E3: Heaven and Hell

The Electronic Entertainment Expo... Heaven, and at the same time, Hell. Heaven because of all the unreleased games, giant displays and the fact that everyone who is anyone is there. Hell because it's three long days of work, hot, and you have 10,000 people who are nobody and who get in the damn way all the time.

For the uninitiated, E3 is a circus. The Los Angeles Convention Center is the size of a city-block, with several different halls, press conference rooms, and a working newsroom. E3 isn't your typical folding table/cheap TV set up; it is incredibly sophisticated. Giant expensive high-definition TVs, video globes, laser lights, scantily dressed models, loud music and tons of people.

Case in point: Nintendo's "booth" (I use this term loosely for booths are mainly just the area where all the games are set up to suck you in) last year. Nintendo had the best showing - LUIGI'S MANSION, SMASH BROS. MELEE, and ROGUE LEADER were the shining gems of the GameCube's lineup. Nintendo also set up an area where they were giving away Game Boy Advances (to get a ticket to play the game for a chance to win, you had to play the three big games). The result: people literally ran to Nintendo's booth when the doors open. Media doesn't run, fanboys run. It was nearly impossible to breathe in Nintendo's booth, much less walk. The hallway near Activision was so congested that you had to push your way through... I saw a camera crew try to go through once, not sure if they made it out alive.

Super Mario Sunshine

© 2002 Nintendo

That is the hell that is E3. Lets not even go into the steamy newsroom where all sorts of reporters gather to try to post the latest news and impressions on their websites.

On the other hand, E3 is pretty darn cool too. We work hand in hand with a dedicated group of PR representatives from companies. While this relation can be love-hate at times it is very cool to finally meet everyone, and put faces with names. And let's not forget the celebrities; plenty of them make an appearance. I remember meeting Shigeru Miyamoto for the first time at E3 2000 (which is probably the best memory of my videogaming work).

And let's not forget all the cool games we get to see. I was one of the first people to get playtime with SMASH BROS. MELEE, TONY HAWK 3, and HALO. This year the media gets an hour of time on the showfloor alone, so I'll be one of the first to play with METROID PRIME, THE LEGEND OF ZELDA and SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE.

E3 in some ways is a thorn in my side. But with the incredible games, and general excitement, I'll take the hard work for the show. For those of you who can't get to the show but like to know what it's like to be a writer there, I'll be doing the "E3 Experience" - a set of feature articles about what E3 is actually like. Look for that in June.