May 21, 2009

Badge of Honor
By Louis Bedigian

E3 ’09 gives honor to the E3 name. 

In 2005, there was something really magical about getting my first E3 badge. Few seem to relate to this – most journalists just regard it as a piece of plastic (which it is). But for me, it was a guaranteed entry into the Electronic Entertainment Expo. At the time, E3 felt like the last arcade in America, a place where video games surrounded every inch of the LA Convention Center. 

I wore this badge like a badge of honor. As the following E3 approached, I thought about the day when I’d look back on the many E3s I had attended and the many badges I had acquired. 

Then, not too long after the 2006 show came to a close, E3 was no more. You know the story, so I won’t reiterate. But suffice to say, when the 2007 show arrived (a time I like to refer to as “The E3 Impersonation Years”), that badge had lost all its meaning. 

My heart told me that all we needed was time. I felt that, if our industry saw what things were really like without E3, they would cave and go back to the old format they claimed to despise. (Those claims were later disputed when publishers voiced their true opinions last year.) 

What amazed me is how quickly they realized the importance of a real E3. Here we are, 2009, and I feel like it’s my first show all over again. But I’m not looking forward to it for the games as much as the show itself. Over the last two years, we had games. We had the mind-blowing moments of new gameplay content. But the show was lost. 

There were times when E3 ‘07 didn’t feel that different from being in a friend’s basement: the drab walls, dim lighting and overabundance of junk food (mostly store-bought cookies) made it feel like an average day of gaming at home. The demos may have been for games six months away from release, but the experience was uncannily familiar. This year, E3 regains its true meaning as the Electronic Entertainment Expo. 

I do not necessarily disagree with Michael Lafferty’s recent comments, but it must be said that I don't envy the readers at home. They get the news, previews, images, etc., and it’s awesome. But for many years I was one of them. I have this distinct memory in 2003 where I was at home mowing the lawn and just completely miserable because, at that very moment, I was missing out on all the games I had been dying to play. 

Two years later, I didn’t spend that day mowing the lawn – I was encompassed in crowds, running to and from meetings while trying to write several dozen articles as fast as my fingers allowed. Sure, there were some annoyances. An overcrowded media room (a staple of the old E3) is one thing I could live without. But during those difficult moments, I never once thought about what it would be like to be at home mowing the lawn. Because I knew that if I had been there, I would have wished I was in LA. 

So I will return to the battlefield, armed and ready for an arsenal of games, ridiculous hours of writing, and crowds so thick you’d swear the show was open to the public. When it’s over, when I’m struggling to leave a show whose future is anything but set in stone, I will feel proud to have attended another E3 that gave honor to its name.

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