Los Angeles-E3 Part 2

This week, I'm in Los Angeles, California.  This is the second post of the trip - see yesterday's post here.

I'm in California to attend a big trade show.  With over 45,000 people in attendance, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is a major milestone for the gaming industry each year.

Each major game publisher creates "buzz" for their upcoming game releases.  The onslaught of advertising and promotion starts well before you get into the actual show.  It's held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and you encounter these GIANT signs before entering the facility:

I believe each one of those signs costs anywhere from $20K - $50K a piece.  Yikes!  In addition to the banners, there are companies that will simply take advantage of the crowds at the show - and the fact that they are predominantly main - to market their products.  This is a large tent from people that make caffeinated sports drinks...handing out free samples to everyone that passes by:

Once inside, the promotion continues.  This is the entrance to the show - with just a few banners overhead:

Even Target recognizes the business impact of videogames.  They had their own booth in the lobby, where you could pre-order games that were going on sale in the next few months:

I made my may into the first of two giant conventional halls.  This one houses several well-known game publishers.  Being nostalgic, I headed for Sega first:

Sonic the Hedgehog, the Sega mascot

Each of these multi-million dollar booths (I'm not joking), you'll find a mix of glitz, glamour, games and celebrities.  In the Sega booth, they were showing a new Sega-sponsored car for Danica Patrick.  She's one of the few female NASCAR drivers.

Sega is also publishing a game based on the old Aliens movie.  They had a 12-foot replica of a scene from the movie:

As well as a full-detail statue of the Alien monster from the movie:

Next door, another publisher was showing a new Star Trek game, letting ordinary geeks sit in the Star Trek captain's chair, with Starfleet "models" on either side:

Nearby, the third largest game publisher in the world - Ubisoft - had their booth.  They were promoting a game called "Assassin's Creed." This version of the historical game will take place during the American Revolution.  It looks like you'll be able to take out Redcoats in an unusual fashion:

Nearby, the booth for Warner Brothers Interactive was showing a new Harry Potter game.  This one works with Microsoft Kinect.  That's a sensor that allows you to move your body to control the characters on the screen.  Here's a quick video.  Look past the lazy guy in the foreground, and you'll see a woman actually playing the game behind him:

I then made my way to the Disney Interactive booth.  They always have interesting things to look at, as well as play.  It started with a display case of Disney memorabilia - including models and props from some of the older films:

One of the big games that Disney was promoting is called Epic Mickey 2.  It's a Wii-based game that gives an animated Mickey a magic paintbrush that he uses to solve problems.  I won't spend more time to describe it, but it's a creative idea.  This version includes the early version of Mickey (Oswald) that Walt Disney started with back in the 30s:

As a treat, Disney was giving away special ears, based on the Oswald character.  Here's what they looked like:

They would embroider your name on the back, just like the Mickey ears you buy at Disneyland.  The line for these was long.  I'm talking hundreds of people, every day of the show, wrapped around the Disney booth.  Creative move, Disney.

Disney has been working on smartphone and tablet games, especially titles that have nothing to do with Disney movie characters.  Recently, they published a very popular game for iPhones and iPads called Where's My Water.  The game requires you to route water from broken pipes to get to the shower of a cartoon alligator - it's quite fun. This is a favorite of my son G-Man.  I had my picture taken with the alligator in the shower ; )

They're also working with Ubisoft on a version of the Just Dance series that includes favorite songs from Disney movies and TV shows (this always reminds me of our friends in Arizona - always up for a dancing rhythm game):

As you would expect, they will release a game based on the upcoming animated Brave film.  The game was fine, but the huge Brave display was much more interesting ; )

I then passed a series of booths that just had some creative (and expensive) displays.  This was a 20-ft high sculpture from a game called Defiance, where aliens have attacked several cities...like San Francisco:

This was a giant 15-ft cow from a game called Harvest Moon

Basically, you saw companies trying to get the attention of the 45,000 in attendance.  I don't know how effective the cow was...but at least I stopped to take a picture, so it worked ; )

I think that's enough for now...I'll keep working on the pictures and video from Nintendo and Playstation booths tomorrow.  Thanks for reading!