E3 2006: Overview

- Nintendo steals show with innovation
- Microsoft pushes ‘AAA’ titles
- Sony offers open access on the floor
- Confusing “dress up” rules flouted
- Publisher fined for noise
- Robots and Hilton among antics

At the computer games industry’s largest event, E3, last week Wii won on innovation, Gears of War (360) for game-play, and Warhawk (PS3) has possibly the best ever air-fighter  controller.

The organisers of the Electronic Entertainment Expo focused on keeping it professional. Attendance at the Los Angeles Conference Centre was down 10,000 from last year’s overcrowded expo. It was planned, aimed at keeping non-industry types out, but Northern Ireland born industry veteran, David Perry, wrote on his blog “Even some really key (award winning) industry friends were rejected as not having valid industry credentials”.

Exhibitors were told to dress up their “booth babes” (pictured, bottom right), most did, no swimwear this year, but as the Los Angeles Times reported “rules, of course, are made to be bent. And it turned out E3 has provided a way to do just that. In short, models are allowed to show more skin if they are embodying a particular provocatively dressed video game character”. There may have been a few less “booth babes”, and while some of 2005’s extreme seediness wasn’t to be seen, cleavage and ‘hotpants’ still very much so were – not all that uncommon in LA anyway.

Once notorious for deafening sound, publisher EA kept their volume relativity low - no sound wars with surrounding publishers like years before – NCsoft however, were fined for infractions of sound restrictions. US games site, GameSpot, reported that NCsoft’s Fred Schmidt “blasted Sega [their booth neighbours] saying they had three people with decibel readers monitoring NCsoft's booth for the slightest infractions”. Schmidt said “We have been harassed for three days straight, and I'm not sure we're coming back here, but we are going to have a party next year--real near here--and we hope you all will come".

Besides Paris Hilton blocking pathways for hours, and giving the wrong name for a mobile phone game with her name in it, causing hysteria among the press, a robot caused annoyance at E3’s opening press breakfast. By merely appearing with a robot head and cowboy hat, two journalists from Destructoid.com upset GamePolitics.com’s Dennis McCauley and the speaker, ESA president, Doug Lowenstein. While pointing to no misbehaviour besides dress code, McCauley says the attention was “strictly of the negative variety” and that it “highlights some of the ongoing issues with the professionalism - or lack thereof - among fan sites”. Destructoid.com replied saying “no 'stunt' - that’s a bullshit spin on what went down by a hack who didn’t even have the investigative reporting ability (aka GUTS) to approach the people they are reporting on when we were in the same room. The most pathetic part of the counterpoint was suggesting we won’t get E3 credentials next year”. They went on to question the professionalism of hiring “thousands of women… to parade around a conference half naked”.

Unscientifically, we can only say, Nintendo looked to have the largest line; the people in question were looking to get into the Wii enclosure – packed with games and gamers. Inside - with little foot movement - lines to Wii consoles were slow moving; movement instead came from waving and pointing hands with Wii controllers. Users messed houses up to find little monsters, conducted orchestras, played tennis as if they had bats in their hands (pictured, right), aimed guns, and in ‘the Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’ alone they fished, through boomerangs, and yielded bows and arrows. The Wii is out later this year, no price point has been set.

Next stand over - just across a strip of carpet – Sony had playable PlayStation 3 games on the show floor, limited entry lines, but the demo areas were cluttered. Grand Tourism HD looked stunning, but no Dualshock left some disconnected – no warning while veering off course, and no feeling in the rough. With Warhawk the lack of a rumble feature could be forgiven, as the new PlayStation controller acted more like real aeroplane controls the thought that this betters joysticks for flight games ran through our heads. Fahrenheit developer, Quantic Dream, teased with non-playable ‘Heavy Rain the Casting’, and while the new Sonic game was nice it was also on 360.

Meanwhile a shortcut outside in the Southern Californian sun brings us to the main hall, EA’s Spore spun possibly the longest queue for a trailer of a single game (pictured, left). Next-door was a line for Ubisoft’s / Gearbox’s Brother in Arms Hell’s Highway, smaller line, but using the Unreal Engine 3 the PC, 360, and PS3 team-based tactical FPS game looked impressive.

Earlier in the week, at their pre-E3 press conference on Hollywood Boulevard, Microsoft surprised most saying Rockstar will release Grand Theft Auto 4 on Xbox 360 from 'Day one' (October 19, 2007 in Europe). Giving at least a level playing field for one game with the PlayStation, GTA once had people buying the PS2 console just for it.

They were also  quick to point out ‘Alan Wake’ (also 2007) - a much awaited horror game from Max Payne developer Remedy - will be a 360/Windows Vista exclusive, and that Pro Evolution on next generation will first be on 360 and will not make an appearance on the PS3 this year. Mass Effect, a new space RPG from Star Wars: KOTOR developer BioWare, is another exclusive. Then, hidden around the invite-only meeting in the two-story Microsoft stand, was Epic’s Gears of War - it looks to be turning out as a fresh console seller (see our preview).

Microsoft came to E3 this year armed with a working example of cross platform multiplayer gaming with the FPS ‘Shadow Run’. Windows Vista will use Live Anywhere – opening the whole PC-console controller debate again – the same Live account will be accessible from Vista and 360. Players will be able to fight with, and against, users of other formats.

Friday came around again; the floor closes at 4pm, with many of the visitors from Europe and around the world leave earlier to catch evening flights – the SCEE desk abandoned when we passed by to grab another go on PS3.

The general reaction was that Nintendo grabbed the attention of most of the show; Sony was somewhat disappointing with playable but graphically toned down PS3 games, Microsoft looks a hell of a lot better knocking the PlayStation’s GTA exclusive and affirming hard content - more so exclusives - this year.

Even with the high PS3 price tag, it’s accepted that early adopters will still buy, it looks only to be a waiting game with many questions – with such innovation, could the Wii ever be another Gamecube? – Will we live without rumble on the PS3? Will Sony’s attempt at ‘Live’ work? How much of the market will Xbox 360 take from Sony worldwide? – If mass gains are made worldwide, will this be mirrored in a PlayStation stronghold like Ireland?