Top 10 Best and Worst E3 Moments of
All Time
E3 is right around the corner! Yes,
it’s almost that lovely time of year again when companies go head to head to
see who will give us the most impressive trailers, demos, and conferences.
Since it’s something I love talking about almost as much as I love watching, I
am officially declaring June to be E3 Month for my blog! Each week will have an
editorial themed to this years’ E3, as I talk about this year’s conference, and
what I thought of it.
But as we still have about a week to
go before the curtain is raised, I thought it’d be fun to kick off E3 Month
with a look back at the E3s of the past. There’ve been lots of highs and lows
in the history of our beloved conferences, and I’m here to count them down,
starting with the best!
Top 10 Best E3 Moments of All Time
10. Final Fantasy on Xbox (E3 2008,
Microsoft)
We’re starting with a bit of a smaller
one, as it’s not something that often comes up when talking about great E3
moments. But still, this to me is one of the first sparks of the Second Console
Wars between Sony and Microsoft.
We all know the timeless tale of Sega
and Nintendo duking it out in the ‘90’s. Each company tried to one up the other
endlessly, until Sega finally couldn’t keep up (ironic, considering their
mascot) and flew the white flag. Nowadays, it seems Sonic and friends are most
at home on Nintendo consoles, with several of the Blue Blur’s latest releases
being Wii U exclusives.
Flash forward to around 2007 to 2008.
The latest generation of consoles was in full swing, as the PS3, Xbox 360, and
Wii were all against each other for who was the best of the bunch. With the Wii
catering mostly to the casual audience, without much to play aside from
Nintendo exclusives like Mario and Zelda, all eyes were on Sony and Microsoft
to see who would come out on top.
With Sony grossly overpricing the PS3
at launch, the 360 was the clear frontrunner when it came to the two. For a
long time, it seemed like Microsoft was on top of the world. Then, during E3,
they dropped a bombshell: Final Fantasy, which had been a Sony exclusive since
the PS1, would be cross-releasing its next game on the 360 as well.
At this point, it almost felt like
anything was possible in the coming years. Would exclusives soon become a thing
of the past? Was this the first sign of Sony going the way of Sega? As it turns
out, neither of these were true, but it was a bit of a shocker at the time.
9. Unravel (E3 2015, EA)
Ah, EA. I can never seem to figure
this company out. I’m not quite on the EA hate train so many other people are
on. Sure, they’ve made some real garbage and several poor choices in the past,
but they’ve also done some great stuff. Remember Mirror’s Edge and The Sims 3?
As I write this, I’m getting ready for the release of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst
tomorrow, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Speaking of not being able to figure
things out, let’s talk about EA’s 2015 press conference. I’m not sure what
happened here, but it was one of the most lopsided conferences of all time. We
got some great trailers for games like Mirror’s Edge and the ultimately
disappointing Star Wars Battlefront, but then we also had to endure someone
interviewing soccer star Pele for about 15 minutes. What!? Who on Earth thought
it was a good idea to slap Pele in the middle of a video game conference?
But I digress. EA had one surprise trick
up their sleeve. Enter Martin Sahlin, an indie developer representing the game
Unravel. Sahlin is clearly nervous, stuttering a lot and fumbling some of his
lines. But still, it’s obvious that he is more than overjoyed to be here. He
also brings along a plush version of the game’s protagonist, Yarny, which is
absolutely adorable.
While goofy at times, this speech reminded me of one reason
why games are so great: because the people working behind the scenes are often
just as excited as we are. Indie giants like Shovel Knight and Undertale are
fueled by people like Martin: people passionate about games wanting to add
something of their own. With indies being more popular than ever, it’s great
that more and more people can create the game of their dreams.
Unravel would later release early this
year to little fanfare, and was sadly forgotten about shortly after. While
Yarny’s adventure ended fairly quickly, we’ll never forget Martin and his
excitement.
8. Reggie’s intro (E3 2004, Nintendo)
“My name is Reggie. I’m about kicking
ass, I’m about taking names, and we’re about making games.”
Reggie Fils-Aime is about as famous as
Miyamoto himself these days. The head of Nintendo of America made a name for
himself thanks to his over the top presence in trailers and onstage, as well as
bringing the hardcore nature often represented by other companies back to
Nintendo.
In 2004, Nintendo was in a bit of a
tough spot. The GameCube and GameBoy Advance were doing fine, but not good
enough to match their competitors. People were still torn over whether the Wind
Waker’s art style was great or horrible. With the DS due out towards the end of
the year (as well as being revealed during this same conference!) and their new
console on the way, codenamed “Revolution”, Nintendo needed a way to bring
people back and show them what they were made of.
At the time, Reggie felt like a light
in the dark tunnel. Yes, he was a bit out of place in a Nintendo conference,
but he made it work. He was just so different and cool, you couldn’t help but
love him. It’s no wonder why, 12 years on, Reggie is still headlining Nintendo
Directs and conferences.
7. Halo 2 (E3 2003, Microsoft)
When it comes to first-person shooters,
there are three I always turn to when talking about the most influential.
There’s Doom, which started the genre. There’s Goldeneye, which refined it. And
then there’s Halo, which kicked it into overdrive.
Microsoft can always thank Bungie for
putting them on the map. With the arrival of the sci-fi shooter, the original
Xbox had it’s must-buy exclusive, and it was huge at the time. If the conversation turned to the Xbox, you’d
better believe that someone would mention Halo. To be honest, things really
haven’t changed in that regard.
Knowing this, with a sequel on the
way, Microsoft knew it needed to show it off at E3 in the best way possible.
What we got was an 8 minute gameplay demo trailer, showing exactly what to
expect from the much-anticipated sequel.
The demo showed everything you’d want out of a gameplay trailer. Master Chief shot
up aliens. He rode around on a tank. He leapt around, jumping from platform to
platform. Then, to finish it all off, we got a cutscene of him charging at what
looked like a boss.
The crowd loved it, cheering the whole
way. This is still considered to be one of the best examples of an E3 trailer,
and for good reason. It gave the fans exactly what they wanted for 8 minutes at
a time.
6. The Sega Saturn Launch (E3 1995,
Sega)
The year was 1995. A new gaming
conference called E3 had sprung up, and all the big names were there. Nintendo
was showing what they had up their sleeves for their next console. Sony was
there too, hawking their brand new “PlayStation”. Last but not least, Sega was
in attendance, with a last-ditch attempt to pull a fast one over the
competition.
This scheme went by the name of the
Sega Saturn. The console was due for a September release, and it was rumoured
that it was going to be the first console with 3D graphics.
Only, Sega CEO Tom Kalinske had other
plans. As it turns out, the Sega Saturn was due for release right then and
there. The console launched right in the middle of the conference, to
everyone’s surprise.
Nevermind the fact that there were
only 6 launch games. And the fact that most retailers weren’t prepared, and as
such, couldn’t keep up with the supply and demand. Nor the fact that the high
price of $399 and lack of games left most people saying “Nah, I’ll wait for the
PlayStation”. This will forever go down in history as the first huge E3
announcement.
While this moment may be infamous for
unintentionally killing the Saturn on arrival, there’s no denying how it
started the trend of big bombshells at the event. And for that, we will be
forever grateful.
5. Gabe Newell’s surprise (E3 2010,
Sony)
As E3 2010 approached, Valve let us
know that they had a surprise in store for us. While it had already been
confirmed to not be the long-awaited next installment in the Half-Life series
(6 years later, they’re still long-awaiting), people were buzzing with what it
could be.
Valve big boss Gabe Newell had
previously made it clear that he disliked the at-the-time current generation of
consoles, Sony’s especially. But through some change of heart, there he was
onstage, announcing that not only was Portal 2 coming to PS3, but it was going
to be the best available version to play on console.
He talked about how gaming has changed
from being entertainment as a product to being entertainment as a service, and
how game developers wanted to give gamers as complete experience as they could.
It’s a speech that still rings true today, with how so many games are trapped
in issues like fee-to-pay elements. So many games feel that they can leave out
features to grab an extra few dollars from a customer. But Gaben makes it clear
that gamers deserve better than that, and I believe that several modern
developers can learn from that.
4. The Sony Conference (E3 2015,
Sony)
There were so many great moments in
this conference, I had to stop myself from splitting it up into pieces and
filling the list with them. Sony has always been the best at big, flashy
announcements at E3. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. 2015’s
conference, however, was so full of surprises and exciting looking games, that
even the slow parts were forgiven.
The show started with the grand return
of The Last Guardian, a game that had vanished from development for years and
years. People had been wondering what on Earth had happened to the game, and
Sony brought it back, looking gorgeous. From there, it was a nonstop barrage of
new games. Horizon: Zero Dawn was showed off for the first time. We got our
first look at the next project by LittleBigPlanet developers MediaMolecule. And
then, in what may be the biggest surprise in E3 history, they showed a first
look at the Final Fantasy VII remake gamers had been waiting for.
The crowd went nuts, and for good
reason. It looked like exactly the kind of remake they were waiting for. And the
excitement train didn’t stop. Shenmue 3, the long-awaited sequel to the Shenmue
series, was announced to be going up on Kickstarter. They showed off some of
their new VR project, as well as a new trailer for Star Wars Battlefront. And
finally, they closed it all with a gameplay demo for Uncharted 4, which, while
it didn’t work at first, showed what ended up being the best part of the entire
game.
Sony got this conference so right that I can’t help but wonder
how they’re going to top it this year. It just felt like it was crazy
announcement after crazy announcement with no end. It truly gave meaning to the
phrase “E3 is like gamer Christmas”.
3. $299 (E3 1995, Sony)
We return to the dawn of E3 for Sony’s
first ever big bombshell announcement. At this point, the infamous Saturn
launch had happened, and Sony had to step up to the plate to show what their
PlayStation had in store.
During the conference, it was
announced that Sony president Steve Race was going to take the stage for a
brief announcement. Race came up to some small applause and took the
microphone. His announcement consisted of only one word: “$299.” With that, he
went back into the crowd. This moment is so influential, it’s been described in
recent years as “the price heard around the world”.
This was about the best thing he could
have said after Sega’s pricing mistake that was the $399 label stuck to the
Saturn. While the Sony console wouldn’t be releasing until the following year,
unlike the Sega system, the lower price ensured that it was to be affordable by
all gamers. It’s funny to think that even since the beginning, Sony’s known how
to please their fans, and be all flashy while doing it.
2. Sony calls out Microsoft (E3 2013,
Sony)
Speaking of Sony being flashy, E3
2013 was to be a critical conference for them. The PS4 was on the way, and they
needed to beat their rivals over at Microsoft for who was to have the better
system.
Little did they know that Microsoft
would practically gift-wrap their announcement for them. See, prior to E3 this
year, Microsoft had an early conference, showing off their brand new Xbox One.
To say it was a disaster would be an understatement. Always-online DRM, no used
games allowed, and a hefty price tag of $499. Needless to say, people weren’t
happy.
The only people who did seem to be happy, ironically, were
the folks over at Sony. In what must’ve been the easiest console marketing of
all time, you could practically feel the smugness on that Sony executive’s face
as he showed off all the things the PS4 could do that the One couldn’t.
He talked about how used games would
work as they always had before, where you could trade it in, lend it to a
friend, or keep it to yourself. They also talked about how the need to always
be online wasn’t necessary, explaining that you were more than welcome to play
a single-player game offline if you wished. And in the biggest reveal of all,
harkening back to the classic “$299” announcement, they explained that the PS4
would cost $399, putting them at a $100 advantage to their rivals over at
Microsoft.
Since then, Microsoft went back to the
drawing board and rebuilt the One almost from scratch, removing everything
gamers disliked about the console. But for a moment, it almost seemed that Sony
had won the console wars, and it was all thanks to their most bitter foes.
1. Twilight Princess reveal (E3 2004,
Nintendo)
And here’s the big one. The one everyone knows by heart and
remembers perfectly. E3 2004 really was an excellent conference for Nintendo.
We got the introduction of Reggie, the first look at the DS, and much more.
But all that was nothing
compared to the ending. Ever since the days of Ocarina of Time and Majora’s
Mask, Nintendo fans had been clamoring for a realistic looking Zelda game. Wind
Waker didn’t exactly deliver on that expectation, leaving fans with bitter
feelings towards the game for several years. But at the end of the Nintendo
conference, as the screen faded into one final trailer, they finally gave the
fans what they wanted.
There was Link, riding Epona into an army of Ganon’s minions
against a sunset background. He fought monsters and pushed blocks, all while
epic music thundered in the background. It was clear from the text on screen
(“Blades will bleed. Shields will shatter.”) that this was not only a realistic
Zelda game, but a dark one at that.
The crowd gave the trailer a standing ovation, and the
auditorium was filled with cheers. Then, as the trailer ended, the screen cut
to one Shigeru Miyamoto, standing with the Master Sword and Hylian Shield. The
cheers grew louder and louder. For a brief moment, it seemed that Nintendo was
on top of the world.
So that’s my top 10 best E3 moments. But I know what you’re
thinking. It’s more fun to look at the blunders and missteps than the
successes, why don’t you tell me about those? Well, here you go.
Top 10 Worst E3 Moments of All Time
10. Super Mario Bros on Wii Music (E3
2008, Nintendo)
In 2008, the world was going nuts for the
Wii. It was still difficult to find one in stores, and with Mario Galaxy, Smash
Bros, and Mario Kart having launched, all eyes were on Nintendo at E3 to see
what they’d pull out next.
What they didn’t expect was Wii Music.
A rather shoddy looking game, the presenters and developers struggled to show
exactly what the game was supposed to be and how it worked.
This all culminated in the ending,
where the whole Nintendo gang came out and attempted to play the classic Super
Mario Bros. Overworld theme on Wii Music. I don’t know if they didn’t practice
or it was the game’s fault, but it didn’t go well. Notes were missed, played
out of tune, and eventually it sounded less like Mario and more like a cat
walking across a piano. This would later turn out to be the first in a series
of many failures and missteps as the Wii stumbled it’s way to the end of the
line.
9. Mr. Caffeine (E3 2011, Ubisoft)
Oh, Ubisoft. I don’t know where you
guys find your presenters, but I beg of you, look somewhere else. I can’t remember
the last time I watched one of your conferences without cringing
uncontrollably.
I’ll give the now infamous Mr.
Caffeine this: he’s trying. Oh boy, is he ever trying. In between
mispronouncing poor Tom Clancy’s name every time (“Tom Cuh-lancy”), failed
attempts at pop culture jokes, and the ever popular “Doodly doodly doodly doo!”
Mr. Caffeine is the perfect example of
how not to host an E3 conference. The
people are here for the games, not for the presenter making dumb poop jokes.
Keep the focus on the conference, not the big personalities.
Sadly, this is a lesson I’m not sure
Ubisoft will ever learn. Oh well, at least these days they can call Mr.
Caffeine iconic and move on with their lives.
8. Skyward Sword Motion Controls (E3
2011, Nintendo)
What happens when the Wii’s Last Stand
completely bombs at E3? That is the question Nintendo set out to answer with
their E3 2011 presentation.
Skyward Sword is one of the most
divisive games of all time. Some love it for the story and setting, while others
are quick to vilify the motion controls and handholding. I personally fall into
the latter category, and my first warning was at this E3.
As Miyamoto and Bill Trinen struggled
endlessly to get the motion controls to work properly, Link’s sword flailed
around, failing to hit anything. He attempted to shoot his bow, but instead the
arrow hit the ground. Eventually, Trinen resorted to blaming the audience for
using Wireless and disrupting the feed, and the two more or less gave up. It
was nothing short of embarrassing.
The strange part is that to this day,
I’m not sure who was at fault here. Was it really the audience’s phones causing
the motion controls issues? Or was it the fact that the game released with
controls similar to the ones seen during the presentation? You be the judge.
7. Memes (E3 2015, Ubisoft)
I’ve never been a fan of Aisha Tyler’s
Ubisoft conferences. Yes, she’s full of energy, and yes, it’s clear she’s
passionate about the games and I’m glad they were able to find someone like
that, but like her counterpart in Mr. Caffeine, she often seems to by trying a
bit too hard.
This all came to a head with the
moment in Ubisoft’s E3 2015 conference, when Tyler sat down with an Assassin’s
Creed Syndicate cosplayer in the crowd…to talk about The Division. A bit of a
weird choice, but okay.
Then, she decided now was the perfect
time to “pitch a meme”, seemingly unaware that you can’t really tell the
internet what’s going to be a meme and what isn’t. She came up with the
brilliant idea of Captain Picard saying “Who left their Christmas lights on
during the apocalypse?”
The cosplayer clearly had no idea what
was going on, and when asked about what meme he’d like to pitch, mumbled
incoherently about Captain Picard. At this, Aisha Tyler promptly stood up and
got out of there as quickly as she could. Her face says it all.
6. The Square-Enix Conference (E3
2015, Square-Enix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdh5MTUEKuQ
Square-Enix threw their hat into the
conference ring for the first time in 2015 for one reason, and one reason only:
Kingdom Hearts 3. The enigmatic sequel was finally on the way, and if reports
were to be believed, we’d finally see a real trailer!
Unfortunately, the reports didn’t tell
us exactly what we’d have to sit through to get to said trailer. Square’s
conference was one of the most boring, puzzling things in the show’s history.
The Kingdom Hearts trailer was saved until the very end, but what it failed to
deliver on was having enough substance to last 2 hours of conference before
then.
In between bored executives talking
about games that they seemingly don’t care about, to lackluster trailers, it
was a miracle if you didn’t fall asleep. Then, in a stunning turn of events,
a developer walked out, inexplicably, wearing a giant moon-head. It was never
explained, you just had to accept you were looking at a man with Majora’s Moon
on his head.
When the Kingdom Hearts trailer
finally arrived, everyone agreed that it was very good, and brought the hype
expected. Whether it was worth the wait, though, is up to you.
5. Battlefield 4 trailer fiasco (E3
2013, Microsoft)
Accidents happen all the time at E3.
Trailers don’t work, sound doesn’t sync, the game gets stuck. It’s how you
handle these snafus that matters.
When the trailer for Battlefield 4
failed to play at Microsoft’s E3 2013 conference, an incredibly awkward silence
fell over the room. No one was sure what to think of it. The presenter just stood
around, being laughed at and heckled by the audience. Keep in mind, this is the
conference just after the Xbox One disaster, so gamers were none too happy with
Microsoft at the time.
Then, as if it couldn’t get any more
embarrassing, the presenter shrugged it off, saying “I guess you may see it
later”, and attempting to leave the stage, before being stopped by the
stagehands.
Eventually, the trailer did work, but
with how poorly the presenter handled the incident, it’s no wonder why people
were so frustrated with Microsoft.
4. The Konami Conference (E3 2010,
Konami)
Sometimes something’s just so awful,
it’s fantastic. That’s the best way to describe Konami’s E3 2010 press
conference.
Featuring developers talking in
monotone voices, luchadores pummeling the ever-loving crap out of each other, a
terrifying man staring unblinking at another, and a dancing segment so
ridiculously over the top it’ll have you laughing in seconds, Konami’s infamous
conference is just so embarrassingly bad, you can’t help but love it.
This is one of those conferences where
I really want to know what the thought process behind it was. As we know these
days, Konami isn’t exactly the best publisher, but you really have to be
someone special to come up with ideas as crazy as these.
3. The Kinect Kids (E3 2010,
Microsoft)
Yeah, we all remember these little
buggers. In the days when Microsoft was trying to push the Kinect as the next
evolution of motion controls, someone thought it was a good ideas to hire awful
child actors to show it off.
Shockingly, this turned out to be a
pretty lousy idea. Not only did the camera linger on the kids instead of the
game itself, but they proved to be a real pain to watch. In between spouting
dialogue that sounds like what people think
gamers talk like (a technique Ubisoft has now adopted for their trailers),
they seem as bored as can be, which isn’t great when hawking your so-called revolutionary
motion controls.
All they do is wave their arms around
with fake smiles plastered on their faces, and hope that it resembles what’s
happening on the screen. It’s painfully obvious that they aren’t actually
playing, so I still don’t understand why we can’t just watch the game footage.
Thankfully, the motion control era is
essentially over and done with, so we don’t have to deal with awful
presentations like this anymore.
2. Jamie Kennedy for Activision (E3
2007, Activision)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again: you do NOT need celebrities at your E3 conference. If they bring
something exciting or different to the table, sure, bring them on. But if they’re
going to be painfully awkward and bored the whole time, you’d best save your
money. The game is the star of the show here. Let it have the spotlight all to
itself.
This is no more apparent than when
Activision decided to let C-list celebrity Jamie Kennedy host their press
conference at E3 2007. First and foremost, who the heck thought it was a good
idea to let the star of Son of the Mask headline an E3 conference!? What, were
the games not good enough that year? You needed to get some washed up celebrity
to add “flair”?
Although, I’m not sure even Activision
could’ve expected the disaster that unfolded before them. Kennedy took the
stage high on something, but I’m not sure if it’s alcohol, drugs, or his own
tears. Even so, he did the whole conference while slurring his words, making
inappropriate jokes, and worst of all, insulting the crowd and the other
developers there.
It wasn’t long before the others
decided to fight fire with fire, as the audience and even a few of the
interviewed devs shot insults back at Kennedy, who seemed to take them a little
too personally. All that was left in the end was an E3 horror story that I’m
sure will be told for years to come. No wonder Activision doesn’t do their own
conferences anymore.
1. The Sony Conference: “Giant enemy
crab!” (E3 2006, Sony)
Sony’s made a name for itself at E3,
as I’ve said before, because of their big announcements and often flashy way of
presenting them. And then…there’s their conference at 2006.
With the PS3 on the way, everyone was
looking to Sony to see what they were going to pull out next. What they got was
a complete and utter trainwreck that is more than deserving than the title of
worst E3 moment.
Between Kaz Hirai trying to sound
excited and failing when talking about Ridge Racer, the game repeatedly
referred to as being inspired by real battles in Japanese history, only to
unveil a giant enemy crab as a boss, and the now infamous $599 price tag, Sony
completely blew it this year.
Even to Sony fans, it’s obvious that
Microsoft had the head start that generation, and this E3 conference is
absolutely to blame. PS3s sat unsold on store shelves for months until the
price finally dropped, and Sony learned a lesson it won’t soon forget. When you
do an E3 conference, do it right.
So that’s my top 10 best and worst E3 moments! Next week, we’ll
have an early editorial on Sunday, as I look at all the developers and predict
what we will and won’t be seeing at E3 this year. See you then!
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