M.R.I. #7: Extra Special E3 2007 Edition - Editorials

More Randomness from the Internet (M.R.I.) which concentrates on E3 2007 but is part of an on-going editorial series from The Armchair Empire's Omni.

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M.R.I. #7

Extra Special E3 2007 Edition

Upon the Press Conferences of the "Big 3"

If there was a common thread between the press conferences -- though each of them referred to them as "shows" -- of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo it was that the games industry is doing just fine, thank you, even if the actual show was so spread out that I didn't get to see everything that was there.

Microsoft's show was a mish-mash of information recap of upcoming games and Peter Moore completely mucking the on-stage demonstration of Rock Band (which I'm told had nothing to do with his upcoming departure from Microsoft for the sweaty shores of EA Sports) and a poorly cut demo of Halo 3 single-player. At the very least Microsoft made sure all our keisters were comfortable with thick foamy pads while watching the show. (If you have Xbox Live, the entire show is downloadable in about two-dozen parts.) Cricket Award: Peter Moore holds up the

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special edition Halo 3 version of the 360 to no applause, and someone behind me shouting, "I just bought my Elite!"

At Sony's press conference there was much more in the way of announcements -- things to get excited about including a partnership with NCSoft, the new Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer, and the reveal of Infamous and echochrome, the latter of which instantly made my brain bleed out my ears. Many announcements of soon-to-be-released and future titles, which actually made me wish I had a Playstation 3. Awkward Award: Chewbacca walks on stage and after a round of applause there

Microsoft insisted on bathing everyone in green light for some reason. Most mind-blowing thing: this is at a high school.

Shigeru Miyamoto shows off the WiiFit pad at the Nintendo show, which was surprisingly free of Nintendo fanboys.

Jack Tretton and Chewbacca face-off on stage at Sony's show. I had to restrain myself from yelling, "Tear his arms off!"

was uncomfortable silence. Even then I still wanted to give him a hug.

After sucking down a coffee and cruller before Nintendo's show, I was all ready to be drowned in announcements of DS and Wii titles. And I kept waiting for that tidal wave. Maybe itwas somewhere in

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that wave of Youtube clips but I kept waiting for it. After Iwata's "Gamer for Life" speech, Shigeru Miyamoto took the stage and announced "his" next title, WiiFit. It's a genius concept and a perfect extension of the Wii but the demonstration on-stage was uneven because the WiiFit pads weren't calibrated properly. Silence is Golden Award: Reggie Fils Aim actually managed to pull two of these out with his reveal of the Wii Zapper and the release date of Mario Bros. Brawl.

But as bad as I make each of the press conferences sound, a single thread through all three was how well they were selling, both on the hardware and software sides. Sales are up, business is good -- $1 billion write-offs aside -- and gamers should be happy.

Upon the Matter of "Celebrity"

On the bus back from Sony's press conference to the Fairmont Hotel -- feeling a buzz off a couple of quickly consumed beers -- a journo behind me was engaged in a conversation about the all the "celebrities" he saw. Chewbacca does count as a celebrity but I listened in because this kind of gossip can often be peppered through an article to make it seem cooler.

But this guy wasn't talking about celebrities in the traditional sense, he was talking about other game journalists. More, specifically, the guys and gals from the Ziff Davis family, like Shane Bettenhausen and Mark McDonald.

But are they celebrities? From left to right: Garnett Lee, Crispin Boyer, Shane Bettenhausen, Shawn Elliot, Jeff Green, Kathleen Sanders, John Davison.

What the hell makes them celebrities? I'll be the first to say they do a great job at what they do, but would I classify them as celebrities? No, but if I did, I had my brushes with celebrities all week:

Kathleen Sanders cut in front of me at one of the bars after Sony's show, then called Shane Bettenhausen over.

I almost walked into Shawn Elliott going into the Microsoft show.

I was within ten feet of Jeff Green.

Crispin Boyer showed up five minutes late for Take 2's press conference and was initially denied entry. Only the intervention of a PR rep got him in.

Dan "Shoe" Hsu was going out of revolving door while I was going in. We made eye contact.

Darren Gladstone asked one of the shuttle bus guys how long it would take to walk to the Fairmont, then said, "Thanks very much," and headed off. (That was me standing beside you, Darren!) Saw him again at EA's Sims Castaway Party later that day.

From my vantage point in the EA limo headed to Barker Hanger, it looked like John Davison, accompanied by Patrick Klepek, was having words with Garnett Lee on the sidewalk near the Viceroy Hotel.

I also saw N'Gai Croal and the Angry Video Game Nerd.

But I don't count any of these as brushes with fame. They're journalists covering the same event, running from appointment to appointment, trying to stay sober enough to meet deadlines, just like most of us at E3.

At left, a view of the Loews "lobby" and on the right we have an example of one of the best parts about E3 2007: no line-ups to play games! This picture was taken a few hours after Barker Hanger opened.

Though Barker Hanger was a smaller venue than we're used to, I never had to elbow anyone out of the way (left); on the last morning I arrived at Hotel Microsoft (more commonly known as the Viceroy Hotel) early and just kicked back poolside.

Upon the "Games of Show"

When I'm most impressed by simple games like Hail to the Chimp and echochrome, it almost feels like there's something wrong with the games industry. I was still impressed by the likes of Crysis, Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4, Stranglehold, Fallout 3, Killzone, and Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, but I was more intrigued by simple, straightforward games that seem to have stripped out the fancy graphics and boiled it all down to pure gameplay.

I can't imagine what kind of budgets are thrown behind games like Project Gotham Racing 4 or Metal Gear Solid 4, but dollars to donuts, I'm guessing you could make a thousand echochromes for the price of Condemned 2.

It's a beacon of hope for small developers looking to capture some interest in their games. More importantly, it's proof positive that the expansion of the games industry has created room for small independent games to not only grow but actually thrive. That's even better news for the games industry. That was enough to make me feel good about the new E3.

- Omni

(July 20, 2007)

The Halo 3 single-player demo was much more impressive than the clip shown at the Microsoft press conference, especially when they demonstrated all the features of the video replay.


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