E3 is the most exciting time of the year in gaming, much like how opening day is for baseball – during E3 everything can have potential, everything can live up to all the promises, and excitement carries the day. No small part of this jubilation is seeing new stuff for the very first time; in this E3 was the exclusive home for the gaming industry not too many years ago. My experience at E3 2011 showed me, however, that E3 as a debut theater may have been diluted irrevocably and forever.
It started with Microsoft E3's press conference, which was kicked off with a gameplay demo of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It's a natural choice, and will almost certainly be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, retail releases this year. Thing is, this wasn't the first reveal of the game; it wasn't even the first reveal of the gameplay – it was the first reveal of the level they were showing, but that's not nearly as special. As the press conference rolled on, they showed Gears of War 3 (again, a level not shown before but not exactly a mystery) and a remake of the first Halo and Halo 4 were announced – neither exactly shocking and both were heavily rumored beforehand. Even most of the Kinect titles and extra capabilities (which really the highlighted the conference) we're mostly announced or hinted at in the past and you'll have to excuse me if I don't get too personally excited over Sesame Street Once Upon a Monster and Disneyland Adventures.
Switching over to the Sony press conference, most of the PS3 software that was shown off was known long beforehand (Resistance 3, Uncharted 3) and even included a bit for InFamous 2, which released the week of the expo. While they pleasantly surprised the industry with their $249 pricing of the PS Vita, the system itself is a known element by this point, along with its highest profile title (Uncharted: Golden Abyss), leaving Ruin (with its cloud saving, PS3 cross play) as probably the most pleasant, original software surprise out of the Sony conference.
"I can't help but reflect on how E3 just isn't what it used to be."
Nintendo had the most solid presentation overall as far as the press conferences go, with an impressive showing for both the 3DS (which looks to be well set up for the coming year) and a well received announcement of the Wii U's controller. However, the 3DS games shown were Super Mario 3DS, Star Fox 64 3D, Mario Kart 3DS, Luigi's Mansion 2 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - as successful as I'm sure most of them will be, they're not exactly a breath of fresh air, being sequels, ports or iterations of well established brands. As for the Wii U, while there might be immense potential in the controller, Nintendo showed none of their own games (the brief Zelda video was just a CG mock-up) and the third-party games shown off had all been previously announced for other consoles and, as it turns out, were videos of those games running on PS3/Xbox 360. The controller itself was spoiled by leaked reports that were more or less dead on about its combination of standard controls with tablet abilities.
As far as the third party publishers go, Electronics Arts, Activision Ubisoft, THQ, Tecmo Koei, and Capcom were pushing games like Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Saints Row 3, Ninja Gaiden 3 and Street Fighter x Tekken, which were all announced well beforehand and some of the more intriguing titles of the coming year (at least to me) like Anarchy Reigns, Asura's Wrath, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, DmC, Devil's Third and The Last Guardian were either shown off behind closed doors only or were completely absent from the show.
It was not too long ago that E3 was the venue for publishers to announce most if not all of their slate of titles for the coming year or two. In fact, E3 became almost crowded with games desperately trying to establish themselves against a field of worthy competitors for positive first impressions. E3 did itself no favors when it attempted to downsize and decentralize in 2007, a move that some felt was necessary at the time, but ultimately withered the profile and importance of the event and nearly killed it before it was moved back to the L.A. convention center in 2009. At the same time, other events were on the rise: Gamescom, Tokyo Game Show, PAX, the VGAs and others helped fill the gap, and individual publishers started holding “Gamer's Day” events, wherein they showed off their own products exclusively and managed to create far more interest and buzz around their games than they ever would if they were trying to shout over each other at E3.
Other “surprises” are also ruined just due to the fact that the world is a much smaller place now than it even was five years ago. Sony's PSPgo seemed like the worst kept secret in the world when Sony officially unveiled it at E3 2009 (so much so that Sony actually acknowledged the leaks during the announcement). Even Nintendo, which has been a tight fortress of secrets for years, foiling journalists at every turn to get the scoop, has seen both the 3DS and Wii U laid bare before they would have liked. Close examination of hardware manufacturers in Japan forced Nintendo to announce the 3DS before they were ready and demonstrations to third-parties led to what now seems to be the inevitable anonymous blabbing to the press, revealing more or less all its capabilities save the form factor of the Wii U's controller.
Despite all this, E3 still manages to attract more attention than any other video gaming event. Its designation as a “first impressions” venue is still highly important and valuable to the industry. For software, thousands of enthusiast and mainstream press, analysts, and interested gamers shine the light on the biggest games of the coming year and it's attention that's priceless for the industry. And as far as console hardware revelations, it's still the one and only venue to officially announce products, and it's still the only place to get hands-on impressions of new and upcoming systems like the 3DS, PS Vita and Wii U, sometimes before such devices have even been finalized.
From a person-to-person standpoint, E3 is unparalleled as a networking opportunity, and even as someone who is sometimes annoyed at the crowds of people simply there to gawk at the spectacle (it can be a bit harried getting to meetings with a hard and fast schedule rushing from one end of the L.A. Convention Center to the next) I'm impressed at the thousands of fans and enthusiast bloggers who came out to E3 on their own dime, not because they thought it would put them over the top on getting a job in games, but just because they have that sort of passion for the industry. It's an electric atmosphere, and that energy is key to lifting yourself during a week that can be exhausting in its obligations.
On a personal note, I write all this not as one of those cynical game nerds who looks for the negative and maintains an attitude of permanent displeasure – there were a lot of things that I loved to see and talking to designers/producers/managers about their products in-person never gets old. There were still plenty of cool games to see/play (and I did) but that's not really what I'm talking about – E3's “newness” as an industry event at the center of our world has simply been dulled by the fact that gaming has outgrown a single large convention in a year. E3 has become another touch-point in the year for game publishers – a major one, but only one of many. While I know this year may just be a down year for surprises and new software (especially where the Wii U is concerned), I can't help but reflect on how E3 just isn't what it used to be.
