Recently, I traveled to Los Angeles, California. I was there on business (big surprise), and attending an industry event (another big surprise).
I started the quick trip very early in the morning. I decided to treat myself to breakfast tacos from the Salt Lick. I chose the brisket tacos - and they did NOT disappoint. It may look like a mess, but that's just because they're so good:
My first flight was to Houston, where I was connecting to LA. The United terminal at the airport has undergone quite a renovation. It may also include other parts of the airport, but I usually don't see those. The waiting areas are much more open, and quite pleasant. There is an endless supply of tablets and electrical outlets. The furniture is nice and it's a wonderful way to wait for a flight:
I arrived in LA and headed to the Los Angeles Convention Center - the location for E3. E3 stands for "Electronic Entertainment Expo" and it's the single largest trade show dedicated to gaming, in the U.S. The road to the show was typical for LA - a parking lot on the freeway...
This is, I believe, my 22nd E3 event - I've only missed one. I've certainly seen the industry change over those years. I add yet another badge to the collection:
E3 is where all major video game publishers showcase their upcoming games - these may not be available for over a year ahead. In addition, the big companies that actually make the game consoles are there. An ENORMOUS amount of money is spent on marketing these games at the show. It starts with banners that are several stories high, draped across the exterior of the convention center:
Inside, there is a great deal of excited. Usually, the event is only open to folks that work in the gaming industry. This year, they have made several thousand tickets available to the general public. That should breathe some new life into the event.
The assault on one's senses begins in the lobby of the convention center. There are long lines to play unreleased games, beginning with Crash Bandicoot:
I actually worked on a few of the Crash games, back in my career. I have a love of the character, and hope it continues to succeed.
Inside one of the massive convention halls, the booths are quite large and elaborate. The first that I encountered when coming through the door was for Microsoft - showcasing the Xbox. Microsoft had just held a press conference to introduce the latest "update" to the Xbox, called "Xbox One X" They didn't have any on the expo floor, but showed quite a few games for the existing console:
This is an image of the newly announced Xbox One X - along with a display that shows the layers of components in the upcoming system.
One of the featured games was actually shown last year. However, it still looks like a lot of fun. It's called "Sea of Thieves" and you get to act as a pirate and sail ships, battle other pirates and seek treasure. Here's a quick video clip of someone playing the game:
Next up is Activision's booth. They are one of the largest publishers - their booth was just mobbed.
Hard to show in this picture, but there is a massive line going down the left side of the picture, for people waiting to get into a theater, so see previews of the upcoming Activision games. The line wrapped around the booth!
One of their big upcoming games is Destiny 2 - and they arranged over a dozen stations for people to play the game:
I always stop by to see the latest games based on the Lego franchise - mostly because my youngest son loves them so much:
Funny enough - several booths had giant statues of dragons, extruding from their structures. I saw at least three of these...I guess some elements of high-end games are quite repetitive ; )
Next up is the Ubisoft booth - another heavy-weight in the industry. They had a very open structure, different from years past:
A game that they featured prominently, was Just Dance 2018. This is a popular game where you try to mimic the motion of on-screen dancers. Lot's of fun...
The size and creativity of these booths are always amazing to witness. While I may not appreciate every game, I respect the folks that have to design, build and run these things...
Here's an example. An upcoming game from Bethesda is called Wolfenstein II - it's set in a universe where the Germans won WWII, and they have occupied the U.S. For E3, Bethesda created an entire diner inside their booth - it was astonishing:
Another attraction in some booths is an area to have your picture taken in. People love to look like they're "in" the game:
Nearby, they had an enclosed area filled with over a dozen gaming stations. Everyone was "behind glass" so people walking by could watch the engaged in the game:
Dragon #2 spotted in a nearby booth. See puny humans for scale:
Square-Enix is a large publisher, based in Japan. They always have giant video screens to showcase their upcoming games. This time, they wanted to preview Kingdom Hearts 3, which is a traditional Japanese-style game, with Disney characters found throughout a "serious" game:
With almost 60,000 people attending the show, grabbing a bite to eat is always a challenge. The area between the two larges exhibit halls has hosted food trailers for the last few years. The selection is getting better each year:
This is the Waffle Truck. It was awesome. If you click on the picture, you can see a more-detailed look at the menu...there are some winners on there...
I just had to try one. I chose the Waffle Dog - it was fantastic! I didn't dip it in the maple syrup, as the carbs were already high. Regardless, it was a wonderful twist on the hot-dog-on-a-stick
Next door, was Okamoto Kitchen, serving Japanese food, with anime characters decorating the entire trailer:
Back inside another exhibit hall, I stumbled upon the Nintendo booth - a 30,000 sq ft structure. They were featuring the newly-released Nintendo Switch. The walls of the booth were just massive:
The line to be able to play the newest Mario game (Odyssey) was wrapped around the enormous booth!
Inside the booth was a world of Mario - with giant facade walls on both sides. In the middle were dozens of game stations to play the featured games:
Nintendo arranged for dozens and dozens of Nintendo Switch stations - so people could try the latest Mario game (see video below). The game looked like a LOT of fun:
At the front of the booth, there was an area where they held tournaments. Players would face-off against each other in several games, and the progress was displayed on giant video monitors nearby:
Another big game that was showcased by Nintendo is called Arms - sort of a boxing game, but your can stretch your arms across an arena for special tricks:
Next door was the Sony Playstation booth. Inside, were dozens upon dozens of gaming stations for people to experience the latest games:
Sony is also trying an experiment for the home. They are working on Playstation games where a family or friends an interact via a smartphone. For example, this would allow you to play a trivia game and secretly select from multiple answers, without your family/friends seeing your answers ; )
Dragon #3 spotted...I believe this one was just outside the Sega booth...
Another example of some booth creativity - this is Sega's booth. They have a game called Yakuza, which is the Japanese mafia. They made this feel just like an alley in Tokyo:
As I mentioned, the organizers sold tickets to the public. You could tell that it was a group of gaming fans, when they stood in line for 30 minutes, just to get a bag:
Nintendo and Ubisoft actually worked together to produce a game call Mario Rabbids, which combines characters from two famous franchises. This giant statue was placed in the lobby of one of the conference halls:
Overall, the show was fun to see - I still can't believe how much money is spent on these booths. It's a spectacle, to be sure. However, it's another reason why I love working in this industry so much. At the end of the day, it's all about fun ; )
The next day, I decided to spend time at a decidedly more quiet place. The Los Angeles LDS Temple. This is a beautiful structure, that sits right in the heart of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills:
The grounds were just beautiful. Inside, it was peaceful and a way to escape the noise and craziness of the world that surrounds it. I'm so glad that I spent time there to recharge, spiritually.
To finish the day off, I had a burrito at Baja Fresh, which is a food chain in LA (and beyond). When I lived in LA, I had one of these places only a 3 minute walk from my apartment. Eating this burrito brought back a lot of great memories from my life in LA.
That's it for this year's E3. I know this was a long post - but I hope you enjoyed the images from the show.
Thanks!
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