E3 2014 Reflections
by NorseGamer, HSM Publisher
Every single year, without fail: some sour hipster complains that “We don’t need E3 any more.”
Bulls#^*t.
E3 exists because it has to. And if it disappeared, something else would take its place. Leaving aside the necessity of industry events (regardless of industry) in general, we as a species love our pageantry and our need to create a restricted-access pinnacle to aspire towards. E3 is that pinnacle.
Of course, the immediate counter is, “You just feel that way because you got in.”
No. Bulls#^*t again. I felt that way even before I got in.
E3 is the show-and-tell peek into the future. It’s the grand carnival of Things To Come, where for a brief time practically the entire damn industry is concentrated in one place and rolled into a giant digital candomblé. It is legitimately the one games industry event where words and actions can have a dramatic impact on fortunes made or lost, both at an individual and company level.
Into this fray enters LOOT.
With the Hellfire guys
2014 wasn’t LOOT’s first foray into E3. But this was a very important year. LOOT brought two PS4 games to E3: FLUSTER CLUCK, and The Last Tinker: City of Colors — the latter of which was actually on display in the PlayStation pavilion. So, needless to say, the stakes were pretty high.
Fortunately, everything went really well. Tinker got a ton of press attention, and Fluster Cluck was a viral hit, attracting huge crowds on all three days. It meant that most of my time was tied up with booth duty, so I didn’t really get to see that much of E3 this year, but that’s a small price to pay for being able to showcase games in return.
Meeting Yaheard
The best part of E3, though, is seeing all your old friends again — and seeing them doing well. The internet may have made communication faster and easier than ever, but there’s still no substitute for saying hi to someone in person. Jack’s on top of the world. Matt’s still the best-dressed guy in the building. Paul is as awesome as ever. Gavin and Pam are fantastic. Jeff, Ben, Gavino and the Hellfire guys are enjoying a well-deserved victory lap with the E3 app. Patrick’s got a winner with his new nDreams VR game. And the PlayStation MVPs are a hoot! Doc, Shane, Josh and David and the gang are always a blast to be around, with their infectious enthusiasm making everything even more fun. And meeting Danger_Dad and Yaheard was a real treat.
With Danger_Dad and Y2David
E3 is notorious for taking the energy out of you and inflicting hitherto unknown levels of pain upon your feet. This year was no different. But this is the year that LOOT really brought it to E3, and it’s just a fantastic team to be a part of. I don’t know what next year will bring, but if it scales up the way 2014 surpassed 2013, and 2013 surpassed 2012, then the next E3 is going to be a dumptruck full of win.
There are other highlights, of course — in particular, trying out Morpheus was amazing, and meeting a lot of the SCE DevNet guys I regularly interact with was a particular treat. But there’s simply no way to cover everything in one article, lest that article go on for days.
And perhaps therein lies the real magic of E3: you can watch it on TV, you can read about it online…but it’s an experience, and there really is nothing quite like going through it. Hope to see you there next year.
June 14th, 2014 by NorseGamer | 3 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
LinkedIn
TwitterShare
| Tweet |
In the car world it’s like having the new concept motors under one roof, with nearly all of them having some sort of release date. It’s a way of generating excitement for your product. We all truely know thst VR success or failure will be price and game orientated. But we love to hear about it. I can’t wait for dead island 2, next gen gta5 to name just a few. Don’t care about who I meet but id say hello, dont want to listen to conferences either, because to me it’s all about the product the batman trailer gives me a grin thinking I’ll be playing that. in short E3 does what it suppose to do and get people talking about product and services. Even what was missing like asgard.
;^) Rule number one for E3, Norse: wear comfortable shoes.
And you’re correct that being there is like nothing else in the world.
:^/ Doc Martin and Buster Brown are no friends to Miles Walker….