Archive: 11th-24th May 2006: E3 2006 / Eurogamer

Ah yes, E3 2006. A trip down to sunny LA to do nowt but play video games and hoover up free booze at lavish parties sounds like a fantastic deal, but actually, it’s beyond horrible. I say that, of course, because I was stuck in the claustrophobic, sweaty, overcrowded Wii booth for almost my entire time, but when I wasn’t having to work (which includes being on the show floor as well as writing) I genuinely enjoyed my time with many of the people I had a chance to meet and hang out with. Sadly I didn’t get any time to do interviews (gutting, when you bump into folks like Eugene Jarvis.) I also lost my badge at the end of the second day, but that’s another story.

Am I glad E3 is gone? I’m not sure. 2006 was my first year and it was as ridiculously over the top as I could have imagined, but as far as I could see the only real problem with it was that the organizers had absolutely no idea how to work with the press and industry delegates to ensure that things went smoothly. If they had even the slightest amount of sense they could have easily kept out all of the blaggers without making life more difficult for the people who were there on business. So I guess I’m not sad it’s gone as a huge, unwieldy behemoth, and I never saw it when it was smaller, more intimate, and surely more bearable, so there’s not much for me to miss. But a lot of good writing has come out of E3 over the years, so that’s to be missed, at least. Like all of this writing here!

E3 2006: Activision - My first piece (now wrongly attributed to Rob Purchese, for some reason) discusses Tony Hawk’s Project 8 and Downhill Jam, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions 2007, The Movies: Stunts and Effects Expansion Pack, and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

E3 2006: Konami - An article in which I discuss watching Hideo Kojima take a widdle (how much would some people pay for that, eh?) Coded Arms: Assault and Coded Arms: Contagion, Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, Lunar Knights, Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

Super Mario Galaxy: First Impressions - I complain about the loss of my badge and then gush about how lovely Super Mario Galaxy is. Starts a theme of self indulgence that the comments threads soon get really bitchy about. But then, I would always read E3 coverage to hear about the experience as much as the games, so that’s the way I wrote it. I can understand why people might disagree, but you can’t say I don’t discuss the games fully in any of these pieces, no sir.

Wii Sports: First Impressions - This is a review of all of the Wii Sports titles at E3, which includes the airplane game not included in the final pack-in, and I also jammed in a quick review of the terrible orchestra game as well.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: First Impressions - Now, I actually have a finished copy of this, but, um, I haven’t really had any time to play it yet. Whatever happened to that simultaneous launch on Gamecube and Wii you boasted about at E3 then, eh, Nintendo? You naughty boys. Anyway, this was quite a divisive article as I just was not impressed with Twilight Princess at the time. Remains to be seen if I am when I finally get some time to play it properly, I suppose.

Metroid Prime: Corruption: First Impressions - And, um, yeah… I wasn’t that impressed with this either, which again led to the comments getting rather heated. Things I learned at E3 2006: You must slavishly love everything Nintendo do, not think critically, otherwise people WILL COMPLAIN.

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves: First Impressions - Interestingly enough I say this would be the ideal pack-in title long before any pack-in title was even hinted at! So I got it wrong but was at least thinking in the right direction.

Now, I’m not going to open old wounds here but this review was one of the first to say “hey, you know what, the Wii Remote isn’t a magic wand. The Wii can’t actually sense the exact point in 3D space where the controller is positioned.” But this was so shocking at the time quite a lot of people went mental. But look at where we are now. The Wii Remote totally can’t tell where it is exactly in 3D space. Sure, there are a lot of tricks possible to fake it quite closely but I do argue that we were all sold a bit of a lie with the Wii initially.

I do honestly think the control system, as it is, is a great idea, but it’s not as impressive as everyone thought it was going to be (to the point of sticking their fingers in their ears and going “LA LA LA I’M NOT LISTENING”.) The funniest thing is, though, that despite saying all of that, I thought that this game was totally great. You just can’t please people, eh?

Excite Truck: First Impressions - To be honest, even here I was pretty sure that Excite Truck was going to be a load of old bobbins, but I tried to be as positive as possible (and it paid off - the comments are a lot nicer on this one.) Shame that, yeah, in the end, it was a bit rubbish.

Dead Rising: First Impressions - Game of the year. Need I say more?

Okay, I will. Just to prove that they’re all insane, the comments all argued tooth and nail that the game couldn’t possibly be three hours long. Pfft. Yet again I was right! (Oh man, it turns out the comments threads really did have an effect on me, eh? I sure hope I don’t seem too petty.)

Project H.A.M.M.E.R: First Impressions - What happened to this title, I wonder? Has it just been forgotten about? Perhaps I was just completely shagged out after the whole E3 experience but Tom Bramwell did a lot of work to kick this into shape as my editor, and I think it’s a superb piece. That fellow deserves maximum respect.

December 18th, 2006 : Archive, Eurogamer