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Someone calculated the % of "game shown" vs "talking" at the last E3

City 17

Member
I feel this misses a lot of context

For example Bethesda's can be much more meaningful as the time spent showing games is focused on a small subset and showing a large amount of them vs other conferences that are more on quantity, trailers that don't show much of any game at all or are highly scripted pieces.

So yeah, not really anything too interesting to me as a metric of "game shown" vs "talking"

I share the same sentiment.

What's the point of a heavily scripted segment that is in no way indicative of the final product, esp. one that is a couple of years from release, unless we're watching/treating/rating the E3 like a TV show and nothing more (some do and I respect that, but that's not what I look forward to in a game expo).

We need more direct/honest/bullshit free gameplay footages, like some of the ones that we get on the floors.
 

Alienfan

Member
Aside from EAs usually 60min sports speal, 50% seems like an appropriate amount of time, which all of the publishers seem to be doing now. As much as I enjoy Sony's trailer after trailer format, I feel like they should talk more about their current years lineup and a little less showing off cgi trailers for games that don't even have a release date yet. Bethesda nailed their Fallout 4 E3 coverage, that's how you do E3
 
my thought as well and Sean had a lenghty speech after that Gow trailer

Yeah, it's four minutes, thirty seconds or so for just the orchestra, and another three minutes of Sean Layden after the God of War trailer. That aside, it leaves about 16 minutes for non-game portions of the conference the rest of the time.
 

Gurish

Member
No wonder EA's press conferences are consistently the worst every year, jeez.

BTW even during their "games shown" time, most of it consists of in engine tech demos and behind the scene bullshit, just horrible, shouldn't bother if they are having the same schedule this year.
 

Alienfan

Member
No wonder EA's press conferences are consistently the worst every year, jeez.

But also brings out the best in Giant Bomb commentary. I'm really hoping for some good E3 disaster cringe this year, Zac Efron and Snoop Dogg getting blazed while playing Battlefield 4 is probably one of the best E3 moments
 
I'm definitely in the minority here but I don't mind the talking as long as it's about the actual games, or plans, or what they're going to be offering soon or down the road. If actual gameplay is lacking then no big deal.

What I can't stand though is when they go into these long redundant mission statements every year about how they're all about the gamers and the fluff bullshit everyone can see through. Just talk about stuff I'll like and will want to give you money for.
 
Maybe the orchestra at the beginning of the conference takes up a chunk of that non-game time.

23 minutes NOT on game footage.

Doesn't mean talking. Don't forget orchestra.

I thought that too, but the OP says "talking". If anything non-gameplay qualifies as "talking" then they ought to break it down further in a third category called "Presentation/Other" in my opinion. But really that's just me being pedantic and this breakdown is fascinating regardless.
 

Budi

Member
But also brings out the best in Giant Bomb commentary. I'm really hoping for some good E3 disaster cringe this year, Zac Efron and Snoop Dogg getting blazed while playing Battlefield 4 is probably one of the best E3 moments

Didn't watch it with Giant Bomb, but it was still funny as hell.
 

Gurish

Member
I like Sony's format, it shouldn't be above 70%, the pacing was perfect last year, it's fun to see who is the next developer/Exec presenting, let them do a short introduction.

To see a trailer after trailer without any talking won't be as exciting, part of the fun and tension is to watch who is coming next on stage, so yea 70% is just about perfect imo.
 
I understand the thrust of this and appreciate it, but I don't put much meaning behind it.

I don't mind some talking if commitments or announcements are being made. I don't mind hearing a dev talk about their process or inspiration. Of course, I want to see games first and foremost, but not all talking is created equal.

And in the same vein, not all game showings are created equal. Lengthy CGI trailers? Total waste of time. Super canned gameplay demos that don't really indicate what the experience will be like or play up a bunch of fake game culture? Not a fan. Announcements for games 2-3 years out from now? Might as well keep it to yourself as I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up cancelled before then.

So honestly, while someone droning on in marketing speak or some pseudo-celebrity feigning their great interest in X-best-selling-franchise is awful to me, it's just one of many things that people do wrong during E3.

That said, I still look forward to E3 every year. Giant Bomb's couch conversations with heavy weights (and less so) in the industry are probably the best part though.
 

Blobbers

Member
"Are we winning? I think we're winning"

nintchdbpict000305219733.jpg
 
I like Sony's format, it shouldn't be above 70%, the pacing was perfect last year, it's fun to see who is the next developer/Exec presenting, let them do a short introduction.

To see a trailer after trailer without any talking won't be as exciting, part of the fun and tension is to watch who is coming next on stage, so yea 70% is just about perfect imo.

That really depends, people walking on the stage can be very cringy sometimes. I hate that word but its the only word I can use here lol
 

georly

Member
The fact that 'how long was spent not showing games' is viewed as a negative in this thread is just another nail in the coffin for e3. Why spend all the time/money on an elaborate stage show when people only care about the minutes spent showing new games? Something you can easily just upload to youtube?
 
That really depends, people walking on the stage can be very cringy sometimes. I hate that word but its the only word I can use here lol

Which is why you put people up on stage who have experience doing that and are comfortable in that environment (mostly execs). You don't push terrified developers up on stage and force them to give 5 minute monologues on their games.

EA conferences are such complete messes. While everyone else has mostly cut out the worst parts (long monologues, barely any gameplay, forcing devs up on stage, dumb celebrity appearances, etc) and streamlined their conferences (with Sony at the forefront of this), EA has not only kept the worst parts but they've also come up with awful new ideas too. The transitions between their US and UK conferences, behind the scenes stuff and the way they openly talk about unannounced games without showing or really saying anything are genuinely bad ideas.
 

spekkeh

Banned
Yeah this is why I usually skip EA. To think most of that time is spent on yearly franchise iterations as well. Completely useless.
 
The price people paid for Aisha Tyler.

nah, it was because of the AC movie segment, the Star Trek interview segment, and the South Park interview segment.

Honestly, Ubisoft 2016 was far more brutal than EA just because of its sheer length.
 

AndyVirus

Member
Was Sony's really only 70%? According to the IGN YouTube channel Sony's show was 77 minutes last year, which means that they would have spent about 23 minutes talking. That doesn't sound right at all. Will maybe have to watch it again and see if that stacks up.

I checked. It's ~16 minutes including the orchestra. No idea where the 23 minutes comes from.

5 minute orchestra, 3 mins opening talk, 3 mins RE7/VR, 1 min Crash, 2 mins House/Kojima, 2 mins closer. That's including walking on to the orchestra.
 

MUnited83

For you.
Not surprised about EA's percentage, tried to watch their conference once and it was just talking and talking and talking and talking and then a very short gameplay demo and talking and talking and talking.
 
Cutting out some of the "middle men" would've gone a long way for MS last year.
Honestly, I don't mind hearing from devs as long as they keep it short. It's good to give the people making these games a moment in the spotlight, especially for smaller indies. Humanizing the creative process is important.

It was incredibly dumb, but I was really charmed last year when John Carmak appeared on stage at Microsoft while playing Minecraft in VR.
 

Gurish

Member
The fact that 'how long was spent not showing games' is viewed as a negative in this thread is just another nail in the coffin for e3. Why spend all the time/money on an elaborate stage show when people only care about the minutes spent showing new games? Something you can easily just upload to youtube?

Nah, there is still excitement to be have when viewing a live show, hearing the audience and knowing you are watching a live gameplay being played in front of you by a dev, and the talking is also part of it, it's just that there need to be moderation, one of the best E3 moment was Sony slaying MS's policies, you can't achieve that with Youtube.

You don't need to cancel E3, you just need more publishers taking example from Sony on how it's done.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
Nah, there is still excitement to be have when viewing a live show, hearing the audience and knowing you are watching a live gameplay being played in front of you by a dev, and the talking is also part of it, it's just that there need to be moderation, one of the best E3 moment was Sony slaying MS's policies, you can't achieve that with Youtube.

You don't need to cancel E3, you just need more publishers taking example from Sony on how it's done.

You can, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA

EDIT: Also the mere fact we all cheer for our rights not getting taken away is deeply depressing when looking back on this.
 

Trup1aya

Member
The fact that 'how long was spent not showing games' is viewed as a negative in this thread is just another nail in the coffin for e3. Why spend all the time/money on an elaborate stage show when people only care about the minutes spent showing new games? Something you can easily just upload to youtube?

E3 isn't just the presentations though. It's the news and impressions from the show floor.
 
Which is why you put people up on stage who have experience doing that and are comfortable in that environment (mostly execs). You don't push terrified developers up on stage and force them to give 5 minute monologues on their games.

EA conferences are such complete messes. While everyone else has mostly cut out the worst parts (long monologues, barely any gameplay, forcing devs up on stage, dumb celebrity appearances, etc) and streamlined their conferences (with Sony at the forefront of this), EA has not only kept the worst parts but they've also come up with awful new ideas too. The transitions between their US and UK conferences, behind the scenes stuff and the way they openly talk about unannounced games without showing or really saying anything are genuinely bad ideas.

It just be cringy overall. I love Aisha Tyler at the Ubisoft conferences but it still be some funky stuff going on. Remember when she was a giant a couple years ago?
 
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