For weeks (months?) now, E3 was promised to go back to its former glory of megaton announcements and incredible, over-the-top atmosphere. Not a day into the week, and I am convinced that E3 this week will certainly live up to those promises. It all started off with a bang when Microsoft delivered its E3 Press Briefing.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

My colleague, Brad Bretz and I had an early start. We had a short drive to the Galen Center (the University of Southern California’s basketball arena), but the rush hour traffic turned that commute into a nightmare. Still, we did our best to make up for that by leaving the house at 8 AM.

When we pulled up to the main intersection where the Galen Center is located, we saw a pretty large crowd of journalists already lined up to enter the arena – and it was still an hour an a half before the doors would even open! When I turned the corner, there was a very impressive line of red-jacketed valet attendants waiting at the ready for the masses to arrive.

We dropped the car off with the valet and walked around to get our bearings straight. With such a massive event, we wanted to find the right line to stand in before they got outrageously long. Fortunately, we spotted a group of our fellow Microsoft Xbox MVPs and they allowed us to join them. It was a great way to start the morning and the week – with good friends from the Community.

It didn’t seem like long before the doors were opened, and we all poured into the arena. The anticipation was definitely quite heavy for this press briefing. The briefing itself had been so hyped by Microsoft, it was difficult to gauge whether this was going to be a let-down, or whether this would really be as memorable as Microsoft assured.

I mean, we had all heard the rumors: a 3D motion controller, and even the preposterous (at the time) notion of a Metal Gear Solid on the Xbox 360, but surely, there HAS to be something bigger to justify THAT amount of hype, right? I pondered this as I frentically unsuccessfully attempted to get my netbook hooked up to the wifi in the arena, and then to my cell’s tethering feature.

Inside, the arena was basically divided in half, with the upper and lower concourses available for seating. The stage was set up on the floor, with green stage lights (that would later change colors to fit various themes) and those familiar circles everywhere.

Continued on the next page…

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written by Rick Kim \\ tags: EA, Ubisoft