And knowing that you could count on connecting with industry peers, partners and legitimate friends from across the globe in early/mid-June every year has been an amazing gift. At a time when many/most of my peers were dreading the physical and mental push of a few days of braving LA traffic (sometimes during the NBA Finals with the Lakers playing next door), 25,000+ steps daily across a giant convention center plus outdoor venues, hot weather and very poor food choices, I embraced every second because for those who really love games and this industry that makes them possible, E3 was like Christmas. As an attendee of nearly every E3 since its inception (including those 2 years in Atlanta), I loved every minute of my time at the shows – the global press conferences, the surprise hardware and software announcements, the insanely amazing booths that seemed to outdo each other year after year (except those 2 years in Santa Monica). E3’96 shined a light in front of me and I’ve never looked back.Ī lot will be discussed, debated, postulated and revealed in the near future about E3, its meteoric rise, its epic stall, what could have or should have been, and if there is ever a chance for it to see the light of day again. What I encountered at that show was a demonstration of legitimacy for the blossoming games industry, and it was exciting.
That moment of creative scrappiness marked the beginning of my unofficial entry into the games industry, 2 years before I joined an advertising agency to officially work on my first industry project - the launch of the SEGA Dreamcast (then called “Katana”). They technically spelled my name wrong (there was no online registration back then), but since I had a fictional title at a fictional company, the wrong spelling actually seemed fitting. And actually I made up WildCard Software too, for that matter (derived from my XBⱯND gamertag). I actually wasn’t the Head Buyer, I made that part up. In 1996, as a crafty young lad, I managed to acquire a pass to the second-ever E3 as Head Buyer of WildCard Software.
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