Yesterday evening Souris IMed me, "See you at the party!" What party? She meant the Harmonix party, happening tonight. Then it hit me - so many of my friends are at E3 and I'm, somehow, not!
And I feel both relief and also a nostalgia tinged with sadness. I think I had a little moment of mourning for an era that is over. Not just for me - E3 is different now. It frustrated and exhausted me when I went but I have to admit that somewhere in a corner of my fangirl heart I miss it....
I attended the first 2 E3s way way back in the dark dim olden days. Back then I was an Associate Editor for Strategy Plus Magazine.
It took me years to kind of 'get over' E3 nostalgia every year and I still watch as much coverage of it as I can wherever I can find it.
And I get a huge kick out of seeing Cliffy B. these days. I drew short straw and had to see this bunch of kids who didn't have a booth but supposedly had this new first person shooter that we were all very skeptical about. I grabbed one of those tiny offices that are built off booths, and in tromped... I dunno, seemed like a dozen...teenagers and one laptop. The guy at the keyboard was this skinny little geeky kid, and I was awash in names, but I'm pretty sure this kid was named Cliffy... They had this game called "Unreal" they were trying to get people to look at. Mostly I talked to a very very confident and loud kid named Mark Rein.
Back then I had a teen-aged freelancer that took himself very seriously too. I always kind of chuckled at his intensity and seriousness. He had a nicer business card than me, but when you called his "office" his little sister would often answer the phone and scream for him. His name was Geoff Keighley.
Good times. :) Actually that was the best job I've ever had.
Posted by: Pete S | 07/11/2007 at 07:51 PM
last e3 was a year ago!
crazy!
my first e3, the last e3.
actual showfloor not as great as i thought it would be. but im addicted to all these industry gatherings. i like to be surrounded by my kind and international friends i only get to see once or maybe twice a year. i certainly dont care about missing all the suprisingly boring pressers, but i do wish i was hanging out and getting drunk for free with all my friends.
Posted by: fish | 07/12/2007 at 06:49 AM
i like the fact hat hideo kojima said that he hated the new e3 and wanted his e3 back.
maybe if enough developers say how mcu they prefer the old style they might switch back.
Posted by: Paul | 07/17/2007 at 09:12 AM