WEBVTT - How E3 Works 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.080 On July, Mr Robot returns to USA Network for its 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:17.280 second season Get in Technology with tech Stuff from dot Com. 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:19.720 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.880 Jonathan Strickland, flying so Low today, and I wanted to 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.200 talk a little bit about a particular trade show, not 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.920 c e S this time. I'm talking about the Electronic 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:36.400 Entertainment Expo or E three. E three concluded while I 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.880 was on vacation. So I did not go to E 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.400 three this past year or this this the two weeks ago. 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:48.280 Really Uh. Instead, I was on a boat going around 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:52.720 England and Scotland and Ireland. But I wanted to talk 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:56.440 about E three and its history and its place in 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:00.760 video games. Um. It's something that if you've never been 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:06.000 and you only have followed the news that breaks regarding 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.119 E three, you may not be fully aware of exactly 0:01:09.160 --> 0:01:12.199 what it's supposed to be. It is a trade show. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.959 It typically takes place in Los Angeles, California, although it 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.720 has taken place in other locations throughout its history. And 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:23.720 it's uh, like many trade shows, it's really meant for 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:29.479 companies to have lots of meetings and conferences, but also 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.520 to show off their products. In fact, it's largely become 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:38.640 a press oriented event where companies are unveiling big new 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.399 ideas to try and get a lot of buzz behind them. 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:45.160 Sometimes they do it a little too early and you 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:49.160 might end up losing momentum by the time something finally 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:52.760 comes out. Sometimes the things they announced never come out 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.760 at all, and that also can become a problem. But 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.800 I wanted to go through some of the history. Um 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:01.640 and has gone through a lot of changes. It first 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:06.320 debuted back in nineteen, so I'm gonna give a history 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:08.200 and evolution of the show, including some of the big 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.600 things that have happened during particular years. Don't worry, I'm 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:15.040 not gonna go through full details of every single year. 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:17.639 I'm going to give overviews of a lot of them, 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:21.119 but the early years I want to pay special attention 0:02:21.160 --> 0:02:24.000 to because that was back when E three was kind 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:29.040 of finding its identity. Now, before E three, hardware manufacturers 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.919 and software companies would show off their stuff at other 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.000 types of trade shows, one of the big ones being 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:40.120 ce S formerly known as the Consumer Electronics Showcase. In fact, 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:43.120 the Nintendo Entertainment System debuted at c e S back 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:47.640 in five and uh a Natari computer debuted back in 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:52.240 the late seventies Xbox. The original Xbox debut in two 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:54.720 thousand one. That was even after E three was formed. 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:57.079 But the problem with c e S is that it's 0:02:57.160 --> 0:03:00.440 really big, and it covers the entire spec troum of 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:04.359 consumer electronics. Video games are just a tiny little slice 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:08.040 of that, so they would often be overlooked, and sometimes 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:11.080 they'd be put in really inconvenient spots on the show floor. 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.280 And for a while C E S and the Adult 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:20.000 Entertainment Expo we're running at the same time. There were 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.480 times where in order to get to the video game 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:25.840 section at c e S you'd have to walk through 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:30.560 the adult entertainment conference to get there. And a lot 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:34.360 of the companies that were working on video game systems 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.800 and software they didn't take too kindly to that. They 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.400 didn't like that they were being shoveled off to the 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.440 side or put in inconvenient locations. So there started to 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:48.600 be some discussion among various companies about what they might 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:53.880 do about that. So in some top video game publishers 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:58.560 and hardware manufacturers formed a new organization called the Interactive 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:03.400 Digital Software as Ciation or i d S a UH. 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:07.840 This would later on evolve into the Entertainment Software Association 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:12.720 or e s A. So in part, that association access 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:16.080 an advocacy group for video game companies fighting for stuff 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.680 that isn't always a benefit to consumers. For example, the 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.480 e s A has supported SOPA and PIPPA, which are 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:26.880 two pieces of legislation that a lot of people opposed, 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.800 but they also advocate for stuff that consumers appreciate. And 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.320 one of those things was how can we create an 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.599 event where we can have our own trade show and 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:43.240 we're not overshadowed by other types of technology. So in 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:48.200 this association partnered with a company called International Data Group 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:50.760 that are known as I d G to create a 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:54.880 new trade show centered in Los Angeles. The event took 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.799 place from May leven to May tht at the Los 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:03.359 Angeles Convention Center, and the day before the show floor opened, 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.240 CEOs of some of the biggest game companies held a 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.840 press conference to talk about the future of the gaming industry. 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.400 If you follow E three today, you know that essentially 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.920 the same thing happens now where companies will hold a 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.359 huge press event uh before the show floor opens in 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.440 order to get as much coverage as possible and excite 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:27.480 people and convince them to come to their booth at 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:32.279 the show floor and cover their products. And sometimes these 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:37.200 events are amazing, and sometimes they are cringeworthy. You will 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.560 sit through there and you'll hear some of the worst 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:44.880 forced humor, particularly when you have executives who aren't really 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.200 used to giving a lot of public speeches, and they'll 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.600 do terrible setups and punchlines. I mean worse than mine, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.279 at least with mine. It's a natural delivery. The jokes 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:58.880 are bad, but I know how to deliver them. So 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:02.800 sometimes you get a great presentation that's really compelling. Sometimes 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.360 you get a presentation that's pretty painful to watch. Usually 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.520 the trailers help, the movie trailers, or rather the video 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.200 game trailers help. They can move things along, even if 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.760 the stage production part is a little hard to watch. 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:22.800 So what was like, what was that first E three actually? Like? Well, 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:24.880 I wasn't there, but I've read a lot about it. 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.720 That was a big year in video games. That was 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:33.400 when um Sega was touting the Sega Saturn. That was 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:38.080 their attempt to try and rest the number one spot 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:43.840 away from the Nintendo UH, which ultimately actually would fall 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:49.479 on Sony's shoulders. Not Nintendo are not Sega's shoulders. So 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.200 Sega had already launched the Saturn in Japan at the 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.560 tail end of nineteen, but it wasn't scheduled to hitch 0:06:56.560 --> 0:07:01.520 store shelves until September two. However, dr ring Sega's press conference, 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:05.000 the company surprised the audience by announcing it had shipped 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.840 the Saturn to a few retailers in the United States, 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.240 meaning it was available that day for the retail price 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:16.680 of three hundred nine dollars four hundred bucks in That 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.560 is not an insignificant amount of money, but it was 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.240 a pretty good mic drop moment to say, you know, 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:25.520 we thought about scheduling it so it would come out 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:31.240 in September. It's available now. The first Sony PlayStation had 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.880 also launched in the end of so it was still 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.200 new on the market in Japan, but it was not 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.440 yet out in the United States. So in Sony's press conference, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.400 they talked about it debuting in the US and Steve 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:48.400 Race of Sony said only one thing during the press conference. 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:52.080 Steve Race came out at the press conference, looked at 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:57.000 the audience and the only thing Race said was two dollars, 0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.720 and that brought the house down. It was a hundred 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:06.520 dollars cheaper than the Sega alternative. Nintendo, for its part, 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:09.800 announced that its next system, which would become known as 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:14.920 the Nintendo sixty four, would be delayed until so they 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.280 didn't have any hardware to show off. They didn't have 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.320 an enormous press conference at E three, but they did 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.760 throw a big party before the show itself. Uh and 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.400 the company has done some similar things in following E 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.800 three throughout the years. In fact, there's some years where 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.920 Nintendo doesn't really have much of a presence at E three, 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.400 but will hold its own event just before E three two, 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:40.079 kind of piggyback onto everything. Nintendo also had the largest 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:42.760 booth on the exhibition floor space in the main hall. 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:46.559 The second largest booth belonged to a Claim Now. One 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:51.000 of the things Nintendo showed off was the Virtual Boy. Yes, 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:56.160 the Virtual Boy, the migraine making machine that convinced us 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:00.959 that virtual reality was a long, long, long way away. 0:09:01.280 --> 0:09:03.800 And it also shows how unreliable my memory is. I 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.120 always associate the Virtual Boy as something that came out 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:11.120 earlier before, in the late nineteen eighties. I associate with 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.079 my childhood, but actually I was I was older than 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:16.559 that when it came out. Maybe it was just a 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:20.400 child at heart. At any rate, the Virtual Boy was 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:25.240 a big push from Nintendo, and obviously that did not 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:27.760 work out so well for them. Meanwhile, you had a 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.040 CLAIM that was showing off licensed games like Judge Dread 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:36.400 and Batman Forever. But those games were not terribly great. 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:39.280 They didn't look great. It was it was clear that 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:44.120 a claim was not incredibly sure that this was alone 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.680 going to pull people into their booths. So they did 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.320 something pretty innovative. You know. Keep in mind, this is 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.600 the first E three, So what does the claim do 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:58.280 for their booth. They get hold of the motorcycle from 0:09:58.360 --> 0:10:01.440 Judge Dread and the batmobile eel in Batman Forever and 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:05.520 put both of those in their booth. And they also 0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:12.960 hired a ton of models, uh, young ladies wearing revealing 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.760 clothing to entice people into their booth. So even at 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.800 the very first E three there were booth babes uh, 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.680 which is not a great you know, label, but that 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:27.200 is what people tend to refer to, you know, the 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.800 ladies who have been hired to bring people into the 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:35.400 booth um. Also, at that time, the three D O 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:39.280 was still around. The three D O famously one of 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:44.920 the entertainment systems that never really got a good foothold 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.240 in the gaming industry, but it was still around at 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.679 that point, so get's the get Go was there. Three 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:56.000 d O also decided to get some ladies to try 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.839 and bring people into their booth. In that case, three 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.440 d O went with these and Diego Chargers cheerleading squad, 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:09.319 so subtle. Also Neo g O c D debut that 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.880 was from S N. K Uh. One of the people 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:17.480 in attendance a celebrity. This is really classy, John Wayne Bobbitt. 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:21.480 He was famous for um, well, there's no reason to 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.439 go into it on this show, but he was there 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.760 and he was promoting a company that created interactive porn software, 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:32.600 so a very unsettling kind of thing for some of 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.480 the other companies. They weren't so sure that they wanted 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:41.640 to have this kind of entertainment included with video games. 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:44.439 So they actually designed the show floor so there was 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:49.400 a bordered off section away from general traffic so that 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:53.000 it wasn't just incorporated directly into the exhibition hall with 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:57.320 everybody else. SEKA had the biggest booth at the South Hall. 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:01.480 Sony also had a very large booth, Sony's was particularly 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:06.000 flashy and expensive. Sony threw a big party, and the 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:09.040 biggest news about Sony's party was about someone who attended 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:13.360 the party just to play games, Michael Jackson h And 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:16.320 at that time, Atari was starting to fade from the 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:21.160 home console market. The Jaguar had underperformed in the market 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.000 and so the company only had a small booth at 0:12:23.040 --> 0:12:25.680 E three. And if you're wondering what sort of big 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:29.160 games were shown off in that year in they included 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:34.560 classics like Twisted Metal and Mortal Kombat three. Uh. The 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:39.240 next year in E three was a different story. First 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:44.560 of all, Sega Saturn had completely flopped in the market, 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:48.840 and Nintendo's Virtual Boy also was a failure, so both 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:53.640 of those companies were nursing their wounds. In nineteen, Sony 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:56.640 PlayStation was actually starting to gain some traction and become 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:01.440 competitive in in Nintendo's space. Hadn't over taking Nintendo yet, 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:04.160 but it was on its way, and no one was 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:07.640 really sure at the video game industry was doing well 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:09.560 or not. There were a lot of fears that with 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.880 all the different video game systems on the market from 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.040 all the different companies, that the industry was heading toward 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:19.160 another console crash like the video game Crash of Night. 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.920 So Nintendo that year announced the in sixty four at 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.040 the show. Remember the previous year they had to delay it, 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:30.719 so they announced the in sixty four. They're saying it 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:34.160 would cost two fifty dollars. They also showed off Super 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.760 Mario sixty four and that got a great response. When 0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:41.280 people saw that Mario could move and three dimensions, it 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.360 blew everyone's mind, which is kind of funny to think 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.600 about now, but at the time it was huge. Nintendo 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:49.880 also announced the game that's widely considered one of the 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:53.040 best of all time, Golden I, which is based off 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.920 the James Bond film. Now, they just sort of announced 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:58.319 it and showed a little bit of concept art and 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:00.440 stuff like that. They didn't really go into my detail. 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.360 That would come later. The next year. They also showed 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.680 off a slim down game Boy called the game Boy Pocket, 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:11.440 and at the Nintendo Party they had Circle A performers 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.319 performing stunts and walking on stilts and stuff, which was 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.880 a little weird from what I understand. Again, I wasn't 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:20.160 there this one either. Sony announced that the PlayStation would 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:24.840 drop in price to a dars. Now, this was controversial 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:29.280 because the various presidents of the companies had kind of 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:32.800 come to an understanding that no one was going to 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.960 go to the press event and drop a bombshell that 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:42.240 would adversely affect the other companies. So why did Sony 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:45.040 come out and say the PlayStation was going to drop 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:49.760 to a bucks. Well, this is because the person who 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:52.880 was in charge of Sony at that time was newly 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:59.960 in charge of Sony's video game market. So his excuse was, hey, 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:02.800 was an agreement that my predecessor made. I never made 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.920 that agreement. So Sony says, hey, we're gonna drop the 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:10.320 price to all That kind of put the pressure on 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:14.120 Nintendo and Sega, both of which would at the same 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.560 event announced that their new consoles would come down to 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.560 UM So that was that was a big deal that 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:27.120 put a lot of pressure on those companies. That was 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.360 also the year Microsoft first showed up to E three, 0:15:30.920 --> 0:15:34.640 but it wasn't too promote a console idea. It was 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:38.360 to pitch Windows as a gaming platform. Now, that might 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:42.000 blow your mind that in ninet Microsoft is saying, hey, 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:45.720 let's have more developers create video games for Windows. But 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:47.800 at that time there were a lot of games that 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.880 were still based on or using DOSS as the operating 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:58.160 system of choice. So uh, this was an uphill battle, 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:00.680 or at least it seemed that way for Microsoft. It 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:04.040 turned out that before too long it would be impossible 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.200 for you to find a game that would run on DOSS. 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.280 You had to get a Windows installation on your PC 0:16:10.520 --> 0:16:12.160 if you wanted to play games, because all the games 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:14.760 were made for Windows. I remember at the time I 0:16:14.800 --> 0:16:21.640 was particularly perturbed by this because I was a Doss boy. 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.560 E three changed venues. It actually went to the Georgia 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.800 Dome in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. Didn't get to 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:30.840 go to this one either. At the time, in ninety seven, 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.520 I was not working at how Stuff Works, so I 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.720 was not in the technology field. I would have loved 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:41.160 to have attended, but I wasn't qualified. Uh. E three, 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:44.640 I should have mentioned earlier, is an industry only event. 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.360 It's only been open to the public a couple of times, 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.640 and um. Otherwise you have to be either in the 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:56.240 video game industry or in journalism specifically covering video games. 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:00.040 Otherwise you are not supposed to go. A lot of 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.720 people end up getting passes to go for various in 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.080 various ways. Like maybe they work in marketing, maybe they 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.240 work for a video game retailer, like a retail store. 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.359 But in general, you're not supposed to just have anybody 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:15.239 show up to these things. They have to have some 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:21.480 the credentials required to get in. So Georgia Dome, the 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:25.600 trade show held some conferences, some actual panel discussions, not 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:30.200 just press events and game demos. They actually held discussions 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:32.880 about emerging trends and video games, including a strange new 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:39.320 world of online gaming, something that was relatively young in Also, 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:43.520 there was a type of video game that was really 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:48.199 starting to get incredibly popular, first person shooters. They had 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.600 been around for a few years several years actually, um 0:17:51.640 --> 0:17:55.440 since Wolfenstein three D came out in the early nineties, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.879 but they were starting to get some real traction, and 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.840 so there were a conferences held about first person shooters, 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.280 particularly for the consoles. So why did the company show off? 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.680 Nintendo showed off Golden Eye Double O seven. This time 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.960 they showed a much more detailed demo and that really 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.840 impressed the E three audience. The four players split screen 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.880 approach was a big innovation for console games. Nintendo also 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.840 showed off a cute game called Conquers Quest about a 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.280 fluffy squirrel and it was meant for kids, and this 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.520 game would never come out, but it would mutate into 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:34.760 a totally different, crude and appropriate game called Conquers Bad 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:37.040 for a Day. More on that in a little bit. 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.720 That same year, Sony announced Metal Gear Solid, which was 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.880 technically a sequel to Metal Gear and Metal Gear Too 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.320 Solid Snake. Metal Gear Solid would become the foundation for 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:53.399 an extremely popular franchise that UM, as far as we know, 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:58.000 has concluded since the creator has left the company that 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:01.080 was publishing these, but that that's a story for a 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.760 different day. That would be an entire podcast all on 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.879 its own, and in retrospect, many people felt that the 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.359 thirty three was kind of a letdown after the first 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.080 two and that the Georgia Dome was probably not the 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.920 best venue for the event. Uh that it just made 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.040 the event to spread out too difficult to navigate, and 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:23.359 it just wasn't ideal for showing off these games and 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:26.600 the companies. And another black mark for this E three 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:31.000 this was the E three where Duke Nukem Forever was 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.879 first announced. Now that game would become synonymous with the 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:39.520 term vaporware, and eventually Duke Nukem Forever would emerge out 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:43.159 of development Hell in two thousand eleven, so announced in 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.520 but it wouldn't be until two thousand eleven that it 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:50.160 comes out, more than a decade later, and the response 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.280 at the time was pretty negative. People were not impressed, 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.840 especially considering that the game was spending more than ten 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.879 years in development. So it would be really crazy for 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:02.960 me to go into this level of detail for every 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.240 single year, for every E three, so I'm not going 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:07.400 to do that. I'm now going to kind of give 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:13.000 you just some highlights of each year moving forward. Um 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.280 and if you want to learn more about any given 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:18.960 E three, I can always do a full episode about 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.639 specific year if there's something that you think is particularly interesting, 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.440 But for now, let's look at some of the highlights. 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:30.560 So in n E three was still in Atlanta, had 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:32.679 grown into a pretty major trade show with something like 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:38.600 seventy thousand attendees, and companies were going all out. They 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.040 were getting some some big name bands to play their 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:45.280 parties like in ninety eight and included the Food Fighters, 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:49.359 UH and the B fifty twos at industry parties. And 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.200 again I'm very sad that I wasn't able to go 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:55.919 in Sega ended up showing off the Dreamcast, which was, 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:01.120 in my opinion, one of the great consoles Oft era. Sadly, 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.600 I don't think Sega ever had a good idea of 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.680 how to market it, how to leverage it, so despite 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.520 the fact that it was a legitimately good contender in 0:21:11.520 --> 0:21:15.679 the console space, it never really got the the market 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:19.160 support and needed to be a real competitor against Nintendo 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:23.679 and Sony. Also shown in ninety eight was an early 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:27.439 version of a little game called Half Life, and it 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:33.280 is an ongoing joke in video game journalism about whether 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:37.239 or not Valve will announce Half Life three at the 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:40.520 next E three UM. Half Life is one of those 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:43.240 games where people have been waiting for the conclusion of 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:45.400 the story for quite some time, and there has been 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:50.160 no word on if a Half Life three is in development, 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.680 and even if it is, you know when would it 0:21:52.800 --> 0:21:56.119 possibly come out, But there's no word on an even 0:21:56.119 --> 0:22:02.800 existing period, so it remains one of the uh the 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:07.480 the snipes that were hunting in video game journalism circles. 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.080 Also at Nintendo showed off a game that was the 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.680 legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, one of the um 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:22.000 highly highly critically claimed Zelda games that came out in 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:26.800 that time that in uh the Mask one was in 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:29.119 Major's Mask. I think so that's the next one. But 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:30.840 O Green of Time that was a game that I 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:34.840 also had. UM and a lot of people thought that 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:37.800 that was sort of the right direction for Nintendo to 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:42.679 move in. E three came back to Los Angeles, so 0:22:42.680 --> 0:22:45.960 it leaves Atlantic goes back to l a. Uh. Sega 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:50.760 announces that the Dreamcast launch date will be nine nine, 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:56.480 so September, and we'll retail for one dollars, so it's 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:01.440 pretty cute. Nintendo held a press conference that veiled Project Dolphin. 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:06.040 Project Dolphin would eventually become the GameCube. They also showed 0:23:06.040 --> 0:23:09.080 off Donkey Kong sixty four. Another game that was on 0:23:09.119 --> 0:23:12.560 display was Quake three. Final Fantasy eight was also shown 0:23:12.560 --> 0:23:15.280 off that year. So some big names in computer and 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:20.040 video games in two thousand there were. It was pretty 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:25.320 much a game heavy year. UM The PlayStation two was 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:29.520 announced by Sony. It had already launched in Japan, so 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:34.240 announced rather for the know US shelves because the game 0:23:34.240 --> 0:23:36.879 system had already been out in Japan for quite some time. 0:23:37.600 --> 0:23:40.520 But among the games that were announced were Metal Gear 0:23:40.600 --> 0:23:44.560 Solid two Conquers Bad for a Day. So, now that 0:23:45.040 --> 0:23:49.320 Conqueror game that was originally meant for kids was definitely 0:23:49.520 --> 0:23:53.520 not meant for kids. It had lots of crude humor, 0:23:53.840 --> 0:24:00.679 a lot of cursing, uh, scatological humor, sexual humor, a 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:02.880 lot of violence. I mean, the violence in that game 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.000 is pretty incredible, even though the characters are very cartoony. 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:09.520 Um So, Conqueror's Bad for a Day was kind of 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:13.320 shocking because it was so out of character for Nintendo. 0:24:14.200 --> 0:24:17.840 Um and and it marks something people were wondering if 0:24:17.960 --> 0:24:20.520 Nintendo was actually going to make a bigger move into 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:23.960 that realm of video games. Actually it did not. For 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:27.040 the most part. Some third party Nintendo games get pretty violent, 0:24:27.080 --> 0:24:31.160 but most of the first party stuff doesn't. Also, that year, 0:24:32.280 --> 0:24:35.200 the game c Man was shown off, and c Man 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:40.440 is one of the weirdest games I've ever seen. And 0:24:40.840 --> 0:24:43.800 again I could do a full show about that, but 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:45.840 if you ever are curious, you can search for its 0:24:45.880 --> 0:24:49.760 C Man s E A M. A N fish with 0:24:49.800 --> 0:24:54.360 a human face. Nothing nothing wrong about that anyway. This 0:24:54.440 --> 0:24:58.639 was a more subdued E three, and partly because it 0:24:58.760 --> 0:25:01.639 was held the same year as the Columbine shooting in 0:25:01.680 --> 0:25:05.520 the United States the high school shooting, so there was 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:10.000 a very different kind of atmosphere at this E three. 0:25:11.040 --> 0:25:14.160 The video game industry in general was under a lot 0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:17.760 of scrutiny at Washington, d C. So it was a 0:25:17.920 --> 0:25:23.800 difficult year for many reasons. In two thousand one, Microsoft 0:25:23.960 --> 0:25:27.840 joins the game for real, this time talking about the Xbox, 0:25:28.920 --> 0:25:31.760