<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Update 11:57 AM: A source close to the Respawn tells us that this is a fake account, and in no way indicates whether they plan to announce anything at E3. We're guessing they won't. So, ignore the story below; it is hogwash.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><div align="center"><img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/232532_S/Respawn-Entertainment-Hopes-Their-Next-Game-Makes-Your-Head-Explode-.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></div>
Respawn Entertainment, that game development company started when the creators of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 left Activision, has something big up its sleeve. According to the facebook page of Vince Zampella and Jason West, we should be ready for a..."big time announcement at E3 next week. stay tuned, kiddies!"
The company has only been around for a couple of months, so I wouldn't expect a fully formed game or anything, but whatever the pair announces will be fascinating. Expect more details on their project with Electronic Arts.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<a href="http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/705209/Respawn-Promises-Big-E3-Announcement.html#readmore" target="_blank">Source</a>
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><div align="center"><img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/232532_S/Respawn-Entertainment-Hopes-Their-Next-Game-Makes-Your-Head-Explode-.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></div>
Respawn Entertainment, that game development company started when the creators of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 left Activision, has something big up its sleeve. According to the facebook page of Vince Zampella and Jason West, we should be ready for a..."big time announcement at E3 next week. stay tuned, kiddies!"
The company has only been around for a couple of months, so I wouldn't expect a fully formed game or anything, but whatever the pair announces will be fascinating. Expect more details on their project with Electronic Arts.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<a href="http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/705209/Respawn-Promises-Big-E3-Announcement.html#readmore" target="_blank">Source</a>
<!--QuoteBegin-Ninja Gaiden developer to reveal new game at E3+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ninja Gaiden developer to reveal new game at E3)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->The man behind Dead or Alive and the modern Ninja Gaiden games will at long last be coming out of his ninja cave next week. In a post at the Valhalla Game Studios corporate site, Tomonobu Itagaki announced that the newly formed independent studio will be going public with its first game at E3.
"Hello, this is Tomonobu Itagaki. I have an important announcement to make," began a post dated today (6/8). "This year, at the E3 show, we have decided to go public with the latest game we are working on right now at Valhalla Game Studios."
He didn't provide details on the game, but it does look like it will be a major release. Continued the post, "In the past, I created four unique games - 'Dead or Alive,' 'Ninja Gaiden,' 'DOA Xtreme,' and 'NG Dragon Sword.' Thus, this announcement will be the fifth all-new project in my lifetime."
The post is available in both English and Japanese, so see for yourself if you can parse it for any further clues.
Itagaki is Chief Technical Officer & Game Design Lead at Valhalla, a studio he formed with fellow former Tecmo employee Satoshi Kanematsu, who serves as the studio's CEO.
Past updates at the official site have suggested that the studio's first game would be for HD game consoles, but an actual platform has not yet been announced. It is worth noting, however, that since announcing the formation of Valhalla, Itagaki has restarted his monthly development column in Famitsu Xbox 360. Instead of the former "Team Ninja Freaks," the column is now known as "Valhalla Freaks."<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<a href="http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/06/08/itagaki_new_game/" target="_blank">Source</a>
<!--QuoteBegin-Rare's E3 teaser+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rare's E3 teaser)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin--><div align="center"><img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239045_S/Rare-Counting-Down-To-E3.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /></div>
Last week, GoldenEye 007 developer Rare celebrated their 25th anniversary by revealing a new logo and new look for the company. In six days, Rare will be making another big reveal…or so it would seem based on what’s going on over at their website right now.
Rare.com has officially contracted the all too common pre-giant gaming event countdown clock disease. In this case, the clock simple reads “6 days,” with the phrase, “One in a million” sitting ominously below it. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the six and “one” are highlighted in green. What does it mean?!?!
Luckily for us, E3 2010 will be in full swing when the counter runs out on Tuesday, so we’ll be in prime position to bring you all the news about said announcements. As for my guesses, it almost certainly has to be Project Natal related since that’s where the developer’s time and attention has been for some time now. In terms of game announcements, I’m going with Natal-powered versions of Grabbed by the Ghoulies and/or Killer Instinct, because they seem like natural fits.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<a href="http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/705210/Rare-Counting-Down-To-E3.html#readmore" target="_blank">Source</a>
<!--QuoteBegin-Capcom reveals lineup+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Capcom reveals lineup)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Capcom announced its E3 lineup this morning, and promised "a couple surprises" up their sleeves. Here's the lineup:
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
Okamiden
Bionic Commando Rearmed 2
Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Dead Rising 2
Dead Rising 2: CASE ZERO
MotoGP 09/10
As for the surprises, we'll have to wait until E3 for the truth, but that isn't going to stop us from speculating. Sterling McGarvey's got a theory: He thinks Dead Rising 2: CASE ZERO will be released to the public during E3. Capcom has a history of putting out demos during gaming event. Dead Rising 2 is due out at the end of August, so now would be the prefect time to put out a downloadable game that hypes the big game.
Case Zero is the downloadable title that bridges the story gap between Dead Rising and Dead Rising 2. Capcom promises an affordable game that will take a couple hours and introduce the DR 2's main character.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<a href="http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/705177/Capcom-Reveals-Line-Up-Promises-E3-Surprises.html#readmore" target="_blank">Source</a>
We're less than a week away from the start of E3 2010, what with Microsoft's Project Natal event coming this weekend, and everything is kicking into high gear to get prepped and ready for the firehose of information that is one of the industry's largest events. New titles, new hardware, new features, and new swag are going to plaster the internets for weeks until the hype dies down, but what about the memorable moments from the E3s of yore?
This will be the 16th installment of E3, and we wanted to look back at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of what is now nearly two decades of the week where the gaming industry takes center stage so the world can focus on the need for yet another Zelda game. Read on to see how we've charted the history of E3 from its beginnings back in 1995.
1995: Sony's PlayStation and Sega's Saturn had already been announced and were on the way, but at E3 Sega tried to spark things up by announcing that the Saturn would be available ... the next day! And for $399. Sony's keynote speaker took the stage at their own presser, said "$299," and left the stage. Booyah. Nintendo's Virtual Boy and SNK's Neo-Geo CD, both of which tanked, were also revealed. Nintendo also released the specs for the Ultra 64 (later renamed to the Nintendo 64), leaping past 32-bit systems in the age of 64.
Highlight: Virtua Fighter ushers in 3D gaming for consoles.
Lowlight: Virtual Boy. Ow, my eyes still hurt.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239035_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-Nintendo-64.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
1996: Nintendo hosts a massive E3 press conference, complete with Cirque du Soleil performers, where they show off the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64. Capcom showed off the first ever Resident Evil, and Naughty Dog pimped out Crash Bandicoot. Blizzard showed an early build of Starcraft, Square wowed crowds with Final Fantasy VII, and Lara Croft first appeared in Tomb Raider. The Unreal Engine also made its first appearance as well. Sony, Sega, and Nintendo all slashed console prices to $199.
Highlight: Super Mario 64, which would go on to sell 11 million copies.
Lowlight: Tobal No. 1, the first Squaresoft PlayStation title which died in North America after one outing.
1997: E3 moves from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Georgia because the convention center in LA isn't big enough. Half-Life and Unreal are shown off, promising big changes to the shooter genre. Goldeneye 007 is revealed, along with Panzer Dragoon Saga and a little game known as Metal Gear Solid.
Highlight: Atlanta! Home of Coca-Cola!
Lowlight: Atlanta! Otherwise known as "Hotlanta" for exorbitant summer temperatures.
1998: Remaining in Atlanta, titles like Gran Turismo and Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time are shown off. Sega shows a limited amount of the first sixth-gen console, the Dreamcast. Duke Nukem Forever is shown to people behind closed doors, initiating what would become the best example of vaporware ever.
Highlight: Ocarina of Time. I mean, come on.
Lowlight: Nintendo quietly announces the discontinuation of the megafailure Nintendo 64DD, it's failed Disk Drive system for the Nintendo 64.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239036_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-Dreamcast.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
1999: E3 returns to a newly-expanded convention center in Los Angeles, and it brings glam back with it when David Bowie performs for the Eidos party at the House of Blues. Nintendo announced plans for the "Dolphin" system (later the Gamecube), and Sony discussed its plans to develop the PlayStation 2. But '99 was the year of the Dreamcast, and it dominated the buzz at E3. A $199 price point, online play out of the box, and Soulcalibur. The hotness.
Highlight: The Dreamcast. To this day, I still want to buy one all over again. Oh, and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.
Lowlight: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace proves that Star Wars video games can suck just as much as the movies.
2000: Consolemania. Sony shows off the Playstation 2, Nintendo releases more Gamecube details, the Game Boy Advance is rumored, and the Xbox makes a limited debut behind closed doors. Halo: Combat Evolved is shown off as a third-person shooter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 appears on the Dreamcast, but Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty steals the show.
Highlight: Sequels. Warcraft III, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Escape From Monkey Island all appeared.
Lowlight: Conker's Bad Fur Day brings fart jokes and raunch (yes, more raunch than a fart joke) to the Nintendo 64.
2001: Hypemania. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all have massive press conference. Nintendo shows off the Gamecube and their new Wavebird Wireless Controller and launch titles like Super Smash Bros. Melee and Star Fox Adventures, and Microsoft shows off the Xbox along with their first year titles like Dead or Alive 3 and Project Ego (later Fable). Both consoles would launch later that same year. Sony showed off PS2 titles Socom II and Devil May Cry.
Highlight: Irony. Grand Theft Auto 3 was shown off, but largely ignored. It would go on to become the highest-selling video game of the year.
Lowlight: Dreamcast. This was Sega's last E3 with the console, deciding to abandon hardware and only produce software. *sniffle*
2002: There wasn't as much attention on new consoles this time around, and Sony trumps everyone by declaring that they've won the console wars with over 30 million PS2s sold. This year was all about software, and titles like Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Metroid Prime, Kingdom Hearts and Doom 3 are all shown off. Microsoft also unveils Xbox Live for the first time, bringing online gaming to the masses ... to the tune of $49.99 a year.
Highlight: PlayStation 2's victory lap.
Lowlight: Star Wars Galaxies: This ill-fated MMO was announced in 2002, and is still limping along. It never took off quite the way it was predicted to.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239037_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-N-Gage.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
2003: Sony announces the PlayStation Portable, Half-Life 2 is revealed, and Prince of Persia is reborn. But for all of this new stuff, E3 2003 is remembered for the colossal failure of the N-Gage mobile phone game system, which was announced with a price point of $299. And how did they reveal this? With a girl in a bikini who had "$299" painted on her stomach. Class! Plus, with that price it was three times as expensive as Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, thus sealing their doom.
Highlight: The Terrific Twos: Half-Life 2 was shown and there was a sneak peek at an early Halo 2 single-player demo.
Lowlight: Nintendo tried hard to pimp Gamecube/GBA connectivity, but it never caught on. Ever. Let us not speak of it.
2004: Back to the basics of software, this year was dominated by software. The new Unreal Engine 3 was shown off, and Microsoft had ridiculously long lines of people waiting to play capture the flag on Zanzibar in Halo 2. God of War, World of Warcraft, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess were all highlights, as was the first appearance of Nintendo's soon-to-be moneymaker, the Nintendo DS. Both Zelda and the DS were presented by Nintendo's new (and most Frankenstein-like) head of marketing: Reggie Fils-Aime.
Highlight: Sony teases that the PlayStation 3 will be coming next year.
Lowlight: Sony teases that the PlayStation 3 will be coming next year. How can gamers wait that long?
2005: Consolemania returns! Nintendo debuts the "Revolution" (later the Wii) without the motion controllers along with the Game Boy Micro, Sony shows off a completely unplayable PS3 with pre-rendered game footage, and Microsoft unveils the Xbox 360 with ... Alan Wake. A title that actually came out this year. What's a five year gap? I'll tell you what it is: unbearable. Although I'll upgrade that to bearable as long as the game ends up being so good.
Highlight: E3 2005 is broadcast exclusively on G4, which continues to this day.
Lowlight: Will Wright's Spore presentation with Robin Williams was awesome. Too bad the game wasn't.
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2006: The Xbox 360 had been out for less than a year, so this show focused on the upcoming Nintendo Wii (with lines stretching up to four and a half hours to try out the titles), and the PlayStation 3. Some fairly notable titles were introduced here, like Halo 3, BioShock, Fable II, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Mario Galaxy, but everyone remember Sony's disastrous "Riiiiiiiiiidge Racer!" press conference that introduced the $599 price point and attacking the enemy crab for massive damage.
Highlight: The Wii. Even though layers of dust currently coat my Wii, playing it for the first time was amazing.
Lowlight: The Sony press conference. Seriously, it's still so painful just to remember. Everyone in the audience looked so confused.
2007: E3 really wanted to grow up this year, changing its name to the officious sounding "E3 Media and Business Summit," and banning booth babes. They also wanted to clampdown on bloggers by making the event invitation only. The event scaled back from about 70,000 attendees back in the heyday, to only 10,000 this year. Nintendo introduced the Wii Zapper, and Sony unveiled the PSP Slim. Xbox showed off ... a Halo-themed Xbox 360. Blurgh.
Highlight: "Peter Moore-ing it" became a catchphrase for screwing things up at a critical moment as Peter Moore manages to pause Rock Band not once, but twice during the Microsoft presser.
Lowlight: This felt like the year the music died. The Santa Monica Municipal Airport Hangar was a poor substitute for a convention center.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239038_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-Cammie-Dunaway.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
2008: Another small year for the "E3 Media and Business Summit," with only 5,000 attendees. Microsoft announced the dashboard update with their new Avatar system and Netflix Instant Watch abilities, Sony talked about their upcoming PSN update which would include Life With PlayStation and a movie download service, and Nintendo pretty much took the cake with their Cammie Dunaway-dominated press conference that had highlights (lowlights?) like Shaun White and Wii Music. Painfully awkward.
Highlight: Final Fantasy XIII is heads to the Xbox 360. Thanks for the bone, Square.
Lowlight: Sony drops the price of the 80GB PS3 to $399.99. Why did it take so long?!
2009: The return of old E3. Not only did they revert to the E3 name, but they also opened attendance back up to all gaming and enthusiast press, which saw the attendance numbers swell back up to 41,000 attendees. Not quite the glory days, but a step in the right direction. Announcements included Microsoft's Project Natal (and Ringo Starr & Paul McCartney for The Beatles: Rock Band), Sony's soon-to-be PlayStation Move, the PSP Go, and
Highlight: The Last Guardian. Even though it wasn't playable, this sent waves through the ranks and melted the heart of even the most jaded journalist.
Lowlight: Scribblenauts. This game seemed entirely amazing, innovative, and impossible. It was all three of these things, if you add "impossible to fully enjoy."
2010: What is 2010 going to hold? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to G4 for all of your E3 needs, now with 25% more riboflavin. What are you looking forward to?
<a href="http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/705194/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo.html#readmore" target="_blank">Source</a>
This will be the 16th installment of E3, and we wanted to look back at some of the highlights (and lowlights) of what is now nearly two decades of the week where the gaming industry takes center stage so the world can focus on the need for yet another Zelda game. Read on to see how we've charted the history of E3 from its beginnings back in 1995.
1995: Sony's PlayStation and Sega's Saturn had already been announced and were on the way, but at E3 Sega tried to spark things up by announcing that the Saturn would be available ... the next day! And for $399. Sony's keynote speaker took the stage at their own presser, said "$299," and left the stage. Booyah. Nintendo's Virtual Boy and SNK's Neo-Geo CD, both of which tanked, were also revealed. Nintendo also released the specs for the Ultra 64 (later renamed to the Nintendo 64), leaping past 32-bit systems in the age of 64.
Highlight: Virtua Fighter ushers in 3D gaming for consoles.
Lowlight: Virtual Boy. Ow, my eyes still hurt.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239035_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-Nintendo-64.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
1996: Nintendo hosts a massive E3 press conference, complete with Cirque du Soleil performers, where they show off the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64. Capcom showed off the first ever Resident Evil, and Naughty Dog pimped out Crash Bandicoot. Blizzard showed an early build of Starcraft, Square wowed crowds with Final Fantasy VII, and Lara Croft first appeared in Tomb Raider. The Unreal Engine also made its first appearance as well. Sony, Sega, and Nintendo all slashed console prices to $199.
Highlight: Super Mario 64, which would go on to sell 11 million copies.
Lowlight: Tobal No. 1, the first Squaresoft PlayStation title which died in North America after one outing.
1997: E3 moves from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Georgia because the convention center in LA isn't big enough. Half-Life and Unreal are shown off, promising big changes to the shooter genre. Goldeneye 007 is revealed, along with Panzer Dragoon Saga and a little game known as Metal Gear Solid.
Highlight: Atlanta! Home of Coca-Cola!
Lowlight: Atlanta! Otherwise known as "Hotlanta" for exorbitant summer temperatures.
1998: Remaining in Atlanta, titles like Gran Turismo and Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time are shown off. Sega shows a limited amount of the first sixth-gen console, the Dreamcast. Duke Nukem Forever is shown to people behind closed doors, initiating what would become the best example of vaporware ever.
Highlight: Ocarina of Time. I mean, come on.
Lowlight: Nintendo quietly announces the discontinuation of the megafailure Nintendo 64DD, it's failed Disk Drive system for the Nintendo 64.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239036_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-Dreamcast.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
1999: E3 returns to a newly-expanded convention center in Los Angeles, and it brings glam back with it when David Bowie performs for the Eidos party at the House of Blues. Nintendo announced plans for the "Dolphin" system (later the Gamecube), and Sony discussed its plans to develop the PlayStation 2. But '99 was the year of the Dreamcast, and it dominated the buzz at E3. A $199 price point, online play out of the box, and Soulcalibur. The hotness.
Highlight: The Dreamcast. To this day, I still want to buy one all over again. Oh, and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine.
Lowlight: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace proves that Star Wars video games can suck just as much as the movies.
2000: Consolemania. Sony shows off the Playstation 2, Nintendo releases more Gamecube details, the Game Boy Advance is rumored, and the Xbox makes a limited debut behind closed doors. Halo: Combat Evolved is shown off as a third-person shooter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 appears on the Dreamcast, but Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty steals the show.
Highlight: Sequels. Warcraft III, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Escape From Monkey Island all appeared.
Lowlight: Conker's Bad Fur Day brings fart jokes and raunch (yes, more raunch than a fart joke) to the Nintendo 64.
2001: Hypemania. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all have massive press conference. Nintendo shows off the Gamecube and their new Wavebird Wireless Controller and launch titles like Super Smash Bros. Melee and Star Fox Adventures, and Microsoft shows off the Xbox along with their first year titles like Dead or Alive 3 and Project Ego (later Fable). Both consoles would launch later that same year. Sony showed off PS2 titles Socom II and Devil May Cry.
Highlight: Irony. Grand Theft Auto 3 was shown off, but largely ignored. It would go on to become the highest-selling video game of the year.
Lowlight: Dreamcast. This was Sega's last E3 with the console, deciding to abandon hardware and only produce software. *sniffle*
2002: There wasn't as much attention on new consoles this time around, and Sony trumps everyone by declaring that they've won the console wars with over 30 million PS2s sold. This year was all about software, and titles like Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Metroid Prime, Kingdom Hearts and Doom 3 are all shown off. Microsoft also unveils Xbox Live for the first time, bringing online gaming to the masses ... to the tune of $49.99 a year.
Highlight: PlayStation 2's victory lap.
Lowlight: Star Wars Galaxies: This ill-fated MMO was announced in 2002, and is still limping along. It never took off quite the way it was predicted to.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239037_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-N-Gage.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
2003: Sony announces the PlayStation Portable, Half-Life 2 is revealed, and Prince of Persia is reborn. But for all of this new stuff, E3 2003 is remembered for the colossal failure of the N-Gage mobile phone game system, which was announced with a price point of $299. And how did they reveal this? With a girl in a bikini who had "$299" painted on her stomach. Class! Plus, with that price it was three times as expensive as Nintendo's Game Boy Advance, thus sealing their doom.
Highlight: The Terrific Twos: Half-Life 2 was shown and there was a sneak peek at an early Halo 2 single-player demo.
Lowlight: Nintendo tried hard to pimp Gamecube/GBA connectivity, but it never caught on. Ever. Let us not speak of it.
2004: Back to the basics of software, this year was dominated by software. The new Unreal Engine 3 was shown off, and Microsoft had ridiculously long lines of people waiting to play capture the flag on Zanzibar in Halo 2. God of War, World of Warcraft, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess were all highlights, as was the first appearance of Nintendo's soon-to-be moneymaker, the Nintendo DS. Both Zelda and the DS were presented by Nintendo's new (and most Frankenstein-like) head of marketing: Reggie Fils-Aime.
Highlight: Sony teases that the PlayStation 3 will be coming next year.
Lowlight: Sony teases that the PlayStation 3 will be coming next year. How can gamers wait that long?
2005: Consolemania returns! Nintendo debuts the "Revolution" (later the Wii) without the motion controllers along with the Game Boy Micro, Sony shows off a completely unplayable PS3 with pre-rendered game footage, and Microsoft unveils the Xbox 360 with ... Alan Wake. A title that actually came out this year. What's a five year gap? I'll tell you what it is: unbearable. Although I'll upgrade that to bearable as long as the game ends up being so good.
Highlight: E3 2005 is broadcast exclusively on G4, which continues to this day.
Lowlight: Will Wright's Spore presentation with Robin Williams was awesome. Too bad the game wasn't.
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2006: The Xbox 360 had been out for less than a year, so this show focused on the upcoming Nintendo Wii (with lines stretching up to four and a half hours to try out the titles), and the PlayStation 3. Some fairly notable titles were introduced here, like Halo 3, BioShock, Fable II, Gears of War, Mass Effect, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Super Mario Galaxy, but everyone remember Sony's disastrous "Riiiiiiiiiidge Racer!" press conference that introduced the $599 price point and attacking the enemy crab for massive damage.
Highlight: The Wii. Even though layers of dust currently coat my Wii, playing it for the first time was amazing.
Lowlight: The Sony press conference. Seriously, it's still so painful just to remember. Everyone in the audience looked so confused.
2007: E3 really wanted to grow up this year, changing its name to the officious sounding "E3 Media and Business Summit," and banning booth babes. They also wanted to clampdown on bloggers by making the event invitation only. The event scaled back from about 70,000 attendees back in the heyday, to only 10,000 this year. Nintendo introduced the Wii Zapper, and Sony unveiled the PSP Slim. Xbox showed off ... a Halo-themed Xbox 360. Blurgh.
Highlight: "Peter Moore-ing it" became a catchphrase for screwing things up at a critical moment as Peter Moore manages to pause Rock Band not once, but twice during the Microsoft presser.
Lowlight: This felt like the year the music died. The Santa Monica Municipal Airport Hangar was a poor substitute for a convention center.
<img src="http://cache.g4tv.com/ImageDb3/239038_S/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo-Cammie-Dunaway.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />
2008: Another small year for the "E3 Media and Business Summit," with only 5,000 attendees. Microsoft announced the dashboard update with their new Avatar system and Netflix Instant Watch abilities, Sony talked about their upcoming PSN update which would include Life With PlayStation and a movie download service, and Nintendo pretty much took the cake with their Cammie Dunaway-dominated press conference that had highlights (lowlights?) like Shaun White and Wii Music. Painfully awkward.
Highlight: Final Fantasy XIII is heads to the Xbox 360. Thanks for the bone, Square.
Lowlight: Sony drops the price of the 80GB PS3 to $399.99. Why did it take so long?!
2009: The return of old E3. Not only did they revert to the E3 name, but they also opened attendance back up to all gaming and enthusiast press, which saw the attendance numbers swell back up to 41,000 attendees. Not quite the glory days, but a step in the right direction. Announcements included Microsoft's Project Natal (and Ringo Starr & Paul McCartney for The Beatles: Rock Band), Sony's soon-to-be PlayStation Move, the PSP Go, and
Highlight: The Last Guardian. Even though it wasn't playable, this sent waves through the ranks and melted the heart of even the most jaded journalist.
Lowlight: Scribblenauts. This game seemed entirely amazing, innovative, and impossible. It was all three of these things, if you add "impossible to fully enjoy."
2010: What is 2010 going to hold? Only time will tell. Stay tuned to G4 for all of your E3 needs, now with 25% more riboflavin. What are you looking forward to?
<a href="http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/705194/Rewinding-E3-Highlights-from-the-Electronic-Entertainment-Expo.html#readmore" target="_blank">Source</a>
