Oh look, E3 is arriving in our presence again. 3 days of coverage of many games and technology that is going to hit big in the coming year. As an obligation to write blogs about E3, this year I'm not writing about how to spend your E3 or even about the games coming out, let alone my anticipated ones (a tie between Zelda and Marvel Vs Capcom 3). Why you may ask? Well I'll sound like I'm repeating myself if I make another blog on how to spend your E3 and my moral code of laziness refuses to allow me to spend time researching games and sequels to write about. So what am I going to talk about you say? Well I'm going to talk about the business side of E3 and gaming in general and how companies can flourish in sales and fans just by attending this small conference. I will also be talking about how the progression of technology can influence our choices in games.

Before we start discussing the business side of E3, I am going to give a short and brief explanation on E3 and how it came to be. In the past, gaming companies used to unveil their gaming technology in other consumer shows, but E3 began as a new platform for the gaming companies to deliver their news about their new products and software as well as present them with tech demos. It all started in 1995, when Sony unveiled the PlayStation, SNK presented the Neo Geo CD, and Nintendo announced their Virtual Boy and their then Ultra 64 for a release date of 1996. Though it was their first year, E3 was shown to be an extraordinary event for gaming in the United States.

Who knew their first year could be such a success?

As the years went by, E3 was a commonplace for all the manufacturers and developers, until it essentially became a must attend show for all the console makers. Many milestone consoles like the Sega Dreamcast and Sony PlayStation 2 were unveiled, while many legendary games like Panzer Dragoon and Halo: Combat Evolved were announced. In other words, E3 became more than an event. It was an essential marketing tool for success in the game business.

Let's face it. We're in an age in technology where television and the Internet are huge factors in marketing to the mass. I hate to admit it, but many of the consumers of games (us) have moved on away from the days of reading previews of Nintendo Power (a bit unreliable in the NES days for good recommendations) and other company magazines, but moved on to gaming websites and the occasional game review magazine. Through the power of the Internet, we were given resources to work with making the best purchase we can. We now have access to gameplay movies, previews, and reviews; to base our judgment upon. This makes it easier for us and harder for the developers.

What I mean is that we have more knowledge of the games, and the developers have to work harder into delivering a better made. Developers cannot make shortcuts and leave the game buggy or feel incomplete. If they attempt that, reviews will point these out, and it can influence the sales of the game, due to those choices. Gone (sort of) are the days of buying a game based on the cover art and coming home to your disappointment. I'll give you an example. Look at this cover

Looks awesome! Can't wait to play it!

Knowing nothing on this game, people would most likely buy this game, because a lot of people thought it looked cool in the store shelves and they liked the screenshots in Nintendo Power. When they reached home to play the game, they soon discovered that they just bought an excessively hard game that isn't all too fun. If the game were released with the perks we had, it couldn't even fly by with any success.

Now getting to E3. As we all have witnessed, after the booming success of the 90s for E3, more and more 3rd party developers began to bring in their software to show off and present. Companies like Electronic Arts (EA) and Activision took a huge amount of advantage with this event and even brought in celebrities to advertise their games, an example being Stan Lee, famed creator of many popular series in Marvel Comics like The Amazing Spider-Man and The Fantastic 4. Also brought in were Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, famed musicians for the Beatles, to promote The Beatles: Rock Band.

Hey, I love those guys!!

E3 is used as an open opportunity for developers and other companies show off their products to build anticipation. And that is the key word, anticipation. Show off the best features of your game and make sure the journalists approve of the game, and you have an easier road to travel. An example would be of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Call of Duty 4 was spectacular, but Activision played it really smart and hyped up many fans and other people interested with a tech demo. The sales numbers pretty much sums up the success rate of the game. Activision played it smart at E3, and their answer came in as soon as the game was available for pre-order. It also helped that Call of Duty 4 was spectacular, and that fans expected the same in Modern Warfare 2.

Now let's move on to the standard gaming consoles. Over the years, innovations are flying in through the door and companies want to show it to as many people as possible. For example when in 2005 the Wii, code-named the Revolution, was announced (though the motion controls were not unveiled until the Tokyo Game Show). In 2006, Nintendo used this opportunity to blow us away with new motion controls that results in more interaction with the game (if developed right). Using E3 2006 as a great boost to success, Nintendo is still currently doing well in the console race against the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

One problem that the companies have recently been facing is showing off their consoles too much. Listen Nintendo, I mean no offense, but the Wii was innovative in 2006. This is 2010 and we know what the Wii does. Just show us the games. And that is the major problem, the lack of showing the audience of what they want. I agree with Nintendo on delivering the fans what they want in small bursts, but it doesn't work when you guys constantly just show off hardware and stating that it's revolutionary. The same goes with you Sony and Microsoft. I know that you guys are trying to push into the motion controls race as well, but present subtly. Don't spend most of your time talking about your motion controls and 3D, which has been around since the 50's with Dial M for Murder and spiked again in the 80's. With the exception of a few well-done 3D movies, I don't care about some dude's hand flying at me.

It looks pretty cool Nintendo, but I'd like to see some games please.

This is also a strong point here. Don't shove innovation down journalist and people's throats. Let the innovation do the talking. Set up some tech demos that show off the hardware, but leave some software for people to interact with. Most of the fun that people have at E3 is trying out the newer games and having fun. From my predictions, I feel that the motion controls will indeed carry on to the next generation, but they would rather be in co-existence with the standard based controls that we have so grown to love.

Another thing that companies should make sure to do is kind make sure their product can deliver the wants of the people. An example of that would be the Virtual Boy. This beautiful disaster was shown at the first E3, and it still couldn't deliver the sales, because it was just flawed. How about Wii Music? It would have worked well if it were cheaper and deeper. And make sure not to deliver too many promises, like with Fable or Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Fable was said to be a game to blow your mind and so many promises were made, but they weren't delivered (still a mighty fine game). The Force Unleashed was said to be the ultimate Star Wars experience, yet failed. Game developers, do not over-anticipate a game. Anticipating is good, but over-anticipating often results in angry gamers ranting about a disappointing game and reviewers will also be more bitter towards it. The Force Unleashed received quite a bit of hate with the people that were expecting an amazing experience. I myself borrowed it from a friend, and had a lot of fun, just because I enjoyed it for what it was. If you present a bit more subtle or spend more time on developing, you will get better sales and a better audience.

That doesn't count!

In the end, when we look at it, E3 is a phenomenal event. Some of the best moments do come with the announcements of new technologies and if done subtly, sales will do better. So let's just have a good time like always at a great event.

Thanks for reading.