While E3 is now officially over, we still have lots of coverage from the show coming your way in the next few weeks! For now, though, we’re taking most of the weekend off to recuperate. In the meantime, here’s a list of ten things we learned at the show:
– Charles Martinet doesn’t just take his paycheck and go home. He really enjoys the whole “voice of Mario” thing and meeting fans.
– The Conduit set the record for appearances in most booths with 3: A station at Nintendo’s booth, a wall of demo units at the Sega one and an entire booth for developer High Voltage.
– The plush blue seating in Sega’s meeting room is quite comfy. Not at all like sitting on a hedgehog. (At least, I don’t think so. I haven’t tried.)
– Band games take up about the same percentage of space at E3 as they do at your local game shop. Which is to say quite a bit. Here’s the tally: the main stage at the Activision booth for Guitar Hero 5, as well as screen real estate for Band Hero and DJ Hero; the MTV Games booth for Beatles Rock Band, with three invite-only stages and a replica of an Abbey Road studio with full stage for the Harmonix-driven presentation; three more stages at the WB booth for Lego Rock Band; and a big stage/booth in the lobby for the Rock Band/Pepsi promotion. That doesn’t count the big displays for Lips, Karaoke Revolution and others.
– If you, like IGN’s Craig Harris, decide to pay cash at the cafe, be prepared for disgruntled muttering from those behind you in line.
– These publishers get their audience. There was no shortage of ninja games, pirate games, robot games, and zombie games (not to mention Scribblenauts, which has all of those things).
– Those with large video cameras jump to the front of the line, whether their show is famous or not, so random people should start bringing large video cameras.
– This should be obvious, but with the tens of thousands of gamer geeks in a concentrated area, the plentiful wi-fi in the area is strained past the point of being useful.
– Earplugs. Seriously. The show floor is way too loud.
– With all the spectacle, swag and events, still the most fun can be had just playing the games.
