Join The Community
"Kicking ass and taking names" Reggie Fils-Aime, E3 2004
If you're the new US president of Nintendo and want to immediately make every Nintendo gamer love you, this is how you do it. You march onto the stage and say "I am (insert name here). I'm about kicking ass and taking names and we're about making games". Might be better if it's not quite so obvious you're reading the autocue, but I guess we can't have everything.
"Well BAM! There it is" Kudo Tsunoda, E3 2009
Kudo Tsunoda was demonstrating Kinect. Live. We know it was live because there's no way anyone would pre-render a scene like this and live to tell the tale. "Have you ever wondered what the bottom of an avatar's show looks like?" He asked us. Well, not really, no. But go on, show us. And then... BAM! The stuff of legends was made.
"Five-hundred and ninety-nine US dollars" Kazuo Hirai, E3 2006
Well, it was just too much, wasn't it? When you ask people to pay almost two-thirds of a grand on a games console, a lot of them will laugh. So they did. And now it's become the default price that gets called out whenever a new Sony product's price is discussed.
"My body is ready" Reggie Fils-Aime, E3 2009
Have you noticed how Reggie's quotes in here are scripted? That's because he's doing E3 right. After (reportedly) being oblivious to his internet fame until his 16-year-old son told him about it, he now knows that people love the things he says. So he gives them prime meme ammunition like this. Well done, Reggie - you win at the internet.
"Fistbump" - Kinect Adventures kid, E3 2011
Fistbump was a thing before E3 2011, of that there can be no doubt. It means the soft punching of a friend's fist to celebrate a joint achievement together or a singular act worth mutually celebrating. But you don't normally say 'fistbump'. But that's exactly what happened at the end of Kinect Adventures.
"Girl-wood" Aisha Tyler, E3 2012
Firstly, 'Eeeeeew!' We don't need to know about that sort of thing while you're presenting, Aisha. Much as we love you and admire you for your gutsy remarks after all those 'not a real gamer' comments. You're cool. But we don't need to know about your state of arousal while you're talking to us in front of millions of people. Especially as you say you had it twice during a show about video games.
"Target Footage" - From E3 2005
The term itself may not have been used at E3 2005, but it was that year's show that wrote the words indelibly on gamers' minds. Motorstorm and Killzone 2 each received spectacular trailers that looked too good to be true. They were. As soon as the words 'target footage' or 'target render' emerged, they became part of gaming vernacular. Basically a pleasant alternative way of saying 'great big lies'.
"Massive damage" - Bill Ritch, E3 2006
The script for this one (or, rather, the brilliant conference edit video on YouTube) can probably be recited by heart by now. Genji 2 is an action game based on famous battles which "actually took place in ancient Japan." "So here's this giant enemy crab." Ah, but in fairness, some Japanese Spider Crabs can (supposedly) grow to the size of a car. But if we saw a car-sized spider crab, we'd probably consider attacking its weak point for "massive damage."
What's your favourite quote from E3?
There are more memorable E3 quotes than we've included here. But what would you include? Reggie's "I feel like a purple Pikmin" almost made our list. So let us know your favourite and maybe we'll start saying it lots. Maybe even next week, when the E3 circus starts its show all over again.
