E3 2006 PC Impressions

Posted by Yuri Goldfeld May 19, 2006

The 2404 team (that is to say, yours truly) had a blast at this year’s E3, which happened at the Los Angeles Convention Center May 10-12. Having had a couple of days to recover, here are my impressions. I solemnly swear to avoid “preview euphemism-speak” as much as humanly possible. Let’s hope it’ll bring you one step closer to feeling like you were actually at E3 2006. If you have any questions, feel free to drop by our forums and ask.

There’s nothing quite like E3 for a gamer; it’s an assault of sight and sound. However, it’s nowhere near as inaccessible as one would think (except for the fabled Nintendo Wii, with its fabled line). In fact, for 99% of games, the average E3 attendee (not necessarily even media members like us at 2404) will be able see or play the game with less than 5 minutes of wait time. Just find a developer at the booth, and you can easily have a 20-minute conversation on the ins and outs of the game at hand, like I did with Hellgate: London.

Some games, however, are shown only behind closed doors (or in trailers, but that you might as well ignore as if it didn’t exist). Usually, these are high-profile games that are not ready to be played by the average guy, but can be driven by a dev in a demo. If that’s the case, one needs a behind-closed-doors invitation to view a demo in the company’s meeting rooms, or one is out of luck. For example, Mass Effect (X360) and Assassin’s Creed (PS3) were two such titles. I got to see some such demos (Mass Effect, Jade Empire PC). It’s also a lot nicer to sit in a quiet room as opposed to the busy show floor. Nevertheless, the floor is plenty good enough to get a good impression of 99% of the games.

Another key thing about E3 is that the impression one gets from a game is somewhat limited. With few exceptions, it’s hard to judge a game’s gameplay (especially if it’s an RPG), so in a lot of cases one is basically stuck with evaluating the graphics. When someone says a game is “best in show,” really, they’re 90% talking about the graphics. That’s why you have to take E3 impressions (even hands-on ones) with a grain of salt. However, it beats the snot out of reading previews – at least I know what I saw, as opposed to the preview euphemism lingo (in which, for example, “pretty good” roughly translates to “OK at best”).

We at 2404 cover PC gaming, but we were just as curious about the next-gen consoles as the next guy. Therefore, consoles get some love in this set of previews, as well. Without further ado, let’s get to it.