The history of the E3 began with its creation in 1995 and has continued through the current expo in 2008. The conference was known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo from 1995 to 2006. From 2007 onward, the conference is known as the E3 Media and Business Summit.
Electonic Entertainment Expo
1995 to 1998
In 1995, the first E3 was put on by the Interactive Digital Software Association (now the Entertainment Software Association). It coincided with the start of a new generation of consoles, with the release of the Sega Saturn, and the announcements of upcoming releases of the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Virtual Boy and SNK's Neo*Geo CD. Specifications for the Nintendo Ultra 64 (later renamed the N64) were released, but there was no hardware shown. The event ran from May 11 through May 13 in Los Angeles, California. Keynote speakers included Sega of America, Inc. president and CEO Thomas Kalinske; Sony Electronic Publishing Company president Olaf Olafsson; and Nintendo chairman Howard Lincoln.
The event continued to grow and become a common place for the unveiling of new products. In 1996, Nintendo's press conference unveiled the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario 64 in the U.S. The Unreal Engine was shown for the first time by Epic MegaGames, but no actual Unreal gameplay. StarCraft also had its debut in a very early build of the game as well as Final Fantasy VII. The event ran from May 16th through May 18th in Los Angeles, California.
Nintendo, for which Square had developed all previous titles in the Final Fantasy series, had decided to continue to use cartridges for its upcoming Nintendo 64 console. This eventually led to a dispute that resulted in Square ending its long, often tumultuous, relationship with Nintendo, and Square announced on January 12, 1996 it would be developing Final Fantasy VII for Sony's PlayStation system.
In 1997 E3 was held in Atlanta, Georgia, some of what would become the most popular first-person shooter games are unveiled, such as Half-Life and Unreal. Other first person shooters included SiN, Daikatana, Prey, Quake 2 and Jedi Knight 2. In addition, the stealth action game Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation was unveiled.
In 1998, Half-Life made an ultimate appearance at E3, in its final development stage. Duke Nukem Forever, a game that would remain in development hell for several years, was shown for the first time. A Preytrailer was also shown. The event was again held in Atlanta, Georgia.
Electronic Entertainment Magazine co-launched the first E3 with IDSA.
1999
1999 saw the dawn of a new generation of consoles. The Dreamcast, the first sixth generation era console, was featured. The event from here on ran usually in Los Angeles, California.
2000
Game makers in 2000 showcased some of the greatest game icons of the generation. The PlayStation 2 and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty were featured, as was the Xbox and Halo: Combat Evolved. The latter had a poor showing, though it later became one of the world's best selling video-games. The PlayStation 2 would go on to become the world's highest-selling console.
In, 2003, Half-Life 2 was unveiled, a Halo 2 single player demo using an experimental lighting engine (which was not used in the final game) was shown and the PlayStation Portable was first mentioned. During this E3, exhibitors emphasized the rise of the MMORPG genre. The Sims 2 was also unveiled. Many gamers were surprised by the new game and asked Maxis questions after the information was released.
This was the first time the E3 convention was aired on television and all future conventions are now slated to air on G4 network.
In 2005, the shift in focus continued with Sony debuting the PlayStation 3, albeit in an unplayable form. Many of the games shown for the system were pre-rendered video. The Revolution, (later named Wii) was unveiled along with the Gameboy Micro.
The 2006 E3 show focused on the upcoming releases of Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii, along with the next wave of games for the Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PSP, and mobile phones. Several websites such as the Washington Post noted in retrospect that Nintendo 'stole the show'. They cited the long lines for attendees waiting to play the Wii.
Microsoft
Microsoft, holding its conference at the Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, announced its plans for its current system, the Xbox 360. Although there was first confusion, Microsoft later confirmed that at the time of the show there was no deal to have 'episodic content' exclusive to the Xbox 360. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, spoke of plans to integrate several Microsoft services into one entity with Live Anywhere. This service was planned to allow multiplayer games and communication possible between Xbox 360 and the (then unreleased) Windows Vista operating system for the PC. Microsoft also announced a significant expansion of its Xbox Live arcade service, promising many more arcade favorites in the near future. Upcoming games announced for the Xbox 360 included Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Hitman: Blood Money, The Sopranos, Fable 2, Gears of War, and Sonic the Hedgehog.
On July 31, 2006, it was announced that the expo would be downsized and reconstructed. On October 13, 2006, the new format was detailed. Essentially, the E3 "Trade Show" was replaced with a much lower-key and selective series of events known as the E3 Media and Business Summit. It focused on press events and small meetings rather than the large, hectic environment of previous years.[1] The summit was in Santa Monica, from the July 11-13.
Microsoft announced that Disney movies would be coming to Xbox 360 Live Marketplace. Gears of War was announced to be coming to the PC. New trailers were shown for Halo 3 and Halo Wars. A Halo-themed Xbox 360 was also announced. Details on Civilization Revolution and Fallout 3 were given. BioShock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Assassin's Creed for Xbox 360, as well as Crysis for the PC were demoed. It was also announced that the Xbox 360 Elite would be coming to Europe on August 24 2007. It was announced that the Xbox Live Video Marketplace would be released in Canada and select European countries in late 2007. [2]
Nintendo
Nintendo announced and demoed three new peripherals; the Wii Balance Board, Wii Zapper and Wii Wheel. Wii Balance Board was announced to come packaged with Wii Fit and involves families coming to exercise together. The Wii Wheel was announced to be packaged with the newly announced Mario Kart Wii. The Wii Zapper was announced to come packaged with its own software at a low cost. Nintendo dated Super Smash Bros. Brawl for December 3, 2007, (though later in October 2007, the launch was delayed until February 10, 2008 and delayed again to March 9, 2008) and Super Mario Galaxy for November 12, 2007. De Blob, Contra 4, and Metroid Prime 3 were demoed, the last in near-complete form. A trailer for Soulcalibur Legends was shown at the conference. Nitrobike and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 were announced, the latter including 32 multi player online.
Microsoft released demos for Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Fable II, and Resident Evil 5, among other games. Though not all demos are for download on Xbox Marketplace, new trailers for them have been added. Also, an Xbox 360 dashboard update scheduled for fall 2008, with a new user interface and avatar system, was previewed. Additional television and movie content from NBC Universal and other providers was announced for Xbox Live, including support for Netflix instant-watch titles. A television-style gaming feature known as Primetime was shown with a game based on the game show 1 vs. 100 shown as an example. Final Fantasy XIII was announced for the Xbox 360 for North America and Europe.
Nintendo
Wii MotionPlus was announced by Nintendo on July 142008. It connects with the expansion port at the bottom of the Wii Remote to boost its precision. It was announced that the attachment can render every movement in the wrist or arm to allow for a real-time response in gameplay when used in conjunction with the Sensor Bar and the Wii Remote's built-in functionality.[3][4] A demo for Wii Music was unveiled on July 15, revealing support for the Wii Balance Board, as well as the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. The WiiSpeak peripheral was also introduced, a microphone device that will allow remote communication between players that will debut with one of the announced games, Animal Crossing: City Folk.[5]Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was announced alongside Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades and details on Spore Creatures, all games for the Nintendo DS. A sequel for Wii Sports, titled Wii Sports Resort, was revealed to be in development and to be released next spring.
