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So when did you first hear about E3

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
I've been playing games since the Famicom days yet never heard about E3 in my youth. Even when I started reading computer magazines, I picked them up randomly that I don't remember them talking about E3.

My first experience however was when a channel was airing Gamespot TV. If you're not familiar about it - it featured Adam Sessler (I think in his CGI form?) with a brick wall studio and has a couple of arcades (I think it was Gauntlet and Rival Schools?). In one of the episodes they went live on location... and it was E3. I forgot what E3 it was, PS1 was already out so it wasn't something related to a console release, but man it was something to see - like a con for video games. Since then, even after transitioning to Extended Play with Tilde, I really enjoyed their E3 stuff.
 
Same as OP Gamespot TV back on ZDTV. Think it was around the launch of the Dreamcast or some year around there when I became aware of the event and watched coverage on it ever since.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
I actually distinctly remember hearing/reading about it for the first time. It was in the July/August 1997 issue of N64 magazine. I remember reading about their preview for Goldeneye, which had clearly caught them by surprise.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
Same as OP Gamespot TV back on ZDTV. Think it was around the launch of the Dreamcast or some year around there when I became aware of the event and watched coverage on it ever since.

It makes me wonder if the climate back then is different compared to now.
 
I vaguely read about it in a magazine. But started paying attention to it when I saw the rock presenting the Xbox launch with Bill Gates.
 

poodaddy

Member
Nintendo Power when I was very, very, very young. I have no idea what age, but I'm 30 and I knew about E3 before I knew what sex even was so....yeah, pretty young.
 

Renna Hazel

Member
I think Nintendo Power in 1995 when they mentioned the Ultra 64. I also think that's the first time I heard about DKC2. It's long ago so perhaps my memory is a bit fuzzy.
 

Budi

Member
I really can't remember when exactly, but I know it was in Finnish gaming magazine. Something like 15+ years ago.
 
MGS2's announcement is the first clear E3 memory I can recall but I probably first heard about it some time in the late 90s from one of the many gaming magazines I'd read at the time.
 

Kent

Member
Back in the mid-late 90's, in a magazine - probably GamePro. I remember specifically hearing about Saturn, PlayStation and Nintendo 64 games being shown at it.
 

kmax

Member
I used to buy these PlayStation magazines that included game demos during the 90's. They used to have coverage of E3.
 

Wulfric

Member
2006 or 2007, I think? I read about it in a copy of EGM magazine at the grocery store. I looked it up on a computer at the school library, and it's been one of the events I look forward to watching each year ever since.
 

silva1991

Member
In 2012.I have been playing video games since early 90s, but I never visited video games forums until 2012 or 2011 and that's how I found out about E3.
 
Sometime in the late nineties from the Finnish edition of Super Power magazine, or some other gaming magazine. I think it had a short story of the expo itself.
 

Breakaway

Member
I was watching a YouTube video in '07 of someone talking about the PSP Slim being unveiled at E3 2007, which I ended up getting several months later. Then I came across all the memes from Sony's 2006 conference. I still didn't follow the event, though, or understand the importance of it. My first E3 was the 2011 one since I was looking forward to Skyrim, Prey 2, Arkham City, RAGE, and a few other games dropping that year.
 
So for whatever reason, my dad would get invites in the mail. He did not work in the industry but he was pretty big into the tech scene.

My first exposure was the few page spreads in Gamepro.

Well, in 1997, I was actually able to go. Me and two other friends had our dads register under their names to get us in. I was 12 so the prospect of going to E3 was MIND BLOWING.

Thing was, we knew it was an 18+ event so... being barely teenagers at the time, our dads told us to dress like "adults" which was button up shirts tucked into khaki pants with a belt on.

I remember my heart thumping as I got my badge checked, thinking the jig was up and we would get kicked out.

NO SUCH THING!

I got to enjoy the chaos and madness of early E3 and it was glorious. My one regret was not checking out 'Thrill Kill' when I was there because I remember thinking, "well, I'm going to buy this game for sure so I'll just wait."

They had an incredible MGS booth at the time... which I was extremely excited for but my stupid 12 year old brain couldn't grasp the multitude of buttons so I didn't make it pass the first area... and I'm talking that FIRST area after you get out the water because I couldn't figure out how to crawl so I was stuck in this tiny-ass space.

My one weird memory was the Tomb Raider booth. I remember this obese announcer standing on stage trying to hype the crowd and he got one guy to go up on stage and started asking him some questions and... I shit you not, this exchange happened ONE STAGE:

Announcer: Do you like titties?
Guest: Yea.
Announcer: Do you like BIG FAT TITTIES?!
Guest: YEA!

I remember thinking, "oh, this is why it's an 18+ event."

They were handing out demos like it was candy and I remember going to the small Brady Games booth like, "Hey, can I have like, that FF7 strategy guide?" and the guy was SUPER cool and gave me that for free along with a strategy guide for Romancing Saga.

I haven't been to an E3 since, though... I feel like it's time...
 

TheYanger

Member
fairly sure it's been covered pretty well in magazines since it first started. I certainly knew what it was in the mid/late 90s from EGM and whatnot.
 

Frostman

Member
2011 or 2012.

I have always played games, but had never visited a forum or watched any videos on games until then.
 

bounchfx

Member
Oh gosh probably in 95 or 96. It was my favorite time of year as a kid. I remember wanting to go so bad. I found out while I was in college that I could get a pass since it was industry related, so in 2005 I went to my first e3. It was amazing. I've been to maybe five more since but haven't in the past couple years. It's definitely changed a lot. Still neat but not the same. Might go next year since I'm in the area now, but we'll see.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
fairly sure it's been covered pretty well in magazines since it first started. I certainly knew what it was in the mid/late 90s from EGM and whatnot.

Yeah my wording is a bit vague - basically the mags I picked up didn't cover them, most likely because the E3 season is over or hasn't started
 

Pingk

Neo Member
My friends introduced me to E3 in 2006, never asked them how they heard of it though...

PS3-599USD.jpg
 

VegiHam

Member
I assume probably either from GameFAQs or GoNintendo. Either way it's have been about a decade ago. I really got into videogame news with the Brawl Hype Cycle, so I think E3 2008 was the first one I watched live.
 

Compsiox

Banned
When I was looking up Halo news and found the Halo 4 teaser.

I found that it had been shown at an event called.......................E33333333333333333333.
 
I don't really remember.

I don't watch E3, all I need is the announcements which can be found easily without watching the show.
 
Probably in 1998 when I was reading my first EGM -- the Dreamcast preview issue with Sonic and an orange DC swirl in the background. It's weird how vividly I remember buying it, actually.
 
2004.

It was around the time I got my own computer and started using the Internet on my own. It was actually very special to me because:
- the Nintendo DS was shown off for the first time, and
- Twilight Princess was announced with that amazing trailer. (When IGN described it as a surprise trailer, I actually thought a truck with a trailer was parked in the expo and had the Twilight Princess video playing on the side of the trailer. I didn't know what a trailer was in that context, lol.)

The year after, G4 TechTV broadcasted it live for the first time, and I was further hooked.
 

Sadist

Member
At the end of the nineties, through Dutch magazine Power Unlimited. They were hyping their trip to LA and promising coverage. Which they did.

It wasn’t until 2006 I started watching live, around that time live streaming became a thing.
 

GLAMr

Member
In 1999 from a kid in school called Jesse. He was a massive Nintendo fanboy, and used to rave about how Nintendo "won E3", and would accuse other people of not knowing what "E3" stands for (and therefore being less cool than him). He could be a colossal dickhead at times.

In retrospect, I think he was just venting as a result of being tiger-parented the shit out of.
 

Kuldar

Member
I think it was in 1995 in a French video game magazine (can't remmeber the name). They were talking about it and I was like "whoa, it would be great to go there". 22 years later I still say the same thing.^^
 

TransTrender

Gold Member
First one in 1995.
Between being on the local news, in magazines, and some friends parents working at different game company's I was pretty aware of it.
 

TwiztidElf

Member
When it broke free of CES and became its own videogame focused event in 1995.
Read about it in magazines, then I used to order the DVD's when they became available.
 
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