Six Week E3 Countdown: What You Need To Know About E3

By Karl D - Tue Apr 26, 6:48 am

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We here at Lo-Ping are pumped for E3, we know you are too. You’re an avid gamer who likes to stay up to date on the latest and greatest news of the industry, whether you’re reading up about it on a website or watching a live stream of the Video Game Awards show, suffering through all the celebrity crap just to get to the new game trailers.

We’ve decided that we’re going to get the E3 ball rolling a little early with this six part series which covers everything about the show; from its humble beginnings to our most beloved (and worst) memories of the expo, as well as spilling the beans on the rumors and what we each expect to see from each of the big three conferences.

Without further ado, let’s get started!

Part 1: What You Need To Know About E3

Part 2: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

Part 3: Our Predictions And Why We Love E3

Part 4: What To Expect From Microsoft

Part 5: What To Expect From Sony

Part 6: What To Expect From Nintendo

The Electronic Entertainment Expo (or E3 to most of us) is a trade show which traditionally takes place in June of each year at the Los Angeles Convention Centre. The

show is held for videogame developers to show off their latest hardware and software.

The expo was at first open to both the media and the general public, allowing anyone to come and test out the latest games. However attendance rates grew huge over the years and the expo was forced to reduce the numbers by making attendance an ‘invite-only’ matter, open mainly to journalists of videogame websites and publications.

E3 was first held in 1995, the main keynote speakers were the President of Sega, the President/CEO of Sony and a Nintendo Chairman. The conference featured the unveiling of the Sony Playstation, the release date of Nintendo’s originally titled “Nintendo Ultra 64” as well as revealing the Virtual Boy, one of the biggest commercial flops in videogame console history. The show also introduced games like Ridge Racer, Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter. It was one of the largest trade show launches in history.

Fast forward through the years and you’ll be able to see that this is where every big name console was revealed, demoed and detailed, as well as shocking software news such as Final Fantasy XIII being announced for the Xbox 360, Half Life 2 was finally unveiled and Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto famously appeared on stage equipped with Hyrule Shield and Master Sword as he announced Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

To say that E3 is full of positives would be a complete lie, there’s always something awful that happens during the event. Whether it is cheesy scripted dialogue, a technical fault when revealing your biggest game or the fact that a heavily hinted announcement doesn’t turn up at all. We’ll cover these in greater detail at some point during the countdown but rest assured, you will find something to cringe at.

Companies spend huge amounts of money on these events, spending millions of dollars on the eye catching displays alone to make themselves the most noticeable sight from the other end of the hall.

Here’s the paragraph I’m sure you’ll take interest to:

Videogame publishers love to show off their games, they love to attract attention to their booths on the show floor. What better way to get the attention of a fan of videogames than attractive women? “Booth Babes” as they became known are there to help promote a studios products, whether they be dressed in garments from the game itself or showing some skin just for the hell of it, the babes are always a pleasant sight to behold.

What differentiates E3 from every other videogame expo in the world is that this is *the* place to announce games, some other expos such as Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show announce a few games but they’re mainly held to show off new trailers of existing games to the media and the public. E3 is also the only event where you’ll find a keynote conference from the big hitters such as Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, EA and Ubisoft.

Each conference takes place at a different time of day over the course of the expo meaning you’ll be able to see it all live via gaming websites such as IGN and Gamespot, usually lasting for about two hours. Check out these websites through the week too as they conduct interviews with companies both big and small whether they’re doing a live demo of their game or just having a chat about the expo in general.

E3 2011 starts on June 6th and wraps up on June 8th so tell your parents you’re too sick for school or swap your shifts at work, you’re not going to want to miss out on the biggest gaming week of the year.

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