The show may have been the usual massive affair in 2006, but the problem was now that the internet had YouTube - and was ready to rip any mistake to shreds in video form.

E3 2006 was a disaster for Sony. What's the point of spending thousands only to become a laughing stock? There isn't one. So Sony promptly pulled out, followed by several other major players. The show was cancelled.

 
Clearly the cancellation left many people with a gaping hole in not only their calendars but their very lives. So it did come back in 2007, but only as a press gathering. No booth babes. No Jet Set Radio dancers. Just a load of pie charts and spreadsheets with dull men talking duller numbers. Boo! There were press conferences from the big three, however. But listen to the stunned silence when Miyamoto announces Wii Fit.

 
The halls were empty in 2008 save for a few demo pods, leaving us to have our own fun. Like... standing as close as we could to people.

But if it looks like that's all the fun there was to be had, you're right. GamesRadar wrote this about the atmosphere:

"You would go some way to find a more miserable environment than the E3 pressroom. Infused with an unspoken, solemn despair this carpeted cave of beards, half-eaten sandwiches and ineffective internet connectability is a sorry place to be sure. Your GR ambassadors are currently squatting in this very digital abattoir, desperately attempting to upload pictures and type words as the wi-fi undulates in strength like a torrid sea. Readers, it is shit."

And look at the showfloor:

Compare that to the E3 of old:

Please, oh videogame god in the sky - please let E3 2009 be awesome!

25 May, 2009

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