REBUTTAL TO: Special E3 Roundup Edition
E3 died. Last year. This year's E3 Media and Business Summit was just a low-level necromancer's attempt at resurrecting it from the dead. Well, the spell was cast, but instead of the juggernaut that brought us such wonders as the Super Mario 64 (1996), Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2000), and Xbox Live (2002), we got the skeleton that unveiled Wii Fit and a hundred other things that we already knew about. Someone fire this necromancer, he didn't quite make the cut. We were expecting a wave of Spartans, a new Revolution, and some Giant Enemy Crab legs, but we got none of that.
Ok, so we all knew that this year's show would be smaller in scale. That was no secret. What we didn't know was that this year, those of us at home would have the better show. G4 offered live coverage, though it was cut into for commercials periodically. But other than that piece of stupidity, people with cable, but no internet, could watch the press conferences. Those of us with a nice, high-speed connection were able to sit back in our favorite computer chair and enjoy the live briefings in our underwear if we so desired. Also, within the last few years, the amount of leaked information seems to have either sky rocketed or at least has become available through more mainstream sources. As Bryan stated in his article, while those at the show did get to try out games that the rest of us couldn't, us "away attendees" got screenshots and movies every bit as quickly as those that were there. Demos of games like Blue Dragon were also made available. So those few impressions that came out of E3 along with the interviews were the only thing that the "away attendees" didn't get first hand.
Let's run this down so far. Awesome new lineup of games for 2008? Yeah, if by new lineup of games for 2008, you mean games that we already knew about that are coming out this year. Other big, exciting announcements? Check. We got Wii Fit and its balance board. *yawn* Tons of media for upcoming games? Kinda. We got a lot of screens and movies, but it was nothing awe-inspiring. Impressions of great coming-soon games? Well, we did get an awesome walkthrough of Fallout 3 and an interview about Front Mission 1st DS, but there wasn't a ton of stuff out there that we know little about. Lost Odyssey, where were you?
Well, this might not be as cynical as Bryan's first hand experience, but the message is still the same. This is what has become of E3. It was doomed to be this way from the first announcement of a major change in format. The companies there didn't screw us, they did only what was to be expected. None of them wanted to be the first to jump all over an unknown format with questionable issues and put all of their eggs in this basket. Honestly, I can't see how anyone expected this year's zombie E3, now dubbed by me as Z3, to be any different. Is there still hope for a complete resurrection? I truly doubt it at this point. The management may make improvements to the venue and setup, but it will take more than a bandage to fix a broken arm once it has been zombified. The companies were the real sign of the direction of Z3 and they made their statement loud and clear. "We are not showing you all of our cards at E3." I don't think it will ever be the same again.
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