Sights and sounds of E for All

Sightings

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007
3:30 p.m.

E for All is a bizarre mix of blatant advertisement, cutthroat commerce and sheer fun, which can result in an equally bizarre demographic of gamers and exhibitors.
In terms of booth mascots and commercial “cos-play," companies seemed lacking compared to past E3 expos (the original Electronic Entertainment Expo, which was much more exclusive than E for All, which is aimed at the mass consumer). E for All did a little reflexive advertisement, sending around Tyler Coburn, from Los Angeles, with a “TV-Shirt” ““ a Tshirt with a built-in monitor with advertisements for the show.
Mr. and Mrs. Pac-man made an appearance, advertising for Pac-man mobile games. Popeye and Olive Oyl also showed up for a while, as well as some “ancient Egyptian” woman from an unknown booth.
E for All lacked much of the “scandalous scandal” that plagued the later E3s, when women who worked at displays were instructed to tone down the cleavage and skin also on display, since adolescent youths were present at the show as well. There were a few voluptuous booth ladies, but no Lara Crofts. For the most part, staffers showed off little more than their legs in black miniskirts at the Nintendo booth.
Gamers didn’t seem to dress up much in costume late in the expo aside from Thursday’s early “Cos-Play” contest. The Ice Climbers from "Super Smash Bros." played "Brawl" for a while before heading over to play "Rock Band." Jack Sparrow was randomly wandering about near the Intel display, and a few RPG characters made their way into the showroom.
Some celebrities also made appearances. Mad Mike from MTV’s "Pimp My Ride" showed up on Sunday to play a few games and chat with fans. On Friday, Koji Igarashi, the producer of Konami’s "Castlevania" series, spent some time signing autographs. Derek Fisher of the L.A. Lakers and Cory Maggette of the L.A. Clippers battled against each other and took turns against professional video gamer labeled the Michael Jordan of pro gaming, Jonathan “Fata1ity” Wendel, in playing NBA Live ’08.
Apparently, there are celebrities and professionals in the gaming world as well. Freddie Wong, a fourth-year cinema productions student at USC is one example of burgeoning talent. The "Guitar Hero" guru rocked out on Target’s "Guitar Hero" stage, as well as at the Expo’s closing "Rock Band" show. Wong says the majority of this “practice” comes from joking around with his roommates who are equally enthusiastic about the game.
Major League Gaming is also another hot spot for prospective professional gamers. Pro gamers and MLG staffers had Halo, Halo 2 and Halo 3 tournaments and also hosted a “Halo 3 Training Camp” in which the professional gamers would watch, critique and aide newer gamers in playing the popular first-person shooter.

““ Jessica Lum

The Highlights

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007
4 p.m.

Though E for All was a little smaller than expected, there was a good
range of exhibitors and companies present at the Convention Center.
Here’s a sampling of some of the bigger names and their biggest games:

KONAMI:

Konami’s booth for "Metal Gear Solid 4" was caged off, barbed-wired and had the look of an unwelcoming military compound, complete with warning signs: “no photo or video.” Yet at any given time, at least 50-60 gamers were lined up to give the premiere game a spin. Konami seems to understand the overarching difficulty gamers have when playing the "Metal Gear" franchise: The controls are often hard to master. Gamers received a 5-minute tutorial explaining the game controls as well as a briefing on the basic storyline.
This game is particularly complex with all the added features. The graphics are vastly improved; the camera can be zoomed in so closely that you can make out the wrinkles on Snake’s face, and the normally static-ridden Codec is crisper and animated in 3-D with voice synch. In addition to visual content, added game features are impressive. There are even more new sneaking modes, as per Kojima’s insistence that “violence is not the only method.” OctoCamo, new camouflage technology, helps Snake automatically blend into his surroundings. Action buttons are context sensitive, and Snake can hide in dumpsters or a metal drum can, move bodies around and administer stunning or lethal choke holds.
The game is much easier once the controls are mastered, since the 360-degree camera control can be a little sensitive to touch, which makes movement in general difficult. The radar has been replaced by a radius around Snake, which ripples when enemies are nearby, called the threat ring, which is initially hard to interpret and does not reveal the direction that enemies are looking in. Essentially, it is a little easier to be discovered by guards. However, auto-aim makes fighting off guards a cakewalk: Point in
their general direction, auto-aim, fire, boom.
Konami also gave gamers a chance to sample the new Dualshock 3 controller along with the "MGS4" demos. Dualshock 3 brings back the vibration controller to give more feedback during games. The original PS3 controller, Sixaxis, is largely criticized for its impracticality and over-sensitivity to movement. Dualshock 3 is mostly the same as the PS2 controller, and it is just as light as the Sixaxis.
All in all, Konami’s "MGS4" display was highly impressive, if not the most substantial out of the E for All exhibits. The game truly showed off the powerful potential of the Playstation 3 console as well as the prospects of Hideo Kojima’s game, which will be released in 2008.

NINTENDO:

Nintendo’s booth was among the largest displays. I was most intrigued by the number of ways you can use a Wiimote: vertical, horizontal, swinging, docked in a “zapper” (see photo), paired with a nunchuck or replaced with the classic Wiimote. (Link to Frank’s blog for more on Nintendo).
Naturally, the highlight of the show was "Super Smash Bros. Brawl." Crowds of kids and adults alike lined up. Enough said.

EA:

Electronic Arts had a pretty basic display area set up as well, along with a sports gaming stage. EA’s strength really lies in its sports games, but the booth also featured quite a few first-person shooters, ranging from the serious “Medal of Honor: Airborne” to the more comical “Team Fortress” game for the Xbox 360.
“Team Fortress,” a part of “The Orange Box” series that includes titles such as “Half-Life 2″ and “Portal,” is a surprisingly simple yet entertaining game. The premise of the multiplayer game is merely to make it to the other team’s base and steal their intelligence or prevent their intelligence from being stolen. Players can choose from different classes, such as a spy, an engineer or a medic, who have different roles and necessary tactics. The animation is slightly cartoonish, bearing resemblance to “The Incredibles,” only with a tad more bloody violence.

THQ:

THQ may not be the most recognizable company name, but they have worked on a number of popular game titles such as “Destroy All Humans!” and “Company of Heroes.” I sampled their "WWE" on the Nintendo Wii, which yielded surprising fun. The controls didn’t make much sense, since you can swing the Wiimote every which way and still land a straight punch, but it was enjoyable to have such a literal interaction with the game.

HARMONIX AND EA’S "ROCK BAND":

The "Rock Band" Tour Bus at first glance looked like a studio, with players hooked up to microphones, instruments and headphones. "Rock Band" is a sort of bizarre karaoke-meets-"Guitar Hero" matchup that makes perfect sense ““ except it will cost around $200 including tax to purchase the game bundled with instruments. Some players complain that with the high cost, they might as well buy their own real instruments. However, after playing the demo, that $200 looks like a slightly better investment. Harmonix, the company that worked on developing "Guitar Hero" along with RedOctane and Activision, has teamed up with EA and MTV to produce "Rock Band." The gameplay is similar to "Guitar Hero" in that it has the same basic 5 buttons, but it also has 5 smaller buttons toward the base of the guitar’s neck for solos. In addition to the guitar, players can perform on the drums, bass and vocals. Opposite "Guitar Hero"’s "star power," players can amass “energy” to resurrect other players who have “failed” a song. The cooperative game also features a number of more mainstream and recognizable yet enjoyable songs such as “Dani California” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.”
The only drawback to the game might be getting used to the feeling of the controls, since the drums are essentially like drums, the vocals are always tricky, and the guitar/bass buttons are a lot different from the "Guitar Hero" buttons, since they are closer together and are easy to mix up.

"GUITAR HERO III":

Activision and RedOctane are still sticking to the basics with "Guitar Hero III." The game appears to be mostly the same but has an improved guitar peripheral; the buttons are rounder and easier to press, which is a relief to the expert player who might be cramping up from insane solos. The game has a new “Battle” mode on multiplayer in which players must perform a solo and match up against each other to see which soloist is best.
The songs are also an exciting aspect of the game, since most of them are actual artist songs, instead of the typical covers in the past two "Guitar Hero" installments.
"Guitar Hero III" might look like an oldie compared to "Rock Band," but it is
still a great game to look forward to this month.

““ Jessica Lum

Click here for the E for All photo galleries: Part I and Part II

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