E3 2008 (Concept)

E3 2008

CONCEPT

The 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California on July 15-17.

Concept Images Related Pages

EditHistoryPage info

Overview

While many were in favor of the ESA's decision to downsize E3 (Concept), the 2007 show was not what people expected. In an effort to improve the show, yet keep it smaller, the 2008 show returned to the Los Angeles Convention Center. Rather than spreading football field size booths throughout the various halls of the venue, the show was confined a single hall and each booth was constructed to be identical to the rest in layout. Many attendees described the event as carrying an odd vibe considering it was in the old home of E3, yet scaled way back. Some thought it was rather depressing seeing what E3 had become while shows like Leipzig and Tokyo Game Show (Concept) still flourished on a large scale.

Microsoft came to the show with the New Xbox Experience (Concept), which was a complete overhaul of the Xbox 360 (Platform) dashboard. They touted it as the first ever relaunch of a console. Within the new interface were many new features including Netflix, avatars, and Primetime game shows. Gears of War 2 (Game) was the big title for Microsoft this year, but there was also time dedicated to Fable II (Game), Fallout 3 (Game), Lips (Game), and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts andamp;amp; Bolts. Halo 3 Recon was conspicuously absent, and was later revealed to have been pulled at the last minute and held for a later event. Microsoft closed their show with the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII (Game) would be coming to Xbox 360.

Nintendo (Company)'s press conference was a hot topic of discussion among attendees. The most popular comment was that, in their immense success with the Wii (Platform), Nintendo had forgotten about their true fans and core gamers. Reggie Fils-Aime was no longer the ass-kickin', name-takin', game makin' "Reggienator" from a few years before. Now, he and the newly introduced Cammie Dunaway (Person) were all about smiles; a catchphrase they tried to express many times throughout the presentation. The Big N did announce Wii Motion Plus at this event, along with Wii Sports Resort (Game). They also had Wii Music (Game) and Animal Crossing: City Folk, which would come bundled with Wii Speak. And there was also an announcement for a DS exclusive Grand Theft Auto (Franchise) title known as Chinatown Wars. The Nintendo press conference was widely considered as an utter failure.

Sony's showcase was warmly received by most attendees thanks in part to a clever use of LittleBigPlanet (Game) to guide Jack Tretton (Person) through the usually boring sales numbers and financial segment. Exclusive blockbuster titles like Resistance 2 (Game), Killzone 2 (Game), MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, and inFamous (Game) received stage demonstrations, while God of War III (Game) was officially announced via a short trailer. Sony closed their show with a trailer for MAG (Game), a 256-player shooter from the creators of SOCOM.

E3 2008 may have been small in size, but it was not short on games. Notable huge titles such as Mirror's Edge, Dead Space (Game), Resident Evil 5 (Game), Street Fighter IV (Game), Prince of Persia, Rock Band 2 (Game), Far Cry 2 (Game), Left 4 Dead (Game), and Call of Duty: World at War were on display. And there were hidden gems like Fat Princess (Game), de Blob (Game), Braid (Game), Pure (Game), and Flower (Game).

Games of the Show

The games listed below not only include those playable on the show floor, but any game referenced at the show. This would include video presentations, announcements, advertisements, or any other official reference to the game from its developer, publisher, or platform. They are listed mainly according to the publisher of the game, with a few exceptions where the publisher did not attend the show. An example of this would be a hardware company such as Nintendo or nVidia showing a game not developed or published by them. In several situtations, games either changed their title or even their publisher before they were released. For historical accuracy in chronicling E3, such games will be listed with their original names and publishers, and linked to the corresponding page of the final game.

2K Games (Company)

Activision (Company)

Agetec

Touch Darts (Game)

Akella (Company)

Atari (Company)

Atlus (Company)

Bethesda Softworks (Company)

Capcom (Company)

Codemasters (Company)

Crave

D3 Publisher

Disney Interactive (Company)

Eidos

Electronic Arts (Company)

Gamecock

Game Factory

Hudson Soft

Koei

Konami (Company)

LucasArts

Majesco

Microsoft

Midway

Namco Bandai

Natsume (Company)

NCsoft

Lineage II

Nintendo (Company)

Rockstar Games (Company)

SEGA

Sony

Sony Online Entertainment

Southpeak

Square Enix (Company)

Taito

Tecmo (Company)

THQ (Company)

Ubisoft

Vivendi

Warner Bros. Interactive

Xseed

Game Critics Awards

The Game Critics Awards are decided by an independent group of North American media outlets. They have selected the most promising games of each Electronic Entertainment Expo since 1998, and have thus become recognized as the most respected "Best of" awards that come out of the annual show. Games qualify for nomination by having hands-on playable versions of the game at the show. For more information, see the Game Critics Awards page.