This year’s E3 marks their 10th anniversary, which is remarkable considering a lot of conventions have been dying out lately. A couple of years ago, I was invited by NVIDIA to go to E3. They flew me out there, paid for the hotel room, and invited me to a company party that featured Smashmouth which was real neat. If you’re not familiar with E3, it’s only the largest show on Earth, featuring everyone in the gaming industry marketing their products.

However, that’s largely what it’s about; marketing. There were a few people I met that were passionate about gaming, but they were hard to find at E3. It’s all loud music, flashing lights, and gleaming teeth. It’s thousands of Press Relations and marketing people hand-in-hand, with dollar signs ka-chinging in their eyes.

Don’t get me wrong though, it was neat being able to see games before anyone else, and sometimes even get to play them. It’s nice to talk to the few people that were into gaming, and get their thoughts on games other than their own. Between the long walks, loud noise, and the stress of trying to cover as much as you can, I’d say it’s better to stay home, download all the videos released to the web, and let someone else do all the work.

I’ll just play the games, thank you very much.