E3 2007: The Circus Has Left Town - Features

Newsletter

Be notified of site updates. Sign-up for the Newsletter sent out twice weekly.

Enter E-Mail Address Below:

E3 2007: The Circus Has Left Town By Lee Cieniawa

Last year was the very first time I attended an E3 show, with the humongous spectacle of the Los Angeles Convention Center filled with bright lights, loud music blasting from every corner, scantily clad “booth babes” (despite a supposed booth babe ban) and a general Las Vegas mentality to the whole gaming industry show. It was a tiring, but completely enjoyable gaming adventure. But immediately after it had ended, the powers that be decided in their opinion that E3 had become too expensive, too big, too loud and just a bit too obnoxious for the industry’s own good.

A view of the famous sign at the Santa Monica pier (left); EA's kiosk was just another example of the toned-down experience that could be found at E3 2007 (right).

So instead of 60,000 people running rampant through the halls of the massive L.A. Convention Center , it was decided that less was more: as in less people and less of the circus-like atmosphere that E3 had become. Instead of 60,000 attendees, it was pared down to around 5,000 and it was by invite only. There would be a 90 percent reduction in the companies displaying their goods, as gone would be the massive L.A. Convention Center layout of games, games and more games from over 400 companies showing off their gaming wares. Instead, the beach hotels of Santa Monica and a hangar at the nearby Santa Monica airport would be E3’s new locale, with a new, more “business-like” moniker: the E3 Media & Business Summit.

The Armchair Empire did indeed get chosen as one of the select “invited” guests, so it was off to Santa Monica in July, and it was indeed much, much different than the E3 of the past. Much quieter hotels and suites; a much smaller gaming floor; and much more traveling between venues, due to the non-centralized nature of the show. So, after seeing two vastly different E3 shows, which was better?

It was clear from the very first day in Santa Monica that the circus had indeed left town. The pleasantry of not having to wade through a small city’s worth of

Advertisement

people was somewhat overcome by having such a drastic drop in gaming company exhibitors and the sometimes unorganized flow of a particular day’s events, especially the individual press conferences. I did enjoy not having to wait seemingly forever just to play games I wanted to play on the Baker Hangar floor, but there was a definite lack

Advertisement

of “little guy” developers and publishers not to mention a near-extinction of PC gaming, as the big boys such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo displayed their mostly console games that dominated this year’s E3.

I still haven’t directly answered which E3 is better, so here it goes: while the three-ring circus of the past definitely needed to be tamed, E3 2007 went too far in paring down to previous format. However, it was a definite step in the right direction, as the two steps backward it took should help E3 go forward next year and beyond, especially in light of the E for Everyone show in November (that should satisfy many of those 55,000 left out in the cold in Santa Monica) which retains much of the “old” E3 but is clearly designed for the gamer and not the media and retail factions for which E3 is an important function.

Littlebigplanet showed well at E3 (left); Hail to the Chimp was showcased at EiEiO, hosted by Gamecock (right)

Here are some of the highlights, lowlights and other general observations from the sandy shores of Santa Monica ’s beaches:

THE GOOD

Last year’s E3 was all about the Wii and PS3, the two newest consoles readying for release that sent most attendees in a tizzy. This year, there was no new hardware to excite the crowd. It was up to the games, and there were plenty of good ones. The two main appointments I had scheduled for the show, with EA and Sony, gave me a much more comprehensive outlook on games from those respective companies than anything I attended last year. EA has a bunch of great games, including Army of Two, a new Simpsons game, the next Need for Speed, Boogie, Rock Band and Sims 2 Castaway. Sony was equally good, as titles I hadn’t thought much of before actually impressed me, including Warhawk, LittleBigPlanet, Lair, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and Heavenly Sword. Sony even had an arcade set up, where I spent my pre-appointment time getting valuable hands-on time playing many of Sony’s titles.

Many other games from other companies also should be on gamer’s radars for the holiday season and next year. John Woo’s Stranglehold has big hit written all over it, with an overabundance of cinematic flair in an action-packed third-person adventure game. Burnout Paradise, WiiFit, Super Mario Galaxy, Project Gotham Racing 4, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution, Guitar Hero III, Tabula Rasa, Call of Duty 4, Frontlines: Fuel of War, Burnout Paradise, Assassin’s Creed, and I’m sure many others I simply didn’t get a chance to see should have gamers for every platform looking forward to the near future of choices they’ll have.

THE BAD

Despite getting to play more games, I missed out on many I wanted to see (particularly Killzone 2 and Halo 3) that were only seen during “appointments” which seemingly required CIA-level clearance to get into. So did the press conferences at first, but I was able to attend each press event I wanted simply by getting in a “standby” line. I’m sure I could have finagled into a few more appointments if I had really tried, but with a full schedule already and the desire to fill downtime with Barker Hangar playtime, the opportunity just wasn’t there.

About those press conferences: They proved to have plenty of good info packed in, but there was too much “celebrity” showmanship tried by many companies that the press conferences became sometimes annoying, especially because there wasn’t any opportunity to question the “circus barkers” bombastically crying out to the crowd with “look how great our games are!” aplomb. E3’s organizers showcased some disorganization by scheduling the press conferences back-to-back in the same hotel conference room, which required everybody filing into a press conference, then filing out after it was over, then filing right back in again for the next company’s press conference.

Konami’s was by far the worst press conference, where they trotted out Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima (who also complained about the “new” E3 format) to play the Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer, then showed a teaser for Silent Hill 5, and that’s about it. Nothing with actual gameplay in it that anybody could get even remotely excited about. Activision tried too hard to jam celebrities into their press conference, with Jamie Kennedy emceeing the “event” and Tony Hawk and Stan Lee making appearances (Stan Lee basically came in only to be introduced as the creator of Spider-Man when Activision was displaying its new Spider-Man game, then quickly shuttled back out of the conference room as the lights dimmed again after he stood, waved and sat back down within a 10-second appearance).

At left, EA's Boogie looks to tap into the Wii audience. On the right, a quick screenshot of Project Gotham Racing 4, which will feature motorcycles for the first time.

Take-Two, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto, had a distinctly paranoid feel to its press conference, instructing all attending not to take any photos of its games. They then proceeded to show “gameplay” from GTA IV. I’ll admit the city that the main character drove his car through was immense and impressive graphically, but that’s all that was shown: a guy driving a car. Really, that was it. No action besides that, nothing to actually thrill those attending, although I’m more than certain that it’ll be a big hit and great adventure title when it comes out later in the fall.

AND THE UGLY

EA tried to really, really play up the fact that Steven Spielberg was making games with the publisher. But the two games we were shown, Blocks and an untitled adventure game, were not very impressive. Blocks is basically an interactive game of Jenga that didn’t seem to wow anybody. The untitled game was even less interesting at this point, as EA showed only a static screenshot and asked: Can a game make you cry? Not sure about that, but if this is any indication of the EA-Spielberg collaboration, games can definitely make you bored.

FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK

Guitar Hero III from Neversoft looks like another hit for the franchise. But it was the new EA title from Harmonix, the original developers of Guitar Hero, which looks like a really rocking good time. Using not only the guitar of Guitar Hero but also a microphone for a lead singer and also a drum kit, Rock Band truly is you chance to be a rock star with your very own band. Both titles will have plenty of new rock songs as part of their repertoire, and it will be interesting to see who wins this battle of the music games.

THE ROAD MORE TRAVELED

Because nothing in Santa Monica was as large as the L.A. Convention Center, E3 was spread out between a few hotels, and the only way to get to each was by a shuttle bus. There were plenty of buses, but it could be annoying having to shuttle to one hotel from another just to make your appointments. Even worse was the Barker Hangar was a 20-minute ride away, and didn’t even open until early afternoon. At last year’s E3, between scheduled appointments, I could cruise the show floor and see any game I wanted (playing was an entirely different matter, however). It was easier to see and more importantly play games this year once you got to Barker Hangar, but that was the key … actually getting to Barker Hangar with enough time to really spend quality time with the games. A centralized locale with everything under one roof was much better (without as many people, though).

BULLYING THE “LITTLE GUY” INTO A CORNER

In previous E3s, Kentia Hall became synonymous with independent gaming, as those looking to secure a big publishing deal had their own subterranean hall at each E3, below the main floor and separate from the lights and loudness above. It was a weird world of gaming away from the mainstream, but it was where creativity not always seen upstairs flourished in many indie titles. Indie games didn’t have a Kentia Hall this year, instead being relegated to the farthest wall of Barker Hangar. Despite their detached state from the rest of E3, shining through were beacons of creativity and originality not every publisher has in their development houses. All they want is a chance at a publishing deal, and even with their ostensible shunning from the rest of E3, many appeared good enough that they may just yet get that EA or Activision deal.

Standing up taller than all others to the Goliaths of the industry, however, was upstart publisher Gamecock, who decided to host their own show in the nearby Hotel California (complete with booth babes), showcasing their stable of small developers that don’t have the million-dollar budgets, relying instead on that seemingly stifled creativity to attract gamers. And one of the best games I saw was from Wideload Games: Hail to the Chimp.

The Gamecock-published party game outshone almost all other similar titles from the “big boys” of E3. There were a few other standout titles from other Gamecock development houses, too, proving that the little guys do and should have a place in today’s gaming world, which has become too reliant on copycatting and sequels instead of original intellectual property.

Creativity wasn’t completely dead among the big guys, either, as anyone who saw THQ’s De Blob, EA’s Boogie or especially Sony’s really impressive LittleBigPlanet will attest.

WHERE DID ALL THE PC GAMES GO?

There was a definite lack of PC titles at this year’s E3. True, console gaming seems to be the dominant species today, but that shouldn’t mean that PC gaming should become extinct, does it? Still, despite a dearth in quantity, there wasn’t a shortage of quality, as evidenced by Tabula Rasa, Gears of War, Quake Wars, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and others.

WII GAMERS GET IT, AND SO DO DEVELOPERS

Nintendo’s Wii has found a definite niche despite its infancy. Family-oriented, casual-style Wii titles were everywhere, as developers already see and are fulfilling the Wii’s potential, despite its last-generation hardware limitations. The Wiimote and Nunchuk have given developers new ways to expand gaming possibilities. One of the best innovations was the Wii gun apparatus, which integrated the Wiimote and Nunchuk into a weapon that was a lot of fun to use in the new Wii Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles. If E3 is any indication, the Wii will have plenty of games available for its fans in the near future and beyond.

FROM L.A. TO SANTA MONICA …. AND BACK AGAIN?

A few days after the show I (as probably did most others that attended the show) received an e-mail survey about E3 2007. One of the most intriguing queries was after coming to Santa Monica , where did I prefer that a future show should be. Among the choices? Santa Monica , San Diego and Los Angeles . Was this smaller E3 a one-trick pony? The coming months will tell if the circus of E3 old will return, or if the industry pundits continue going down Santa Monica Boulevard for future E3s, if, of course, there even is E3 in 2008 or beyond.

- Lee Cieniawa

lcieniawa@armchairempire.com

(July 25, 2007)


PC \| Gamecube \| DS \| Wii \| PlayStation 2 \| PlayStation 3 \| PSP \| Xbox \| Xbox 360
News \| Reviews \| Previews \| Features \| Classics \| Goodies \| Anime \| Forums