• Everyone is talking like Gears of War is going to be as good as it was intended, which ends up being good for gamers, but does anyone else think that Cliff Bleszinski gets a free ride from the gaming press? Sure he hangs with porn stars, highlights his hair and acts like a rock star, but what has this guy done, actually? Remember he tried to bring a new IP once before and failed (Pariah) and all of his career achievements are tied to one franchise (Unreal). He’s more of a figurehead to Epic like Stan Lee is to Marvel, but with a much less-storied past.
• It’s official – Too Human sucks.
• “PC Gaming is Back!” I hear this every year. The truth is, PC gaming never left. It continues to lead in innovation, both in terms of gameplay (MMOs) and technology (graphics, physics). Consoles get all the attention because they are more accessible, but the truth is they owe their success to the PC gaming market. Interesting thought – PC gaming sales are down year after year, but how much of that can be blamed on persistent gaming? The Sims and MMORPGs have become dominant, so perhaps people are saving their hard-earned cash for subscription fees and expansion packs?
• GameLife – who the hell are these guys? And most important, how did they all get press passes to E3 and become “special guests” of Ziff Davis after only three shows?
• I don’t think many people realize Elite Beat Agents is not a localization of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan, but rather a brand new title by the original developers specifically for the Western market.

Okay, and now for my E3 2006 Awards:

• Press Coverage of the Show: Gamespot. They had live coverage that eclipsed G4, even with G4 working hard but yet still lacking how to work their Maxim/Spike TV slant into their live show. Here’s a hint: that shit doesn’t mix with peanut butter. Try the chocolate next time. The only knock was the lack of a daily podcast, I guess because everyone was so busy supporting E3 Live. I wish they would have had daily wrap-ups like 1UP, and with their User Videos functionality, I would have liked to see more guerilla videos by staff from the show floor. I have a feeling most bosses do not like their employees to run streaming video at the office.
• Podcast of the Show: 1UP. I wanted to give a special nod to the 1UP Yours crew for podcasting nightly during each day of the conference. At least in theory, because they were usually delivered a day late. But still, they are always entertaining and editorial, unlike the very objective (read: afraid to say what you really feel) delivery of Gamespot’s crew. Look at the tenure between the two leading websites – Gamespot has seniority in its staff, versus the very young 1UP. I think that’s the difference, as 1UP is very keen on delivering gaming news in a way that is fresh and, notably, different from the pack.
• Worst E3 Coverage: Tie between Kotaku and Joystiq. What the hell. These guys scoop from eachother’s websites, hardly deliver anything news-worthy and avoid giving any value to gaming journalism almost on purpose. Yet everyone loves them, because hits = attention. I wouldn’t rest on my laurels if I were them, because it only takes one person with good HTML skills and a little bit of dedication to build up a fanbase. 1UP would have taken this award if it weren’t my scathing hatred toward Kotaku and Joystiq, because their site is unmanageable. And when you actually know where to find information, HTML errors are in abundance. I can’t tell you how many times I got the error “failed to load page”.

Overall though, the coverage was pretty unorganized. How many times do I have to say this – do NOT just categorize by platform/title. The amount of news coming out of the show slips through the cracks this way. Here’s a hint – for those blog-based sites, use your tags wisely. And for those who aren’t, tags aren’t that hard to incorporate. I’ll have to show you what I mean next year…