Electronic Entertainment Expo -- E3

[Oracle]

I have the good fortune of attending the E3 Expo this year (as I have many times in the past).  The feeling of going to E3 is like a kid visiting a Candy Store for the first time.  You get to see all the new things, play with them, have the opportunity to win prizes, get free demos, t-shirts, hardware, OH MY!

Hopefully when I return from the 3 day expo, I will have some neat things to report and/or comment on.  I doubt that EA will show anything of Stygian Abyss there, but I am hoping!  

Will anyone else be attending?  If so, perhaps we can meet up and compare notes.  This year I am going alone and I really hate going alone, because there is no one there to share your excitement with...!

June 2 - 4, 2009
LA Convention Center

[Oracle]

Looks like I will be going Weds and/or Thursday this week...

[TrailMyx]

Does EA have a booth there this year? (sarcastic) 

[Oracle]

Surprisingly Electronic Arts has a HUGE showing there this year in several different locations.  Last year, Blizzard's Section was almost as large as the largest section of one of Electronic Arts.  Maybe this year Blizzard will surpass EA?

[TrailMyx]

EA has a LONG way to go.  They might have a bigger display, but when a company follows through on the quality of their games like Blizzard does, that's what people appreciate in the end.  We're not looking for another McGame (fries/Coke extra) that EA pushes. 

Warhammer = 300K players
World of Warcrack = 10M players

My dream is to see EA sell the UO franchise to Blizzard.  That would be super-sweet; imagine UO wrapped in even the Diablo II engine!

[Cerveza]

The UO display is over by the Amigas.

[Oracle]

Funny thing you mentioned an Amiga!  I had a Commodore 64 then a 128, then an Amiga 500, then an Amiga 2000, and finally ended up with an Amiga 3000T (with a Video Toaster in it) -- I LOVED MY AMIGA!

Now, I am getting off the subject...

I am proud to say that I worked for Blizzard all the way up to Diablo II (as a Designer/Producer)...a truly wonderful company to work for.  They really care about the games they produce and have no problem missing a deadline or release date to make sure the game is virtually bug free and perfect!

[TrailMyx]

They really care about the games they produce and have no problem missing a deadline or release date to make sure the game is virtually bug free and perfect!

It's funny to me being a consumer of games to understand a companys stance not through any press release, but through the actions and quality of the games they produce.  Blizzard simply makes thoughtful, brilliant, polished games and EA does not.

[Cerveza]

You mean they don't make the customers the bug checkers for releases?

What the heck are they thinkin!

[Oracle]

As promised I told you I would report on what I found at E3 this year.  Seems that the Industry's Focus is on First Person Shoot-Em-Up's and MPORPG Games.  The Shoot-Em-Ups are a resurrection of Duke Nuke 'Em and Castle Wolfenstein types with better graphics and different time periods such as World War 2, the Roaring Twenties, and Futuristic ones.  Seemed that 90% of the MPORPG Games were all produced in China as well as Japan.  They all seemd to have an Asian and/or Samurai influence  on them.  

When I approached EA, I wanted to find out if UO had even a showing there.  I would have been happy if Stygian Abyss was being shown and demo'd on even one screen.   It was totally absent from the show.  8 out 10 people did not even know what I was talking about when I asked about it (perhaps they were just Console Managers)? and 1 of the 10 asked me what is Ultima Online and one of the people told me that it would not be shown at E3 this year.  SUICIDE is all I have to say about that...

OH, but I did see that Everquest had a small showing.  They even had 2 beautiful scantily dressed warrior women in their section and were taking pictures with all of the drooling guys waiting in a long line for the brief opportunity to touch an actual woman while their picture was taken.  They had a blue screen background and you could choose 1 of 8 different backgrounds for your picture.  I should add that in order to wait in this line, you needed to play the demo of the newest version of EverQuest and have one of the EverQuest people see you playing, which they then gave you a special ticket which you then walked over to a long line to wait in...

I went over to Activision, excited to see what Blizzard had in store and found out that this is the first year that Blizzard will not be showing anything at E3.  I was told that they have BIG Surprises planned at their own Exposition called BlizzCon!  Imagine...a company that has its own E3 type Convention...:sigh:

[TrailMyx]

"Super-sweetf!  Real women have boobies!"

lol

Anyhow, I remember now the press release where Blizzard was going to be doing their own thing this year.  When you have an incredible following like Blizzard does, why not monopolize it! 

Thank you for the update!