A black-out in the meeting rooms gives Dave the chance to hit the show floor, but he's not exactly blown away by what he finds...
"First day of the show proper today but for most it's really day three, as people had arrived at the weekend to catch the hardware announcements.
"I was down to do PR on our Buzz game behind closed doors at Sony, but upon arrival I found out that power in their area had been down since 3am that morning and no one really knew when it would be back up. Various PR folk, who had spent since last May organising the event, were looking crestfallen. Not only could the games not be played, but the aircon was dead so meetings were a bad idea, and people weren't sure which meetings they were missing since the computers which run the meeting schedules were also down. I used the opportunity to browse the show floors.
"E3 is always an assault on the senses, but this one seemed bigger than ever, presumably because of the new hardware. Someone told me that it's now the biggest trade event in the world, which I doubt, but it's probably getting close.
"There would have been a time when I'd try and play every game at the show, but my tolerance for the crowds and noise is weaker than ever and I don't believe you can tell a lot about a game by picking up a controller and trying to play it for a couple of minutes. These days I use the booths as a barometer: which products are the publishers placing their bets on? Are they putting their money behind licenses or new IP? First party or third party? My sense was that Microsoft were putting everything behind 360; Nintendo were hyping their cute Gameboy Micro and less-than-cute DS, and tried to persuade us that Gamecube wasn't dead yet; Sony seemed primarily focussed on PS2 with less of a PSP showing than I expected; EA continue to put their money behind the big licenses and tried and tested IP. Despite the inevitable hype that PS3 and Revolution attracted, they had no real presence on the show floor aside from long queues to see what I imagine is the same footage that has been played at the press events on Monday and Tuesday.
"The power at the Sony rooms came up around 2pm and it gave me some personal satisfaction to see people clearly enjoying our game. Like most creative things, particularly those done in a closed environment, you're never quite sure of how it will be received, so with that in mind I'm both pleased and relieved in equal measures."
