The Electronic Entertainment Expo is significant for its many press conferences, which are essentially forums for the game industry’s biggest names to tease new products for investors and the press. These conferences straddle the line between informative and spectacle, often packed with surprise announcements or celebrity appearances – sometimes even dance numbers. Here’s a hand full of some of the best moments among these conferences.
6. Unreal Engine 3 Demo (2004)
In 2004, the Unreal Engine 3 was demonstrated for the first time for the public at that years E3. The Unreal Engine had quite the pedigree in the industry up until that point, being the premier engine for the biggest games in the world. The Unreal Engine 3 promised to be the next big thing as far as building big and beautiful worlds was concerned. Gears of War was the first game developed with the engine for consoles, and many years later UE 3 would continue being the premier building platform when Chair built Infinity Blade for iOS with it.
5. PS3/XBOX 360/Revolution reveal (2005)
The PS3 and Xbox 360 were cloaked in incredible mystery in the years leading up to the E3 2005. This was the first console generation to benefit from the Internet as is looks today – full of social networks and live blogs dumping coal in the hype machine early and often. We had a big false start in 2004, the year pretty much every professional assumed was the year these companies would pull the trigger.
The PS3 wouldn’t be playable, and the only physical manifestation of the hardware was under glass and featured the infamous “boomerang controller” that would never see production. Nintendo spoke very little about what their console was, only revealing its true motion controlled nature and the Tokyo Game Show that year.
4. Final Fantasy XIII Announced for Xbox 360 (2008)
One of the stranger conceits in video game history was when Final Fantasy XIII was announced for the Xbox 360 at E3 2008. The Xbox was selling rather poorly in Japan, and Square’s flagship series was rather cozy with Sony’s platforms for well over a decade. What was the reasoning behind suddenly going multiplatform? Money, most likely.
Japanese franchises were facing a similar stagnation in the West back in 2008, so if Square was looking to stay relevant, it makes perfect sense to drop your game on the most successful home console not made by Nintendo. The writing was on the wall for a concerted push by JRPGs to get to the Xbox following the surprise success of the console exclusive, Blue Dragon.The 360 version ran at a lower resolution (back when you wouldn’t get drawn and quartered on the Internet for such things) and was spread across 3 HD DVDs instead of 1 Blu-ray.
3. Amiibo (2014)
Amiibo was a money-printing concept before it even showed up in Nintendo’s E3 presentation. Statuettes of adorable Nintendo characters were exactly what grown people wanted to stuff their desks with, anyway. Add video game functionality and you have a recipe for a retail store’s worst nightmare. Amiibo’s were an instant hit from wave one, and show absolutely no sign to slowing down now.
2. Kojima on Microsoft’s stage (2009)
Along the same lines as the 2008 Final Fantasy XIII wooing, Hideo Kojima showing up on a Microsoft stage seemed unheard of. But lo and behold, during 2009’s E3, the world famous director showed up on stage to plug Metal Gear Solid: Rising. The demo was impressive and was only shown on Microsoft’s stage. The game would also be stuck in the depths of development hell until Kojima would officially leave the project, and it would be passed to Platinum Games. Platinum would rename the game Metal Gear Rising: Revengence, and the rest is history.
Kojima was never one to shy away from his very public sponsoring of Sony’s consoles, though. He was so devoted, that in Metal Gear Solid 4, Otacon throws some not-so-subtle shade at the Xbox 360, claiming it wasn’t powerful enough to run the game. Sick burn.
1. Half-Life 2 Reveal (2003)
Half-Life 2 was more or less an unsubstantiated rumor until Valve debuted it at 2003’s E3. In the time between the first and it’s debut, Valve was developing its first ever Source engine. It was also the first appearance of Steam, which would be the premier delivery system system for the game when it would launch later that year.
At least, it was supposed to be released that year. As Steam would go live without a hitch, Half-Life 2 would get delayed until the end of 2004, thanks to a huge hacking scandal that would eventually get the FBI involved and lead to the arrest of a German hacker. It wouldn’t hurt the game’s reception at all, as it’s still widely considered one of the best games ever made.
What’s your favorite E3 conference moment? Tweet us @CurseGamepedia or leave a comment below. Also, check out our E3 2015 Wiki, to keep up with all of next week’s biggest announcements.