Au Revoir Santa Monica: E3 is over but we're not done yet
We know that E3 was different this year, and we suspect (and hope) it will be different again next year. Between our relaunch, three major press conferences, a bunch of other less major press conferences, dozens of hands-on impressions, the occasional (and sadly rare) news post, some executive interviews, and even a party, we brought you everything E3 had to offer ... even if it wasn't the spectacle of years past.
Because of the intimate nature of the event, we spent more time seeing everything and, as a result, we're spending more time writing to give you a more thorough impression of the software at the show. We're beat – though we've got some more stuff to write up – but we're hoping you enjoyed reading our E3 coverage as much as we loved writing it. And now, for some fun stats:
Number of conferences liveblogged: 8, but it felt more like 18
Number of tickets: 4 (1 for a U-turn, 3 for jaywalking ... seriously)
Number of times Jeff Bell made us cringe: at least 10 (but it felt like a hundred)
Average miles per gallon on our enormous tank: 10.6 (CA gas is over $3 a gallon)
Amount of time it took to walk the hangar: 5 minutes
Amount of time it actually took to test the games at the hangar: 3 hours
Amount of time wasted traveling to Barker hangar: 10 hours (30 mins each way)
Times we witnessed others "pulling a Peter Moore" at the Rock Band booth: 6
Number of spots we found with actual free WiFi: 3
Number of times we cursed the lack of city-wide WiFi: 2748
Amount of Sony executives seen outside their safe confines: 0
Number of appearances by Duke Nukem Forever: 0
BMI of Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime: 27.51
Number of Kwik-E-Mart-style 7-11 visits at 1:30am: Just 1
Number of times we swam in the Pacific Ocean: 0
From L to R: Richard Mitchell, Christopher Grant, Kevin Kelly, Barb Dybwad, James Ransom-Wiley, Ludwig Kietzmann, Ross Miller, and Andrew Yoon
Alexander Sliwinski and Kyle Orland, leaving the party early (stupid planes)
Joystiq's Ross Miller, Andrew Yoon and Kevin Kelly in an informal chat with Reggie Fils-Aime at Nintendo's Media Analyst Reception (please disregard the pirate in the foreground)
From R to L: Alexander Sliwinski and David Dreger laugh at a funny, funny joke told by Richard Mitchell
Hey Barb, you need more tattoos. I still see some bare flesh there ...
Us blogging MacWorl ... err, E3
We've begun the arduous (and costly) process of replacing all of our blogger's heads with laptops, maximizing blogging efficiency. Next, camera hands and EVDO hearts!
On a Segway, Ludwig Kietzmann is almost as tall as Chris Grant
The Joystiq crew shows off the magical power bands that granted access to Sony's press conference
BUSTED! For jaywalking on the way to the Sony keynote ... at a crosswalk ... with no cars around. (Fun fact: there have been 201 murders in neighboring Los Angeles so far this year!)
That's it! Stay tuned for the rest of our impressions and interviews, and the official Joystiq E3 awards!
