E3 is back, baby! After two years of the small-show affair, everyone involved decided enough was enough--go big or don't go at all. With attendance rising into the tens of thousands, the show floor will be packed silly with gamers jockeying to see what Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and more will unveil. We're going to soak up as much of the action as we can to give you an idea of the madness that goes on at one of the largest gaming shows on the planet. Gigantic booths, the teeming masses--if it has anything to do with E3 we'll likely have a shot of it. Be sure to come back every day, and even throughout the day, to see what has happened.
The Preparations
Tension mounts, meetings run long, and the packing never ends. Terabytes of storage, high-definition cameras, wires, and more pile into crate after crate of equipment. The show hasn't even started, and Homer's going to pull a Shining on us.Photographer: Jody RobinsonView images »
GameSpot Booth Resurrection
After three years, the GameSpot booth comes back to life. Hours of work, tons of equipment, and a wayward truck forced the folks to work until the wee hours of the night to put together our home for the next week. The fishbowl is almost done, and it will be by the time the show starts.Photographers: Jan Heir, Sarju Shah, Sophia Tong, Tyler WinegarnerView images »
Pre-E3 Hallways and Exterior
The show hasn't quite started but many of the major banners are up. Sony clearly went for blanket coverage. You'd also have to be completely blind to miss Assassin's Creed 2.Photographers: Sarju Shah, Tor Thorsen, Sophia Tong, Tyler WinegarnerView images »
E3 2009: Monday, June 1
Microsoft Press Conference
Microsoft showed off a metric ton of games and had a ton of great announcements during its conference. A brief rundown of the games includes: The Beatles: Rock Band, Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach, Forza Motorsport 3, Final Fantasy XIII, and Metal Gear Solid Rising to name a few. On the console side, the company announced Facebook and Twitter support amongst other improvements. Microsoft also unveiled Project Natal, an upcoming 3D motion-sensing camera system.Photographers: Luke Anderson, Shaun McInnis, Tyler WinegarnerView images »
Nintendo stuck with a clean look as usual, such as stark whites and simple lines. Of course, it wouldn't be Nintendo's booth without gigantic Koopas and Marios.Photographer: James MartinView images »
Sony Booth Shots
Sony's E3 booth is gigantic. And that's just the floor space--a staircase takes you up to a private meeting area that stretches the length of the booth. Long lines awaited showgoers at one of the hottest playable titles of the show - God of War III.Photographer: James MartinView images »
Activision Booth Shots
Activision came to town with a bucket load of awesome games and enormous screens with which to show them off. DJ Hero's beats could be heard all around, and plenty of people spent their time grinding their way through Tony Hawk Ride.Photographer: James MartinView images »
Who needs buttons when you have a whole skateboard controller to play on? It sounds so absurd that it just might work. The controller on the show floor is actually a beta version and isn't representative of what the final product will look like.Photographer: James MartinView images »
Square Enix's booth had enormous open spaces to seat people for its video trailers. It's also pretty hard to miss the Kingdom Heart statues.Photographer: James MartinView images »
E3 2009: Thursday, June 4
West Hall Gigapan Shots
We normally see E3 from the ground floor. This time around, we managed to change the perspective to a bird's-eye view to look down at the madness below. The following scenes are from the West Hall of the convention floor.Photographer: James Martin
View from the West Hall entrance, facing Sony.
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View from the back of the West Hall, facing Nintendo.
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Taken from the front of the West Hall, facing THQ.
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Microsoft Booth Shots
Microsoft's big green machine was in full effect at E3. The company had games from just about every genre on display, including Dirt 2.Photographer: James MartinView images »
Epic is the word. We're back in the fishbowl for E3 2009, and it was as hectic as ever. The front-and-center location of the booth had crowds passing by on a constant basis, peering at the frantic editors inside and the live show outside.Photographer: James MartinView images »
The Beatles came to town and rocked E3's world. MTV re-created Abbey Road in all of its glory and sucked in folks for hours on end.Photographer: Sarju ShahView images »
Sega Booth Shots
Mario and Sonic teamed up for some winter sports across from a long-haired, stiletto-wearing witch.Photographer: Sarju Shah, Raul KeallyView images »
Microsoft showed off a metric ton of games and had a ton of great announcements during its conference. A brief rundown of the games yields: The Beatles: Rock Band, Halo 3: ODST, Halo Reach, Forza Motorsport 3, Final Fantasy XIII, and Metal Gear Solid Rising to name a few. On the console side, the company announced Facebook and Twitter support amongst other improvements. Microsoft also unveiled Project Natal, an upcoming 3-D motion sensing camera system.Photographers: Luke Anderson, Shaun McInnis, Tyler WinegarnerView images »
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