E for All is put on by IDG, the same folks who puts on E3 (both its past and present form). Like E3s of the past, E for All includes the the Into the Pixel art exhibit and is also held at the Los Angeles convention center. About here is where the similarities end. E for All's convention floor area only took up the West Hall of the center, whereas E3 used Both South and West Halls as well as the downstairs Kentia Hall and many more seminar rooms. Needless to say E for All's exhibitor list was much smaller than the usual E3 (or even the newer "mini" E3). And finally, despite E for All being open to the public, reported attendance for the four days of the convention was totaled at 18,000 versus a rough estimate of 60,000 for last year's E3.

So what do these similarities and differences boil down to? Well to this E3 veteran it made for both a good and a slightly disappointing convention. The good began early. Traffic wasn't as bad. Parking was much easier. I could easily get a table at the eating level of the lobby area (granted I was there to get in at 11:00 AM which was before the show was open to the public). The biggest difference with E3s of yore was that one had much better accessibility to the games and game makers who were there. At past E3s, even when you met folks in the special media rooms (which were often hot and stuffy), noise levels were still high enough to make it hard to hear everything and everyone had hoarse voices. And if you weren't media and wanted hands-on play with a game you could expect a long wait. At E for All appointments didn't seem as necessary and it was possible to begin playing a game immediately, though there were notable exceptions such as the lines for Rock Band, Super Mario Smash Bros and Metal Gear Solid but even those lines came no where near the Disneyesque lines seen at past E3s.

And yet, when I went outside to take a picture of West Hall's entrance, I felt disappointment in not seeing the usual America's Army military vehicles outside and the crowd of smaller budget game companies trying to pass you their flyers. And even though at the lobby a kilted and energetic group of musicians played for the line of journalists waiting for the doors to open, once inside West Hall I also missed some of that Vegas like high energy that a large crowd with many distracting lights gives off. However, I did NOT miss being jostled by said crowd.

Well, we already knew it once the announcement came that E3 was going to be downsized, but now it seems official, the end of a gaming era has happened. E3 is no more. This year's E for All, while a decent convention, especially for its inaugural run, is no E3. Now we'll do what we do when any good gaming franchise takes a turn for the worse, accept the newer versions, find another, or relive the classics through nostalgic tales.

Show Highlights

Rock Band - I nearly went on stage to try this. It looked pretty darn fun. But yes, I said "nearly". The signs saying that once you did so you gave them the right to be broadcast gave me pause, and then, well then I watched a particular performance. All I can say is, well I'm just not that brave. Video here.

Warhammer Online
This game is coming along, I got to play it for a bit. It looks great, and yes, does remind me of WoW (though the EA/Mythic folks hate it when I say that since the Warhammer IP came out first). It's got a slightly more realistic look to it than WoW though and a darker overall story. I did a simple quest involving burning buildings which were rendered quite nicely. The quest itself was not unusual MMORPG fare but fun nonetheless. What's most promising about this game is the PvP and PvE integration. The player will be exposed to a variety of danger levels, for example, doing a PvE quest in a PvP Zone. But what's the deal with the closed beta? I'll answer that and provide a lot more details as part of a separate article.

Super Mario Galaxy - Fun game, more reminiscent of Mario of old, engaging "Galaxy" concept lets you travel to different planets. One planet was quite small, and if caught off guard you would wonder what the heck you were supposed to do on it (and in fact it looks like you'd fall off if you walked to the underside of it) but a surprise rocket keeps you on your toes. This game is going to be a seller.

Ghost Squad - Good old fashioned shooter. First person view but minus getting to control where you move. Bad guys pop up and you take them down. Point off screen to reload. Further down the line up of players I was in guys were reloading by pointing their Wii guns into the air, that was for Company of Heroes.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games - I'm biased. I'm a fencer. So I played the "Individual Epee" event. It was fun and miles better than "Monkey fencing" in Super Monkey Ball Banana blitz. You could advance, advance quickly (this was controlled with the nunchuk joystick), thrusts were controlled by thrusting with the Wiimote but you could also feint with a button press. You could also parry by moving the Wiimote, but as a fencer I was amused by this since the kind of parry performed in this manner is not a huge part of epee fencing (you would do similar moves but never just parry and leave it at that). Overall I liked it and think anyone whose never fenced before will also like it; however, I did wish it was a first person view event (but hadn't really expected it to be). I also tried the hurdles (failed miserably at it) and the 100m (did fine at that but of course any race is going to be more fun playing against real players).

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution - This is the first game Sid himself has come back to helm in a long time. I played it on the Xbox. First off you are zoomed in much closer than in the PC game, instead of darkness, you see a thick fog that obscures other tiles. Play was easy and intuitive, and the throne room is back (though a little wacky as it has been filled with unusual performers such as dancing bears which you've received as gifts). There will be online play, even on the Wii (though the Wii release will come later than the other consoles). More information upcoming.

Smaller booths - Treychair.com. A convertible desk/gamer chair. Not a bad idea for those who want to save on space and/or money. It makes a decently comfortable desk chair and then easily detaches from the base to give you a floor rocker type chair and a little table/footstool. PianoWizard.com. Learn piano via a game, can use any midi keyboard. They'll also have guitar wizard out. Decent game which lets you transition from Guitar Hero like colored dots to eventually having you read real music.

Special Event - EA NBA Live 2008 - Laker Derek Fisher and Clipper Corey Maggette faced off (neither played their own team by the way) and the winner, Derek, played Fatal1ty (Johnathan Wendel). All three seemed like nice guys. I was struck about how NOT towering tall the two basketball players were. The game looked really great (Xbox) just walking by one might've mistaken one of the monitors to be showing an actual basketball game.

Well that was it for E for All for me. As I mentioned, it was enough (and be sure to read the expanded articles I have coming up) but it was no E3. In a way I was glad since I then had more time just catching up with LA friends. I could get used to this new relaxed convention but I'm not sure everyone else (paying public, paying exhibitors, and far traveling journalists) can.

----
E for All picture Album


© Copyright 2004 The Safehouse Network, LLC