E3: How we got here

How the hell did we end up in an airplane hangar?

Words: Matt Cundy, GamesRadar UK

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The new style E3 Media & Business Summit kicks off in Santa Monica later this week and while we're looking forward to the prospect of spending four days talking up, slacking off, gawping at and - yes - even playing video games. As invited attendees, we're keeping our excitement in check and approaching the show with a degree of reservation.

Why? Well, no one - including the peeps dealing with the sprawling shebang's logistics - can really have any idea of what it's going to be like until the event actually gets going. And when you're walking into the unknown, it's only natural to tread with some trepidation.

But before we embark on our journalistic expedition to conquer the E3 Summit, we thought it'd be worth examining E3's past, the events that led to the show's “evolution,” what we're anticipating from this year's event and what the future might hold for the grand ol' circus of virtual entertainment.

Above: E3, as it was

Remember the bad, good-old days?

Dubbed “The Greatest Show on Earth” by gaming hacks, the annual Entertainment Electronic Expo started in 1995 and in its 12 year history it served as the event for console makers, developers and third parties to show off their wares. Over the years the show hosted everything from the console granddaddies - Sega Genesis and SNES - all the way through to today's big three: the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. And, of course, thousands upon thousands of games.