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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land At approximatley 7:10 PM on Friday evening, the E For All expo came to a close, abruptly and unintentionally. While the gathered masses, quite thin at this late hour, were still busying themselves watching Jonathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel play Quake IV, enjoying The Orange Box and Super Mario Galaxy, they were surprised to see… blackness. A power outage on the right half of South Hall, encompassing the Nintendo and EA booths—arguably two-thirds of the show—made the last hour of the show a dark affair. Staff escorted gamers out for their own safety, largely wrapping up the show for the night.
It’s not the first time this has happened at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Multiple E3s had power failures, resulting in blazing hot temperatures and very boring booths. This one just happened to be surprisingly timely.
Apparently the ESRB has some new competition, making their debut at E for All. This new group, the ESBR (possibly Every Software Brings Repulsion or Eat Soy Breathe Rice) is infringing on the ESRB’s turf big time. Is this a typo? We don’t believe so. Then again, we have enough trouble spotting type-o’s of our own to be an authority on the subject. E For All = Typos Are Fun [via gonintendo]
Professor Layton and the Curious Village was supposed to be playable at E for All. It was. Wired’s Chris Kohler sadly reports that the localised version of the popular Japanese puzzle game was nowhere to be seen. Nintendo confirmed that it had been yanked from the E For All line-up. It was previously announced that the DS title slipped to 2008, and Nintendo’s decision to pull the game at E for All shouldn’t come as a surprise. Sucks, though.
No Layton [Game|Life]
One of the few games at this week’s E For All Expo that I hadn’t had extended hands-on time with was Sega’s arcade light gun shooter Ghost Squad. The Wii port of the Chihiro hardware arcade release doesn’t reinvent the genre, but it makes a fine addition to the library of games playable with the Wii Zapper peripheral. This is straight up, old school arcade action, providing plenty of terrorists to shoot dead, and potentially loaded with more replayability than any home light gun shooter to date.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl aside, a playable Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PlayStation 3 was the main draw for attendees of E For All. While line waits for the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! on the Nintendo DS were minimal, Konami seems to have underestimated interest in MGS4 with a less-than-efficient booth layout for Kojima Productions’ latest.
For those attending, plan on getting to the booth early—it’s just to your left as you enter the South Hall—and prepare for a wait. Anyone waiting to try out Solid Snake’s PS3 adventure will have to endure a training briefing in the closed theatre before getting their hands on a PS3 controller.
Pulling into the Los Angeles Convention Center this morning, ready to bask in the wonder of the E For All Expo, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which I could park. Walking into the convention centre lobby, pictured above, I was concerned that I’d come on the wrong day. E For All is, by no means, packed. There’s plenty of room to spread out, with exhibitors taking up only a portion of the location’s South Hall, an estimated 20% of the space simply curtained off with expansive booths looking like ghost towns. Most gamers flocked to Nintendo’s and Konami’s booths, with the Rock Band stage sadly tucked away from the crowds.
Around 3 PM, when those who hadn’t pre-registered for the event were permitted to enter, crowds grew by about a third, but there was virtually no waiting to get on most games. More pics of the action after the jump.
Target and E for All are teaming up starting today to host a $3,000 Guitar Hero 2 tourney at the public gaming convention in LA.
The tournaent will run from today through Saturday with the winner taking home more than $3,000 in cash and Target gift cards. Gift cards? Like 2,000 $1.50 cards?
Hit the jump for the full release and the South Hall of E4All to see it in person. Say Hi to McWhertor if you see him hanging about… and then poke him and tell him to get back to work.
The upcoming Video Games Live performance in Los Angeles, perfectly timed with this weekend’s E For All Expo, will feature a roster of notable guests performing, appearing and simply socializing with peers and John Q. Ticketbuyer. Industry luminaries like Nolan Bushnell, Akira Yamaoka, David Hayter and David Perry will all be in attendance, with over a dozen video game soundtrack composers and sound designers promised to appear. Many of these folks will be hanging out after the show to press palms, pose for pictures, and generally be annoyed by the hordes of game music uber-fans.
Tickets run from $US 20 to $US 70, depending on how close you want to be to Tommy Tallarico and his magical shoes.
VIDEO GAMES LIVE ANNOUNCES SPECIAL GUESTS FOR UPCOMING LOS ANGELES SHOW [Video Games Live]
Well E for All just got a nice little surge in attendance. In the latest podcast over at the Kojima Productions website, Ryan Payton revealed that the English version of the TGS demo for Metal Gear Solid 4 will be playable this weekend at the consumer gaming event. The Konami booth will have 12 kiosks running the demo, which has been slightly tweaked from the TGS build based on input received by visitors to the Japanese trade show. Also on hand will be Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops Plus running on two lonely kiosks somewhere amidst the sea of hopeful MGS4 fans. Great news for fans and the E for All show as a whole, but I’m still not going. I’d sooner swim shark-infested, chum-filled waters than navigate a show floor filled with MGS fans and a playable MGS4 demo.
The KP Report Session 061 [Kojima Productions - Thanks David!]
Sony won’t be there. Microsoft won’t be there. But Nintendo will be representin’ at E For All in Los Angeles, California next week, bringing some serious gaming heat. The general public will get its first hands-on time with Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl starting October 18th, as Nintendo has revealed their full (subject to change) booth line-up for the four day event. Visitors who hit up the booth can also take part in a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament, one that will net them a Wii T-shirt, with a brand new tee given away each day.
The full slew of Wii and Nintendo DS titles is after the jump and includes plenty of fresh stuff plucked from the company’s holiday release list. One spot of bad news, though. No Wii Sports playable. :(
