E3: What We Miss

We’re mere hours away from the start of this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo and expectations are at an all-time high with plenty of big projects from Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft and other third party companies likely to blow your doors off over the next twelve months.

Still, despite all the hoopla going into this year’s event, we can’t help but feel that little things are missing to make it feel complete.  There’s just something that seems to be absent in one place or another that’s keeping the Electronic Entertainment Expo from being all that it deserves to be.  We don’t mean to complain (too much) as E3 is still the greatest gaming show in town, but we always like to take a trip down memory lane.

We’ve got a few honest observations as to what can be added in the years to come to make it feel like the event we grew up with in years past.

Surprises

I hate to say it but every year it seems like E3 has less and less surprises to show us due to deals made with media outlets to reveal big projects days before the big event.  

Look at how things went down just last week.  

– Star Wars 1313 and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 were revealed days before their arrival at the show.

– Gears of War: Judgment was outed way too quickly by Game Informer Magazine

– EA revealed Dead Space 3 and Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2 thanks to screenshots that somehow leaked onto the web

– It probably won’t be long before Nintendo’s secrets seep out, similar to how the Wii U specs did last year right before the big press conference

Don’t get us wrong.  We’re happy to see these new projects emerge and will be playing them on the floor if we can find the kiosks.  There just used to be a time when surprises were saved for the E3 show itself, not for the hype leading up before.  

While it’s great (and news worthy) to see them first and foremost, you can’t help but think about what’s left for the show.  There will still be good stuff there for sure, but for next year, guys, hold it in just a little bit longer, okay?

Booth Babes In Full Force

Years before the controversial “banning” of booth babes, spokesmodels flourished around the show floor, hyping the products they were hired to talk about and posing for countless pictures.  Are they simply models who appear on the show floor to promote something they hardly know about?  Maybe.  But the fact remains that booth babes, for better or worse, are an exquisite draw to the show, either for the galleries that will post at some point in time or perhaps just to give someone the opportunity to post a picture on Facebook and say, “So, how you like me now?”

Honestly, booth babes really don’t have that negative an impact on the show.  We’re playing games that feature toplessness and carnage aplenty, so why not let us have some fun with girls who, for the most part, wouldn’t talk to us (okay, me) otherwise?  

Scheduling Woes on the Same Night

We love parties.  We seriously do.  Companies go all out with open bar, top-notch entertainers and other surprises to make sure their guests are thoroughly entertained, even if it can go a little too far in the later hours.  And this year’s E3 is no exception when it comes to parties, including gigs for Hawken, Shifted 2U, TopWare Interactive, Michael Pachter (must go to party of the year!) and others.

But the thing is, these guys really need to work on their scheduling.  As much as we enjoy attending these shindigs and having a good time with our peers, it’s a pain when they line them up on the exact same nights.  Case in point – Tuesday has a majority of the parties, Wednesday has a few others, and Thursday is wide open!

For the next E3, these guys may want to consider stretching their venues to Thursday, maybe providing an opportunity for journalists and attendees to “unwind” after a great event and simply kick back with a beer.  And again, we don’t mean to complain, just to wax nostalgic about a time when the big companies would get together and allow us to attend all of their events in one uninterrupted swing of awesome.

Kentia Hall

Finally, let’s give a shout-out to one of the nearest things to our hearts that we miss about the E3 events: Kentia Hall.  Though it’s great to see the event return to the Los Angeles Convention Center, the small party that is Kentia Hall has been missing from the past few years.  

This is the place where smaller companies and sellers come to hold their own event, showing off motion technology and other goodies.  While it may not be as highly anticipated as Nintendo’s Wii U, there’s still something great about walking through a crowd of cosplayers and having a good time in a much smaller venue.

Maybe this’ll be the year that the ESA brings back Kentia, with its halls full of crazy folks, high tech gadgets and crazy good vibes.  We could sure use it from the otherwise boisterous halls that hang above.  We’ll be back with a full report from the show to give you the honest, unbiased truth about the good, the bad, and the awesome from this year’s E3!