electric. I was learning new names and faces while Shawn Layden absolutely killed it on that stage, backed by the biggest trump card of them all in my opinion - a live orchestra conducted by Bear McCrearey, who live-scored many of the conference's trailers and demos, including the opening demo for God of War. It was a series I'd heard of, a character I'd seen many times before, but it blew me away. This was followed by the reveal of Days Gone (which looking back really could have quite easily been a Last of Us spin-off if Sony were going to place a massive emphasis on review scores and sales, but that's besides the point), then a release date trailer for The Last Guardian, a new trailer for Horizon Zero Dawn, the reveal of Detroit, that insane reveal trailer for Resident Evil 7, some great VR stuff (X-Wing VR Mission, Arkham, that hilarious XV VR trailer), the announcement of the Crash remasters, Kojima revealing himself and Death Stranding's reveal trailer, the Spider-Man reveal trailer, and then finally looping back around to a live demo of Days Gone. Insanely stacked, mostly killer and very, very little filler, and I remember smiling through most of it not having a point of reference for so much. I even remember reading up on some of the names on the stage after the conference, I really enjoyed learning more about the industry, and this show in particular is a standout to me not just in terms of content, but in that it kind of hooked me. 

This was followed a few days later by what is my favourite E3 trailer, hands down: 

I genuinely think I've watched that trailer hundreds of times, and every single time I get chills. It's the trailer that got me willing to buy a Switch without even really having the financial capacity to at the time (if anyone remembers, I actually did pre-order the Switch, Breath of the Wild, and a whole bunch of those amiibo before talking myself down a few weeks ahead of the Switch's launch; I went on to pick it up with my first salary after getting my first full-time job a few years later). What's fascinating about the trailer to me is that it starts out very quiet, but immediately captures your attention, showing you the different landscapes of Hyrule with the ambient sounds of the world accompanying some soft piano strokes, all before Link jumps off that ledge. The freedom of the game is instantly on show, so many of its different mechanics and systems are highlighted relatively quickly one after another, and then the music - that erhu! - just kicks in after that split second of silence and darkness, and immediately sends your hairs standing on end. It's mesmerising. I think a massive part of it for me is that it captures a vibe that I've only otherwise experienced in Princess Mononoke, one of my favourite films; there's some weird blend of melancholy, hope, and natural wonder that only these two pieces of media have ever managed to capture for me. Crazy part is that despite being my favourite E3 trailer, it's not even my favourite trailer for this particular game! That honour belongs to the game's Switch Presentation trailer (which might be my favourite game trailer). 

What really put the bow on that E3 for me though was Nintendo Treehouse, just watching them explore Hyrule in Breath of the Wild filled me with a sense of awe I think is rare to come by - that and the little bits of Pokémon Sun and Moon footage we were treated to.

But I don't even think that Nintendo Treehouse was the best demo I've seen at E3, either, because I think Square Enix absolutely knocked their demo for Final Fantasy VII Remake out of the park at E3 2019.  

JRPG's are long, so from what I've watched at E3 are something of a nightmare to demo, and there was probably more pressure on this demo than any other I've watched at E3. And they killed it. Excellently paced and coordinated, it answered a lot of questions about what the game was going to be in comparison to the first game, what would be carrying over in terms of general gameplay, what wouldn't, and a whole lot more. I really hope we see something similar for XVI at some point!

So, yeah, E3. It means a lot of different things to a lot of people, and for me is one of the most exciting times of the year, even if the number of attendees and overall quality of the show has been on the decline as of late. Not to be hyperbolic, but I genuinely look forward to it more than I do my birthday. I've questioned myself before on this - isn't it a bit sad to be excited for a bunch of adverts? - but I think it's okay, because it's something I genuinely care about. Over the last 5 years, gaming has become something I'm incredibly passionate about, whether that be learning more about how they're made, writing about them and sharing my thoughts on here, and above all else, playing them. I've even booked next week off - a combination of E3, the Euro's, new game releases, and just being a bit burned out at work - and have started up my typical E3 tradition of going back and watching conferences to perpetuate my excitement (which, as you can see, seems to be working). 

This all brings me to the actual reason I wanted to start this thread ahead of this weekend: I wanted to hear about everyone else's experiences with E3.

When did you first hear or read about E3? When was the first time you watched an E3 live? What are some of your favourite E3 moments or trailers? Is there a standout E3 for you? A standout conference in particular? Which E3 were you most excited going into? On the other hand, are there any moments, E3's, or conferences which stand out to you as being particularly dreadful? Which game do you think demoed best at E3? Have there been any moments where E3 has unexpectedly crossed over into your day-to-day in one way or another, such as through a colleague or seeing it covered on the news? Have any of you attended E3? For those who haven't - would you want to attend E3? Is there a game that was revealed at E3 which has since been cancelled that you'd most want to see be realised? Do/did you have any E3 traditions? Is there a particular outlet or personality you would seek out during E3, either for coverage or their own impressions/reactions? Is there still a game you wish to see announced at E3? And what do you think the future of E3 holds? 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Julius

[Aperson]

I first heard about E3 from reading CUBE magazine back in the early 2000s. I was intruiged by this "E3" conference where CUBE were talking about the 2003 conference and how it normally is where big game announcements were being made. Those magazines helped me to get more involved in gaming culture rather than just playing games. A few years later I was starting to browse the internet on a regular basis (in about 2006) thanks to the advent of broadband and reading further issues of CUBE and NOM had got me hyped for the Revolution and wanted to know more about its upcoming games. 2006 was also the year that the rights to the official Nintendo magazine transferred to Future Publishing and then we got ONM out of it which I had bought a couple of issues of to read. I eventually found myself browsing their website for updates on gaming news and eventually followed E3 on a semi live basis for the first time, when we learned about the rename to Nintendo Wii for the first time. So yeah, I guess 2006 was the first E3 I really followed live, good one to pick from a Nintendo perspective though I didn't really watch the other press conferences at the time as I wasn't really interested in other consoles. So I missed Sony's infamously bad press conference.

 

From that moment on I would be watching E3 live every year, especially after getting involved in forums. I was online to witness Nintendo's E3 2008 where they basically said "screw hardcore gamers, we're going with the casuals" and this was met with a huge outburst reaction from people saying that they were going to abandon Nintendo consoles from that point on. In many ways, I see that conference as a defining moment in Nintendo's history, they saw the sales figures of Wii Fit and basically doubled down on showing that sort of stuff, with "Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City" being their designated hardcore game even though I've alwayts seen that as a game with more casual appeal. Meanwhile at the Xbox 360 conference Bethesda revealed Fallout 3. It's no wonder a lot of people might have been interested in jumping ship at that point.

 

I have started watching every conference where possible, including the Xbox conferences just to see what's going on on those platforms even though I know I won't be playing those games any time soon. Sony's conferences were often way too late at night for me so I'd either catch up or pull a late nighter to be able to watch the conferences live or have them on as sound in the background while I was in bed. Nowadays I am cautious over getting too hyped over a game as said games have never really met my expectations (looking at you Twilight Princess), that being said if they show a Metroid trailer of any sort then I'm going to be excited.

[Hero-of-Time]

It’s hard for me to pinpoint when I first heard about E3 but I always remember being really excited when gaming magazines teased that their next issue would be an E3 blowout. When the next issue arrived I would do numerous readings in order to take it all in. This was elevated even further during the PS2/Xbox/Cube era when you would get dvds showing off footage of games. I remember playing the hell out of a disc that featured the MGS2 E3 trailer.

I can’t really remember when I first watched E3 live but I’m pretty sure I must have been there early on. I got broadband in the early 2000’s (had dial up for a few years before that) and so I was definitely able to watch it when it was streamed live. I was always excited for when E3 arrived and took holidays for the week to watch everything that was shown. I had that tradition for YEARS but it sadly came to an end a couple of years back when E3 became a shadow of its former self. This year I’ve taken the week off but that’s mainly because the Euro’s are on and I could do with a break from work. E3 is just a nice bonus.

As for other traditions, back during the Cube-Europe days we always had big E3 threads where everyone was very hyped and banter and predictions were plentiful. A gif that was always used every year in these threads was the dancing penguins.

I’m pretty sure that’s the clip that Retro Link used to post every year. How many on here can still remember this? Happy days.  

You can’t have an E3 memories thread without one of the GOAT moments from a conference.

 

What a moment that was. The press/journalists just completely lost their composure and went all in with the cheering. I love watching this reaction and it’s moments like these why I dislike the Direct route the industry has taken. They lack this energy and excitement and will never match a moment like this.

E3 2017 has a special place in my heart. As soon as I heard Shawn Layden say the words “This game has a rabid cult following around the world.” I knew it was finally happening.

After YEARS on waiting and being stuck on underpowered hardware, Monster Hunter had finally arrived back home on PlayStation and I couldn’t have been happier. When the Capcom Presents logo appeared and the MH theme hit I had chills. I also remember Ben Moore from EZA being extremely excited. His words of “Finally the world will understand.” came true. Gamers all around the world embraced the game and MH was at last a mainstream hit. Capcom could have had a hit sooner had they just listened to many of the MH fan base.  

Final Fantasy Versus XIII had a very troubled development and for a long time many believed it would be cancelled. At E3 the game was shown and while the game did end up being a disappointment but the trailer was very hype inducing and the reveal at the end of it (Final Fantasy XV) was just the icing on the cake.

Another amazing moment from E3 2013 was during Nintendo’s Direct.

Many people, myself included, were disappointed that Mega Man was left out from Brawl and felt he was the perfect fit for the Smash series and so when he was finally revealed for the next Smash Bros game everyone lost their minds.

This moment was begging to have been seen with a live audience and I honestly think it would have got the same kind of reaction that TP got when that was first shown.

At E3 2015 Nintendo opened their Direct with an amazing puppet intro. This really showed the goofy side of Iwata, as read about in the recently released book. It was such a unique way to start a show and it was VERY memorable. Bums me out we get nothing like this anymore from Nintendo.

To this day part of me wonders if this intro was done due to Iwata’s illness at the time and not being able to record a message himself.

Nintendo’s E3 2011 conference started off with an amazing Zelda performance. It was to honour the 25th anniversary of the series. Again, it was a very memorable moment.

I doubt we will see such a thing at this years E3 to celebrate its latest anniversary.

One final memory would be from the year that is now titled The Year of Dreams. Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Last Guardian and Shenmue III were all shown in a single conference, with many fans saying it was the holy trinity. All of these moments were fantastic in their own right but putting them together was just insane but in a good way. Also, who can forget the reactions from the GT crew. Kyle slowly climbing his chair always cracks me up.

 

Yeah, I have lots of great memories from watching E3 live. Things like Kojima returns, Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer, Miyamoto conducting, the Wii Sports live demo, Kevin Butler’s speech....I could go on for days about them.  

[Ashley]

I can remember there occasionally being an issue of ONM with a lot more content but never knew why until I was older. 

As for a random memory whatever E3 the Wii U was unveiled (2011?) I knew it I went home my roommate wouldn't leave me alone and I wouldn't be able to cover it so I went to a study area at uni and covered it from there until they kicked us out at midnight. That's probably the most unusual E3. And then by a twist of fate years later they were one of my clients and I had a meeting in that room. 

[Dufniall]

I don't remember when it finally clicked that E3 was the moment of the year for all the big releases. So my first memories are vague, but I do remember getting most of the coverage since 2002 from a Dutch TV show called Gamekings. They went to LA, and shot a lot of the footage on the floor itself. It wasn't even the game coverage that was the most interesting for me, but the silly stuff they did like finding the best food or who scored the best goodies.

But I do remember the talk about Golden Sun and the procedurally generated bits (which in the end were very rare in the game, but the game itself was amazing). But that was before the TV show as Golden Sun launched in 2001, and I'm not even sure if it was revealed at E3 or were I got the info (probably internet).

Although the Direct style works well, I also miss the over the top live shows with a crowd. Always watched the PlayStation, XBox and Nintendo show just for the flair. Yes, sometimes it is cringe as can be, but sometimes you just get blown away. That's the dynamic you miss now. But what I miss most is the reports from the show floor, people covering E3 and finding quirky titles in a dark corner of a hall, or randomly running into famous people.

To me the game reveals are nice, but it is the vibe of a massive event that I'm missing most.

[LazyBoy]

If you're talking highs then nothing compares to the Twilight Princess reveal. Short of a Half Life 3 or Pokemon MMO reveal I can't see anything getting that kind of reaction ever again, partly because I think the industry has grown up a bit, partly because the speed at which games were developing back then meant truly wish fulfilling experiences were possible. 

For me the best of E3 was always the fails, with the PS3 reveal being the all time champ. Loads more too - whose press conference was it where the celebrity presenter they got was ridiculously stoned? 

[Ronnie]

A few years back was probably my favourite E3, not for anything in particular but I just remember taking a week off work, getting loads of snacks in, and my housemate and I watching all the conferences and then 3 days of non stop coverage. Mostly IGN streams but also some Kinda Funny and obviously Nintendo Treehouse.

One of the best actual gaming moments I can remember was that very first Treehouse demo of BOTW. I can remember watching it and just being blown away from the very beginning. 

[killthenet]

I must have known about E3 before 2001, I would have been reading NOM & NGC for a couple of years at least by then, but 2001 is the first one I remember being hyped for. I couldn't wait to see the first glimpse of gameplay for GameCube games, devouring the images Nintendo released to their press site - it felt so special to be seeing content from E3 online as soon as it was released, not having to wait another few weeks to see it all in a magazine. In the days before YouTube any video was super low res but I remember in 2001 that NGC magazine included a VHS with their E3 issue that collected together a bunch of GameCube trailers and tech demos - I must have watched it dozens of times during the long wait for the UK release practically a year later. 

Can't remember when I watched conferences live for the first time but the Wii blowout in 2006 is probably a good guess. In the years since then my interest in the other conferences has grown too, I used to just watch Nintendo's event but now I'll try to watch all of them - watching along with EZA certainly makes things more entertaining when the likes of EA drag on. In past years it was a tradition to gorge myself on junk food for the whole week of E3 but that's something I'll be rolling back this year (and from now on) for health reasons - though I will treat myself to some extravagance during Nintendo's event next Tuesday.

One notable tradition is having to explain what E3 is to my parents. Whenever I tell them I'm going to watch E3 they ask, without fail, what I'm going on about - no matter how many times I tell them they'll always have forgotten by the time the next year rolls around.

[nekunando]

On 08/06/2021 at 6:41 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

 

I totally forgot about these guys until you posted it  Good times!

My first proper memory of E3 was probably the VHS which came with the first issue of NGC when it changed from N64 Magazine

I must have watched it a dozen times or more. It was so cool to have footage of Nintendo's exciting new console without having to stay awake until the early hours of the morning to catch shows such as Cybernet and Bits on terrestrial TV!

Whatever happens with E3 2021, I just hope we get something that makes me want to climb my chair like Kyle Bosman 

[Hero-of-Time]

9 hours ago, nekunando said:

I totally forgot about these guys until you posted it  Good times!

About time someone else remembered the penguins!

9 hours ago, nekunando said:

I must have watched it a dozen times or more. It was so cool to have footage of Nintendo's exciting new console without having to stay awake until the early hours of the morning to catch shows such as Cybernet and Bits on terrestrial TV.

Man, that takes me back. 

[LazyBoy]

One thing I don't miss from the old days was the delays. I seem to remember that conferences never started on time. Add on to that the unreliability of streams back then, and you remember that the actual technicalities of watching were a pain.

However, those pauses did give us time to discuss on the forum. Same with the awkward handovers from presenter to presenter, or technical difficulties - that down time gave you time to get a post written. Now the directs are so smooth it gives you little time to react. A petty complaint, but there it is.

[WackerJr]

The first E3 press conference I really remember was 2001 and the GameCube reveal, and being stunned by the graphics (including the short but sweet Link vs Ganondorf showdown).

4-minute highlight reel of Nintendo E3 2001

For years after that I was always confused as to why these conferences were filled with charts and explaining how their company had performed so well, when all people wanted to see were games!  It may have taken a few more years but thankfully they all finally cottoned on!

I’m often excited and regularly disappointed when these conferences don’t live up to the hype (see E3 2010 Microsoft’s Kinect demo, E3 2008 Wii Music, E3 2003 Pac Man Vs, E3 2002 Miyamoto lost Link’s sword during Wind Walker demo).

My fondest memories though, as others have said, include the incredible reaction to the Twilight Princess reveal, Reggie’s introduction, 2017 and Michel Ancel showing genuine appreciate to the audience response to Beyond Good & Evil 2, and 2018 with Grant Kirkhope playing DK live.

[Glen-i]

On 09/06/2021 at 9:36 AM, LazyBoy said:

For me the best of E3 was always the fails, with the PS3 reveal being the all time champ. Loads more too - whose press conference was it where the celebrity presenter they got was ridiculously stoned? 

I'm gonna guess that was Konami's infamous conference.

Extreeeeeeme!

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Glen-i said:

I'm gonna guess that was Konami's infamous conference.

Extreeeeeeme!

Nah, it was back when Activision had a conference. For some reason they hired Jamie Kennedy to host the show. He turned up and stumbled around, trying his best to be funny. He was either drunk, stoned or hungover. Either way, he was a mess. 

[LazyBoy]

Yeah Hero has got it. Good times

[Will]

I have no idea which would have been the first E3 I was aware of, it would definitely have been in the late 90s reading E3 blowout issues of EDGE magazine. Kind of crazy to think how long it took to get the info back then.

On 6/10/2021 at 1:39 AM, killthenet said:

In the days before YouTube any video was super low res but I remember in 2001 that NGC magazine included a VHS with their E3 issue that collected together a bunch of GameCube trailers and tech demos - I must have watched it dozens of times during the long wait for the UK release practically a year later. 

Was that the one they put the intro video of Smash Bros. On? I remember having that video and watching it all the time.

I’ve been lucky enough to work at E3 a few times. They all blur into each other a bit now but highlights would probably be:

• Running the SEGA meeting area one year and seeing Sheamus from WWE wondering past
• Working on the Nintendo stand the year they announced the Wii U
• Getting a ton of cool merchandise for the year of Luigi
• Having dinner a few tables away from Reggie

The last few years before they let the public in really were great. Since then it lost a lot of it’s appeal and especially now with COVID limitations and the fact companies can so easily go directly to their fans it’s days must be coming to an end. I’m sure summer will remain a big time for announcements but more and more companies will do their own thing.

[Dcubed]

Oh I remember the days before we even had livestreams! Desperately trying to scavenge whatever shot-on-shittio off screen videos I could find to see what was being shown off on the show floor on a 56k modem!  Marvelling at the near impossible to see games running on the then-upcoming GBA, creaming my pants (not literally!) over seeing Yoshi’s Story running on the GBA! And marvelling over all the pack-in magazine DVDs from E3 I could find.  Good times!  

E3 and Spaceworld (now who remembers THAT!) used to feel like a magical wonderland of forbidden goodies.  It really was Gaming Christmas, and it’d end up stoking playground arguements over console wars for months after!

The era of live-streaming conferences was magic.  FINALLY, you could watch it live and feel like you’re actually there! (Well, assuming that you could get the stream to actually work!).  We even started getting E3 show floor demos uploaded onto the 360 and PS3 stores! (Remember “Bringing it Home”? That would NEVER happen these days!!).  It was amazing!  Then E3 became more and more scripted, as too did the game demos themselves... Until they went wrong and they were caught out for being fake!

I do have to admit that I miss the live presentations.  I miss the awkwardness and realness of stage demos going wrong (“Well Bam! there it is!”).  I do feel that we’ve lost something when everyone copied the Nintendo Direct format...  That’s not to say that the E3 NDs haven’t been great, 2014-2017 were all fantastic! But even they have certainly lost a lot of their unique “goofy charm” since Iwata’s influence vanished from the company... (you certainly don’t see anything like the Jim Henson puppet show or the Iwata vs Reggie fight anymore... I miss those skits!).  Really wish we could have that goofy and fun Iwata-era Nintendo back...

Of course some years are better than others.  Back in the day, your E3 presentation could literally make or break your entire year as a platform holder; or sometimes even an entire generation! (As Sony E3 2006 and Microsoft E3 2013 can attest to).  That’s all part of the fun though.  E3 used to set the tone for the entire year and the stakes were so high!  For better or worse, your game and console’s perception would be inevitably coloured by your E3 presentation as a whole (to this day, Mario & Luigi Paper Jam STILL gets a bad rap because of the overall underwhelming nature of Nintendo’s E3 2015 lineup; giving the impression that it was a cheap asset-reuse spinoff, when it’s actually anything but!).

When E3 hit though? It REALLY hit! The likes of Nintendo’s E3 2004, E3 2006 and E3 2010 were legendary! And they’re still fondly remembered to this day for a good reason.

These days, the stakes are much lower and less exciting however.  But I still find a good show to be a real rush of excitement when everything lines up right.  Let’s hope that we see a bit more of that good ol’ fashioned showmanship this year! (And more silly cars on the Xbox stage please!  )

Edited June 13, 2021 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

4 hours ago, Dcubed said:

(you certainly don’t see anything like the Jim Henson puppet show or the Iwata vs Reggie fight anymore... I miss those skits!).

To this day, the Mii Fighters reveal on Smash 4 is still my favourite character reveal trailer! Absolutely cackling the entire time!

Iwata doing the "Directly to you" hand gesture before the light speed punch off still makes me laugh!

And then that Smash logo cut transition drops, and all I was thinking was "Wait, this is Smash Bros!?"

Perfection!

The last time I remember Ninty doing something silly in a presentation was Doug Bowser having to explain to Bowser Koopa that he isn't the new president of NoA.

Edited June 13, 2021 by Glen-i

[Hero-of-Time]

7 hours ago, Dcubed said:

E3 and Spaceworld (now who remembers THAT!) used to feel like a magical wonderland of forbidden goodies.  It really was Gaming Christmas, and it’d end up stoking playground arguements over console wars for months after!

Spaceworld was amazing. The SW with arrival of the GameCube will always have a special place in my heart. The fight between Link and Ganon, Meowth’s Party, Mario 128, Luigi’s Mansion and Metroid Prime all being shown off. I think a lot of the backlash Wind Walker received was because of this Zelda demo.

7 hours ago, Dcubed said:

But even they have certainly lost a lot of their unique “goofy charm” since Iwata’s influence vanished from the company... (you certainly don’t see anything like the Jim Henson puppet show or the Iwata vs Reggie fight anymore... I miss those skits!).  Really wish we could have that goofy and fun Iwata-era Nintendo back...

Indeed. Things like the holding of the banana and playing with the Poltergust were hilarious and you can tell the Iwata made events were done with passion and with having fun in mind. Now? They seem to be very dry and corporate, just happy to dump the info and move on. Be great if the crazy antics make a return for this years presentation.

7 hours ago, Dcubed said:

The era of live-streaming conferences was magic. 

It’s something I will always prefer and miss when they all go the way of a digital event. I appreciated MS still putting on a live conference at E3 over the past few years, despite more and companies moving to a Direct format. I think the pandemic has just accelerated this process.

7 hours ago, Dcubed said:

These days, the stakes are much lower and less exciting however.  But I still find a good show to be a real rush of excitement when everything lines up right.  Let’s hope that we see a bit more of that good ol’ fashioned showmanship this year! (And more silly cars on the Xbox stage please!  )

Yeah, the old days of E3 were far more exciting when it was a make or break attitude. Building up to one massive event in the year and just unloading all the footage of games that were being made in a single event was fantastic. A lot of the magic of E3 has been dismissed because publishers can control when and how they deliver their message.

Also, I think there’s just too much stuff going on these days. Every man and his dog seems to have their own event now. I much preferred when it was really only the console makers that were the main focus and publishers scattered their games throughout those shows, rather than delivering the message themselves.