Historically, E3 has always done two things brilliantly. Firstly, it puts the disparate global industry in one place, hitting all audiences, from producer to consumer. Off the back of this, E3 has always been a great platform for launches. Having the whole industry in one place is a brilliant opportunity to tell them something. Understand that the first E3 saw Sega surprise launching the Saturn in the US and being trumped by Sony announcing that PlayStation would retail for $100 less. Then consider that it has been the venue for pretty much every major hardware announcement since - you quickly realise what a stage this event has been for brands wanting to make powerful statements of intent.
In a world with an uninterested mass media and geographically scattered audience, E3 had great relevance. That, however, isn't the world we live in anymore. The barriers to communication that E3 overcame once a year are now mere trivialities. Journalists, gamers and industry professionals are continually plugged into the brands and organisations that matter to them. We take online video and realtime many-to-many communication afforded by social tools for granted, but without these innovations there was a need to assemble an audience if you wanted to announce things cost-effectively.
The absence of these barriers creates a void for exhibitors to creatively and appropriately fill: amplifying the social and tangible aspects becomes more important than ever. This year, however, we saw that void filled with flamboyant theatre.
We saw Activision decadently assert itself as a lifestyle brand. The sight of its logo monolithically juxtaposed against the likes of N.E.R.D. and Eminem was telling of how this brand pictures itself – it has compelled the worlds of gaming and pop culture to join forces as well as demonstrated just how much money it makes.
Equally interesting was the Cirque Du Soleil launch of Kinect. Here, theatre took the form of something inexplicably disconnected from the product - and at first glance a line-up which suggested style over substance. But when you've already demonstrated the technology, what else will make an impression?
Nintendo hit a pain barrier of its own, being unable to demonstrate 3DS' core functionality on-stage. It attempted to present the unpresentable because of, one can only presume, a perceived obligation to the media. Ironically, after singing about architecture, the subsequent reporting from Nintendo's booth positively gushed about the new device and more than made up for it. This example alone demonstrates the limits of press conferences as a promotional device and the need for gaming brands to reappraise how they handle those moments of face to face, "touch the metal" interaction.
Sony gave us Kevin Butler. And while pulling this character out of the ads makes the yarn they are spinning a little more tangible it tells us more about Kevin Butler than it does PlayStation. That said, perhaps they should be applauded for not just flashing their cash.
E3 is category defining. The cultural weight awarded to it dictates our frame of reference. Commentators talk of who "won" E3 and in doing so define the competitive set for the larger industry. To take part in E3 is to take part in the world E3 creates (hence the concern surrounding Rockstar's opt-out).
The E3 view is a narrow one, though, and obsessing over "the big three" as the brands which dictate the shape of the industry is not only biased in excluding major publishers but also inaccurate in passing over Facebook and Apple - whose stake in this industry cannot be exaggerated.
While it was certainly one of the best E3s in recent memory in terms of new annoucements, its inadequacies were made painfully clear. E3 is an event for gaming as it was over a decade ago, not necessarily how it is now. As the industry becomes more abstract in its definition, as its needs shift and as the medium itself becomes more dependent on its context, the value of the original offering erodes. Certainly, spending press conferences watching trailers might not be their best use.
This year was about theatrics and cash where perhaps there could have been something more considered and relevant. But it also demonstrated E3's strengths: moments of hands-on interaction with what is new and exciting are still invaluable.
And yet, perhaps most interestingly, 3DS also demonstrated how technology is already moving beyond being able to be communicated by mere events. Quite how E3 will cope with exposing the generation beyond motion controllers and 3D? Well, that'll be the test.
This from Thom, who works for advertising agency TBWA\London, is his first fortnightly column for Edge on thorny and colourful world of videogame marketing. His opinions are his own. You can find him on Twitter at @thomdinsdale.