What were gaming events like E3 like during the retro era? What did people look forward to? Because now all people want are remakes of entries in old franchises, back in the day they were all new or didn't exist, so what did people care about then?
as a kid in the 90s i remember being eternally confused about what e3 actually meant. it probably didnt help that i didnt read magazines all the way through (the only source of info i had regarding games). at least i dont really remember doing that. i pretty much thumbed thru them and only really read about games i liked. but i definitely remember the term e3 being used in magazines but i never really thought about what it meant other than the game was hyped up or something.
>>12618297I always simply thought E3 is some event where new games are presented - but for everybody who's interested .Like I could go to E3 too if it wasn't so far away that I won't convince my parents to travel there just for video games.
>>12618282I think that man might have a comb over, not sure though.
>>12618507it is beyond my comprehension why you would do that let alone just not shave your head and be done with the entire charade
>>12618507His brown sex therapeuthist/assistant doesn't mind
>>12618282I was too young to really appreciate E3 in the 90s/early 2000s. It wasn't until about 2005 that I actually started paying attention to E3, mostly with the intention that I wanted to go one day and check everything out. A lot of the news magazines and gaming websites talked E3 up heavily, and right next to Quakecon, it was something I wanted to see.I remember reading GameSpy's coverage of E3 at the time, sometimes there was some really cool stuff shown that I was actually hyped for, but a lot of times it was stuff I wasn't really into. A lot of vaporware PC games were covered that never really came out, or things like Halo that I just couldn't care about. The Nintendo stuff was something I paid attention to because although I had moved on to PC at the time, I could rely on things Nintendo showcased actually being released.Funnily enough, I don't really remember a lot of what Sony showed off at E3 prior to the PS3. You'd think I'd actually keep up with the PS2's releases since that was the console I had at the time, but when the PS3 showcased and announced itself for $599 USD, I remember thinking my PC wasn't even that expensive at the time. I picked up a Wii instead and bought a lot of GameCube games since I didn't have that console during its lifecycle.Beyond E3, QuakeCon was cool, but it was already in decline by the time I could go. I remember id showing off Rage and thinking, "Well that's nice, but I'm really just here to frag randoms in person."
In the 90s there were multiple major trade shows throughout the year: E3, Tokyo Game Show, and in the case of Nintendo there was Shoshinkai / SpaceworldYou have to remember that technology back then was advancing very quickly in a relatively short amount of time, so people were just excited to see what cool new things could be done with new hardware. This was especially true with the jump from 2D to 3D. Major game genres and IPs were still in their infancy or hadn’t even yet been born.You also had nascent online communities and gaming websites where you could discover and discuss all the latest developments and rumors, so you weren’t just limited to magazines for information. Naturally there were plenty of online flamewars just as there are today.
I lived it through magazines. Everytime there was an E3, magazines would cover all the upcoming games and you would see some small photos of the actual TV cabinets on the stands, and people playing them, and a brief description of each game, who the developer/publisher was, and release date if available.Through that small glimpse you imagined how the games could be. Sometimes, TV shows (the 1 or 2 video game shows you might have had, if any) would also show some actual video footage of E3.The most legendary event covered by magazines to me wasnt E3 though, but shoshinkai/space world, the 1995 one where they revealed the N64 with the first Super Mario 64 demo. Looking at those screenshots was insane and even more insane was that the game lived up to the hype.
>>12618282I only went to a couple trade shows back then, fortunately at times when there weren't the excessive lines to the events. It was an exciting glimpse into the future of games, and even try out some early builds of games. They were opportunities to get in contact with representatives of the companies behind the games. I looked forward to the spectacle, something excitingly interesting, but sometimes sequels and remakes as I remember at one they had an early build of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the longest line of about 20 people for 3 at a time to play Segasonic the Hedgehog arcade game. I got to speak with Megatech about their exciting lineup of games after my love of Cobra Mission. At the EA booth, I discovered something new that caught my attention which I never heard of or had any clue about prior, in what would become Shadow Caster. The Nintendo booth one year they had a guy on the mic hyping up Street Fighter 2 Turbo (for SNES) constantly talking about the value of competition. Another year they had a laser show showing off the Super FX chip and 3D. I remember talking to the guy in the Zonk (Bonk was elsewhere in the TTi booth) mascot on how his experience was inside the suit. Going to the magazine publishers like Gamefan being excited to share their mags with everyone, or the EGM booth for their prizes in beating Ken (Sushi-X) at SF2'. I collected so many fliers from all booths, and I think my cousins probably took all the Nintendo Power pins whenever they'd open up for more to be given out. I still remember playing all sorts of early builds of games like Streets of Rage 2, Silpheed, Megaman X, Final Fantasy 3 (6), SNES Smash TV, Stunt Race FX, etc. I cared about all the future games, but there were some that just wanted to show off their current games. As years went on, they allowed more of the general public to enjoy the shows, and lines got long. I remember the first exciting play of Capcom Vs. SNK 2 having 6 buttons! So many memories.
>>12618282E3 was something you looked forward to. It was a huge event on /v/. Best time of the year on 4chan easily was E3 on /v/. The most fun E3 was the Konami show by far. WowThey don't really release enough good games anymore to warrant an E3 event anymore. Theirs like a couple worthwhile games released a year. If it wasn't for Japan the industry would be dead because the western game industry completely collapsed by like 2010.
