 Videogames. They defined my childhood as much as Power Rangers and stuck 'n' pull (tag for the Americans out there). So naturally E3 couldn't miss me. But this year's E3 was much different from the ones before it. It was a greatly scaled down version. And when I say scaled down, I mean scaled down. The entire event could hold in last year's Sony booth. No shwag (geek lingo for free promotional stuff), no booth babes (damnit!), no noise, no big displays and no big crowds, as it was invitation only. It was basically a press conference for games. Normally I'd watch E3 non-stop, my eyes glued to the screen. But this year I could barely muster the interest to watch it for 15 minutes straight. They just took the fun out of it. As much of a gamer as I am, I can watch people talk about cellshading, realistic lighting, enhanced AI and using these minor improvements to justify the ridiculous price of their games.
Oh, and did I fail to mention the lack of new release info? Game companies are releasing less and less information about games and making their demos shorter and shorter, using that old carrot on a stick approrach, trying to create hype for their games. Many hardcore games are falling for it, making blog posts about these demos, each in their own way powering the hype, but I don't know how someone can publish a post about a 3 minute clip of Halo 3. Think that's why E3's now a snoozefest. Sure there are financial reasons, but gaming now makes more money than movies (that is until someone figures out how to burn CDs). And with fans fueling the hype amongst themselves, all the extravagance of past years is not longer neccessary. Don't think I'll be watching next year. I'm still ticked about the booth babes. They're the closest many of these socially inept gamers will come to being with a hot girl. But of any of you out-of-work booth babes need a job, I have several positions for you.
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