It’s been 11 years since the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) launched in the mid-nineties. Those were the days when SEGA was a platform. It was the year of the much-hyped launch of defunct 3DO’s VHS-like format and 6 years before Microsoft’s Xbox. Now, in the second half of the first decade of the 21st Century, E3 is the definitive annual promotional event for the $45B US global games industry. "E3 is the one and only venue where all of the world’s leading interactive entertainment companies convene to launch the industry’s next evolution," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade association that represents U.S. computer and video game publishers and owns E3. This year, amidst the usual 70,000+ square meters of noise and hoopla, each of the 3 major platforms garnered huge crowds. The Sony booth was abuzz with the announcement of the forthcoming PS3, November 17 planned international release @ a $499 US price point. Backward compatible to over 5000 PS1+2 games, the PS3 launch title list was not available but the demos on 36” HDTV screens were graphically the most realistic looking 3D games to date. Titles previewed included: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Sonic, Warhawk, Final Fantasy XIII, Genji, King Kong and Madden NFL 2007 among others. Nintendo’s Wii (formerly known as Revolution) entry into the market provides a unique opportunity to “get physical” with their innovative new controller. It wasn’t easy to get your hands on it though as the lines to get into the private demo area in their E3 booth meant at least a two hour wait. Games that are designed to especially play the new Nintendo way expected at launch include:Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, Red Steel, the long awaited Zelda, Twilight Princess and of course, Super Mario Revolution. Xbox 360 garnered the Best Game of Show with 2K Games, Bio Science, however, that won’t be out until 2007. Titles that were looking good and set to release later this year included: Just Cause, Crackdown, Phantasy Star Universe, Gears of War, Ninety Nine Nights and Viva Piñata. It will a fascinating to see how Xbox 360 holds onto its one year market lead in global distribution with Sony’s PS3 global marketing launch readying for Xmas 2006.
I spoke to three industry regulars who attended this year’s show and this was their take on E3 2006. Noah Falstein is a San Francisco freelance game designer, producer and founder of The Inspiracy. See www.theinspiracy.com I saw beautiful games, incrementally better than previous ones. But lots of similar stuff, there must have been half a dozen WW2 titles, endless science fictional FPS games, medieval RPG, etcetera. Intriguingly, the focus seemed to be on original IP. Most of the buzz was not around the latest version of long-established franchises but about new things - Spore, Assassin's Creed, Warhawk - many attempts to inject SOME new creativity. But also there was a focus on realism with the graphics and processing power of the new consoles aimed at making things look even more real than ever before. I also think that Spore, Will Wright's next game, which was announced last year, looks phenomenal. It has amazing scope and is incredibly inviting.
Celia Pierce is an LA based game designer and researcher as well as Assistant Professor of Communication and Culture @ Georgia Tech. Celia is co-founder of the upcoming Supercade festival celebrating independent and alternative games scheduled to launch in 2007. As usual, there were a lot of sequels, and a lot of license-based games, and a lot of shooting. The one exception was, as always, Nintendo, who always seem to have at least 2 or 3 new and original things going on in their booth. The biggest buzz at E3 this year was unquestionably the Wii. People are very excited about the prospects of a new interface, and especially what it might mean in terms of innovation in game play. Nintendo also seems to have thrown its chips on expanding the market to "non-gamers"; a bold step that I have been wishing someone would take for years. They seem to have scored a slam-dunk with Nintendogs last year and BrainAge this year. The longest line to see a demo other than @ Wii, was at EA's booth, and that was for the Spore demo. A lot of game industry people have already seen this in a number of forms, but I think Spore may turn out to be the most hotly anticipated game in a long time. Again, it's not like anything else. It's the first "new" thing to come out of EA since...well...The Sims. Finally NCSoft is doing some very cool things that are worth mentioning in terms of MMOG's. They are developing some new games with shorter session times. These are not "casual games" per se, but they fill the gap between the "hard core 4-8 hours a nighter" and the casual "20 minutes a session" type of play. They are also looking into some new revenue models. One is downloadable games with no subscription fee but rather players purchase special items or buy access to certain levels. This model has been able to sustain some smaller online social worlds, like There and Second Life. A few years ago it would have been inconceivable for people to "buy" virtual items. But players started selling them on the EBay "black market", a trend which game companies first tried to stop, and now apparently are trying to leverage.
Finally, Ken Bautista is the CEO & Executive Producer from Calgary, Alberta Canada’s based, Hotrocket Studios Inc. SEE: www.hotrocket.ca I thought that most of the buzz at this year's E3 was Nintendo's Wii, and their really innovative approach to gaming in this new generation of consoles. From what I saw from XBOX 360 and even PS3... the graphics, and presentation keep getting better, but it doesn't necessarily mean the games are getting better. Most of the games shown at E3 were the same old genres of games - driving, sports, shooters, etc. There are a few really innovative games coming out like Spore, and some cool things being done with technology, I like the stuff I saw from Lucasfilm with the "euphoria" and "Digital Molecular Matter" technologies in the new Indiana Jones game. The truly lifelike action and environments are really cool. I did find some real gems... like Duck Hunt on the Wii. Now that's classic and hours of fun. I think that there’s a trend is the rise of more "casual" games, multiplatform gaming, and connected gaming experiences through communities. Gamers are a much different and diverse breed these days and it'll be interesting to see what the next generation of games will look like. Mobile and portable gaming is getting bigger and better and I would imagine that we'll see more connected gaming experiences being delivered through multiple platforms rather than just more ports of games developed separately for each platform. E3 is the most important gathering of interactive entertainment professionals on the planet. This year E3 had over 60, 000 industry attendees. If you plan to be in LA next year, mark May 16-18 on your 2007 calendar. For more E3 post event info, check out these web sites:
www.theesa.com
www.e3insider.com
www.e3.1up.com
www.e3expo.com
http://wii.nintendo.com/home.html
http://www.ps3portal.com/ http://www.microsoft.com/xbox/
