E3 2023 canceled; Video game show unlikely to return

Organizers of the once-annual Electronic Entertainment Expo last week canceled E3 2023 amid a lack of interest by major video game publishers. The last physical E3 conference was held in 2019.
It’s safe to say that E3 is dead now. The video game conference has outlived its usefulness to the industry. Put it in the same category of defunct tech conferences as Comdex and Internet World.
The major video game publishers and console makers are able to get more bang for the buck by holding online events. Some even will hold their own physical events for their hardcore fans.
E3 was a big deal when retail sales of video games on physical media dominated. But the shift to online downloads and streaming took away much of E3’s reason for being as a trade show.
Also, video game fans and media have split into camps based on their favorite consoles and types of games. They aren’t united by video gaming overall or a conference to celebrate the entire ecosystem.
CES, formerly the Consumer Electronics Show, is picking up much of the hardware side of E3.
I have good memories of attending E3 over the years. But its time has come and gone.

Related articles:

E3 2023 is cancelled. ESA tells us why (GamesIndustry.biz; March 30, 2023)

E3 2023 has been canceled (The Verge; March 30, 2023)

E3 Gaming Expo Cancels 2023 Event (Variety; March 30, 2023)

Is E3 video game show kaput? Sure looks like it

E3, short for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, used to be the premiere video game conference. But this year’s planned E3 show in Los Angeles, the first since 2019, already is missing some major exhibitors from years past.
IGN reported Jan. 30 that all three of gaming’s first-party console manufacturers plan to skip E3 2023. Microsoft’s Xbox, Nintendo and Sony will not have a presence on the Los Angeles Convention Center show floor. E3 2023 currently is scheduled to take place June 13-16.
E3 was struggling before the Covid pandemic caused the cancellation of the last three in-person shows. Sony pulled out of the 2019 show, joining publishers Activision and Electronic Arts in leaving the show.
Conflicts with the show’s owner, the Entertainment Software Association, and changing market dynamics have caused exhibitors to bail on E3.
The big game publishers get more bang for the buck by holding online events and their own game reveals. And the decline of retail sales and rise of online gaming and e-commerce have pushed E3 into obsolescence.
The conference website has little information. The homepage just says “E3 2023 Coming Soon!” But it does offer media registration and exhibitor info.
On Monday Feb. 6, I spoke with Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software. He noted that the company is cutting back on spending, including events, citing a difficult macroeconomic climate.
As a follow-up question, I asked if Take-Two planned to participate in E3 this year. After a pause, he said no decisions on that have been made yet.
On Feb. 7, I spoke with David Cole, principal analyst for DFC Intelligence, a research firm focused on tracking digital entertainment.
“E3 is pretty much dead,” he said. Cole said vendors have more cost-effective ways to reach their audiences than an in-person show.
Meanwhile, Comic Con International: San Diego is likely to see a big influx of game properties, thanks to their adaptions into movies and TV series. Comic-Con is set to run July 20-23.
“The Last of Us” series on HBO Max, based on the Sony game property, has been renewed for a second season. Other Sony game franchises getting adapted into movies and TV series include “Gran Turismo,” “God of War” and “Twisted Metal.” They follow the 2022 movie “Uncharted.”
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” based on Nintendo’s long-running game series, opens in theaters on April 7.
Elsewhere, Netflix is making movies based on Ubisoft game “The Division,” Microsoft’s “Gears of War” and Take-Two’s “BioShock.”
Not to be outdone, Amazon Prime Video is planning TV series based on the game series “Fallout” and “Tomb Raider.”

The reopening of the economy can’t come soon enough for E3

The E3 video game conference, also known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, returned from a one-year absence this week with a virtual conference. Organizers canceled last year’s in-person E3 in Los Angeles because of the Covid-19 pandemic and took this year’s show online because of the continuing health crisis.
Judging from reactions to this year’s digital E3, the conference sorely needs a physical show to build excitement for the video game industry. Attendees said this year’s show was a boring, nonevent.
This year’s E3 was missing some major companies, including Activision Blizzard. Electronic Arts and Sony. And Take-Two Interactive Software only hosted a panel discussion on diversity and inclusion, instead of discussing new games. Other companies holding events during the show didn’t make any major announcements.
“The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has become less relevant in recent years, and the irrelevancy has accelerated with the pandemic,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson said in a June 15 report.
Johnson said E3 2021 didn’t reflect the vibrancy of the industry today.
“While there were fewer new game introductions owing to lower E3 participation rates, the industry still looks to be publishing a bumper crop of next-gen AAA titles in 2021 and 2022,” he said.
Some of the most anticipated new games were teased with new trailers at E3 2021. They included Microsoft’s “Halo Infinite,” set for release later this year, and Nintendo’s “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2,” due out in 2022.
Meanwhile, the show’s organizer, the Entertainment Software Association, plans to return to Los Angeles for an in-person event for E3 2022. But ESA doesn’t have the dates confirmed yet.

Related reading:

For years, E3 has been gaming’s biggest event. Is that still true? (Washington Post; June 18, 2021)

E3 2021’s lack of AAA reveals let indie games take the spotlight (TechRadar; June 17, 2021)

The games industry has changed; E3 needs to do the same if it is to remain relevant (Midia Research; June 21, 2021)


Photo: E3 2021 art (Entertainment Software Association)

How the conference industry sees the reopening of the economy post-Covid

The conference industry took a major hit when the Covid-19 pandemic shut down in-person business gatherings beginning in early 2020. Now a year-plus later, the industry is struggling to get back to normal.
Some conferences are still planning virtual shows for this year while others are gambling on a comeback for in-person meetings.
Physical shows are problematic because of the slow rollout of Covid-19 vaccines as well as corporate restrictions on business travel still in place. State and city government restrictions on gatherings also are a roadblock.

National Restaurant Association Show canceled

Organizers of the National Restaurant Association Show were forced to cancel the event for the second straight year because of limits on gatherings of more than 50 people in the state of Illinois. The in-person event had been scheduled for May 22-25 at McCormick Place in Chicago. (See article by Restaurant Business and Feb. 26 press release.)

Sweets & Snacks Expo holding physical show

Indianapolis apparently has less restrictive requirements for business events amid the Covid-19 pandemic than Chicago. Two conferences I’ve attended in the past are planning in-person events in Indianapolis this summer and fall.
The Sweets & Snacks Expo has scheduled its latest show for June 23-25 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. The event, sponsored by the National Confectioners Association, is for confectionery and snack retailers, manufacturers and suppliers. The show is moving from Chicago for the first time in its history this year. The 2020 show was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

CEDIA Expo planning in-person show

CEDIA Expo will hold this year’s conference Sept. 1-3 at the Indiana Convention Center. CEDIA Expo is for installers of high-end residential technology, including home theaters and smart home devices. Organizers canceled last year’s show in Denver because of Covid-19 concerns. It offered a virtual show instead.

E3 switches to virtual show

On April 6, the Entertainment Software Association unveiled plans for an all-virtual E3 2021 to be held June 12-15. Last year’s annual video game industry conference in Los Angeles was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic and was not replaced with a virtual show.
Nintendo, Microsoft Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive Software and Warner Bros. Games are among the companies that have committed to participate in E3 2021. (See press release.)

GDC schedules online show

Meanwhile, the Game Developers Conference will again take place online this year. The week-long education- and business-focused event is set to run July 19-23. GDC was online in 2020 as well. (See article by the Hollywood Reporter.)

Google, Microsoft, Apple events staying virtual

The annual Google I/O conference for developers will be held online this year. It will run May 18-20. The 2020 show set for Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, Calif., was canceled because of public health concerns.
Microsoft's annual developers conference, Build, will be a virtual event again this year because of the pandemic. Microsoft Build will run May 25-27.
Apple is holding its annual Worldwide Developers Conference as an online conference for the second straight year. It is set for June 7-11.

Hybrid tech events scheduled

Organizers of MWC Barcelona, formerly known as Mobile World Congress, are pressing ahead with an in-person event in Spain on June 28 through July 1. MWC Barcelona will be a hybrid event with an online component for those who are unable to attend in person. (See article by Fierce Wireless.)
Semi, the global industry association representing the electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, is planning a hybrid event for its Semicon Southeast Asia conference, scheduled for Aug. 23-27. An on-site conference will be held in Singapore at a venue to be announced soon, Semi said in a March 23 press release.

Related articles:

CES bargain: This year’s show is half off (Jan. 27, 2021)

Conference industry not coming back soon as Covid-19 pandemic lingers (Jan. 23, 2021)

E3 2021: Will there be a video game conference this year? (Jan. 20, 2021)

CES 2021 final thoughts: Virtual show comes up short (Jan. 18, 2021)

E3 2021: Will there be a video game conference this year?

Last year, the E3 video game conference was struggling even before the Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the annual show. Major exhibitors including Sony and Electronic Arts had pulled out of E3 in favor of doing their own events.
The Entertainment Software Association canceled E3 2020 on March 11, 2020, citing the health crisis. The show had been scheduled for June 9-11, 2020, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The trade group initially looked to do an online conference but abandoned those plans in April.
The ESA had scheduled June 15-17, 2021, for E3 2021 as a “reimagined” event. But the trade group has been oddly silent about their plans.
A spokesperson for ESA declined to comment on the state of E3 on Monday in response to an email query.
The E3 website makes no mention of any planned events, virtual or in person.
With the pandemic still raging, it’s hard to imagine there being an in-person E3 event this June. And two straight years of no E3 convention might spell the end of the industry event, also known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Photo: E3 signage (E3)

Post-apocalyptic video games alive and well at E3

Video game makers must have a bleak worldview, judging by the upcoming software releases on display at the E3 interactive entertainment expo in Los Angeles this week.
Post-apocalyptic scenarios were a popular theme of major video games shown at this year’s E3 show, which ended its three-day run on Thursday.
Walking around the Los Angeles Convention Center, E3 attendees were confronted by actors in gory makeup portraying shambling zombies from such games as “The Walking Dead” by Overkill, “Dying Light 2” from Techland and “Resident Evil 2” by Capcom. Undead creatures are threats in those games as well as “Days Gone” from Sony.
Other post-apocalyptic themed games at E3 2018 included “Fallout 76” (nuclear apocalypse) from Bethesda Softworks, “Tom Clancy’s The Division 2” (viral pandemic) from Ubisoft, “Rage 2” (asteroid strike) from Bethesda, “The Last of Us: Part 2” (mutant fungus) from Sony and “Metro Exodus” (nuclear war) from Deep Silver.
At least nine major post-apocalyptic games were announced at this year’s E3.

E3 2016 booth babes, or lack thereof; How Microsoft killed a tradition

This year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, the annual video game convention better known as E3, was lacking several things: the participation of some key companies (Electronic Arts, Activision and Walt Disney), some rumored big games, and the once ubiquitous “booth babes.”
I didn’t attend E3 this year, but after reviewing media coverage from the show, I noticed a lack of promotional models, those typically attractive young women also called booth babes.
Feminists would applaud the lack of booth babes, because the use of such models has been criticized as sexist. Booth babes as eye candy for male conference attendees has been on the decline for several years.
What likely killed booth babes at E3 this year was the controversy Microsoft stirred up at the Game Developers Conference in March.
At the GDC in San Francisco, Microsoft held an event that featured women dancers dressed as “erotic schoolgirls.” Many attendees were offended and took to social media to register their complaints, Crave reported.
Microsoft’s Xbox chief Phil Spencer issued a public apology after the event, the Hollywood Reporter and others reported.
Usually after E3, some gaming websites run pictorials of beautiful women working as booth babes at the show. This year I could find none.
The closest I could find was a video by Hobby Consolas of Madrid, Spain, titled “Las Chicas del E3 2016.” The website obviously couldn’t find that many booth babes at E3 this year because its video repeats the same few.
The hottest women at E3 were celebrities.
Actress and model Emily Ratajkowski tried out EA’s “Battlefield 1” at a special event with other celebrities including Zac Efron and Jamie Foxx.
And actress Aisha Tyler presided over the Ubisoft press event.

Photo credits: Photos of Emily Ratajkowski by the Entertainment Software Association. Photo of Aisha Tyler by Ubisoft.

E3 2015 booth babes: a retrospective

Every year, the Electronic Entertainment Expo takes over the Los Angeles Convention Center with a sensory overload of video game firms trying to catch the attention of attendees.
Some companies use massive video screens with blaring music and exciting game trailers. Others have elaborate set pieces based on their games. Still others use photo ops with props and costumed actors.
Others use female trade show models, or “booth babes,” to appeal to the predominantly male audience of game developers and game press.
This year’s E3 seemed to feature a larger contingent of female attendees and fewer booth babes, which should please feminists and progressives.
Some media outlets made mention of the progress women were making at E3. The Associated Press proclaimed “Women Finally Play Larger Role At Iconic E3 Gaming Convention.” Digital Trends wrote “E3 2015 proves to be one small step forward for womankind.” And Metro said “E3 finally treated women right.”
One woman wrote on GameSpot that E3 organizers discouraged companies from having attractive female models at their booths this year.
“Hi, guys. I worked as a ‘Booth Babe’ in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and it was loads of fun!” she said. “The agency we worked with in the past told us that “Booth Babes are out’ at E3 and said that companies were getting afraid to have beautiful women showing their games, because of ‘feminist protests’. So none of the 7 or 8 girls I know that worked previous years got hired this year.”
Usually bloggers and game press post galleries of the most attractive female models at E3. But my Internet search after the show revealed that mostly foreign press continued the practice.
What follows is a list of websites that posted such E3 booth babe pictorials.

Legit Reviews combined booth babes with booth dudes and cosplay at the show for its photo gallery. Legit Reviews is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo.
Sample photos include the promotional models for “Dark Souls 3” by FromSoftware (top) and Rockstar Energy Drink (second from top).

Gamekapocs, a game website based in Hungary, posted a gallery of “sexy hostess girls” from the show.
Its photos include a cosplayer for “Smite” from Hi-Rez Studios (above).

Enternity, a game website in Greece, ran a bunch of photos of lovely E3 ladies.
A sample photo is two women for video game products firm Razer.

Another Greek website, Gameworld, posted several E3 2015 booth babe photos as well.
The sample photo here is two costumed ladies promoting “Ghostbusters: Puzzle Fighter” from Capcom-owned developer Beeline.

Spanish-language website AlfaBetaJuega also collected a series of E3 2015 booth babe photos. They included dancers promoting “Just Dance 2016” from Ubisoft.

And finally Games N Girls posted several shots of E3 booth babes, including a cosplayer dressed as Cammy from “Street Fighter” by Capcom.

Related reading:

Scenes from E3 2015 (Fortune; June 24, 2015)

E3 2012 impressions: Celebrities, trends, weird games and ‘Adventure Time’

The 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo had video game companies big and small screaming for attention in and around the giant Los Angeles Convention Center this week.
The annual conference, better known as E3, kicked off with pre-show press events on Monday and the exhibit floor opened Tuesday. The trade show ended Thursday.
I covered the big news stories from the show for Investor’s Business Daily and Investors.com.
What follows are some miscellaneous thoughts from this year’s show.

Best celebrity appearances

Ubisoft chose beautiful and charming actress Aisha Tyler to host its media event at the historic Los Angeles Theater. Tyler gets bonus points for being a gamer herself. (See photo above.)
Microsoft’s press event at the Galen Center featured R&B singer Usher performing his new single “Scream” with a troupe of dancers. The song and an avatar of Usher appear on the upcoming game “Dance Central 3” from Harmonix.
Usher Raymond must dig trade shows because I’ve seen him perform at Activision and Sony events in the past.
“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone also turned up at the Microsoft event to promote their upcoming video game from THQ called “South Park: The Stick of Truth.”
Hall of fame football greats Joe Montana and Michael Irvin showed up to tout Electronic Arts’ “Madden NFL 13.” Montana appeared at the Microsoft event and Irvin the EA event.
I also spotted actress Felicia Day and rapper Snoop Dogg on the show floor at the convention center.

Most interesting trend

Games using voice commands through the Kinect sensor array for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was a cool trend at the show.
Microsoft’s “Halo 4,” EA’s “Madden NFL 13” and “FIFA 13,” and Ubisoft’s “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist” are among the big games using the technology.
It was fun to see Montana call plays and hike the ball while controlling his on-screen avatar in “Madden NFL 13.”

Oddest new video game genre

Majesco Entertainment’s “NBA Baller Beats” was the oddest new video game I saw at the show. The game combines sports and music genres. Players have to bounce a basketball in time with the beats of a song and prompts on screen.
I’d hate to be living in an apartment downstairs from someone playing this game.

Best company reception

At an outdoor reception before its media event at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Sony provided guests with a very L.A.-style treat: Food trucks featuring gourmet eats and comfort food meals.
I loved the shrimp and chicken tacos from Komodo. Other trucks offered Asian food, wraps, macaroni and cheese, barbecue chicken, pizza and desserts.

Fun sights on the exhibit floor

As a fan of Cartoon Network’s “Adventure Time,” I loved seeing the giant inflatable characters of Finn and Jake on the show floor. They were at the booth of D3 Publisher, which is releasing an “Adventure Time” game for the Nintendo DS and 3DS handheld systems in the fall.
Usually the E3 exhibit area is reserved for giant video screens showing game trailers and rows of televisions connected to game consoles for trying out upcoming titles. But there’s lots of other eye candy including booth babes, photo opportunities, and big props like a combat vehicle from “Halo 4” and a full size creature from “Alien.”
I took photos with Master Chief from Microsoft’s “Halo” series and sat in the captain’s chair for a “Star Trek” vessel promoting a new game from Bandai Namco.

Big productions highlight E3 2010

The 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, is in the books. This year’s show will be remembered for its theatricality.
Cirque du Soleil produced a lavish show for Microsoft’s Kinect controller-free video game system for the Xbox 360 console.
Eminem, Usher, Rihanna and other stars performed for Activision at an over-the-top concert at L.A.’s Staples Center.
Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Sony also staged dramatic events for the media at the annual E3 show, which ran June 15-17, with pre-show events starting Sunday night June 13.
Nintendo trotted out a hundred attractive women, in the style of “Deal or No Deal,” each holding one of the company’s new Nintendo 3DS handhelds. They walked off the stage and into the crowd of media and analysts to show off the device.
EA showed off its new “Medal of Honor” game by having 24 players on stage demonstrating the game’s online multiplayer mode.

Best crowd-pleasing event

Activision’s amazing concert spectacle included not only A-list music acts, but high-profile DJs, dancers and fireworks. Huffington Post and USA Today had good coverage of the epic three-hour concert. The Gamer’s Temple posted the official press release.

Weirdest event

Microsoft’s Cirque du Soleil show was just bizarre. French acrobats pranced around as tropical primitives in awe of the magic of technology. At least, that's what I think was going on.

Best celebrity cameo

Not Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana at the EA press conference or Olympic gold medal snowboarder and skateboarder Shaun White at the Ubisoft media briefing. The best celebrity cameo at E3 was Kevin Butler, a fictional Sony executive played by actor Jerry Lambert. He brought the house down with his hilarious put-downs of Microsoft and Nintendo.

Best video game

“Dance Central” by Harmonix, a unit of Viacom’s MTV Networks, was the best new game introduced at E3 in my opinion. First off, it takes full advantage of Microsoft’s Kinect full-body motion control system and can’t be replicated with Sony’s Move or Nintendo’s Wii, which use handheld controllers. It has the potential to be a breakthrough game and cultural phenomenon.
CNBC, TheStreet.com and Silicon Alley Insider posted their views on the hit games of the show as well.

Girl games take video game industry by storm

During the E3 video game conference this month in Los Angeles, I noted how games for girls were gaining prominence and that the male-dominated game press didn’t want such games to share the stage with traditional macho games.
I wrote about the growth of girl games for the Tuesday issue of Investor’s Business Daily.
The industry officials I spoke with gave me their impressions of how the male reporters and bloggers responded to girl games during the media events at E3.
“To those people who were snickering in the press, shame on them, because they missed a big story,” said Chip Lange, vice president and general manager of Electronic Arts’ EA Hasbro division. EA detailed its “Littlest Pet Shop” and “Charm Girls Club” games at the show.
Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Ubisoft Entertainment, also had a message for the juvenile boys who hooted and hollered during the girl game presentations: “Grow up. Are you in this industry or not?”
Ubisoft presented its "Petz," "Imagine" and "Style Lab" games for girls at the show.
NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier said, “A lot of the media covering the games market are core gamers themselves and come at it from that angle. A lot of them are primarily interested in the games they themselves would want to play.”
But by ignoring girl games, they’re ignoring the business side of the industry and an important new market, she says.

Photo from Electronic Arts showing a presentation at E3 of EA’s new “Charm Girls Club” game for Nintendo’s Wii.

‘DJ Hero’ video game looks like a winner

Activision has a likely hit on its hands with the new “DJ Hero” video game.
The game, an extension of the company’s popular Guitar Hero platform, features dance club music and a turntable controller.
Activision demoed the new game at the E3 show in Los Angeles earlier this week. A DJ played along with some cool mixes such as Rick James’ “Give It To Me Baby” and Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” in one session.
Activision says the new game will bring the DJ culture and new music genres, including hip-hop, electronic, R&B and soul music, to the Guitar Hero platform. The turntable controller features familiar DJ tools including a fully-rotating turntable, sample buttons, effects dial and crossfader.
“Players master various DJ techniques as they play along to visual cues for scratching, blending, crossfading and sampling, and can also add their own creative spark by choosing to add a variety of effects, samples and scratches,” an Activision press release says.
“DJ Hero” is set for release on Oct. 27. It’s being developed by FreeStyleGames for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 2 and 3, and Nintendo's Wii. console It will retail for $120 for the current generation consoles and $100 for the PS2 version.
At the same time, Genius Products is developing a competing DJ video game for release this fall, called “Scratch: The Ultimate DJ.” It’s set for release on Nov. 30. May the best DJ win.

Photos:
Jamie Jackson, art director for “DJ Hero,” plays the video game at Activision’s E3 2009 booth.

George Lucas should have outsourced the last three ‘Star Wars’ movies

The preview trailer for a new “Star Wars” video game impressed a lot of jaded industry reporters at the E3 video game show this week.
I heard several people mention that the trailer was better than any of the last three “Star Wars” movies by franchise creator George Lucas.
“Why couldn’t Lucas have made a movie like that?” one attendee asked me.
Well, for starters, Lucas apparently didn’t have anyone close to him who could give him the straight dope. He’s probably surrounded by yes men and sycophants.
He’s also too interested in building his fortune by selling toys, games and party supplies to young kids.
People forget that Lucas didn’t direct the second and third movies of the original trilogy. Irvin Kershner (“Never Say Never Again”) directed “The Empire Strikes Back” and Richard Marquand (“Jagged Edge”) directed “Return of the Jedi.” And Lucas, who wrote and directed the first “Star Wars” by himself, had help with the screenplays of the next two movies.
The lousy, more recent, prequel trilogy was all Lucas’ handiwork.
Meanwhile, Lucas has outsourced the “Star Wars” video games to other people. Unlike Lucas himself, these creative professionals have a fan’s perspective of the franchise and can tell the stories that they’d like to see.
The trailer video for “Star Wars: The Old Republic” has the dark themes and action that adults want to see. (Watch it full screen.)
The massively multiplayer online role-playing game is produced by BioWare, a unit of Electronic Arts.
“It’s amazing what you can do with this universe once you pry it from George Lucas’ hands,” Marc Bernardin wrote on EW.com’s PopWatch blog.

Electronic Entertainment Expo 2009 ends

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, finished its three-day run today in Los Angeles.
The 2009 show was a return to the spectacle of previous years, with oversized exhibits filling the Los Angeles Convention Center, complete with a sensory overload of video and music.

Best of Show: Microsoft

Microsoft held its big media briefing on Monday, the day before E3 officially opened. It wowed reporters, bloggers and analysts with an impressive lineup of video game software and hardware announcements.
The event was a star-studded affair with appearances by the surviving members of the Beatles – Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr – to promote the music video game “The Beatles: Rock Band.”
“The game is good. The graphics are very good. And we look great,” Starr said. “The Beatles: Rock Band,” from Harmonix, MTV Games and Electronic Arts, is due out Sept. 9.
The widows of John Lennon and George Harrison – Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison – also appeared on stage to support the game’s debut.
Microsoft’s E3 press conference featured 10 exclusive new video games for its Xbox 360 console, including “Forza Motorsport 3,” “Alan Wake,” “Halo 3: ODST,” “Halo: Reach,” “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction” and “Left 4 Dead 2.”
But it was Microsoft’s introduction of “Project Natal” for controller-free gaming that generated the most buzz at the show. However, Microsoft did not announce a launch date for the system, which allows players to operate games with gestures, body movements and voice commands. It will work with existing Xbox 360 consoles.
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg came on stage to praise the innovative new gaming interface.

Second thoughts on Project Natal

As impressive as Microsoft’s demo of Project Natal was, I couldn’t help but wonder if gamers would find it lacking.
The live demos of players kicking virtual balls and painting a digital canvas were fine. But the canned videos showing players driving by pretending to hold a steering wheel or changing a tire by pretending to hold an impact wrench to remove and tighten lug nuts, looked weird.
If I’m playing a driving game, I’m going to want to grip a steering wheel. If I’m playing a shooting game, I’m going to want to hold a gun.
PCWorld writer Matt Peckham took a similar stance in a blog post. He talked about the need for a tactile response when playing video games, from rumble feedback to “button mashing.”

Big trends at the show

Some big trends at the show were motion-sensing controllers, sequels to hit franchises and games for girls (see earlier blog post).
In addition to Microsoft’s Project Natal, other new game controller schemes included Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus for more precise control of on-screen action.
Sony introduced the PlayStation Motion Controller, a wand-like controller that can be used as a sword, flashlight, tennis racket, or shooter.
Pro skateboarder Tony Hawk demonstrated the skateboard controller for Activision’s “Tony Hawk: Ride” at the Microsoft press event. The board has full motion-sensing technology, so players can physically control the action by performing various movements and gestures on the board that directly translate into tricks in the game.
Sequels to popular game franchises were everywhere at the show. They included Sony’s “God of War III,” Activision’s “Modern Warfare 2,” and Microsoft’s “Halo: Reach.”

Photos:
Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney at Microsoft press conference to launch “The Beatles: Rock Band.”

Screen grab of Microsoft "Project Natal" video

Girl games make their mark at E3

Testosterone-fueled video games were muscled aside at times at this week’s E3 show by gentle estrogen-powered games.
Games about cute pets, pajama parties, dresses and makeup were given their moment in the spotlight at media events held by major game publishers. The young male-dominated games press acted stereotypically immature when these games were introduced.
They cheered derisively and hooted and hollered when Electronic Arts, Sony and Ubisoft Entertainment projected art and video for their tween girls’ games during their presentations. Other attendees chuckled at the mischief makers’ over-the-top, feigned enthusiasm for the girly games.
I felt like I was back in junior high with all the boys-vs.-girls antics.
The comic belittling of girls’ games seemed to grow with each successive press conference.
When Sony, which held the last pre-show press conference, introduced its pink PlayStation Portable bundled with a Disney “Hannah Montana” game, the wolf pack shouted “Whoo-hoo!,” “Yes!” and “All right!”
It was the kind of enthusiasm reserved for some blood-drenched survival horror game or violent military combat game, the types of games popular with young men.
My message to the young men with gamer blogs and publications: Grow up. The video game market is big enough to support your “red meat” games, as analyst Billy Pidgeon called them in IBD, and games for other players.
I heard one young woman at E3 complain that the show was a “sausage fest,” meaning too many guys. (See the Urban Dictionary definition.)
The Entertainment Software Association’s 2009 Essential Facts guide to the industry says 60% of gamers are male.
At E3, Electronic Arts showed off its “Littlest Pet Shop” and “Charm Girls Club” games. Ubisoft touted its “Petz,” “Imagine” and “Style Lab” franchises for tween girls.
Ubisoft says its Imagine line for young girls is its fastest growing game franchise.
Perhaps change is in the air.

Photos:
Screenshot for Electronic Arts’ “Charm Girls Club: Pajama Party” for Nintendo Wii
Box cover art for Ubisoft Entertainment’s “Imagine Fashion Designer” for Nintendo DS

The booth babes are back at E3

Video game industry professionals and the media had a lot of questions heading into this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

Would Sony debut a new version of its PlayStation Portable? Would Nintendo have a big Mario game for its Wii console soon? Would Microsoft and Sony come out with motion-sensing controllers to respond to Nintendo’s popular Wii remote? Well, yes, yes and yes.

But a big question – mostly among the male-centric gaming press – was: Would the new-and-improved, flashback E3 mark a return of scantily clad booth babes. The answer to that is a resounding yes.

E3 got rid of the booth babes and most of the fun at the conference a couple of years ago in favor of a staid “business summit” format. But this year, video game publishers hired busloads of beautiful young women to dress up as warrior princesses, sexy nurses and the like.

Ever the intrepid reporter, I even got photographic evidence (see above). But I must note that none of these women are as attractive and sexy as my wife. She reads this blog occasionally. Hi, honey.

The three-day E3 conference runs through Thursday.