Looking Back at E3 (#E3)

E3 2010 was Chocolate Lemon’s first. I am happy to see that we have gotten a few new readers and lured back some of the old. It’s really awesome to see the progress we’ve made. Looking back on E3 now that I can gather my thoughts, I can answer some of the questions that some people have asked me randomly.

One of the first questions and most consistent ones I have gotten is :

“Did you get those X-boxes that were being given out?”

No we didn’t, we weren’t invited to the private press conferences that some of the bigger sites, shareholders, investors, etc get into. Being our first E3, I think the big 3 kind of disregarded our existence. Ironically, we would end up partying with them at various points during the trip.

What’s it like?

At its core E3 is trade show, it just so happens that this trade show appeals heavily to us because of the exclusivity. It’s like being kept out of a really cool club. The price tag and timing of E3 discourages many people (it’s in the middle of a work week plus it’s extremely pricey for tickets for all 3 days). High price point and exclusivity aside it’s not for the lazy or faint of heart. It is a lot to take in (that’s what she said). There’s a lot of walking involved, E3 is broken down into two halls South and West with meeting rooms and smaller booths on the outside of the hall. The halls are where most of E3 takes place.The meeting rooms are (media only) where some presentations take place. The big press conferences are held in other locations.(Once we start getting into those I’ll let you know). On the floor you’ll see all sorts of people; booth babes, celebs, fan boys who haven’t bathed, and big name execs. I bumped into Verne Troyer, Seth Killian, some folk from reality television and some people from Nintendo.

Did you get any cool swag?

Not really.  I mentioned this earlier but unless you’re the big guy or someone super important you’re getting the standard run of the mill stuff. I have a few buttons, t-shirts and a couple of bags. I really wasn’t swag hunting, all of the stuff I received was during the course of the day I was set up for. I have a few trinkets I can give out but the people who will get them may not love me anymore.

The games I played were pretty much based on my interest. There are a ton of games to be played seriously. I think if you were to sit down and try every single game it would take you about four days to a week due to the lines on some of the titles. The Nintendo and Capcom booths both had ridiculous lines. Disney also had long lines as well.  To me it kinda felt a bit like Comic Con and PAX with all the commotion. To be honest there was really cool displays there. The lightcycle from Tron being display made a few dorks cream. I never was a bike fan in general until I saw this thing.

There was a really bad ass Halo Reach statue carved out. I would have much rather played the game but it does get the imagination going.

Sometimes the mere sight of something had people excited. I know when I saw this image I was a little bit excited. By the way it doesn’t look half bad as a game .

The only negatives I can say were that some companies tended to talk about their wares a bit longer than they should which makes you a bit late for appointments. The food is overpriced. And sometimes some people smell like they literally crapped themselves. Another annoying thing was waiting in line sometimes you were subjected to some less than interesting commentary about the show and some ridiculous complaints. My personal favorite was hearing some dude complain about having to stand to play with the Kinect. It took a great deal of self restraint not to rage out on him.

One thing that blew me away was Rock Band 3. I feel that might have been the best game of E3, overall. With the new features they added, the expanded song list and the overall feeling of ease this game completely erases Guitar Hero from memory. Yes, I’ve always played Rock Band but I did like some of the tracks that were available in Guitar Hero. I wish I had some gear from the show so I can do an in-depth but it will have to wait. I think that game will change the landscape of music and gaming completely. I do feel sorry for the people who made the “it really teaches you to play the instrument” non-Rock Band inventors (editor’s note: Inspired Instrument’s “You Rock Guitar”). I sat through some presentations and thought to myself “Hey this isn’t too bad after all” that was until I sat in the Harmonix presentation. It was really that much better. I couldn’t even look the lesser folk in the eye anymore. I felt bad for them. The Fender is actually a Fender, it plays just like a real one when you hook it to an amp. Rock Band 3 also supports midi instruments you may have at home. I’m sorry if it feels like I’m riding RB3. I’m just still bowled over by it. Post-presentation I got to play Bohemian Rhapsody on drums (I played hard. Err pause) and that was an awesome experience.

One thing that did bother me a little bit was the lack of professionalism or courtesy from people with media badges. On separate occasions I’ve seen a few media types act like total jerks to the people working the booth or just other media. One of the funnier examples came from the Sega booth where I was waiting to play Vanquish. CL had an appointment so we were doing what we were supposed to do and waited patiently. One of the reps went to go ask someone to get off the console so someone else could get on and the guy raged out. He started flashing his badge to the guy and in his high cracking voice he demanded he ask someone else and kept repeating that. I guess because he’s writing for a bigger publication he has to ignore what the people running the booth have to say. Another time came occurred at the Rock Band both where this girl kept getting on keyboard every time she got in line. I asked her how many times has she played keyboard she said about 10 times, someone turned to her and asked if they could get a turn on it so they can do a write up and she said no and promptly got on the keyboard again. Line cutting for ‘friends’ and the usual bad behaviors at conventions were in full effect.

I don’t think E3 is for everyone. There’re a lot of things you have to deal with. It was refreshing not to see kids running about. So, no, I don’t think you should bring your kid to E3 (editor’s note: according to the ESA, children aren’t permitted anyway). It’s video games yes but it’s not really for kids. I’m pretty sure some parents paid money for their darlings to go but they were in their teenage years so that’s not too bad.

On another note I am quite proud of myself. I didn’t have a meltdown health wise like I did at PAX. I’ve learned the golden rule DO NOT SHAKE ANYONE’S HAND UNLESS YOU HAVE SANITIZER. Yeah I gave Starslay3r a hug but we are adults and you can’t judge me. Now that I’m back on the east coast it’s time to get back to work. Thanks for following our coverage!