Revitalizing E3
by BONZO, HSM team writer
Has E3 outlived its purpose?
The fallout of the biggest game-oriented event seems to fall a bit short by the coverage of very few notable reveals. Have you noticed that most stories have been confirmation of rumors? The dust has settled on the event and to those not in attendance it leaves a bit of a chorus of crickets chirping away in the silence left behind by the underwhelmed.
This year it was rumored that Sony and Microsoft would introduce their next generation consoles. Most of the industry journalists seemed sure of it, while there were running speculations that at least Sony would wait it out this year and focus on their titles. Nintendo, no surprise, was the only console developer to reveal new hardware. Reveal is using the term loosely, everyone knew about the Wii U being showcased at E3, but we finally saw it and much of the long held secrets were finally revealed or rather confirmed.
What was surprising about this E3? From a journalistic point of view, what were the great reveals of the show? Ubisoft showcased a short game play demo of their new title, Watchdogs, which looked amazing and received a lot of excitement. One of the major elements that got people excited about it is that no one knew about it. It was a very tight lipped development team because nothing was known about the title until it was shown.
The other surprises involved the Wii U title Zombie U. Overall, the titles and announcements made were pretty much unsurprising. We all just wanted to see what we knew would be showcased –Mainly the Wii U, and the A list titles in action.
What is E3 about? It is an exposition geared wholly for public relations and publicity, and it is a very expensive method of getting publicity. Is it necessary though? In our technological age where Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ allow companies to develop fan pages where they can showcase their wares, and we are all too excited to follow and click our fingers numb to gather every bit of information the companies leak out to us? Whatever isn’t official we click onto IGN and Game Informer and any number of forums and fan sites for any rumor circulating the mill.
In 2000 when I attended my first E3, it was a fan fare. It was also a mad house. This was the year PlayStation 2 would see the consumer light of day. The queues were insanely long just to see a glimpse of the next generation in Game Cube, PlayStation 2 and the first Xbox. Any booth that had any swag whatsoever was mobbed by every gamer in attendance. You wondered what was being showcased behind the curtains of the VIP areas, and the press-only events.
I didn’t get a chance to attend again until 2006. While as an undergrad working as a game tester for a budget game publisher, I had the chance to be there as part of the industry for seven hours. However, I had to stay at the booth the whole time, with a 15 minute lunch break, which I skipped, to roam and quickly try to get a glimpse of something, anything at all. The queues were impossibly long, and I knew there would be no way of getting a shot at a demo in those 15 minutes. I couldn’t after my shift was over either, because I had to give my pass to another employee working the later shift.
There was a lot of excitement for the next generation. PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii were on the horizon and slated for a release later that year. The place was buzzing with speculations and rumors and I tried to eavesdrop on every conversation about any tid bit from journalists and developers alike. The event was still full of energy, and it was certainly more professional. The floors were less littered with discarded flyers or business cards. To this day, I wonder what it is about events with such a turnout that makes people lose the ability to use a garbage can!
It has been twelve years since I first attended as a gaming fan. It’s hard to believe, looking back, that so much time has passed by. My civilian profession has taken me to many showcase events like SEMA, and CES, and countless car shows and if I were a car aficionado I would be in heaven; sadly I am not. I haven’t had the opportunity to attend E3 again – yet! In the aftermath of this year’s E3, the general feel of the industry journalists covering the event and the fans reading the coverage seems to be disappointment.
Is it E3’s fault? Was it really that nothing special happened and nothing mind blowing was showcased? No, the problem is that our technology has progressed to a point where press forums like this have nearly been made obsolete. Should E3 be abandoned then? No certainly not. A public appearance, a public presence still works a great deal to put a face to the corporation, to personalize it and endear it to the public.
The problem is that we are spoiled, and we have too many websites that leak information about new developments that it no longer leaves the possibility open for a great reveal. When every game site out there jumps on any rumor, any leak, and runs with it, with the caveat that it is just a rumor at this time and later runs a piece to dispel or confirm the rumor, it turns E3 into an event just to further confirm or see the content in action.
For example, the protracted delay of The Last Guardian caused GameStop to cancel all pre-orders of the game, which in turn led to an poorly worded email to be sent out to all pre-order recipients stating that The Last Guardian had been cancelled. This was misinterpreted by Game Informer which ran a piece stating The Last Guardian had been cancelled. Within hours, Game Informer had to run a correction because it wasn’t a Team Ico or Studio Japan official statement, but GameStop’s own decision to cancel all pre-orders without a solid release date on the game.
In order to get the hits on your site, and generate visitor traffic, you have to have something for your visitors to see, so game journalists have tremendous pressure to be on the ball, in a time when getting exclusives is damn near impossible. It’s interesting to see articles on a game journalism site referencing another game journalism site as a source, or to see the domino affect on a story. When you follow several game related accounts on twitter you often see one site hit the story, then soon after multiple different accounts site the same story on their own site.
(Just a note: blowing rumors out of proportion, playing “telephone” instead of fact-checking with the source, and exploiting leaks all in a rush to be first are a sure way to lose any chance of obtaining an exclusive story. Food for thought. -Ed.)
Twelve years ago, TechTV, now dissolved, was the only station running any coverage of the event. Today we have G4, Spike, and many websites running a live streaming feed of the event to our TVs, our computers, our smart devices,and our consoles. If you missed the live feed, you have the opportunity to revisit it time and time again with YouTube, and every other site that embed the video into their pages. This was not possible back over a decade ago, when AOL still ruled the ISP market, and having the ability to run the internet and your home phone at the same time was innovative.
Where can it go from here, if E3 is to avoid the fate of being obsolete and developers foregoing the event to save themselves the expense, as Rockstar did this year?
For one, tighter restrictions on their non-disclosure agreements with employees to avoid leaks. This won’t completely stop them, but keeping a tight lip on current development would help for a greater splash on a reveal. The other suggestion is to open E3 to the public. However, restrict the age to at least 18. Maturity levels aside, the chances are that at least being legal adult age may result in some better public behavior. Open E3 to vendors. E3 is about press at the moment. Conventions like PAX and Comic Con are about the keynote speakers and the chance for acquiring collectibles from vendors. Sell games, sell limited edition items and auction off rare game items.
Hold the “into the pixel” art exhibition at E3. What better place for it; E3 tried holding a public event before with Entertainment for all which failed, but I am guessing it failed because it wasn’t the main event, it was a side event just for the public and less attention was given to it. If you go to a circus you don’t want to be relegated to the small tent with a small attraction, you want to go to the Big Top. Make the E3 event bigger, and give the developers an incentive to make a bigger splash. Give independent game developers a forum for exhibition, with an indie-game festival. Comic Con is a huge event, E3 can be as big.
ComicCon not E3
E3 is at a crossroads at the moment; most of the information from this years event, wasn’t news. The game journalists are too good at their jobs. God of War 4 was leaked by a composer adding that title to his credits in his resume. Red Dead Record was leaked as a rumor over a year ago, in a list of PlayStation Vita titles in the works, which has yet to see the light of day or to be confirmed.
E3 is an amazing event; no live feed, tv coverage, or write up can really express the energy and excitement of such a communal event. As social animals, we feed off of each other’s energy. Laughter is contagious, so is rage, so is excitement. The empathy is what makes mob mentality possible. If you have ever been to a concert, a fair, or any major public event, you know how contagious the energy is and the excitement that hangs in the air. Opening that up to the fans, the gamers — can either make E3 explode into the gamer version of Comic Con, or if it continues on its path it may just become a part of gaming history.
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That was a very insightful look at this. Having never been to an E3 I would be excited just to be there, but I can see the way the suggestions you gave would be beneficial to it in many ways. Good write up.