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PlayStation Invasion at E3
Dealmakers, sightseers and celebrities alike converged upon the LA Convention Center Wednesday for the premier of the Y2K edition of the Electronics Entertainment Expo, the video game industry's largest event, to mingle, rub egos and introduce the world to their latest creations.
But purge yourself of fond Atari flashbacks, we're playing in a new millennium now.
Sony made a bid to hijack the E3 show before it had even begun. At a huge pre-event press conference, the electronics giant revealed its ballyhooed PlayStation 2 would debut on October 26 at a suggested price tag of $299 (the same as the original PlayStation five years ago), with individual game titles going for $49. The DVD-based system, touted as the next generation in both gaming and computing, will have an optional network expansion pack for instantaneous online access, as well as a port for an add-on hard disk drive. With Sony only shipping a million PS2 units in its initial manufacturing run, expect to see shortages.
Sega, which dominated last year's E3 with its Dreamcast console, is focusing on online gaming this year. To help counter the Sony PR blitz, Sega commandeered the band Filter and copious amounts of alcohol for a Wednesday evening party. The money would have been better spent on increasing the amount of broadband content available for the slow-modemed machine. Maybe the Sega folks hoped the public would be too drunk to notice.
A surprisingly quiet Nintendo (its next generation Dolphin won't be out until next year), meanwhile, tried to convince anyone listening that the N64 is not dead yet. Peter Main, executive VP of Nintendo America, reaffirmed the company's commitment to the venerable platform, and the release of several new Pokémon titles should help buoy sales of the console throughout 2000. Shockingly, Nintendo's traditionally juvenile product lineup now features content for mature gamers, in the guise of a cussin' squirrel named Conker, the star of the sardonic Bad Fur Day. (It will be next year at the very least before Mario's Playgirl spread.)
And while Microsoft won't be getting a monopoly in the video game console field anytime soon, the company is previewing the next generation X-Box behind closed doors. Expect more info on the hitherto hush-hush project to emerge in the next few days.
On the floor, third party publishers jockeyed for attention. Klingons, Homer Simpson, Japanese extreme wrestlers, female kickboxers and Daisy Duke herself, Catherine Bach, were among Wednesday's attractions. Only at E3 would costumed Planet of the Apes characters and Toxic Avenger lookalikes be among the tamer acts.
And with the video game industry expected to top $7 billion in sales this year, Hollywood's again trying to dip its greedy little paws into the pot. Big- and small screen tie-ins ranging from Dinosaur to Titan A.E., Buffy, Batman: The Animated Series, VIP, The Blair Witch Project, Star Wars: Episode I, The Mummy and even ESPN all jockeyed for floor space. Trekkies can breathe a sigh of relief, as the only pop culture icons spotted more frequently than Star Trek licenses were silicon breast implants.
Booth bunnies, celebrity appearances, and promotional giveaways aside, there's a moral to the story here somewhere. Damned if we can find it, though. Suffice it to say that smoke and mirrors don't move units--quality products do. And if opening day is any indication, the video game industry is far from played out.
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