E3, the biggest event on the gaming calendar, is almost upon us. With the Wii U just months away, Nintendo is poised to take this one home, while Sony and Microsoft need to prove there is life yet in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
I love E3 time. It’s awesome fun staying up until all hours of the morning to watch the conferences live and join in the banter on the MMGN forums. Back in the old days, MyWii, MyPS3, My360 (etc) members used to come together in a massive MSN convo that would run from start until finish.
Last year my contact list lit up with a bunch of people who hadn’t been online since the previous E3. MSN lives!
This year I won’t be partaking.
Instead, I’m heading over to L.A. on Sunday to attend in person and risk death by surviving on American fast food. Unlike a certain imbecile last year *cough* Tano *cough* I’ve arranged to arrive before the conferences begin, which means I can actually attend all of them. Unless I accidentally get too hungover and passout in a stranger’s hotel room, which we mustn’t rule out.
This means no MSN or forums, but I’ll try and respond to tweets @Ben_Salter and @MMGN during all of the conferences and upload pictures of the fat sweaty pregnant guy holding a crying baby I’ll no doubt be seated next to.
What are your plans for E3 this year?
Are you going to watch all the conferences or just some of them?
Will the MMGN group chat be returning?
In previous years -- also known as my uni days -- E3 always fell around exam time. In good news, this meant no classes, which allowed my unprepared body to power through until midday. I can’t recall how that worked exactly, but I must have not had exams during that week, or just didn’t attend them.
Whatever.
Luckily I have my E3: Essential Guide for Noobs, by @TheKevinDent
I considered sneaking a little nap before Sony’s presser last year, by skipping Ubisoft and/or EA, but after downing too much caffeine, I decided to plow through until midday. Totally worth it.
This year is scheduled much the same, and once again Sony can be viewed at the very reasonable time of 11am on Wednesday. If you don’t want to stay up for both Microsoft and Nintendo, I’d recommend the latter. It’s Nintendo E3’s to dominate this year, and unless the next Xbox is tucked away, Microsoft won’t come close to matching their conference.
Whether you stay up for every conference and end up hating yourself by week’s end, or carry on with your mature life and catch up on the news the following morning, 2012 is going to be a massive E3.
This is my last post before the uncontrollable chaos that is my first E3 experience begins. See you on the other side.
By Ben Salter - Bio