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So an E3 can’t betypified by release schedules. It has to be defined much more subjectively and personally than that. So I’m about throw objectivity to the wind andtell you how it worked out for me this year. And then I want to know how it worked out for you.
Basically, E3 2010 was my favourite E3 in years. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was the best -in fact it certainly wasn’t -but it was my favourite. The reason? Nintendo. I’d really given up on ever having reason to say that again. In fact that probably plays a part in compounding my reaction. But whether coloured by my years of grief at Nintendo’s casual swing or not, that conference made my E3.
It wasn't just the 3DS. It wasn’t just the hardcore Wii line-up. It was the way Nintendo conducted itself and the way it presented everything. Casual ambassador and squealing soccer mom Cammie Dunaway had been left at home. Reggie was being badass again, without a single simpering reference to smiles. Miyamoto actually turned up, and didn’t look embarrassed by the game he’d brought along this year. Iwata had a 3DS with him rather than a Vitality Sensor.
Above: Rumour has it this sign was on the door to Nintendo's press conference. And on theside of its corporate jets on the way to E3.
I wrote amore in-depth analysisof the way Nintendo did things last week, but for the purpose of this article all you need to know is that Nintendo is about the hardcore fans again. And as someone who mourned and then got over its loss when it left gaming behind - but still always missedthe particular brand of joyous awesome only Nintendo could do - that made this my favourite E3 in a very, very long time.
Everyone else? This unfortunately is where I must acknowledge that this E3 wasn’t really a particularly good one. Microsoft could have excited me if it hadn’t glossed over its best material in fourteen seconds flat, in order to get to a load of already out-dated motion control embarrassment (seriously, what is that Crytek exclusive, and why don’t we know anything significantabout Fable III that we didn’t know a year ago?).
Above: Seriously, this trailer might as well have not been there
Sony could have blown me away if it had brought The Last Guardian, or even just a couple of surprises. Instead it spent most of its conference blowing its load over 3D tech no-one is going to want to adopt in relevant numbers for at least five years (and which anyone can make, regardless of what Kaz would have you believe), and more out-dated motion control embarrassment. The Steam announcement was very cool, but we need to know more. And in place of Sony’s usually well-paced build up to a finale of megaton surprises, we got a disappointing game-light trickle down to the pre-leaked reveal of a sequel and the release date of a game long-lampooned for its slipped release dates.
Yeah, it wasn’t a stunning E3 when looked at objectively. It wasn’t even a particularly great one. But E3 isn’t about being objective. It’s about getting excited. And for me,despite the above-listed crap, itwas seriously bloody exciting.
But how about you? How did this E3 compare to previous ones for you? What was the best bit ? What was the worst? And which E3 is your favourite so far, and why? Give me your anecdontes, give me your fanboyism and give me your gleeful child-like excitement. For they, surely, are the whole point of E3.
