(I have been alotted 20 minutes to summarize my E3 experience, so bear with me :) Also, I am in the process of converting and uploading much, much video to Planetn2K, video that will reflect everything I saw at the E3.)

Well, I suppose the best way to surmise my E3 experience would be to say it was blissful. That's right, blissful. For someone like me, someone who considers the art and industry of video games to be his central entertainment interest, as well as his hobby, his passion, and even his job (kind of,) finding an appropriate forum to discuss the issues of his hobby with countless thousands of show attendees, as well as hundreds of officials from the companies that make the games I do so enjoy, can only be described as blissful.

For reasons too trivial to describe in this forum (I'll give you a hint, they resemble apes in some form :), I was unable to make it to the first days of E3, as well as the big press conferences on Wednesday. Thus, when I arrived at the LA CC at 9 AM (a few minutes after knocking fruitlessly on Steven and Ty's hotel room door. They weren't there) I was extatic. After widdling into the CC, I was greeted by a large hall littered with advertisements from hundreds of companies exhibiting at the show. Hundreds of people walked frantically across the hall, buzzing like bees. I walked to the entrance to the North hall where Nintendo, Sony, and Sega were exhibiting, but was ushered away from the entrance by an observant guard who noticed i didn't have my pass on.

"Damn it!" I shot, realizing I did not have my pass with me. I tried to explain to the guard that I was with the media and did indeed have a press pass, just not with me, but he wouldn’t hear it. So I walked off to the media section. This constituted a massive room with hundreds of desks filled with computers connected to the Internet. There were, sitting at these computers, hundreds of journalists. Many stared blankly at me, noting I did not have a pass on (assumedly). Bored, I left the hall and went to the media registration center, which I had passed on my way to the Media section Fitting, ey? I spent about 10 minutes trying to get my pass from the lady sitting in the desk, but sadly, she was either incredibly vindictive or utterly incompetent. Needless to say, i left. I walked out of the room and into the long hal just outside of the North Hall. I then stumbled into NVidia's media room. When I say room, I do mean room. it was tiny. I watched a few nice PC demos, but tired quickly. So I pestered an NVidia engineer snidely.

"Hey," I called. "The geForce2 is fantastic, sure, but come on. Where's te good stuff? Where're the Xbox demos?" I smiled in snide, but the enineer merely pointed over my shoulder and said:

"there's an actual Xbox right over there."

I flipped around, and right there, to my utter shock, was a big "X" machine, the actual Xbox (that is in model type) Bill gates demoed at the GDC. It was connected to a TV. Surrounding it were the Xbox's beautifully organic logo, and 5 of the most amazing system posters I had ever seen in my life.

Microsoft sure has come a long way in the 2+ months since announcing "X-Box." it's ditched the pesky dash, and the capital "B," and the system's once menacing black and gray logo is replaced by a white and green "Xbox" logo. Raven highlights the poster, along with the general specs of the system, and the phrase that's sure to become a mantra for MS (and Nintendo, more on that later) in this coming generation:

"POWER IS NOT A PROBLEM."

All this on a clear white backdrop. Beautiful. I asked the NVidia guy for a demo, but he told me they weren’t going to turn it on any more, and told me that MS was showing the system in the South Hall. A little disappointed, I thanked him and walked out, back into the hall.

I then walked over to another out-of-hall publisher, a PC house whose name I cannot even recall. Most memorable quote from this company (upon being asked if they would support "Dolphin"):

"Dolphin? What's a Dolphin?"

I hope they were being sarcastic, because they were already licensed DC, PS2, and even Xbox Publishers.

Disillusioned, I left. This was enough, I was going into the damn hall to see Nintendo's much talked about Booth.

I left the publisher's room (yes, it was a room), and walked through the gigantic Center's quiet halls, eventually coming up on the escalator back down to the first floor, and back to the entrance to the North hall. On the way down, I found a Lego display entitled "The World's Largest Gameboy." Damn hard to miss, as it was a massive Gameboy, about 20 feet tall. I asked the guy standing by it if Lego Media was doing any GBA stuff. He said ask at the booth. More on that later.

I continued on the massive path to the North Hall, waked past all the PC exhibits and ESRB stuff, and noticed the E3Daily Magazine available for free. Ever the simpleton, i grabbed about 5, picked up a bag, and left. Flipping through the magazine, I noticed the Sega, Sony, and Microsoft ads in the magazine, all relatively flashy and forgettable. Nintendo didn’t even bother with the magazine, I noted.

"What a stupid move, "I thought, "how stupid can Nintendo be?" Then I looked at the back cover of the magazine, and immediately repented :) Nintendo has a massive advertisement on the back of the magazine. It was no ordinary game ad, it was the single greatest gaming ad I've ever seen in my life. Unlike the small, flashy stuff its competitors adopted at E3, Nintendo had a truly great ad.

It was the now famous render of Mario, looking up, and light shining down, a large grin on his face. The background is black, save the luminescence around the Nintendo mascot. Above Mario's head, it reads:

"GOTTA HAVE GAME"

Then, below is a short paragraph explaining Nintendo's corporate philosophy poignantly and poetically. It read:

"People don't remember Bits and Bites. They remember games. Which is why it's a good thing this little guy is on our side. He's the most recognized video game character in the world. And his spirit has helped us spawn a slew of great games. he is the standard. the Bar. The ideal we try to surpass with every game we make. Because systems and technology come and go. But a great game lives forever"

Nintendo's famous logo sat below this.

Awesome, utterly awesome. It exemplifies just how committed Nintendo is to software design, or rather magnifies the fact. While MS shows off nice specs and projections, Nintendo will wait to show games. And there games will always be great, because they won't put their name on anything other than. Sony and Microsoft had better watch out, because in the next generation, Nintendo is going to support it console from the get go as it is supporting Nintendo64 this year: with a vengeance, with great games, and lots of them.

Envigoured, I walked steadily to the entrance to the North hall. I considered appealing to a guard again, but decided against it. I had to see Nintendo's philosophy in action. I walked quickly, the hundreds of people around me all heading to the same place. The doors got closer, closer, closer...the guard looked directly at me. I walked by him.

"Excuse me sir, come back!" I heard from behind me.

Heh. Yeah right :)

The massive show floor greeted my eyes, and GamePro magazine's stand was right in front of me. I walked in, and mingled. The doors were now a ways behind me, and nobody seemed to care that I lacked my pass. I breathed in the wonderful air. Thousands walked around me. I saw the PS2 logo elevate in the air.

"Looks inviting..." I muttered. Then a more interesting proposition presented itself: A Giant Pikachu. I examined closer, and noted the utterly massive, sprawling "Nintendo" logo, Pokemon crawling all over it. I was where i wanted to be for now. I smiled, and walked to the Nintendo area, by eyes constantly switching focus from the massive Pokemon, Zelda, Perfect Dark, Banjo, Mario, Dinosaur Planet, etc. statues and paraphernalia. Conker's Bar loomed in the distance, massive bouncer and all. I smiled, and continued my walk. My journey, my bliss, had just begun :)