What I Did on My E3 Vacation
or I Was an E3 Virgin
As you might have guessed from the subtitle, this was my very first time
at the E3. The first word that comes to mind is “wow,” and the
second word is “ow.” My feet still hurt from all of the walking
and standing.
This trip also marks the first time I have ever met JA staff members
in person: Cindy KM, Ray Ivey, and Randy Sluganski. A strange juxtaposition–it
was like meeting old friends and making new friends all at the same time.
It proved to me that you really can get to know people online. Everyone
was just like I expected.
The Los Angeles Convention Center comprises two main exhibit buildings
with a half-mile hallway between the two. The primary hall, of course,
was completely given over to the console displays–those being the companies
with the big bucks to spend on prime floor space (and big bucks they did
spend).
The secondary hall had two floors. The upper floor was where all of the
big daddies of PC games were set up (Eidos, Infogrames, Acclaim, et al.),
and the lower floor was home to the smaller companies (DreamCatcher, Cryo–the
adventure gamers’ favorites were all downstairs). Then there are zillions
of smaller private rooms used by the big-but-not-as-flashy companies (Mattel,
LucasArts, Interplay …).
Chiseled features and camouflage … ooh baby
(Click the pictures to view the big ‘uns)
Just plain camouflage–Randy Sluganski looking sinister
And then Gathering of Developers was set up in a bunch of big motor homes
in the parking lot across the street (with gigantic Kiss character balloons
looming from the rooftops above). Why outside, I don’t know–it was too
hot and too loud. They were having a display of fancy skateboarding, but
inside there was a display of fancy bike-riding, so that’s not the reason.
I suspect it was because they were hosting a beer bash and so many people
need to smoke when they drink.
We went over to GOD to look at two of the three upcoming Blair Witch
games, which were not my cup of tea but will certainly appeal to anyone
who liked Nocturne. We were also interested in a game called Max
Payne because a writer for another web site, Dave Fisher of Gone
Gold, had told me the developers described it to him as being patterned
after the Tex Murphy games. I had to leave before we saw it, but
the press materials made it sound like a shooter with a plot, so I have
serious doubts as to whether adventure gamers will like it.
Although we were not much interested in the consoles, Cindy KM and I
took a tour through the main hall to scam some goodies for our children.
On Thursday, I was able to get a couple of holographic Pokemon cards
for my sons, but when we went back the next day to get some for Cindy’s
daughters, they were out (geez, I hope her daughters don’t read this).
We got some Nintendo 64 pens and some Zelda pins to promote an upcoming
Legend of Zelda game for Game Boy Color, but my kids were not very
excited by those things.
This one is for my children
My older son is a fanatical reader of the Animorphs books, so
I went by Infogrames, which is publishing an Animorphs game sometime
soon. They were really stingy with their goodies–they just had some leftover
happy meal toys from Kentucky Fried Chicken. Luckily, my son didn’t clue
in to that. I don’t know why, but it would have made a difference. Go
figure.
Cindy and I took a look at the Mattel children’s games display, and we
hit paydirt in terms of toys. We got some plush Sesame Street characters,
some Rock’em Sock’em Robots, Scooby Doo pins, and a new Pokemon (Poke-ROM)
game on a teeny CD (gotta collect ’em all–at eight bucks a pop). Mattel
actually had a very nice lineup of children’s games, most of them based
on Nickelodeon or PBS television shows.
The Mattel room was also home to the two new Myst games, Myst
Dimensions (a 3D rendition of the original Myst with the addition
of a new age) and Myst III: Exile. (I am not going to write anything
about these games; I just wanted to whet your appetite. Pretty mean, huh?)
(Just kidding … we had a very nice chat with one of the founders of
Presto Studios, and Ray and/or Cindy will give you the lowdown within
the next few days.)
Randy and I toured the hall o’small companies in search of games nobody’s
ever heard of. We did find several foreign titles, but sometimes the company
representatives spoke little or no English, so we had a hard time communicating.
We also met one really scary guy (I’m not naming any names or saying which
company it was out of fear of being hunted down and subjected to prolonged
torture and a slow death) with the eyes of a psychopath. I swear he looked
at us like we were the dog doo he had just stepped in, or bugs he wanted
to pull the wings off and then squash like a, well, bug. (I hope I didn’t
make a mistake by even saying what hall he was in.) (I hope he doesn’t
see himself in these words … nah, he probably never reads the site … ?)
We all got separated on Saturday morning, so I went off by myself to
try to get a look at the upcoming Monkey Island game from LucasArts
(by appointment only, they said, but they were actually very accommodating).
Even though the game will be in 3D (using the Grim Fandango interface)
and the writers are different, it looks like it will be true to the originals.
I will write up a full preview when I finish looking at all of the materials.
Randy and Ray showed up in the middle of the demo (Cindy had to go home
early Saturday morning). Ray and I then went next door to the Lucas Learning
room and previewed a couple of nice educational titles for kids based
on Star Wars characters, unfortunately not adventure games, though.
Pictures from the South Hall (where the big PC game companies were)
The barging-in and pretty-pleasing technique did not work so well over
at Electronic Arts. They were showing all of their games out in the open
except for one … the abominable American McGee’s Alice. Both
Randy and I tried, on two separate occasions, to sweet-talk our way into
the secret hidden room under the stairs, armed guard at the black door
(hyperbole? only a little bit), where they were previewing it, but no
go. I asked “why all the secrecy? what are you so afraid of?”
and was given some song-and-dance about how only the international press
got to see it at the E3 and we Americans just had to wait. Ironic, no?
Especially considering the name of the developer of this travesty. Oops
… I wonder if the real reason they wouldn’t show it to us is that we
keep using words like “travesty” and “abomination”
when we talk about the game on the site. (It just slipped out, I swear.
I couldn’t help it.)
Out of the thousands of games being shown, there were only two that really
excited me. (Remember, though, that I am the adventure purist in the lot.
Randy, Cindy, and Ray all saw oodles of games that looked great to them,
and I’m sure they will tell you about them in detail.) The first was Dracula
Resurrection, being published in North America by DreamCatcher, and
the second was Stupid Invaders, to be published by Ubi Soft.
Myst III: Exile, Monkey Island 4, and the new Nancy Drew game
also looked very promising for the adventure purist, and I will play them
and enjoy them when they come out, but I was slightly less excited because
they all fall into the category of “more of the same.”
This is only a small portion of what we saw and did. All in all, the
E3 was a feast for the eyes, hard on the ears, murder on the feet, just
like Las Vegas. On the plus side, there was no smoking in the Convention
Center; on the minus side, no slot machines to smoke at. On the plus side,
plenty of games; on the minus side, not many I wanted to play. On the
plus side, free; on the minus side, no money for hitting the jackpot.
The best part for me was meeting my colleagues and spending time with
them, the worst part was the gigantic Charlie horse I got in one of my
legs.
I look forward to next year.
