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| A full size Bat Mobile on display |
As a gamer E3 is one of the yearly events that we look forward to, we get to see a whole new range of games, sometimes hardware and other things we could not imagine. So when I found out that I was able to attend this year, a wave of emotion washed over me. How would I feel walking around the show floor, seeing game developers in person and the best bit playing the new games? Turns out, it was amazing.
I landed in LA a few days before E3 was to commence, I wanted to be a bit touristy at first, so after hitting up some theme parks I made my way to the Los Angeles Convention Centre on the Sunday to collect my media badge. The first thing that I noticed was just how large the venue was, I mean it was huge and this was just from the outside. I entered into the South hall and was impressed by the amount of banners and stands here alone, then along with a lot of other attendees and press I made my way to the West hall to collect my badge. Along the way there were banners up for Mortal Kombat X and more, some spaces were empty but this was because they wanted no leaks. After I collected my badge I headed back to the hotel.
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| The Assassins Creed Unity banner dwarfs all the others |
Monday morning was a little bit of a blur, I was up nice and early and strangely there were no emails waiting for me. When it was time, I jumped in a taxi and took off to the Galen centre, that was until we got near it, the roads were backed up for blocks and there was hardly any movement, so I hopped out of the taxi and walked the rest of the way. Upon arriving at the venue for the Xbox Media Briefing I found out why the traffic was so bad, they had taken two of the three lanes and closed them down. I wondered why but before long I was sent inside to get a seat. I had a great spot for the show, located front and centre and the people around me were as excited as I was. Before the show started we had the chance to watch the live stream from Major Nelson, in where Dan Greenwalt from Turn 10 rocked up in a Lamborghini, which explained the closed lanes. After that the show started, and boy did it impress, I mean sitting in the venue and watching it all live was something I would never have thought I would have the chance to do, but now I can’t imagine not watching live again.
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| That was a lot of green, but when Xbox showed the games that screen was just impressive. |
After the Xbox event wrapped the crowd that left the Galen centre went in one of two directions, those that were headed to EA’s event across the street or those heading elsewhere. For me it was back to the hotel to watch the remaining press events online and each delivered something different, Nintendo with their quirky presentation to Ubisoft with the third year of finishing their press events on a massive high note with Rainbow Six Siege. Just after Nintendo’s Digital Event finished I made my way to the LACC and joined the line of people waiting to get into the show and this is where it really kicked into high gear.
I had some hands on sessions first so I did not get swept up in the masses of people entering the show floor, but when I did enter I found myself amazed at the size of it and the detail. Walking around the West hall and having a look at the three console booths, there was a clear distinction of who was who and this even went to the outsides of the booths. The neighbours of the big three also had awesome booths, while not on the same scale they were still nice to see and nestled in amongst them were IGN and Gamespot, both streaming live for the length of the show. It was not until I made my way over to the South hall that I realised that the size of E3 is something you can’t grasp until you are there in person.
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| The PlayStation booth was just massive |
The South hall held almost the remaining publishers such as Warner Bros, Bethesda, Ubisoft and more. Each of their booths were impressive and showed off just how different they are, EA had a very open booth, lots of space to wander through and see what was on show. Ubisoft’s booth was almost the opposite, lots of walls, each showcasing artwork from the games, gave a closed off feel. Warner Bros has an almost closed off booth, with lines being formed outside simply to move into other sections of the booth to play games. The back right corner of the hall though, offered up small stands of smaller companies to showcase their games and products. Snail USA had a pretty impressive booth, they had a giant inflatable vehicle from one of their games as the booth.
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| Snail's booth was cool, with the giant inflatable. |
Of course what most people care about at E3 are the games themselves and while I had a chance to go hands on with so many, I had the chance to see what they call hands of demos as well. You sit in a theatre while a developer walks through the game. Aliens was the biggest one that I had the pleasure to watch, the room was dark and it was the perfect space for Aliens to be shown. Dragon Age Inquisition was also hands on and boy was it impressive, after the second game failed to deliver I was not to fussed about the third, but after seeing that gameplay demo all I can say is that it’s now back on my list. Now, post the show I simply can not believe the amount of games coming this year and the next.
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| Nick Fury loved it, but he won't show it |
The show was something I won’t soon forget, while I was at the venue each and everyday I was impressed at every turn, with amazing games and great people. But when I returned to the hotel each day I could simply not believe how exhausted I was, I mean it was insane. I returned from the show, exhausted and exuberated and I can’t for next year.
