e3-2008 posts (Subscribe to this feed)

ESA fees increased 1,700% during Min-E3 years, should lower now

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 25th 2009 at 4:07PM }

The Entertainment Software Association increased its membership fees by 1,700% during the last two years of downsized E3s (2007-2008), apparently to compensate for revenue that the old E3 used to bring in. Gamespot discovered the shocking percentage while digging through the lobbying group's annual accounting to the IRS. The massive fee increase may have a little something to do with why Activision, LucasArts and others decided to leave the organization.

We contacted the ESA to find out if this year's rebirth of the "classic" E3 format would reduce membership fees. CEO Michael Gallagher wrote us: "The positive restructuring of the E3 Expo allowed us to revisit the ESA's dues structure. It is our hope that this new model will make the ESA an attractive and accessible option for small and mid-sized publishers so we can more fully represent our industry's diversity." So, we'll take that as a "yes." Now we wait to see if the reduction brings back the companies that left and, just possibly, welcomes new publishers to the flock.

Top 5: Nintendo's Biggest Surprises

by Kaes Delgrego { Oct 6th 2008 at 12:51PM }

This week's press conference from Nintendo was like Reggie himself coming to your door, clutching a bouquet of awesome announcements, and saying "I'm sorry about E3." Indeed, I can't help but think that just one of the awesome titles announced in the past week could have prevented much of the animosity hurled at Nintendo following their ho-hum presentation at the summer exhibition.

But then again, Nintendo has always been one to surprise us. They've made good moves and bad, interesting decisions coupled with utterly clueless assumptions, and made us wonder what the hell they were thinking while amazing us with what they're capable of. Here's the Top 5 biggest surprises unleashed by the Big N.

NEXT >>

The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.

Bungie's Superintendent sighted, announcement hinted at

by Griffin McElroy { Sep 20th 2008 at 11:30AM }

We find it indicative of the quality of the past Electronic Entertainment Expo that the biggest piece of news out of the event was not a new high-profile game, or a console redesign -- but rather, the "major" announcement that was not actually announced. We speak, of course, of the Bungiegate pseudo-scandal, in which the announcement of a new project (teased by the Halo developer in the weeks leading up to E3) was pulled from the Microsoft presentation, and was promised to be revealed at a later date. Judging by a recent update on Bungie's site, we're guessing that date is quickly approaching.

The enigmatic Superintendent, whose tidy countenance appeared in the pre-E3 teases for the new project, recently reared his head in a Bungie news update, along with a few Howard Hughes-esque demands to "KEEP IT CLEAN." Between the reappearance of the immaculate mascot and hints in the developer's latest weekly update that "dawn is about to break," we think it's safe for the Bungie fanatics among us to ready their anticipatory fingers for a lengthy F5 session.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Rumor: Old E3 to return?

by Chris Greenhough { Sep 3rd 2008 at 5:20PM }

60,000 gamers crammed together in one sweaty convention center. Women in skimpy outfits, paraded like pieces of meat. A gigantic, deafening, cacophonous din.

Yep, the old-style E3 really was glorious. But in all seriousness, it seems as though most of the internet would kill for a return to the old format. Whether it's because of the muted reception to this year's horribly empty E3 Media and Business Summit, or simply a hangover from Nintendo's ill-received press conference, the majority of fans want E3 to return to being the spectacle it once was. Significant industry figures seem to agree.

And now, it might just happen. Kotaku claims that the idea of returning to the E3 of yesteryear and opening the doors to the public has been officially proposed, and is currently being discussed by the ESA board, the folks who organize the event. Maybe the "old E3" won't just be a story we tell our grandchildren, decades from now.

Most of E3 2008 will stick in many people's memories for literally weeks. Who can forget Reggie revving that jet ski, or Nintendo suits playing fake instruments, or Cammie and her wrist? Still, at least there was Mega Man 9 and Pikmin.

Will Wright calls E3 a walking corpse

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 29th 2008 at 6:00AM }

The latest bandwagon that people seem to be hopping onto is the "Let's bash E3" express. We've had our own prognosticator proclaiming that the video game expo is past its prime, and now Will Wright is joining in by delivering a couple of swift kicks to the ribs. Then he backed over it a few times with his car before driving to his giant Scrooge McDuck pool of money and diving in.

In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, he calls the ailing conference "the walking dead" and says that the recently slenderized version of E3 from last month was "such an abrupt end to what was E3..." At least he could have bought it flowers or something while he was busy pronouncing it to be a living corpse. The nerve of some people.

We're just about to get some shuteye before launching into the crazy realm of PAX 2008, and we'll see if E3 does indeed look like a zombie in comparison. Maybe all it needs is a little makeup.

[Thanks, Jonah]

Cammie: Nintendo 'disappointed' with E3 performance

by James Ransom-Wiley { Aug 19th 2008 at 3:57PM }

For Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America's executive VP of sales and marketing, July's E3 media briefing was the perfect opportunity to cast a new spell. With most of Wii's casual ownership tuned out (c'mon, you think grandpop was glued to G4?), the press conference should have marked an effort to dazzle Nintendo's wavering "core." Allow the fans a whiff of another classic sequel, and all would have been right in their hearts. Instead, well ... you know what happened.

"I would say the message is we were disappointed with our performance at E3. There were titles like Wario which we think will be really fun titles that we should have showcased," Cammie recently admitted to VGChartz, adding, "We were excited that Mr. Miyamoto made the commitment that Pikmin is coming. It would have been nice if we could have said that on stage." Points for honesty?

Nintendo finally admits E3 was a disappointment

by David Hinkle { Aug 19th 2008 at 1:47PM }

During an interview with VGChartz, Nintendo's resident wrist-hurting, Shaun White-introducing marketing lady, Cammie Dunaway, commented that Nintendo's E3 showing was a bit of a disappointment. You don't say?

"I would say the message is we were disappointed with our performance at E3," commented Dunaway. "There were titles like Wario which we think will be really fun titles that we should have show cased." Yes, we'd have to agree. It was certainly the best game we played at the show. But what about this Pikmin 3 business?

"We were excited that Mr. Miyamoto made the commitment that Pikmin is coming," she said. "It would have been nice if we could have said that on stage. But, we think it was a good recognition for us that we care for our core fans, and not just the new people who are now discovering Nintendo."

E3 2008 was a pretty big deal. We had lots of hands-on impressions, as well as new screens and video to talk about. Check out our live impressions from Nintendo's keynote here, as well as some of the big news right here.

Nintendo sends Thank-You note to E3 attendees

by Ross Miller { Aug 14th 2008 at 12:47AM }

click to embiggen

We received a nice letter from Nintendo of America today, thanking us for our attendance at their E3 2008 media briefing (we think the community has already sent their messages to NoA). At first, we were excited to have authentic signature from famous Nintendo executives Reggie Fils-Aime, Cammie Dunaway and Denise Kaigler (we like to collect them like pokemon).

Our excitement then quickly turned to utter disappointment (some would call that appropriate). As it turns out, every attendee got the same letter, complete with the same signatures in the exact same spots. After we discovered the names were stamped on, their eBay value immediately dropped from US $0.01 to three pieces of hair and a first-print of Daikatana.

Joystiq hands-on: IndieCade games galore

by Kevin Kelly { Aug 13th 2008 at 8:00AM }

One of the things we made sure to do at E3 this year was to spend a significant amount of time with the IndieCade folks. Then we sat on that info long enough for some of these games to get picked up, have a successful release, come out with sequels, spawn movies, novels, comic books, become part of the general pop culture bloodstream, and then fade into nostalgia, and for that we apologize. Actually, I'll apologize, I did it.

But in all seriousness, a lot of the more fun and innovative stuff we saw at E3 wasn't actually being churned out by big studios and publishers, but being worked on by small groups with tiny budgets and just a love of gaming. Read on to find out all about the IndieCade games that we saw on display, and why you'll want to be playing them now.

Gallery: E3: IndieCade 2008

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GayGamer's E3 scrapbook series

by Alexander Sliwinski { Aug 9th 2008 at 6:30PM }

The boys over at GayGamer.net put together a video scrapbook of serious questions they asked members of the gaming press during E3. The series features folks from several of your favorite gaming blogs, sites and magazines. There's no embed code and we referenced a couple of these during the week, but here they all are in one neat, perfectly trimmed, little package with a link to each episode:

GG tells us they'll be doing another video scrapbook at PAX in a couple weeks and asking the same type of hard-hitting introspective questions of random attendees. We definitely had fun with this and hope to see them do it again.

Fallout 3, Electronic Arts clean up at Game Critics E3 Awards

by Xav de Matos { Aug 5th 2008 at 3:15PM }

Fallout 3 from Bethesda Softworks nabbed the coveted Game of the Show award today from Game Critics -- a panel of judges comprised of editors from various online/offline publications (including Joystiq's own Chris Grant). Fallout 3 also took home the award for Best RPG at the show.

Electronic Arts brought home 5 awards including Best Action/Adventure game for Dead Space and Best Original Game for Mirror's Edge. The Xbox 360 platform was at the top of the award count with 8 for the console, including a Best Action Game win for Gears of War 2.

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All our E3 2008 impressions are belong to you!

by Ross Miller { Aug 1st 2008 at 5:25PM }

We thought it'd be best to start off the month of August by cleaning house and collecting all our E3 impressions from around the Joystiq Network into one easy-to-peruse guide. In case you missed anything (and there's a pretty good chance you did), check out all of our impressions from E3 2008.

Multiplatform

Age of Booty (E3 hands-on)
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (E3 hands-on)
Dark Void (E3 hands-on)
Dead Space (E3 hands-on)
Fallout 3 (E3 hands-on)
Far Cry 2 (E3 hands-on)
Flock (E3 hands-on)
HAWX (E3 hands-on)
Left 4 Dead (E3 hands-on)
Mega Man 9 (E3 hands-on)
Mirror's Edge (E3 hands-on)
Neopets Puzzle Adventures (E3 hands-on)
Puzzle Quest Galactric (E3 hands-on)
Red Faction: Guerilla (E3 hands-on)
Resident Evil 5 (E3 hands-on)
Sonic Unleashed (E3 eyes-on)
Silent Hill: Homecoming (E3 hands-on)
Stormrise (E3 eyes-on: Stormrise)
This is Vegas (E3 impressions)
Tomb Raider Underworld (E3 hands-on)
Tom Clancy's EndWar (E3 hands-on)
Wheelman (E3 impressions)

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The Joystiq E3 2008 Awards

by Richard Mitchell { Jul 31st 2008 at 2:15PM }

With E3 over and done, it's time for outlets everywhere to start organizing their Best of E3 awards, and the Joystiq network is no different. Thus, we present to you Joystiq's E3 2008 Awards. Find out what the Most Devestating Megaton was. Discover which company walks away with the Annual Least Like EA Award. Of course, you'll want to find out what Joystiq picked as their game of the show as well.

Check out Joystiq's E3 2008 Awards!

The Joystiq E3 2008 Awards

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Jul 31st 2008 at 9:45AM }

With the bleeps and bloops of our beloved games -- and we suppose Mega Man 9 was the only thing that sounded like that, really -- echoing through a cavernous and lifeless Los Angeles Convention Center, it was clear that this year's E3 was different. But the more things change, the more they stay the same. We still got to play some promising games, we still had to endure some rotten ideas and we still had to roll our eyes at corporate PR foibles. Thankfully, that's exactly what the Joystiq E3 2008 Awards are for.

Gallery: The Joystiq E3 2008 Awards

Zero Punctuation apparently missed the actual E3

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 30th 2008 at 6:15PM }

This week's Zero Punctuation makes us wonder: What E3 is Yahtzee talking about? Perhaps things seemed different from the outside, but this year's show actually saw a slew of original titles -- shockingly enough, many from the maw of EA. Sure, there is some serious sequelitus going on (and certain outlets really need to stop riding RE4 v2 RE5's rooster), but we were pleasantly surprised by some of the new IPs. Oh well, no sense in trying to convey some semblance of reason here. Carry on with the amusing hate.

Check out Yahtzee's NSFW take on E3 after the break.

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