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E3 was successful for little guys too
Okay, we admit it. Despite E3's recent return to form, we missed Kentia Hall's secluded cave of unspoken delights, if only for its cheap food and even cheaper thrills. Still, the lack of a space to call their own didn't stop some companies from venturing to the surface and setting up shop in the outskirts of E3 proper. It's an adventure that, according to some, was well worth the effort. Glad we all agree.Operating a booth on the fringe of South Hall, Gamer Grub's Raphael DiBianco was one of a handful of smaller outfits that got something out of the experience. The game snack pusher told IndustryGamers that while it didn't invest much money into its E3 presence, "we got a lot of bang out of what we did." Still, he joked that the big guys at the show "ostracize the little kids and leave us in the corner." Just be glad, DiBianco, this isn't the E3 of old. Oh, the hazing stories we could tell.
360 to Wii: Anything you can do, I can do better
We saw what Sony's PlayStation 3 EyeToy can do in terms of motion technology (as well as its upgraded PS3 remote), and we know Nintendo's primary console feature is its motion-sensored remote, but what about the Xbox 360? Aaron Stanton of About.com visited the GestureTek booth in Kentia Hall at last week's E3 to learn about a new development kit to use with the Xbox 360 camera. Not only can it map your face to a character model, but with GestureTek's technology the Xbox 360 camera can accurately track a player's movement, including specific finger usage.To further impress, GestureTek demonstrated for Stanton how the technology can emulate each Nintendo Wii game on the show floor. The technology is impressive, of course, but as Stanton points out not likely to surpass the Wii. Simply put, the GestureTek demo is just that -- a demo. And on top of that, technology for a peripheral, which can be easily ignored by developers. It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft and Sony use their respective cameras to match Nintendo's features, but if Sony's press conference is any indication (Sony just glazed over its EyeToy demo), we doubt it.[Thanks, Eric Stoben]
E3: Kentia hall walkthrough
Kind of like the International Gateway at CES, we save this one for dessert. Kentia hall is basically the basement of the South hall, where all the smaller hardware and accessory manufacturers are relegated to since having a floor show presence in one of the main halls costs something roughly equivalent to the GDP of a small nation (and are sometimes similar in size). Kentia is also where all the dope old school arcade games get brought out of retirement, too. Click on to check out all the oddities E3's got to offer.
