Results tagged “e3”

Now that E3 is over we have had a moment to catch our breath and look back on the week. The most talked about announcement was Project Natal. We asked Ali Miller to describe her impression of the Natal unveiling

“With nearly a half million Angelenos employed by the technology and hospitality sectors, Los Angeles is a perfect fit for E3,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said earlier this week welcoming the expo back to Los Angeles and touting how it and its 41,000 attendees bring $15 million to the local economy. Ironically enough, he said that below a banner advertising a game that has players build their own street gang and kill the competition.

       

It's rare for a DJ to play the Hollywood Bowl. It's even rarer for a DJ to play such a set exclusively of 7" 45s. That sold out show was DJ Shadow and fellow turntable-freak Cut Chemist. Shadow, born Josh Davis, can do things on the wheels of steel that forces other jocks to take notice. As a music maker, he's blended hip-hip, downtempo, soul, jazz into classic works that can only be labeled "great." According to Activision, DJ Shadow is a DJ Hero. Guess what? They're right. E3 attendees would agree.

       

Here's a little of what we saw this afternoon at E3, otherwise known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where new video games and technologies are being shown off. Yesterday, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr helped introduce 45 Beatles songs to Rock Band.

                                   

So what's the Adult Entertainment Expo like? Scenester photographer Igor from Driven By Boredom explained that "This is just a huge room filled with booth after booth of sex related things. Mostly porn companies in the front, but towards the back there are booths for hookers, strippers, sex toys and a lot of ugly clothes that only the biggest manor of scum bag would wear. (Discounting the rad kids at the I <3 Vagina booth)... I met a bunch of people and saw a lot of friends." It should be noted that while Igor didn't mention the marketplace on the lower level, his description of the upper level is mainly accurate.

what with all the booth babes and swag bags and throngs of gamers huddled outside the LA Convention Center chomping at the bit for a taste of the next Soul Calibur or Resident Evil or Final Fantasy. But that isn’t to say that the entire industry is at a loss for its bespectacled past. In fact, the reinvented, invite-only E3 (as of 2007) and the creation of E for All (which welcomes the public) is highly indicative of the scope of the gaming world. So its hard to argue that the industry is more popular now than it ever was. That being said, read on to find out the highlights of this year’s E3.

Season four of "the #1 ad-supported cable series of all time", aka TNT's "The Closer" returns to TV tonight. I've always had a problem with this series, whether it was the annoying music, Kyra Sedgwick's overpainted lips and weird accent, or the fact that her character, LAPD Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, has somehow attained the status of Deputy Police Chief despite being "hopeless at LAPD politics". Still, the series is well-funded, looks decent and the supporting cast is capable. The series is interesting on a basic level by having Sedgwick's Johnson in the very human, read "quirky", female lead in a cast that is almost 100% men - she does seem very isolated and you do pull for her. Unfortunately the season premiere has two laughable caricatures: a super-hipster "Times" reporter and a "crazy" psychopath arsonist who has jokes worthy of the original "Batman" TV series; hopefully the tone of the season won't be established by this first episode.

Last year, to the chagrin of thousands of gamers nationwide, the LA-based Electronic Entertainment Expo (popularly known as E3) was massively scaled down to exclude the public in what was widely considered one of the biggest industry flops of the year. While the gaming masses were offered an alternative convention in October called E for All, industry professionals (specifically press) were none too pleased with the scattered layout of the show. While a majority of companies exhibited at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, several other high profile companies had private suites at various hotels around town. You could imagine trying to make an appointment in Beverly Hills just 20 minutes after hanging out at the beach. Luckily however, the annual event returns to the LA Convention Center this year in July, even though the public still will not be granted access. I guess we'll just have to wait until October to see the next Bioshock teaser.

Here's some tech news that made the cut this week: • Professional social networking site Linkedin has seen its traffic spike over three hundred percent in the last year. I wondered why I started getting all those Linkedin invites recently. • Speaking of social networking, watch out for the Facebook backlash. And, in a related story, what's a site like Facebook worth anyway? • Intel has joined the $100 group (aka one laptop per...

Thousands of video game addicts, cosplayers and booth babe fans shed tears last year when the Entertainment Software Association announced that it would be scaling back the size and focus of future E3 Expos. The game industry and fan bacchanalia had previously attracted a record attendance of over 60,000 visitors and 400 companies in 2006. Instead of being held at LA's own Convention Center, the "more intimate" show will take place this year in...

In what must surely be a blow to video gaming enthusiasts, scantily-clad women, fans of scantily-clad women and, of course, the City of Los Angeles, the Entertainment Software Association announced Monday that they are going to scale back the size and scope of E3 convention next year. In fact, the convention, the video gaming industry's largest, most-likely won't be at the LA Convention Center either. Instead, it will take place at various hotels around...