So the last time I mentioned E3 on the site, I was wondering whether Giant Bomb would be able to do live coverage of E3 since TWiT did a deal with G4 to do live coverage from the show floor. Frankly even though I knew at the back of my mind that the Whiskey Media team were probably stretched enough as it was in getting us as much as they do every year during E3, I still had a tiny bit of hope that Jeff and crew could bring some much needed personality by streaming some of their walk arounds. Even though it was almost universally agreed by many GB users that it was too inefficient and/or impractical, Jeff put that idea to rest.
@Jeff said:
That's perfectly fine. Anyway, this year's coverage already hints at being the best yet with Bodega and Brad posting breaking news and a solid team in LA that'll bring us regular Day X videos, interviews, live daily Bombcasts etc." I believe the limitation is 10 minutes of live broadcast from the show floor. I'm not sure what other outlets are doing to get around it, but it sounds like it's been a hassle for everyone on every side of the situation. We will probably have some form of live component to our coverage, but we're not planning on doing it from the show floor. We'll be too busy going out, seeing games, and shooting interviews to set up live shots and hassle with whatever weird negotiating has to be done to make all of that a reality. "
Anyhow, I stopped thinking about any of this until the other day when I heard this on Tom Merritt's Tech News Today on Friday (skip to 0:15 if you're impatient). After doing their deal with G4 to get live online coverage of the show floor, they were now claiming 'exclusive coverage' of the then called Project Natal.
I honestly thought that Tom must have been hyping up the coverage in some way since giving a non videogame based site an exclusive on a gaming related announcement either must have involved a stack of money (something TWiT doesn't have) or some clever negotiations. Apparently its the latter.
Becky Worley, GMA's tech correspondent live at around 7:30 on the east coast is set to exclusively demo Kinect for the first time. As reveiled on Sunday's ' This Week in Tech' (discussion beginning at the 29 minute mark), she managed to get TWiT special access so that one hour later, Leo Laporte will be live from LA at the rediculous 5:30 in the morning demoing Natal. That should mean that for people not living on the east coast that this will be the first detailed coverage of Natal.
This will be TWiT first real coverage of any gaming event. While I'm not going to expecting comprehensive coverage from them (Giant Bomb has me better covered in that department), its a good alternative choice for viewers who don't live in the States and therefore don't get G4's live coverage, or want an alterative from the blowdried, personality-less 'Game • ' team (if you're watching other live streams I'm making no judgement) .
So while I'm standing by for the Microsoft press conference in around 9 hours time from now, I'll confess to saying that TWiT's coverage is looking pretty good with coverage for the next few days in between their other regular shows. It doesn't replace the conventional gaming outlets, but they are bringing several exclusives to the table that you can't find anywhere else.
And BTW, fatalities in the upcoming Mortal Kombat = YES!
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