Around 400 industry figures (roughly ten per cent of the total number of attendees expected) appeared at the event, including journalists, publishers, and developers, all of whom were no doubt drawn in by the once-in-a-lifetime chance to be part of a new dawn for gaming's blue ribbon event, and certainly not to gorge themselves on as much free booze and food as was humanly possible. For the record, I never want to see black forest gateau again.
Into the Pixel, the aforementioned art exhibition, ran alongside the reception, and featured sixteen carefully selected pieces of video game art, taken from an eclectic range of games, including Viva Piñata, Darwinia, Red Steel, Lair, Fable 2, and Rayman Raving Rabbids. "Illustrated Scroll", a piece by the mysteriously-named "Shigechy" for Konami platformer Dewy's Adventure, was my personal favourite, but they're all worth more than a quick skim, and you can find every piece in the Media Panel.
The entire shindig took place at the Fairmont Miramar, a venue that will be hosting its fair share of press conferences and showcases in the coming days. For this opening reception, it was left to the Hotel's (extremely picturesque) garden drive to provide the backdrop, with a jazz band and an impressive spread of nibbles keeping things chugging.
Nice of the Great Deku Tree to pop along.
The whole thing, as you'd expect, was a million miles away from the decibel-busting, hyperactive E3 of old; where there was once chaos, there was now an air of professionalism and slickness, even though it was also many times more muted.
Various speeches broke up the evening, including a word from new ESA chief Mike Gallagher, who encouraged us attendees to "make the new-look E3 really work", discussed how the games industry was in a vital period of transition, and reminded everybody that Piracy Really Is Very Naughty, You Know. Gallagher also touched on the importance of protecting games from government and censor interference, a particularly topical point in light of recent events.
Proceedings were wrapped up inside an enjoyable two hours, after which many from the slightly tipsy crowd slinked off to the first major date of the 2007 E3 Media & Business Summit: Microsoft's press conference. It all starts here, folks.
Scroll down for a link to each piece of art.
- Darwinia
- American McGee's Grimm
- WipEout Pulse
- EVE Online
- Red Steel
- Rayman Raving Rabbids
- Viva Piñata
- 300: March to Glory
- Lair
- Fable 2
- Blacksite: Area 51
- Dawn of War
- Dewy's Adventure
- Team Fortress
- Guild Wars
- Half-Life 2: Episode Two
To read more of our editor's ongoing E3 experience, head to his E3 blog.
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