So I went to E3 yesterday at the LA Convention Center. I must say that I've never been around a higher concentration of geeks in my life...but I've also never been around a mass quantity of that many unbelievably happy people. And don't think me wrong about the 'geek' barb as I am one myself. Here's my account of all the happenings of the day.
I arrived at around 8:00AM (doors didn't open until 9), but it was important to arrive early to secure good parking, which I did at the South Hall lot for $10...independent lots in the surrounding area were charging up to $50! I sat in my car for a little while and listened to cuts from the disappointing new System of a Down album as I sorted out the crap in my backpack and changed from the shorts I was wearing to some pants I brought along just in case. I wore shorts because my boss told me it would be hot in there, but I wasn't comfortable in the shoes I normally wear with shorts and there was going to be a lot of walking ahead of me and the shoes I was more comfortable with didn't go with the shorts. So after a quick apparel switch I took out the System album and put in some Nine Inch Nails to psych me up for the show.
Upon entry I picked up copies of the various free trades they had available and paid a visit to the E3 Merch booth. I picked up a shirt for my brother that has the E3 logo on front and "I Play Games" scripted on the back. For myself, I got a shirt that had an image from the upcoming "Destroy All Humans" game that had the words "Hostile Takeover" on the front and the E3 logo on the back. So I still have 30 minutes until the show opens. I go back to my car, deposit my swag and head back into the Convention Center. As I still have time to kill I sit down amidst the crowd of geeks waiting to get in and I started to read a new script by Anthony Minghella which I'm doing edit notes for.
When 9:00AM hits and security starts to let people in, a massive nerd horde (the 'norde') makes its exodus from the real world and marches toward and up the escalators, a veritable moving stairway to geek heaven, to enter the South Hall. Upon entry the sensory overload hits me instantly: all the loud sounds, flashing lights, the place is rumbling, giant screens displaying all manner of images, people are moving fast to get to the nearest console with the newest game. The first thing I played was the new Castlevania game (I think the subtitle for it was like "Dawn of Sorrow" or something) for the Nintendo DS. This was my first time playing on the DS which is an incredibly awkward system. I hate the dual screen and hate that stupid pen thing even more. The Castlevania game wasn't all that either as it was set in 2035, so the first area you start in is a modern city...LAME! I mean, you get to the castle in a little bit, but still... I didn't play very much as I walked through the hall for an hour and a half, as there were so many lines to play the latest games or particpate in contests. I watched a lot of people play or stopped to view demo videos where applicable. A lot of the stuff was really impressive looking and it's amazing what they're doing with graphics, but as many of you know, graphics aren't what get me into a game. Practically 95% of what I saw at the show were all 3D environment games. A lot of people are trying to get into the online gaming market so there were a lot of "World of Warcraft" clones as well. Somewhere along the way I stopped to play "Metal Slug 4" (in 2D, bitches!) for the XBOX. Such an awesome game...it's everything the new Contra games should be AND it's got more blood...once again, awesome. There were also a lot of models dressed up in character for all in attendance to take pictures with. I even saw one older and chubby gamer posing with a "booth babe" who was more interested in her cell phone than posing for the photo op (more on the booth babes later).
So now it's about 10:30 and I still have some time to kill before Dan's tour for all the Viacom folk. Dan is a manager in the interactive department and he apparently does a tour every year showing people all the necessary sights of the con. This year's special stop was scheduled to be Electronic Arts's special presentation of "The Godfather: The Game". With my time to spare I headed down to Kentia Hall to see what was up there. A lot of smaller companies and some retail folk had booths set up in that hall. There was also a fantastic "History of Video Games" presentation with everything from all the major systems to all the forgotten relics: Turbo Graphix 16, Virtual Boy, Atari Jaguar, and 3DO to name a few. Everything there was playable too and there were cartridges of games next to each system. I even got to play the wretched "E.T." for the Atari 2600! Ah, the memories... Ok, time for the tour.
After meeting up with all my fellow Viacom co-workers at the top of the South Hall stairs, our 11:00AM tour begins. Our first stop is the aforementioned "Godfather" presentation which was held in a small private room decked out to represent The Don's office. The senior producer of the game explained what they did with the property and played a demo version for us. What EA has done with this game is AMAZING. Incredible graphics aside, it definitely has the look and feel of the film...there are even graphical recreations of scenes faithfully reproduced from the film. What you are able to do is create your character (including image) as an "Italian-American" in 40's New York who goes on missions to try and ultimately gain favor with the Corleone family, which is just one of the final outcomes for the game...another being that you can take over all the families and become The Don yourself. EA has instituted a pressure point shooting system, where, like in Resident Evil, it does make a difference where you shoot someone. There's also a dual hand fighting system where you choose to throw left and right punches. There's even an interactive environment where when you grab a hold of someone, you can slam them up against the side of a building...other options after grabbing include being able to choke the poor bastard or you can even throw them off a rooftop. Also, unlike GTA, when you fire a gun in public, people react and start fleeing like cockroaches when you turn on the lights. Another great feature is that it matters how you approach the missions. If you use excessive violence then the other families might target you or you'll lose favor with the Corleones. You must only do what is necessary to get the job done...it's all about business and what's bad for business will ultimately screw you over...but you're really only screwing yourself. EA has put A LOT of thought into this game to make it as realistic and faithful to the films as possible. It's definitely like "Grand Theft Auto" but better in so many ways...although I highly doubt there will be random hookers walking down the street that you can kill (sorry Gordon!).
After visiting The Don's office, they let everyone on the tour test out demo versions of the game. We then went from there to the Blizzard booth where we got to view screen shots of new areas in "World of Warcraft". I thought the already existing environments were as cool as it could get, but Blizzard definitely has great things in store for this version of the franchise. Another impressive video demo was for "Starcraft: Ghost". We also stopped by Majesco's booth as they have developed games for several of our properties like "Taxi Driver" (got to watch a NPC lady get shot point blank in the face with a shotgun) and "Jaws: Unleashed" where YOU ARE THE SHARK! I'm totally stoked. From there we went to the West Hall and we lost part of our group along the way. The West Hall was where Sony's and Nintendo's booths were and that's where our group officially disbanded as people went off to see whatever was of particular interest to them. None of us checked out the new systems (XBOX 360, Nintendo Revolution, or PS3) as there was a three to four hour wait to check out the presentations on those.
After the disbandment of the tour I hanged with Dan for the rest for the show. I went to one of his meetings at 1:30PM between Perpetual Entertainment (a game development company) and Simon & Schuster (who produce our Star Trek books)...I was the most casual dressed guy there as I was wearing a King Diamond shirt and black jeans. I can't really divulge any details of the meeting as they're still in the initial development process, but they do have some great things in the works. So if you're a Star Trek fan, expect an incredible game to be coming out after a couple years...they're shooting for a late 2007/early 2008 release.
After the meeting, Dan and I went back to the South Hall to get pictures with the "booth babes"... Every year Dan does a presentation of the E3 happenings and part of his presentation involves a Viacom employee posing with the models...this year that person was me. I posed with various commando chicks, some girls dressed in leather bras and mini skirts, and some Asian girl decked out in...I don't even know how to describe it...it was very anime-like. Hopefully I can get Dan to send me copies of the pictures...I threw the goat in most of them! I had commented to Dan about how these women must feel posing with geeky guys all day long for a few days straight...but Dan informed me that they get paid around $600 a day and one year a girl dressed as a Dominatrix (for what game, I can't remember) got paid $1200 a day...so I don't feel so sorry for them.
After all the posing with the sexy girls, we stopped for lunch and talked about the con, comics, wrestling, music...all manner of random stuff before I met up with my boss at 4:00PM and then left the Convention Center. A totally cool day, stressful and hectic and exhausting at times, but totally cool. If you ever get the chance to go, take it! It's definitely an experience, to say the least. If I left out anything and remember it later, I'll post it, but I think I covered everything. Email me if you have any questions regarding the event.
