MCP VS E3 2013
Microsoft Liveblog – EA Liveblog – UbiSoft Liveblog – Sony Liveblog – Nintendo Direct
Round One – Supplemental – Bonus: Into The Pixel Exhibition
Round Two – Supplemental – Bonus: Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses (Interview: Jeron Moore)
Final Round – Supplemental – Bonus: Videogame History Museum
Well, it’s officially over. 4 days of eating, living, and breathing games. All the news that’s fit to print has been printed. And yet, my phone is full of all these extra pics and notes and stuff I obsessively kept track of, so, as a final farewell to the big show, I’ll be unloading the excess randomity on you now.
STATISTICS
Conference Attendance: 48,200 (according to the ESA)
Number of Women On Stage During Microsoft Conference: 2
Number of Women On Stage During Sony Conference: 1
Number of Women Shown During Conferences in New Games As Main, Playable Characters: 4–Mirror’s Edge 2, Beyond: Two Souls, Bayonetta 2. It’s also not confirmed, but I’m gonna go ahead and assume Morrigan is actually playable in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Number of Female Gamers/Press Seen: Approximately 30-40%. Yes, I’ll gladly go to bat on the percentage being that high. And yes, they were playing the same violent shit as their male counterparts. Hit the next person who tells you women don’t play in the softest part of the head.
Number of Booth Babes Seen: 6. Two at Tecmo-Koei’s booth, two at the Sims 3 QR hunt at the conference entrance. 2 at the Nyko accessories booth. Some MMO company called Snail Games supposedly had a bunch of girls dressed in various costumes, but I never actually found the booth, so, I’m giving them a pass. I flipped a coin on whether to count the Bayonetta cosplayer Nintendo had. The coin votes no. There were, however, hundreds of women at the booths working for various companies, usually in t-shirts and jeans, helping folks learn more about the games, and more than willing to play co-op if you need a second or third. You know, almost like it was a convention for professionals or something.
Number of Girls Cosplaying Lara Croft: 7
Number Cosplaying Reboot Lara: 0
Number of New, Showcased, AAA Game Male Protagonists Without A: Grizzle, B: Brown Hair: 0. Closest we got was Geralt of Rivia’s silver hair, but his alternate name in parts of the world is Grizzly of Grizzlia.
Best Music Moment That I Can’t Tell If It Was Intentional Or Not: George Michael’s Faith being used as walking out music from the EA Conference, after the Mirror’s Edge 2 trailer happened.
Most Inexplicably Busy Booth: World Of Tanks. There were a couple hundred people watching that presentation every hour of every day of the conference. Watch Dogs didn’t even have that crowd. Madness.
Number of Celebrities Seen: 4. Gonna be generous and count Drake and Aaron Paul showing up at EA’s conference. I actually met, talked to, got a giant hug and a picture with Machinima’s Misti Dawn. Orlando Jones was one of the folks in my Saint’s Row IV appointment, but didn’t talk to him. Dude’s way funnier off the cuff than he’s been in anything I’ve seen him in. Not exactly celebrity, but most fascinating encounter was bumping into Reggie Fils-Aime from Nintendo at the Konami booth, watching the Metal Gear Solid V trailer. You could melt a Nazi with the look of disdain on that man’s face.
Swag Obtained: Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo lanyards, Castle of Illusion lanyard, plus pin for actually beating the demo, Arkham Origins Batarang keychain, Dying Light shirt, Destiny shirt
Number of Times Personally Witnessed Journalists Asking Booth Attendants For Swag Who Didn’t Stay To Play The Game: 8. And yes, I checked the badges. They were press.
Number of Reported/Obtained Swag Shirts Available In Sizes Over XL: 0
Number of Sports Journalists Spotted Who Hate Their Jobs: 26. I don’t know if this is a thing or not, but EA’s conference, the media room at the convention center, and the show floor itself was RIFE with sports folks stuck trying to get info about new Madden, NBA Live, and UFC, got their tidbit, then spent the remainder of the week whining like babies to other press or into cellphones about being forced to congregate with the rest of the nerds. Welcome to our other 51 weeks of the year, motherfuckers.
Other Black Gaming Press Members Personally Seen: 31
Number Female: 10. SEE? My math is sound!
Number of Drunk Girl-Style Whoops From Call Of Duty Ghosts Booth: 14. Each more obnoxious than the last.
Fedoras Seen: More than zero :/
Winner of E3: Inconclusive. Much as its tempting to want to say Sony won, or be all iconoclastic and shit, and say Nintendo won just for not having any issues whatsoever, fact is, no one escapes criticism or question marks this year, and the fact that third party DRM is a bit of a mystery even keeps Sony from walking away with all this. So, wait, worry, and stare in awe as the new games happen. The one certainty, however?
Loser of E3: Microsoft.
And now, the pics that didn’t make their way into any of the articles:
The line for the Microsoft conference. I was about at the halfway mark. It’s the first second you realize just how insane these things really are.
Outside the Shrine Auditorium for EA’s show.
That entire section was sports press, with a few stray American FIFA playing kids sprinkled for good measure. These are the people who sighed in unison when the EA Sports crap ended, and the Dragon Age trailer began.
Yes, it’s a Ducktales Karaoke booth. Capcom had it set up so you could actually record yourself, or you and a friend singing the Ducktales theme song, which gifted you with a pin, and the potential of actually having the video posted to Capcom’s website. This is the most awesomely goofy thing ever.
This would be the Dead Rising 3 booth. And yes, actual people inside, playing zombies.
Yes, these are both made of Legos.
Probably the cutest non-studio sanctioned cosplay at the show.
Less for the fact that he dressed as Dante, more for the fact that he was headed to see the new Natsume (Cooking Mama) title.
There were a ton of folks dressed up or at least wearing green at the Symphony of the Goddesses show. This kid was the pinnacle for sheer adorable.
The other mural in the Saints Row IV meeting room. Not as awesome as Boss Crossing The Delaware, but then, nothing is. And even then, that didn’t have an energy drink tearing off the Washington Monument.
I still have no idea what was going on here at the DOA5 booth 20 minutes before E3 closed, but there was a DJ, and it looked/sounded like that part of The Mist before Mrs. Carmody gets a new mid-forehead nostril was about to break out.
There was a new Pac-Man platformer at the show, too, and Namco was dumb enough to put Pac-Man DX right next to it. One of these games had a line. Guess which one, win a cookie.
Two days running low on juice for my cell phone by 5/6pm, and I find this on my way 30 minutes before close of business, Thursday. I am Jack’s wasted week.
This is the Media Room, where journalism comes to die during the convention. Or, at least, fall asleep on its laptop until the free coffee/Arnold Palmers arrive.
Unrelated, but I ended up seeing This Is The End with a couple of Chewers my last night in town. This would be the last awesome view of LA I got. Seems like a good place to call it a convention.
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