I also met up with GordoSan for the public part of E3, so I'm hoping he'll chime in here too.
Overall, it was a great experience. As I posted previously, E3 itself is a crazy sh*tshow. We met a guy on the sidewalk who told us "it gets worse every year." This was my first one, but I see what he meant. They keep letting more people in (kind of like what happened with SD ComicCon), and now it's overcrowded. Lines are ridiculous, and if you don't sign up for a playtime ahead of time, you're looking at a minimum 1-2 hour wait for popular games. The main problem is there are only so many demo stations, and the demos are usually at least 15 minutes long. I saw people laying down on the ground taking naps while waiting in line.
Also, it's hot as balls in there, and even though the booths are separate, there is no logic to walking around. So people are walking in all different directions, usually on their phones, running into each other, etc. Annoying to say the least.
Based off my thread here, you probably know my love of cosbabes as well. I met 2 quite well known ones (I won't name them publicly), but they were both disappointing IRL for different reasons. Ah well. But still cool to see in person.
Overally, I'd still recommend going, just have a battle plan before you go!
FanFest was a different beast entirely. It honestly blew me away (in a good way). They let us into this awesome movie theater across the street from the MS theater first, where there was a fan rally. They gave everyone jerseys, scarves, and some drinks/snacks before letting us in. They started with a nice tribute to XboxAddict, then Greenberg, Phil, and a few others came out to talk for a few minutes each. They couldn't say much because the conference hadn't happened yet. This all lasted about 1-2 hours, then the led us across the street for the briefing.
They had all the front rows reserved for us, so I ended up in the 3rd row. All I can say is the MS theater is f*cking unreal. I've been in all the big IMAX theaters, and nothing comes close to this. The sound was mind-blowing!! The whole theater shook with the base, and when objects were moving you could hear the sound move all over the theater. This happens in IMAX theaters, but not to the same extent as this. I've never experienced anything like it.
After the conference, we went back into the theater across the street. They gave us the swag bags, and re-played all the trailers again (some with more footage). A bunch of devs came in to talk, and we could ask questions to anyone there. During this time they had some game trivia with prizes, and they randomly took about 30 people total out for a ride in a MacLaren Senna! Sadly I wasn't one of the 30, but pretty awesome. Lots of cool swag, but I think the best things were a 2TB external HD, 2 years of GamePass, and a Duke controller. The entire thing lasted almost 3 hours.
The next night (Monday) they let us back into the MS theater. They had about 140 demo stations set up, and with only a few hundred people allowed in, there wasn't much waiting. I played FH4, Division 2, Ori 2, Unravel 2, Below, and a few others. They had 2 bars set up, so we all got 2 free drinks while playing. Almost every game had its devs walking around, and you could ask them questions without feeling time-pressured. The Division 2 guys were especially cool.
EA Play was up in the Hollywood area. If you've never been there, it's a pretty sh*tty area. Homeless tent cities everywhere! But EA Play was pretty huge. It was mostly outdoor, with a big stage in the middle. It was pretty far away from E3, so I only had time to see a 20 minute live demo of Anthem (not playable for the public), and then I was able to play a full round of BF V. I didn't know I was even going to EA Play, but they gave us a free ticket in our FanFest swag bag, so I made time for it. If I were to do it again, I'd give it a little more time there.
I loved BF V (impressions are in that thread), but Anthem was *slightly* underwhelming. Again, it was just a live 4 player co-op demo. But it was a solid 20 minutes long. The level was partially underground in a cavern, although there were brief flying and underwater parts. It looks AMAZING in person. I could tell the different javelins controlled very differently (as usual, the bigger more powerful one was slower, etc). The action was good, but honestly it moved pretty slowly. It reminded me a LOT of Gears. It moved like Gears, the weapons fired like it, and the boss we saw looked exactly like that big spider-looking creature from Gears. The people playing moved through a pretty area, stopped (for the most part), and took on enemies. Then they moved through another pretty area, stopped, and took on more enemies. I keep hearing good impressions from people that played it, but it seemed to drag a bit for me. At least the part that I saw. But the weapons, sounds, and visuals are really fantastic. The head dev was there watching our reactions and seemed like a really good dude.
Any other questions, fire away!
Overall, it was a great experience. As I posted previously, E3 itself is a crazy sh*tshow. We met a guy on the sidewalk who told us "it gets worse every year." This was my first one, but I see what he meant. They keep letting more people in (kind of like what happened with SD ComicCon), and now it's overcrowded. Lines are ridiculous, and if you don't sign up for a playtime ahead of time, you're looking at a minimum 1-2 hour wait for popular games. The main problem is there are only so many demo stations, and the demos are usually at least 15 minutes long. I saw people laying down on the ground taking naps while waiting in line.
Also, it's hot as balls in there, and even though the booths are separate, there is no logic to walking around. So people are walking in all different directions, usually on their phones, running into each other, etc. Annoying to say the least.
Based off my thread here, you probably know my love of cosbabes as well. I met 2 quite well known ones (I won't name them publicly), but they were both disappointing IRL for different reasons. Ah well. But still cool to see in person.
Overally, I'd still recommend going, just have a battle plan before you go!
FanFest was a different beast entirely. It honestly blew me away (in a good way). They let us into this awesome movie theater across the street from the MS theater first, where there was a fan rally. They gave everyone jerseys, scarves, and some drinks/snacks before letting us in. They started with a nice tribute to XboxAddict, then Greenberg, Phil, and a few others came out to talk for a few minutes each. They couldn't say much because the conference hadn't happened yet. This all lasted about 1-2 hours, then the led us across the street for the briefing.
They had all the front rows reserved for us, so I ended up in the 3rd row. All I can say is the MS theater is f*cking unreal. I've been in all the big IMAX theaters, and nothing comes close to this. The sound was mind-blowing!! The whole theater shook with the base, and when objects were moving you could hear the sound move all over the theater. This happens in IMAX theaters, but not to the same extent as this. I've never experienced anything like it.
After the conference, we went back into the theater across the street. They gave us the swag bags, and re-played all the trailers again (some with more footage). A bunch of devs came in to talk, and we could ask questions to anyone there. During this time they had some game trivia with prizes, and they randomly took about 30 people total out for a ride in a MacLaren Senna! Sadly I wasn't one of the 30, but pretty awesome. Lots of cool swag, but I think the best things were a 2TB external HD, 2 years of GamePass, and a Duke controller. The entire thing lasted almost 3 hours.
The next night (Monday) they let us back into the MS theater. They had about 140 demo stations set up, and with only a few hundred people allowed in, there wasn't much waiting. I played FH4, Division 2, Ori 2, Unravel 2, Below, and a few others. They had 2 bars set up, so we all got 2 free drinks while playing. Almost every game had its devs walking around, and you could ask them questions without feeling time-pressured. The Division 2 guys were especially cool.
EA Play was up in the Hollywood area. If you've never been there, it's a pretty sh*tty area. Homeless tent cities everywhere! But EA Play was pretty huge. It was mostly outdoor, with a big stage in the middle. It was pretty far away from E3, so I only had time to see a 20 minute live demo of Anthem (not playable for the public), and then I was able to play a full round of BF V. I didn't know I was even going to EA Play, but they gave us a free ticket in our FanFest swag bag, so I made time for it. If I were to do it again, I'd give it a little more time there.
I loved BF V (impressions are in that thread), but Anthem was *slightly* underwhelming. Again, it was just a live 4 player co-op demo. But it was a solid 20 minutes long. The level was partially underground in a cavern, although there were brief flying and underwater parts. It looks AMAZING in person. I could tell the different javelins controlled very differently (as usual, the bigger more powerful one was slower, etc). The action was good, but honestly it moved pretty slowly. It reminded me a LOT of Gears. It moved like Gears, the weapons fired like it, and the boss we saw looked exactly like that big spider-looking creature from Gears. The people playing moved through a pretty area, stopped (for the most part), and took on enemies. Then they moved through another pretty area, stopped, and took on more enemies. I keep hearing good impressions from people that played it, but it seemed to drag a bit for me. At least the part that I saw. But the weapons, sounds, and visuals are really fantastic. The head dev was there watching our reactions and seemed like a really good dude.
Any other questions, fire away!
