What do you think of the sell-through rate on Madden titles versus Take 2′s urban sports series? Miss? E3 was once the promised land for game geeks. In a huge hall in LA you could get and play games, watch scantily clad women who were vying for your attention, and generally feel like you were a plugged in member of an elite gaming force. Now, however, it’s going to be a big boring… → Read More
http://p.castfire.com/Xu7m0/video/3425/bbtv_2007-11-02-213900.flv The video is a little choppy and the host is manic (and his story is quite sad) to say the least, but it’s fun to see what E3 used to be — a malevolent pleasure dome of scantily clad women and video games — and what happens when you subvert the status quo by dry humping Miss Pac Man. SFW unless you work for Pac Man. via BB → Read More
¡Viva la Rock Band! The expensive rock & roll band simulator won the Game Critics Award for best game at E3, beating out the likes of Derivative Shooter 42 and Mario & Luigi: The Golden Years. It’s a victory for something called i-n-n-o-v-a-t-i-o-n, something that, save for the Wii, hasn’t been seen in video games for quite some time. I wonder how Activision feels about… → Read More
July is almost a wrap, and it’s been two weeks since E3, and this will be the last post about the show. But we’ve had some time to think about what can be done to improve (dare we say save) the annual video game event. Let’s face it; the electronic entertainment industry needs a trade show. We in the press need to see the games, retail buyers need to see the games and small developers need… → Read More
The video game industry executive shake-up continues. Less than a week after E3 Peter Moore has resigned from Microsoft to return to Northern California. The former Sega head honcho has cited personal reasons and has “secured another opportunity in the video games industry.” Could this be a return to Sega, or possibly a move to Nintendo? Both scenarios seem unlikely, but Nintendo reportedly… → Read More
Well, a week has passed and we’ve had time to consider this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Some two-dozen companies showed off hundreds of games, new hardware was introduced and most attendees probably spent way too much time on shuttle buses or stuck in traffic. So looking back, what worked, what didn’t work and what the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) should do to create a… → Read More
Possibly the most notable difference about this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo is the show floor, or more accurately the LACK OF A SHOWFLOOR. Instead of the massive booths, pounding music and game sound effects in the Los Angeles Convention Center, this year’s “show floor” is a single room in the Barker Hanger at the Santa Monica Airport. It seems smaller than Nintendo’s or… → Read More
Today we continue our report from the Electronic Entertainment Expo, and while some of the news of new controllers and upcoming titles has already been reported, we offer a recap of this morning’s press conference from Nintendo. Normally a long winded and self-serving event this year Nintendo was streamlined and to the point. → Read More
For those of us who have been impatiently waiting for Mario Kart to be released on the Wii, that wait is finally over. Almost. Actually, not almost. Not even close. Nintendo announced today that Mario Kart would hit the shelves sometime in the first quarter of 2008. What?! That’s in, like, a billion years. I’ll be old and grizzled by then. By 2008, I’ll probably have my own… → Read More
Nintendo today at E3 dropped a couple new hardware accessories for the popular Wii, including a steering wheel for Mario Cart, and a new Zapper. For those who might be too young to recall, the original NES Action System shipped with the original Zapper, which you used for Duck Hunt, and that’s about it. But Duck Hunt was great fun, and the Zapper became iconic. We’re hoping that now… → Read More
Despite adamant denials of cutting prices on the PS3, Sony has come clean and officially announced the price cut along with the addition of the 80GB version for the US. The 60GB model will drop to $499 while the beefier version will cost $599 and include a copy of Motorstorm, which will become available in August. Our neighbors to the North will also be privy to the price cut with the 60GB model… → Read More
By this time of year the nightmare that is known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo should just be a distant memory, and those of us who made the pilgrimage to the Los Angeles Convention Center to cover the show should be fully recovered. However, the organizers opted for a smaller and more “business focused” event, and thus have moved the fun-filled event from the traditional May timeframe… → Read More
Today is just chalk full of rumors isn’t it? Everyone is milling around the water cooler talking about the iPhone, so it’s time to look elsewhere for some juicy news/rumors. This one should make Wii owners happy, but not John, he hates the Wii. Nintendo is rumored to be showing off some new hardware at E3 and all signs point to an HDD. The fanboys are screaming for more storage seeing as how… → Read More
An avid gamer since his youth, author Steven L. Kent has seen the evolution from flat 2D arcade games to epic non-linear 3D adventures. Kent talked to CrunchGear for the second part of our series on video game violence and content. For more than a decade Kent has been the video game industry’s most prolific writer to date. His work has appeared in dozens of magazines and Web sites. In 2000, Kent… → Read More
Getting into the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this year is being compared to getting the golden ticket in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and not just for the attendees but also for the exhibitors. The number of companies that will be at the show has shrunk from more than 400 to just 32 companies. So what are the smaller guys to do? One option is for them to wait until this fall’s… → Read More
It seems that the ESA (Electronic Software Association) just can’t make up their minds. First they pulled the plug on the large scale Electronic Entertainment Expo in favor of the E3 Business Summit to be held this July in Santa Monica, but now citing a lack of positive response from the major game publishers, the trade association for the video game industry has announced that for 2008 the… → Read More
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