GAMING NEEDS THAT ONE MOMENT IN THE YEAR WHEN THE WORLD CAN TUNE IN AND ENJOY THE SPECTACLE.

E3 is our home and we should celebrate every awkward moment

Being cynical about E3 is easy. There are always those awkward moments when marketing types are allowed to meet real players – the hard sell clashing with the hardcore gamer. The sight of publishers over-selling their games, the gigantic looming booths rearing up like carnival sideshows, can induce eye-rolls.

But the easy path isn’t always the best one to take. I cherish E3 and all its garish, sweaty, marketing nonsense. And so should you. Because love it or hate it, videogaming needs a home; our hobby and industry needs that one moment in the year when the world, and not just ‘our’ gaming world but your nan and neighbour, can tune in and enjoy the spectacle. Videogames needs its place and E3 is the best we have.

PRE3-HISTORIC

I’ve been to E3 when it was a simple showfloor celebration of games, when deals were done in hotel bars and coverage was limited to the paper you’re holding. Now E3 is global news, reported all over the internet, and when Shawn Layden stands up and showboats the world takes notice. And I never thought that would happen. The days when we needed Dominic Diamond (ask your dad) to go through videogames’ keyhole for the wider world are behind us – now we just need an oversized, glittering stage, a Twitter account, and a finely-tuned bull*blorp* detector to filter.

And there’s been plenty of bull*blorp*, too. There’s the moment Konami launched Rock Revolution in 2008 and their presenters failed at the game, before being booed off stage; or the time Mr. Caffeine (real stage name) bamboozled an Ubisoft crowd with bad dick jokes and the poorly pronounced Tom Ca-lancy; and there’s Genji and 2006’s giant crabs (we forgive you, Sony). But this is why E3 is so good, there’s an undercurrent of anarchy to the show; Hollywood actors and Japanese wrestlers rub shoulders, and a comedian will have a meltdown in front of millions of Twitch viewers.

Behind all of this, the games will always make the headlines. For bad or for worse, E3 is our home and we should be proud of every graceless moment it offers.