The Year's Grandest Video Game Event - E3 2011

Details

Parent Category: Expos and Conventions

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 30 May 2011 08:23

Written by Ryan Vest & Christopher Lai

The grandest video game event of the year is back. The Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3) is running June 7 - 9, 2011, in the Los Angeles Convention Center. E3 is the premier trade show for the video game industry featuring over 45,000 people from 90 countries attending last year's event. Along with the expo itself, E3 features press conferences hosted by juggernaut vendors including Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, Activision and Electronic Arts held in near proximity to the trade show floor. While the expo is not open to the public, there is plenty for gamers to be excited about.

E3 is on its 16th year running since it split off from the Consumer Electronics ShowB (CES) in order to restrict attendances to key industry personnel. The departure was marked by Sega’s surprise announcement for the launch date of the Sega Saturn to occur the day after the press release.

Sega's announcement was then immediately usurped by Sony’s announcement of the PlayStation. The PlayStation boasted more features and better hardware than its Sega counterpart costing $299, $100 less than the Saturn.

Between the inaugural event in 1995 and the 1999 expo, new games were being debuted but nothing overshadowed those initial announcements. However in 2000, attendees were floored by the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo which showcased the then new PlayStation 2’s gaming capabilities. No one had ever seen such an advanced level of artificial intelligence or a gaming environment so heavily populated by objects that the character can interact with.

The 2003 expo gave audiences a new experience when Valve showcased their video game engine called Source through their new game Half-Life 2.

Coupled with the high acclaim of E3 also comes historical failures. The most famous flop
came at E3 2006 during the time where the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii were all being unveiled at the conference. Sony, coming off of their huge success with the PlayStation 2, announced its successor the PlayStation 3. However, with a release date after the Wii and the Xbox 360 along with a $599 price point, considered outlandish compared to Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony cemented the PlayStation 3 in history as having one of the worst initial launches of all time.

The negative atmosphere continued into 2007 when the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced a downsizing of the event limiting overall attendance. E3 was an incredibly competitive environment and although it was only open to industry professionals, many who attended didn’t have the correct credentials. Publishers were complaining about the increase in costs associated with creating an extravagant exhibit that could grab people’s attention.

In response, the ESA made restrictions including size restrictions, noise restrictions, the banning of "booth babes" and allowing only 5,000 attendees, which was down from 60,000 the year before. The reaction to these changes didn’t go as well as the ESA had hoped as publishers expressed their concern that the cutbacks were too extreme culminating into Activision withdrawing participation. Since then, the ESA has slowly rolled back these changes. This year’s E3 is nearly back in full force to its celebratory status that was so sorely missed by its fans.

Last year, in 2010, Microsoft showed off the launch titles for the Kinect while Nintendo dished out their first looks at the Nintendo 3DS. The 2011 E3 is looking to be just as exciting with details about Sony's new NGP portable hardware and information about the second wave of titles produced for the Kinect and 3DS. Other key-players in the industry including Capcom, Take-Two, Square Enix, THQ, and Ubisoft will likely make interesting announcements along with displaying their exhibits on the floor.

Perhaps more important than the companies themselves are the games they will produce:

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
This highly grossing franchise has been a mainstay of E3, making a significant appearance every year since 2003. Activision has a lot to prove with this iteration, as this will mark the first Call of Duty game affected by the numerous departures at Infinity Ward which led to Activision having to add Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software to the development process. Modern Warfare 3 still has an official release date for November of this year, making an E3 showing a must.

Bungie’s Next Game
Bungie has been awfully silent since they broke away from Microsoft and teir hugely successful Halo series. Now the software developer is with Activision. It is unknown what Activision has had Bungie working on, but rumors are pointing to an online massively multiplayer first-person-shooter.

Mass Effect 3
After Bioware took multiple game of the year awards with Mass Effect 2, expectations are high for the story's next iteration. Bioware started out strong by debuting a dramatic CGI trailer at the Spike Video Game Awards (VGAs). E3 would be the perfect time to follow up with some in-game footage.


Skyward Sword made its first appearance at last year’s E3 with a playable demo but Nintendo has not released new information since. It will be interesting to see what improvements Nintendo has made to justify the wait.

Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
Sony has been displaying the game at various events since the announcement at the Spike VGAs and E3 will be no exception. Developer Naughty Dog has a lot to live up to after their game, Uncharted 2, took the majority of game of the year awards in 2009.

Half-Life 2: Episode 3
Valve has been oddly quiet about this game ever since Episode 2 was released in 2007. There has been some speculation that Valve has shifted their efforts to turn what they have in to Half-Life 3 with a vastly upgraded engine. It’s hard to say if Valve will have anything ready to show for E3, but if they do there is no better time to do it.

The Last Guardian
Team Ico’s first game for the PlayStation 3 is highly anticipated after the success of Shadow of the Colossus on the PlayStation 2. Trailers for The Last Guardian were shown at the last two E3s but no demos of the game have been released.

Facebook and Mobile games 
Judging by the amount of attention these casual games received at the recent game developers' summit, Design Innovate Communicate Entertain (DICE), there may be a surprise in a number of Facebook and Mobile game announcements at E3. Both Facebook and mobile phone games have grown greatly over the year.

Gears of War 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Infamous 2, and Batman: Arkham City will also likely make appearances themselves along with many new games that have not yet been revealed.

E3 is run by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) which consists of large North
American video games publishers with the intention of promoting and protecting the video game industry. The ESA also supports Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) which leads the effort against video game piracy and regulating governmental laws.

Competitors to E3 include Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) held in the Boston Convention and
Exhibition Center, March 11 – 13 with about 67,600 attending their last event and the Tokyo Game Show (TGS), September 15 – 18 at the Makuhari Messe with about 207,600 attendees last year. TGS and PAX are both open to the public unlike E3.

While the closed event at E3 doesn’t match the attendance numbers of its competitors, the
convention is still the most influential event in gaming as the number of onlookers to the event far supersedes that of any other. Video game sites, like IGN and Gamespot, receive immense increases in online traffic from readers interested in the event. Also, the majority of press conferences are even being televised by Spike and G4TV.

New game announcements, hardware reveals, show floor impressions, and hints to new gaming platforms make E3 an event that no gamer wants to miss.

Visit www.e3expo.com for more information.

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