E3 closing thoughts
 

Since today is the final day figured one thread could provide the wrap ups for everyone on the final thoughts of the show. Which venders were the best of the best and which ones were lacking?

Best swag item, worse swag items?

Best Booth babe?

whatever else.

I'll start off with the already given. Xbox came out weak. The biggest they had to offer was DOOM 3 ten minute demo while they made Halo 2 Media only. No sign of it and the section they had was closed off completely so the heat was fairly bad there.

Phantom is the clear cut WORSE system booth ever. I took a bite out of styrofoam bread/cracker thing. They had a freak'n FAKE bagel with FAKE cream cheese on it. WTF is up wit that? Don't forget the fact that they didn't offer anything to show. They claimed no internet connection so they couldn't get the content to their funky waste of a stripped computer system.

More later.

Are you serious?

:lol:

yes. serious

http://www.petridish.net/pics/14478/...dFAKEbread.jpg

the remains of my styrofoam bread/cracker thing. Another guy I met up there yesterday snagged the bagel. Why would you put out fake food for decoration? The booth was completely a waste of money, time and space.

eww

:lol: That's great.

What was sega's secret conference???

Did i miss it?

I believe it was that they announced they were coming out with their own handheld system.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05...s_6097970.html

Sega officially announces Matrix Online deal

After weeks of wild rumors, the so-called "Sega-ton" announcement proves anticlimactic.

Two weeks ago, wild rumors of a resurgent Dreamcast raged after Sega sent out word that it would have an "explosive announcement" at this year's E3. However, that news detonated over the weekend when Sega posted large banners all over the Los Angeles Convention Center announcing its deal to publish The Matrix Online.

Nevertheless, the press gathered at Sega's E3 booth today to see if the so-called "Sega-ton" had any more bang left in it. After a brief delay, the lights in the Sega booth dimmed and Sega of America president Hideaki Irie emerged to announce…a deal with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith to publish the Matrix Online.

Speaking to the audience, WBIE's senior vice president Jason Hall said he considered the massively multiplayer game "the fourth movie in the series," and he hyped up the detail of its urban setting. Them Monolith CEO Samantha Ryan appeared to present a so-called "super brawl," in which a group of Monolith staffers duked it out inside the Matrix Online. Sega will be staging these demo fights throughout E3.

For more on the Matrix Online, check back later for our forthcoming preview

From following online, the only things that got me excited are the new GC and GBA Zelda games. No other surprises excited me, and no need to get excited about stuff like Halo 2 that I've been reading about for ages.

Sadly, no Shenmue 3 again this year :(

So Halo 2 wasn't playable :hscratch:

They're probably still tweaking it, and didn't show it. It's not like it needs anymore publicity or hype.

Halo 2 was playable.

But wasn't it playable only behind closed doors for the media?

I personally thought that Sega's booth was so disappointing. They might as well have not shown up at all.

Square-Enix's ticket system for the show was so gay. I went in 30 mins after the show floor was opened and already the whole days' worth of showing was 'sold out'. WTF is that!?!? I still say if you want to watch the show, get in line.

Both Half Life 2 showings were awesome, although I kinda hope they didn't both show the same Counter-Strike demo.

Ubisoft's Prince of Persia 2 kicked much ass. It seemed like Ubi knew exactly where their weekness in the last game was, and worked on it right away. I defintely can't wait for this game.

The DS and the PSP was over-hyped, but they're still nifty little handhelds.

Microsoft's booth was disappointing, but I didn't really expected much from them this year.

Sony's booth was the same, but can't wait for FFXII.

Nintendo had the most impressive demos on their floor. Advance Wars, Metroid Prime 2, Star Fox 2....the list goes on...I'm so glad I didn't get rid of my Cube yet.

Well, that's all from me. Another 365 days till the next E3.... T_T

the "fast pass" crap was a bit to much. Half Life 2 tried that the first day and it went to hell. for every showing only 5-6 folks that were in line got in so the lines would be so backed up it was a waste. than the t-shirt system was lame. You had to go to both shows and wait the hour+ for each one just to collect both pieces to collect your shirt. good thing they dropped that on the second day. Scored with both shirts.

Best Swag was the free DS Stylus Pen.
Worst Swag..uggg, the one's that gave nothing out!

I felt Nintendo had the best display (Metroid, Starfox, Donkey Konga, Advance Wars, Zelda...DS!). Xbox had the second (Doom, Knights II, Fable, Sudeki..) and Sony was last (FF12 looks goods, so does K. Hearts)

Thats a big reason why I wasn't pleased with Sonys booth. I tried to get a frickin' button 15 mins after te show opened and they were all gone. What BS.

I heard the polls had nintendo's booth as 1st and Microsoft's booth as second. I don't really see how their booth was weak - it wasn't decorated all cool or anything, but they seemed to have the most games to play. I played around with Doom 3 and that was fun... Jade Empire was also good... there were a bunch of awesome titles there to play with - plus, EA Sports was Live and ready to go. Most people didn't know that EA's sports were playable, they thought it was just an announcement. Guess it isn't impressive if you aren't into sports games. Phantom's booth was terrible, but at least they had bean bag chairs. I actually felt that the entire West Hall was a complete waste except for Bandai and Namco. Sony's booth was just a big sprawl - at least they didn't re-use the same riser as the last 2 years.

I think I ended up with 11 different shirts. And some I'd actually wear this time as opposed to last 2 years where the shirts I got were all dumb lookin.

My biggest annoyance this year was how all the FPS and 3rd person game demos were set up with frickin inverted Y axis... who the hell plays this way unless it's a flight sim?? I can't stand it. :mad:

They also seemed to be a smaller number of "booth babes" this year... especially on Wednesday. By Friday, there seemed to be more though. Not really a gripe, but just an observation.

I didn't see any of you there... oh well.

Actually i always play with the inverted axis and the 3 or 4 friends i have who play fps do as well.

Anything interesting or impressions on Jade Empire? Also, any demos or anything of KOTOR 2?

Well then you're all annoying too. :p

If only you knew my friends you would know how true this stement is... :p

But it does seem odd that they had them all reversed as opposed to a few non-inverted for you strange people ;)

I hate the inverted Y axis. then again I use a different lay out than the typical WASD. I use space as back and S as forward with shift as jump. So it's always a bit of a hassel for me to get into FPS. ATI's section was pretty cool. Enjoyed the star wars games.

I agree with you trigger about the booths. I brought up Xbox because I just didn't feel comfortable in the area. The ton of playable systems was good for players, but bad for people looking and bad for body heat being trapped there. Doom 3 was fun but after that game I left the area fast. to hot.

I didn't care for the playstation at all and it did sort of seem like a blah point that it was pretty much the same layout as last year.

Booth babes on thursday were all over the place and I took advantage of that. The shirts this year are actually ones I would wear as last year there wasn't many I have. I still have most of those Nvidia shirts from last year still folded up.

I got a picture of Sean and Marlon Wayans in the hallway between south and west hall on Thursday - no crowd at all, they were just standing around. We couldn't get a picture of Vin Diesel though, but I heard he was really cool about his appearance - spent extra time to sign stuff and talk to people and take pictures and such. He seemed like a nice guy. That's probably the biggest celeb from this year, no? Jack - did you get any shots of Vin? Ours came out blurry.

I didn't bother doing the Vin thing. to crowded. I did get a picture of sinbad just walking around.

:lol: sinbad...

hey jack - you can email me your number or somethin if you want - I'm in town until tuesday. I lost the paper I wrote it down on last year.

ah alright

Microsofts stuff was weak?

Halo 2
jade Empire
KOTR 2
Mech Assault 2
Ghost Recon 2
Rainbow Six:Black Arrow
Full Spectrum warrior
Republic Commando
SW:Battlegrounds
Conkur
EA on Live
Doom 3
LOTR Third Age
Brothers in arms
Feza Motorsport
Unreal Championship 2

There are more but some are dual system

Dont any of these games intrest you at all?

Do we have announced street dates for these three yet? I'm most excited for the first two but Battleground looked good as well. Isn't is based on the 1942 engine (or something like that)?

KOTR 2 supposed to be Feb, 2005 with a simultaneous launch for PC and X-Box last I heard.

Can't get here soon enough :drool: Although to be quite honest i am actually more excited for Jade Empire than KOTOR2 even.

the ones that do will be on PC. Perhaps I should point out that I'm not all that much of a Xbox type of guy. So the FPS' that are going to be on Xbox are going to be much more enjoyable for me on PC.

Playing battlegrounds on PC was hella fun

I didn't bother trying any of the Lucas Arts stuff - I didn't mean to, but I guess I was subconsciously boycotting their products because of the whole Sam and Max/Full Throttle thing.

I can't wait for Forza to be released. It looks incredible.

I just did a quick once over of everyone's booth and didn't play much. I liked nintendo's booth, and enjoyed watching people playing Donkey Konga (although I was a little confused watching people clap to the beat instead of hitting the drums...). I didn't feel like waiting on lines to see the cool stuff (Nintendo DS, Half Life 2). Didn't really whore myself for t-shirts either.

Star Wars Battlegrounds looked like it could be fun.

It seemed like every game at the show was a sequel...It was kind of a disappointment. Reminded me of the "Death Of Videogames" article posted around here awhile back.

I ended up being more interested in watching the girls. That girl that Jack posted in the girls of E3 thread was definitely super-hot. Highlight of the show for me! :hump:

Care to discuss this in a little more detail? I'm really looking foward to this game and din't know they'd have something relating to it at E3.

In all fairness. It was a great E3. I have a crap load of swag.. soooo much swag it is hard to believe and I got many pictures of me and unattainable girls dressed in outfits that remind me of my only comfort... anti-social video games.

I also got a picture of a Blue Mary that ISN'T pixy. So that makes it worth it in the end
http://www.petridish.net/pics/14478/e3snkcharacters.jpg

Till next year!