Maybe it was the fact that I spent most of the day waiting in lines for demos, or that the floor closed two hours early, but today seems to have flown by much more quickly than Wednesday or Thursday. Aside from checking out the Wii, Jason and I saw a 15 minute demonstration of Unreal Tournament 2007, collected goodies from the Webzen booth, saw the band Shaimus play at the Guitar Hero booth, and wrapped it all up with a final swag & booth babe swing around of the South Hall.
Coming to E3 has been one of the better decisions I’ve made this year; I’m so glad I went. Beyond just the play and review of unreleased platforms/games, this expo kept me busy, entertained, and having lots of fun for three straight days with live entertainment, interesting developers to talk to, and (of course) so much swag my back broke carrying it all. A big thanks to Jason for inviting me to come help him review…This experience won’t be a memory I’ll soon forget
May 12th, 2006 at 07:21pm
by Illysian
Once Jason and I got into the Nintendo booth, we saw a really awesome Wii controller demonstration featuring two professional drummers doin’ their thing on a “drum hero” style program. It was pretty fun to watch, and video of that may or may not be put up on this site soon. The lines for Metroid Prime, Mario Galaxy, and Zelda were insanely long. Jason tried out playing Madden 2k7 while I waited around to play Zelda, Twilight Princess. Surprisingly, it took only a few minutes to get familiar with the controls, and after a little while it became quite fun to do things like aim the bow by pointing the remote or reeling in a fish “Bass Hunter” style by circling the nun chuck attachment next to the remote. After beating the demo dungeon boss, my Wii experience finally came to an end at 1pm. Was it worth the wait? I don’t think so right now, but maybe the experience will grow on me after a few days.
May 12th, 2006 at 07:07pm
by Illysian
Well, E3 2006 is now officially over, and despite the fact that my feet, legs, shoulders, back, eyes, and ears are all sore, and that I may simply fall asleep at any moment, I really wish there was another day. As usual there were things I didn’t get to see that I really wanted to, but I’m happy to say that I either played or saw behind-closed-doors demonstrations of some amazing things.
In terms of consoles, Wednesday was more PS3, Thursday was more Xbox 360, and today we got a look at the Nintendo Wii, as well as playing with the Wii for a bit (seriously, why did they name it that?). The line was insanely long, and once inside their booth it was very poorly organized, as they were allowing people to play the game demos for way too long.
We picked up a whole bunch of swag yesterday and today, with the top items including a retail copy of Red Orchestra, a huge inflatable raft, and a huge banner from the Webzen booth.
Tonight will be spent partly as the last two nights: posting our thoughts on what we saw, as well as pictures for you all to enjoy. I tried to grab a few more booth babe photos today, as I noticed yesterday was extremely light, but at this point most booth babes were running as fast as they could towards the exits, wanting it to be over, so some were hard to find. Maybe next year they’ll go lax on the rules again and booth babes will make their triumphant return…
Well, it’s been fun, but with the floor closed, the media center wrapping things up, and our flight leaving tomorrow morning, it’s nearly over.
As the sign says, See you next year, E3!
May 12th, 2006 at 07:04pm
by Rodzilla
So it’s now 10:30 and I’ve been waiting in line to play the Wii since the floor opened this morning at 9:00am. The sad part is, there’s still about an hour wait just to get into Nintendo’s booth. After that, Jason and I will have access to the Wii room where we’ll get a Wii tutorial from a Wii developer on the Wii console. Zelda, Mario, Metroid Prime, and Tennis will be playable for sure, and there will probably be a lot of others. While other patrons keep themselves busy by playing their Nintendo DS portables, Jason and I have been amusing ourselves by cracking Paris Hilton jokes and taking pictures of all the people filming the length of the line. Hopefully this won’t take too much longer…
May 12th, 2006 at 07:03pm
by Illysian
Ugh. All of the pictures are posted, and a good bit of writing is now posted as well. A few impressions from games we played on the first day have been posted as well as some Xbox 360 games from day two. Look for some hefty post-E3 updates so we can catch-up on all the games we played but didn’t have a chance to post about during the Expo.
And now, time for dinner…
May 12th, 2006 at 02:35am
by Rodzilla
I’ll keep this brief, because I’m going to get kicked out of the media center in a few minutes. Today was my official swag day: I must have picked up half a dozen t-shirts, a few game demos and media kits, super balls, caffine mints, a deck of cards, a trucker hat, and the list goes on. Jason even won a Logitec gamepad.
We played a bunch of 360 games, including Lost Planet, Crackdown, Too Human, 99 Nights, Sonic the Hedgehog, and others. Be sure to check out the reviews to be posted a little bit later on.
Jason and I also spent a little bit of time in the basement checking out periphials. Notables include the Guitar Hero controller, a bunch of flight pads, a 3-axis mouse, a virtual reality headset, and a totally awesome automatic adjustable massage chair.
The lights here are flashing on and off now, so I guess that’s my queue to get the hell out of here. Lots more later!
May 11th, 2006 at 10:55pm
by Illysian
Well, day two of the expo is now officially over, and for some reason it went a whole lot faster than yesterday. I doubt it was the lack of the extra hour in the morning for the press conference, but perhaps it was the extra games actually played instead of watching demos put on by a presenter who is playing.
We had the chance to play nearly every Xbox 360 game offered on the show floor, as well as a few new PS3 games and a bunch of PC games as well. There may have been some PSP in there, but I’m so out of it right now I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. A few hours in Kentia hall also revealed the usual crazy array of accessories, controllers, and the other wacky items that Kentia hall is known for, and there was a wonderful gaming chair with a built in massager that was exactly what my body needed after the past two days.
Ten minutes until they boot us out of the media center, let’s see how many pictures I can get uploaded…if any.
May 11th, 2006 at 09:20pm
by Rodzilla
After stopping by the media hospitality suite for some delicious free breakfast, we’re just about ready to hit the show floor when it opens at 9. Of course, there’s so many people that show up an hour early just to sit outside the door that it’s unlikely we’ll be going for the Nintendo Wii demonstration first thing today. Things I’m hoping to see today: BioShock, Unreal Tournament 2007, Guitar Hero II, and more.
Adam West is here today, perhaps I’ll get his John Hancock. So is Paris Hilton, but I think she could skankify the entire Expo with her interest in Hancocks of a different sort.
May 11th, 2006 at 11:32am
by Rodzilla
I think that with every completed game preview from the first day, I remembered another game that we forgot to write about. I wonder if we’ll be able to get it all done tomorrow morning before the floor opens….doubtful.
Anyway, tons of day one previews are now posted, in addition to tons of pictures. Don’t forget to find Waldo!
May 11th, 2006 at 04:11am
by Rodzilla
Whoa, what a long day…it’s almost crazy to think there are going to be two more just like it. Jason and I definitely played a lot of awesome games, so be sure to check out those review links. I absolutely loved the 6-axis sensing capability of the PS3 controllers, even though only one game (WarHawk) we played supported the feature. While a little jerky and uncalibrated at first, after a few minutes it is possible to use the controller quite gracefully. Besides the games, we also saw a skateboarding halfpipe show at Activision’s booth, some cool fire dancers at NCSoft, and a 3-piece band play at a korean gaming booth. I guess there’s a little something for everyone here…
May 11th, 2006 at 02:57am
by Illysian
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