The Electronic Entertainment Expo--or more commonly known as E3--has been an annual tradition within the gaming industry for nearly 30 years. Many press conferences have happened in the 26 different E3s that have taken place throughout the years, and even more games have been revealed during them. 2021 marks the first time that the event will take place digitally, but all the hallmarks that make E3 what it is will still remain mostly the same for the viewers at home; Nintendo, Microsoft-Bethesda, Square Enix, and more are set to take the virtual stage to show gamers the best they've got to offer for this brand new console generation.

Not every E3 is a show-stopping hype-fest, though. There have been plenty of years where the titans of the press conferences either have nothing to show, or too many failures to show for their efforts. Notorious instances such as PlayStation's E3 2006 event ($599 US Dollars!) or Microsoft's 2013 showcase (TV TV TV!) have gone down in history for their catastrophically bad press conferences.

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For all the bad, however, there has been an equal amount of amazing E3s, ones that truly make us realize why we love video games, and why we love to see these grand reveals on stage every year. PlayStation once took aim at Xbox by dedicating a portion of its E3 2013 conference to show how easy it would be to share used games with friends, during a time where it was thought the Xbox One wouldn't allow you to play used games on another console. A couple of years later, PlayStation would also stun watchers by revealing Shenmue III and Final Fantasy VII Remake in a one-two punch that had the crowd roaring with joy.

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In a mere matter of hours, the latest E3 news will be upon us. So while we wait, prepare our E3 bingo cards, eagerly hold onto our hype train tickets in suspense, and sit anxiously in our chairs, let's reminisce about the most exciting and most hated E3 moments. What E3 conference is your all-time favorite? Which one had you cringing until the very end?

 

[jomaper]

A couple of years later, PlayStation would also stun watchers by revealing Shenmue III and Final Fantasy VII Remake in a one-two punch that had the crowd roaring with joy.

Oh boy did that hype not age well tho

 

[KingVamp]

Honestly, I can't remember if I like any EA conferences.

 

[Codemastershock]

A couple of years later, PlayStation would also stun watchers by revealing Shenmue III and Final Fantasy VII Remake in a one-two punch that had the crowd roaring with joy.

I think it shows the worst in E3 in my opinion: empty hope.
And it is not because how the games turned out, but how everyone called this "the presentation of dreams" and for at least 4 years it was just that. I know it is unrealistic for presentations to have just games that will be released on the same time window, but at least show only when there is enough for the game to be released in the near future, instead, all of the next presentations just felt like extensions of 2015.

 

[Taleweaver]

I...honestly can't remember anything worth remembring. It's kind of like eurovision: I'm drawn into the kitsch, I don't know why I'm there and I hate all competitors(1), but I don't want to miss virtually being there either.

Mark my words: my best game of this year is probably going to be temple gates's implementation of the dominion board game. It ain't going to be anywhere near E3.




(1): okay, not really: I like nintendo and devolver digital...but that's because they make good games. That sort of makes up for their showcases (and okay: DD manages to actually "not suck". But that's still a FAR reach from looking forward to anything).

 

[mattyxarope]

No Ngage rap?!

 

[djpannda]

the Best is 2004

I was going to say Iwata's "On my business card" line but then I remembered that was GDC

 

[raxadian]

Nintendo, E3 2017 was memorable as hell.

But the Nintendo Directs are usually better.

 

[Panzerfaust]

Classic

 

[zerofalcon]

Video title says it all, those pre Wii/PS3/Xbox360 years of E3's where memorable.



One of the worst moments

 

[Deleted member 546149]

E3 2007 was fucking crazy!
My body is ready
Super Mario Galaxy hype
SSBB Hype
XB360
It was really good!

 

[yoyoyo69]

"PlayStation once took aim at Xbox by dedicating a portion of its E3 2013 conference to show how easy it would be to share used games with friends, during a time where it was thought the Xbox One wouldn't allow you to play used games on another console"


I remember that, I always wondered why Sony didn't draw any flack, considering they were the main company pushing in that direction, long before Microsoft even. They saw the flack Microsoft got and back tracked, then pulled this.

Sony do have a reputation for very, very chappy things, then Teflon'ing there way straight past it.

 

[nikeymikey]

"Sony do have a reputation for very, very chappy things, then Teflon'ing there way straight past it.

Sony also do have very forgiving fanboys which explains their Teflon-ability

The one i remember most was back in the 90's, 95 i think. Sega had just released the Saturn for $399 and Sony were about to release the Playstation. The guy got up to the podium and said "299" and walked away

 

[FAST6191]

"we don't need celebrities to sell our games" presumably trying to throw some shade as the kids say on another presentation earlier in the day.
*three segments later*
Bunch of sports (not esports, sports as in throws a ball) types on stage plugging a game
*few segments later*
Rapper on stage to demo game (think it was gears of war, the demo version leaking some time later along with some interesting build tools in the same package), though I think they did voice a character in it so there is that at least.

MS saying exclusives to the end of the show.
*bunch of kinect games*

MS also taking the massive gains/lead/position they took with the 360 and pissing it all away in one go, though that was not as much E3 as spread over a few events.

Anyway after I stopped doing rapid summaries in the hours after shows (sometimes way early in the morning by the end of that, with predictable effects on my ability to form a sentence and catch typos) I gained the ability of fast forward/2x playback and ability to skip sports games (others then being relied upon to mine any cringeworthy content). Have not even done that in years though, tried once a few weeks later but lost the will to live to stopped that. Today I usually wait for the Tokyo games show as we usually get something interesting by that point.

Best... I guess I used to like reading the summaries on teletext (digitiser, which does still/again make things https://www.digitiser2000.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdMWnD7qCz4Y7FbbbfyDq5g , and later game central). Been watching videos/summaries since it was an industry event where they were mostly talking to investors and right on up through mega productions that still usually fall short.

Wanna come over and play my Wii?
Doodldoodldoodldoodldoo

Go for the remix


On the subject of giant enemy crabs then I did quite like

as a revisit of the subject.