E3 Memories and Moments in Video Game History | The DeanBeat
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It was late and predictable. I'm not talking about Donald Trump's indictment. I'm talking about the cancellation of E3 2023. This bad attempt at levity belies the fact that I'm crushed that we don't have a show this year which, in the past, was a glorious celebration of all things gaming. game.
It made me nostalgic for my fondest memories of E3. I have attended about 24 of them in my life. Last night I picked up dusty copies of my books, Opening the Xbox (2002), about Microsoft's entry into the game console business, and The Xbox 360 Uncloaked , on its machine suite in 2005. I started flipping through the pages and the memories came back to me like images spinning in my mind.
I remember going to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 1994, the last year video game companies attended the big tech show. The game companies were in a big tent in the parking lot, and they didn't like it at all. Sega's Tom Kalinske claimed that customers had to walk past porn vendors to get to the gaming area.
That year, game companies formed the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA, which later became the Entertainment Software Association in 2003). A feisty lobbyist by the name of Doug Lowenstein was regularly expected to defend the gaming industry against anti-violent gaming crusader Jack Thompson.
EventGamesBeat Summit 2023
Join the GamesBeat community in Los Angeles on May 22-23. You'll hear from the brightest minds in the gaming industry to share their updates on the latest developments.
register hereThe game industry sprouted in the kiddie market ghetto, and it's been hard to escape. He got no respect. E3 was born to protest against a show that wouldn't change over time. The first exhibition on electronic entertainment was therefore held in Los Angeles in 1995, in the vast Los Angeles Convention Center.
I attended my first E3 in 1997. That year, the show was held in the sweltering environment of Atlanta, and the CEO of Intel , Andy Grove, was the keynote speaker. The Intel dancers came out in "bunny suits" - the head-to-toe cleanroom outfits used by chip workers - then one of them took off a balaclava. And it was Andy Grove, who laughed after the dance routine.
A few years earlier, Grove had promised a "war for the eyeballs" at the Comdex computer show. At E3, he made a threat. He said game makers need to realize that their business is changing and the general-purpose PC is going to overwhelm the console market. These console game makers didn't want to suffer the same fate as the railroad companies, who realized too late that they were in the transportation business, not the railroad business, because they were overwhelmed by airlines.
Grove said we are at a strategic inflection point. “The video game industry is not in trouble at all; actually it works well,” Grove told the crowd. "But much like we're building microprocessors, even as our memory business thrives, something gradually creeps in...
Connect with the top leaders in gaming in Los Angeles during GamesBeat Summit 2023 on May 22-23. Register here.
It was late and predictable. I'm not talking about Donald Trump's indictment. I'm talking about the cancellation of E3 2023. This bad attempt at levity belies the fact that I'm crushed that we don't have a show this year which, in the past, was a glorious celebration of all things gaming. game.
It made me nostalgic for my fondest memories of E3. I have attended about 24 of them in my life. Last night I picked up dusty copies of my books, Opening the Xbox (2002), about Microsoft's entry into the game console business, and The Xbox 360 Uncloaked , on its machine suite in 2005. I started flipping through the pages and the memories came back to me like images spinning in my mind.
I remember going to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 1994, the last year video game companies attended the big tech show. The game companies were in a big tent in the parking lot, and they didn't like it at all. Sega's Tom Kalinske claimed that customers had to walk past porn vendors to get to the gaming area.
That year, game companies formed the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA, which later became the Entertainment Software Association in 2003). A feisty lobbyist by the name of Doug Lowenstein was regularly expected to defend the gaming industry against anti-violent gaming crusader Jack Thompson.
EventGamesBeat Summit 2023
Join the GamesBeat community in Los Angeles on May 22-23. You'll hear from the brightest minds in the gaming industry to share their updates on the latest developments.
register hereThe game industry sprouted in the kiddie market ghetto, and it's been hard to escape. He got no respect. E3 was born to protest against a show that wouldn't change over time. The first exhibition on electronic entertainment was therefore held in Los Angeles in 1995, in the vast Los Angeles Convention Center.
I attended my first E3 in 1997. That year, the show was held in the sweltering environment of Atlanta, and the CEO of Intel , Andy Grove, was the keynote speaker. The Intel dancers came out in "bunny suits" - the head-to-toe cleanroom outfits used by chip workers - then one of them took off a balaclava. And it was Andy Grove, who laughed after the dance routine.
A few years earlier, Grove had promised a "war for the eyeballs" at the Comdex computer show. At E3, he made a threat. He said game makers need to realize that their business is changing and the general-purpose PC is going to overwhelm the console market. These console game makers didn't want to suffer the same fate as the railroad companies, who realized too late that they were in the transportation business, not the railroad business, because they were overwhelmed by airlines.
Grove said we are at a strategic inflection point. “The video game industry is not in trouble at all; actually it works well,” Grove told the crowd. "But much like we're building microprocessors, even as our memory business thrives, something gradually creeps in...
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