I started attending E3 in 2000. The highlight of the event that year was arriving at the Sony lot for the PlayStation E3 party with Ion Storm’s John Romero and Stevie Case, only to get stopped every two or three feet by well-wishers and glad-handers (Romero and Case, that is, not me). In the years that followed, as the parties grew more lavish and the press conferences more glitzy, there was still a certain sense of showmanship that was lacking across the board. It wasn’t uncommon to see executives drone on about sales figures, complete with PowerPoint-fueled bar graphs and pie charts, or six-minute-long trailers for upcoming games, or onstage demos of multiplayer games where it was difficult to tell what was going on.
Fortunately, the advent of televised coverage of conferences like E3 (here in the US it’s primarily cable networks like G4 and Spike that have taken the lead) appears to have pushed publishers and platform holders to step up the ‘show’ half of the show business equation.
When Microsoft revealed during E3 2008 that Netflix streaming video would be coming to Xbox 360, one of its executives made the announcement. This year, to unveil the coming US launch of the ESPN sports network on Xbox 360, Microsoft turned to a pair of ESPN anchors who channelled the product announcement through their inimitable cadences and witty banter, to the amusement of the audience. Nintendo created a memorable stage picture when Reggie Fils-Aime appeared onstage surrounded by a slew of women bearing 3DS handhelds - the only thing missing was a Radio City Rockettes-style kick line. As for Sony, fans of its US ‘It Only Does Everything’ ad campaign for PlayStation 3 were rewarded with an appearance by the face of that campaign, faux-exec Kevin Butler. He proceeded to take tongue-in-cheek shots at the competition, then deliver a rant on behalf of true gamers who may be feeling left behind by recent industry trends.
This movement towards better showmanship wasn’t limited to the system manufacturers. Last year, Electronic Arts was so intent on demonstrating the breadth of its titles that it even included a Charm Girls game. This year, the publisher focused squarely on the E3 crowd with a streamlined presentation of ten games ranging from a 3D trailer for Crysis 2 to stage demos of Dead Space and Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. By catering to the interests of its actual audience rather than a larger corporate objective, EA’s swift, one-title-after-another briefing had a greater cumulative impact than if it had meandered.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Activision turned E3 on its ear, opting out of the seven-figure booths that typify the annual expo in favour of a small set of meeting rooms off the show floor. Instead, the company took over a nearby arena for a concert that featured acts like Usher, Soundgarden, Eminem and Rihanna, showing trailers and game footage for Call Of Duty: Black Ops, Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock and DJ Hero 2 in between the various artist’s sets. The scale of Activision’s event was so grandiose, I was surprised that the publisher hadn’t lined up a broadcast partner to capitalise on the home audience that would have tuned in to see these acts performing. But as a chest-pounding demonstration of Activision’s might, those lucky enough to score a ticket left impressed.
The final example of this trend is also the one I was initially most sceptical of: Valve’s decision to show Portal 2 as a series of videos demonstrating particular aspects of the game. At E3, we generally expect to see live demos, so when I saw one of Valve’s top men press play on a DVD, I started grumbling under my breath. But given the number of people that Valve was trying to accommodate combined with the complexity of the new gameplay mechanics in Portal 2, the wisdom of Valve’s choice was evident by the time the Q&A portion of the proceedings began (and it didn’t hurt that the impeccable writing and voice-acting are yet again laugh-out-loud funny). The lesson? Any of E3’s customs can be revamped – as long as it makes for a good show.