Scott_lb

Is attending E3 worth it?

I have been into gaming most of my life, and have really been into it since I picked up my Xbox a few months after launch. I will be in the Los Angeles area until the morning of Monday, May 10th - the same week that E3 starts. I have a friend who has connections to the industry and has some tickets that she's giving away. However, changing my travel plans would incorporate charges on my airline ticket back home (somewhere between $50.00 to $100.00). In addition, I've heard that E3 largely consists of waiting in long lines to see games which you usually observe a few weeks later on stations such as G4 anyway. Therefore, my question is two fold:

1. Is it true that most of attendees' time at E3 is spent waiting in line to view short demos of new games instead of actually interacting with them? Note here that I'm only interested in the AAA titles (Call of Duty: Finest Hour, Half-Life 2, Doom 3, etc.).

2. Is the overall E3 experience worth the approximate $100.00 that I will have to spend to change my travel plans?

Thanks for the input.

\"My name is El Nino which in spanish means.... The Nino!\" - Chris Farley

Jason Harbaugh

I went to E3 last year for the whole thing, mon-fri. The good stuff isn't really on the floor during wed-fri showings. What you really want is a media pass with preset behind closed doors meetings with the developers. Last year I watched B.C. on the xbox with Snoop Dog...behind closed doors with the developers about about 4 other people. Was also one of the few that got to see Fable up close and personal.

Waiting inline for hours to see the HL2 video, or Halo2 video is pointless IMO and a waste when there are so many other things that you won't be able to download videos of later going on.

I think you can easily make up your $100 in t-shirts and other swag. And if you can, get invited to as many parties as you can. Nvidia's party last year was quite cool, plus you got a very good 'gift bag' of goodies, games, backpacks and t-shirts.

All in all it was fun, but I passed on going this year. I'll probably go again next year to check out Xbox2 and PS3.

Oh and just know that when you first walk in, you will be in sensory overload.