Sugar Gamers @ E3

The E3 Experience:

Hey ladies, E3 was just a week ago and I’m still recovering from it. All the websites have news and previews on the latest greatest games and what not, but I really want to share my experience of my first E3. Sugar Gamers is still a new site and I’m still growing into it. So for me to have this opportunity so soon was awesome! Remember Christmas when you were young, getting to wear your favorite costume on Halloween, mastering your first game, reading you 100th comic, or going to Disneyland? Well E3 was like all those things rolled up into one! It’s like the video game Mecca!!


Atmosphere:

E3 was hands down the biggest convention I’ve ever been to. The 2010 E3 Expo featured approximately 300 exhibitors and 45,600 attendees from 90 countries. There was the Activision concert featuring all the hottest celebs. Also there were 2 exhibitions halls with thousands of square feet with every possible gadget, gaming device, accessory… whatever that you could think of! Free swag EVERYWHERE including t-shirts, pens, hats, posters, bags, coupons, downloads, ect. The exhibition halls were very visually stimulating - If you weren’t looking at huge projector setups, you were looking at elaborate models depicting characters and environments from different games.

Even though every presentation didn’t make me fall in love with the game or product- they were very entertaining and sophisticated. Just look at it this way, in the 4 days I was in LA, I probably got 15 hrs of sleep and walked at least 25 hours and I still didn’t see everything.


Highlights:

It was great to see the overall direction gaming is going in. Most games will become more interactive and realistic. With the Wii, XBOX Kinect, and the PS3 Move motion controller, games (especially rhythm based) are on a whole new level. You will be learning how to do choreographed dance moves, your virtual workout will replace your gym membership, and people will generally be actively immersed in the game they are playing. Music games like Gig and Rock Band 3 will start using REAL instruments, and the gameplay will actually be a realistic segway into learning how to play real guitars, real keyboards, and drums.




Also there are many online games that will give World of Warcraft a run for their money. One in particular that caught my eye was DC Universe Online. I just recently got into comics however, this game seems really fun because you get to make your own super hero.

The people I got to meet were also fantastic. Everyone I met was so cool and personable. You could be standing right next to the president of Sony or the composer for Final Fantasy and wouldn’t even know it.

Olivia Munn

Todd Hollenshead - PRESIDENT OF ID SOFTWARE

I also got to meet many of my fellow geeky gaming girls! I met a lot of the women from the Frag dolls as well as some of the other female pro-gamers.

Overall I’m really excited about the new technology that will be coming out and the opportunity to have experienced a lot of it firsthand. There wasn’t much I didn’t like about the whole experience with the exception that even though women make up close to half of the gaming population, the convention was still a sausage fest. Either way, I’m super stoked about next year and the surprises it will bring!