The history of the E3 began with its creation in 1995 and has continued through the current expo in 2009. The conference was known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo from 1995 to 2006. From 2007-2008, the conference was known as the E3 Media and Business Summit. The 2009 event's name was reverted back to the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
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The event continued to grow and become a common place for the unveiling of new products. In 1996, Nintendo's press conference unveiled the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 in the U.S. Capcom previewed the beginning of their survival horror franchise in Resident evil as well as their first 3D fighting game for Playstion Star Gladiator. Namco showed it's Playstation version of Teken 2. Naughty Dog showed it's first Playstation offering in Crash Bandicoot and Sega showed it's next mascot with Nights into dreams for the Saturn (also debuting it's analog controller). Eidos showed off it's multiplatform star in Tomb Raider. The Unreal Engine was shown for the first time by Epic MegaGames, but no actual Unreal gameplay. StarCraft also had its debut in a very early build of the game. Square showed it's first Playstation offering with Tobal #1(a fighting game to everyone's surprise) and of course showed video of the most anticipated role playing game Final Fantasy VII. Arguably one of the most exciting years for gamers of any generation. The event ran from May 16 through May 18 in Los Angeles, California.
In 1997 E3 was held in Atlanta, Georgia, some of what would become the most popular first-person shooter games are unveiled, such as Half-Life and Unreal. Other first person shooters included SiN, Daikatana, Prey, Quake II and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. In addition, the stealth action game Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation was unveiled as well as Panzer Dragon Saga for the Saturn.
In 1998, Half-Life made an ultimate appearance at E3, in its final development stage. Duke Nukem Forever was shown for the first time. A Prey trailer was also shown. Monolith Productions exhibited two new first person shooters, Blood II: The Chosen and Shogo: Mobile Armor Division. The event was again held in Atlanta, Georgia.
1999 saw the dawn of a new generation of consoles. The Dreamcast, the first sixth generation era console, was featured. The event from here on ran usually in Los Angeles, California.
In 2000, the PlayStation 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty were featured, as was the Xbox early dev and Halo: Combat Evolved when it was still a 3rd person PC game. The Dreamcast showcased it's second gen games including Marvel vs Capcom 2. Nintendo was still backing the N64 and some mumblings of the Gameboy Advance were going around.
In 2001, the Nintendo GameCube and the Xbox, two new systems, were featured. They would both be released later in the year. Microsoft held its press conference unveiling their first season of games for the Xbox. Some notable mentions include: Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, Enclave, Jet Set Radio Future, Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding, Mad Dash, Project Gotham Racing, Project Ego, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Dead or Alive 3, GunValkyrie and the most anticipated Halo.
Nintendo also made its first American unveiling of the Nintendo GameCube in this event. Some notable games included Luigi's Mansion, Star Wars, Pikmin, Wave Race: Blue Storm, Super Smash Bros. Melee, Cel Damage, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Super Monkey Ball, and Star Fox Adventures. Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, unveiled at an earlier Spaceworld was almost absent from E3 2001.
This year was also the last E3 appearance of the Sega Dreamcast. Although it was nearing the end of its small lifespan, it still continued to show support. Some games included Sonic Adventure 2, Floigan Brothers, Ooga Booga, and Bomberman Online.
Despite the loss of Sega as a platform holder, the 2002 E3 continued the trend of bigger and bigger shows. Along with unveiling Xbox Live, the Xbox also made a showing at E3 2002, Microsoft hosted numerous games like Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Splinter Cell, Dead to Rights, Unreal Championship, Panzer Dragoon, Ninja Gaiden, and the never to be released B.C.
Nintendo GameCube games previewed on this show included Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Metroid Prime, Star Fox Adventures, Timesplitters 2, Resident Evil Zero, Wario World, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Aggressive Inline, Phantasy Star Online, and 1080° Avalanche. They also unveiled the first major wireless controller, the Wavebird, with Super Mario Sunshine being played with it. Nintendo also supported the Game Boy Advance with The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland, Doom II, Nights: Score Attack, Reign of Fire, Egg Mania, BattleBots, and Super Monkey Ball Jr.. They also showed how you could connect with the Nintendo GameCube for special content, as demonstrated in a co-op mode for The Wind Waker.
The PlayStation 2 also made the headlines with Grand Theft Auto III, a free-roaming game controversial for its mature content. Other games include Colin McRae Rally 3, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper, Red Dead Revolver, The Getaway and Kingdom Hearts.
PC game makers also made an appearance, revealing Doom 3 for the first time. Age of Mythology and Warcraft III were previewed.
In, 2003, Half-Life 2 was unveiled, a Halo 2 single player demo using an experimental lighting engine (which was not used in the final game) was shown and the PlayStation Portable was first mentioned. During this E3, exhibitors emphasized the rise of the MMORPG genre. The Sims 2 was also unveiled. Many gamers were surprised by the new game and asked Maxis questions after the information was released.
The last year to focus primarily on the sixth generation of consoles was 2004. A Halo 2 12 person capture the flag multiplayer demo was shown taking place on Zanzibar. The PSP and Nintendo DS are featured. The first trailer for the second sixth generation Zelda game, later named The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was shown. F.E.A.R. was unveiled, a teaser trailer being released shortly after. Unreal Engine 3 was demonstrated for the first time. Sony also announced that the Play Station 3 would make an appearance at the next E3.
This was the first time the E3 convention was aired on television and all future conventions are now slated to air on G4 network.
In 2005, the shift in focus continued with Sony debuting the PlayStation 3, albeit in unplayable form. Many of the games shown for the system were pre-rendered video. Nintendo unveiled the Wii (then the Revolution) along with the Game Boy Micro. However, Nintendo chose to keep the console's motion controllers secret until the 2005 Tokyo Game Show.[1] Microsoft also unveiled the Xbox 360 at their press conference.
E3 2005, the 11th annual E3 summit attracted 70,000 attendees.
The 2006 E3 show focused on the upcoming releases of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, along with the next wave of games for the Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PSP, and mobile phones. Several websites such as the Washington Post noted in retrospect that Nintendo 'stole the show'. They cited the long lines for attendees waiting to play the Wii.
Although these new seventh generation era consoles were exhibited attendance was 14% lower than E3 2005 at 60,000 attendees.
In the days following Sony's conference, the presentation and historical inaccuracy of the game Genji: Days of the Blade was criticised and mocked by certain members of the gaming community, resulting in the Giant Enemy Crab meme.
On July 31, 2006, the ESA announced that the expo would be downsized and restructured due to the overwhelming demand from the exhibitors.[2] On October 13, 2006 the new format of the show was detailed. Although E3 was originally envisioned as an expo open only to game industry professionals, it has grown in recent years to include greater numbers of bloggers and attendees who were not perceived to be industry professionals.[3] Many of these persons were excluded from the revised event, as the ESA announced that the new E3 would be by invitation only.[4][5]
It was originally speculated that because of these changes, independent developers may have been excluded, and subsequently damaged, in preference for larger game companies. But the ESA ultimately provided invitations for independent developers with "The Indie Games Showcase" booth. This was made possible through industry supporters, IndieCade and the International Game Developers Association.[6]
The move was widely criticized by those both within and outside the gaming industry,[7] notably by SimCity and Spore creator, Will Wright;
"It almost feels like a zombie at this point; it's the walking dead. It's such an abrupt end to what was E3, which had been this huge escalating arms race....Right now we're in this kind of dicey, do we have an event, what event is it, which one do we go to? I think we're in an uncomfortable transition zone when really the real E3 died a couple of years ago." [8]
Attendance to E3 2007, the 13th annual E3 summit attracted only 10,000 attendees due to the scaled back nature of this show. The summit was in Santa Monica, from July 11-13.
Attendance to E3 2008, the 14th annual E3 summit had a reduced attendance once more of only 5,000.
Electronic Entertainment Expos beginning from 2009 reverted to the show's previous format before its 2007 restructuring. The show was greatly expanded in terms of size from previous years, it has been reopened to all qualified computer and gaming audience. The first show to revert to this format, E3 2009, has been widely well received by game makers who have been rather disappointed by E3 2007 and 2008.[13]
E3 2009 is the 15th Electronic Entertainment Expo held. E3 2009 was scheduled for June 2-4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Attendance of E3 2009, the 15th annual E3 summit had attendance which was similar to that of E3 summits from before 2007. The attendance was up by 820% on the previous years summit (E3 2008) to 41,000 attendees, which itself is only a decline of 32% on E3 2006's attendance. New motion sensing devices were revealed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the PlayStation Move and Project Natal respectively. Crysis 2, Halo: Reach, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Golden Sun DS, Wii Vitality Sensor, WarioWare D.I.Y., Wii Fit Plus, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Metroid: Other M, Final Fantasy XIV, ModNation Racers and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker were announced at the show. Sony's new portable device the PSP Go was also announced.
The show will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.[14] Nintendo plans to showcase software for the Wii Vitality Sensor[15], as well as the latest game in the Legend of Zelda series, which will be compatible with Wii MotionPlus.[16] They also plan to showcase Super Mario Galaxy 2. While THQ has planned for Saints Row 3 to debut. THQ's Danny Bilson stated that the game would debut at E3 and dubbed it as "mind-blowing". Also, THQ has announced the debut for Red Faction 4 at E3 2010.
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E3 2006 was a convention/exposition held on May 10 through May 12, 2006 in Los Angeles, CA. As usual, E3 is the biggest gaming news event of the year, where many companies roll out the big news and debuts. It is possibly the last of it's kind, since it was later announced that E3 would be scaled back greatly, into a less expensive and truly "press-only" event.
The biggest attraction at the event was Nintendo's next generation offering, Wii, which featured the longest line on all days. It was reportedly up to a 4 hour wait.
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