So far E3 has been good; a fair number of meetings, the press conferences, etc.
But here’s the worst thing ever. The Xbox360 press conference was kind of done “in the round”, that is, the presenter stood on a circular platform with the audience all around. The audience behind the presenters was on the stage, and at first they looked normal. But the press conference started about 40 minutes late, so we on the main floor had a lot of time to look at these people. They seemed like they could be developers or bloggers or something… they were all 20’ish, in jeans and T-shirts and whatnot. But, they were all fairly attractive – or at least the women were – as was noticed by the people behind me.
The next thing we noticed was that none of them wore the little circular pins we all had been given when we came in. Hmmm. Weird.
But the last hint came when a shapely woman came forward with the Xbox360 in a pack and put it on the stage. Suddenly this audience erupted into applause. They were hired guns! At every cue they went crazy, clapping and cheering and pumping their arms, nodding their heads, etc. Microsoft had brought its own supporters along with them, just in case they got a chilly reception at the press conference!
That’s just horrible. I felt sorry for them – what did they think they were doing? I could only think that perhaps they brought these people along to provide a pretty backdrop for the camera shots. Ooo, look at all the pretty, hip people! They all want Xbox360! Look how excited they are! It was like an infomercial.
It was completely embarrassing, and the real audience caught on quickly. I think MS would have gotten a much better reception had they not tried to stack the deck at their conference. As one friend said, “It’s like a Bush press conference!”
E3 2005: Most embarrassing thing ever
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26 responses to “E3 2005: Most embarrassing thing ever”
Excellent! Very amusing report there, and not surprising at all now that the PS3 will blow the 360 away!
*chuckles* I saw this on the E3 Live show for G4/TechTV. These “plants” even went so far as to hold up crossed arms in an “X” in their *cough*scripted*cough* “excitement”.
I like the idea of the new system. However, I could care less for VelocityGirl’s impelling need to create T-Shirts and Skate Parks and sell them online for a few cents a pop.
Remember, gamers aren’t stupid big M.. Don’t screw this up!
FYI, I just read this post then saw it is also linked on Bluesnews. So every other site probably has it too.
nice one… once again trying to get large ammount of gamers with 2-4s attention spawn to notice product… they just dont learn too fast some things… like that kind of things most likely just getting people not to like thing =D
ROFL, i noticed this when i watched it, pathetic, simply pathetic, microsoft think they can buy us, without the games they are nothing in this industry.
Sounds exactly like the spike tv video game awards last year when you heard constant cheering and such but the real audience was dead quiet everytime they showed them.
I dont knock microsoft just for being microsoft but come on that kind of stuff is just stupid. Putting your own people in for sort of canned applause doesnt do much. Like how they are hyping halo 3 when ps3 comes out saying it will be a nasty surprise for sony. They overdo everything to much and try to hip up the xbox for “the younger generation”.
But incase they forget that the system doesnt make or break it, its the games on the system that decide if you sink or swim cause the super nintendo is a better machine to me than the xbox is simply because it had a huge library of really great games.
Yeah, except at a Bush press conference, the deck is stacked overwhelmingly against the President due to the liberal bias of 95% of the mainstream media, who are more interested in using forged documents and false Koran-desecration reports to smear the administration than they are in reporting accurate inforamtion.
Please save your Gannon retort, I’ve heard it all before. Even if the consipracy theories on that are true, that one reporter out of the entire White House press corps is like a drop in the ocean.
they’re called “shills” – because shakespere used to pay them a shilling to laugh at the funny bits.
what’s frightening is how often they’re used – and how microsoft used them poorly. You should put them in the crowd and intersperce them so that they get the crowd around them to react.
for example, if the camera panned to show a group of 10 people – 4 of which had their arms crossed (a la “X”), you couldn’t identify the shill – he’s only 10% of the crowd and 25% of the ones reacting.
this happens every day – you just notice it when its done badly.
(and read Gibson’s “Pattern Rocognition” to follow this to a logical conclusion.)
I’m not saying you’re wrong there, I looked at the video and it is a shockingly perfect demographic blend of sex and ethnicity sitting back there, but… don’t you work for Sony? Maybe it is crass marketing, but maybe you’re sitting in a bit of a fragile [and directly competitive] glass house to be throwing blogs around…
LOL. thx for the post. i’m enjoying this E3 very much. The babes are as we have come to expect. eye-candy babes and shills what else at an product launch convention. I’m seeking babes for November in NYC.
I was one of the random people who was directly linked to this page from Bluesnews and I think it would have been a pretty handy tidbit of information had I known beforehand that you were batting for the opposing team.
Now it just seems like a bad taste of negative campaigning… Next time hire a shill to post this 🙁
What’s truly pathetic is the fanboys that choose to sit on either side of the fence. Anyone with half a brain that’s a real gamer will probably end up buying BOTH systems at some point, while those that are too ignorant to do anything but go “the PS3 will blow the 360 away!” will continue the rampant fanboy-ism that started about eight years ago.
Given the choice, and the likey price points (with PS3 being MUCH more expensive than X360 due to Blu-Ray inclusion..), I’ll be getting 360 first. Every game has to be 720p, so at least my HDTV will be getting some appropriate use. That, and I don’t really have any interest in the next Grand Theft Auto: The Search for Niggaz.
“It’s like a Bush press conference!” ROFL..
Minuteman,
I think the writer meant a Bush rally.
I doubt the XBox “shills” went uncompensated. At a Bush rally, they willingly sign their loyalty oaths like brainwashed sheep.
Quite funny that it was so noticable. Also, nice to hear that everyone else does the same thing, just better. In regards to the Bush conference/rallies, it’s not just him/them(republicans) they all do the same thing. Singling out a single group is just naive, and shows any biased opinions you might have.
WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW?
lollercakes at M$
Fanboy-ism? Man console battles have being going on since the very first game console was released.
Atari vs Coleco
Nintendo vs Sega
Sega vs Sony
Sony vs Microsoft
Game companies have been competing against each other and who carry out the debates are in the frontlines and that’s the devoted customer. If you dont like people people arguing over which console is better then start liking it, cause these debates will never cease.
BTW, the PS3 is looking to do the Xbox360 what the PS2 did to Dreamcast. :p
wow, thanks for all your responses!
For my response please go to my next mainline post here: http://www.satori.org/000271.html
Thanks!
I was at the MS press conference too. Once you noticed that the guys behind the stage were paid, it was really awful. Look left or right at the people sitting next to you, and you saw a bunch of stone-faced journalists and analysts, with crickets chirping and tumbleweeds blowing through. I think it kind of backfired…
So, microsoft employees aren’t “a real audience,” and Sony employees are.
Okay.
We’ll see how impressive Sony’s demos are when they are actually playable. Put them out there on the dev kits, too, so there will be a level playing field with microsoft’s demos.
*sigh*
They’re both both corporate behemoths, neither one of these companies is some hip boutique shop, let’s face it.
While the Xbox presentation was as campy and over the top as I’d expect, I could argue that the Sony presentation practically put me to sleep. Watching these Sony guys read their cue cards was plain painful. They seemed like the least interested people in the room about the product, which didn’t do much for my enthusiasm.
What I saw was a lot of tech talk, charts and graphs, and what looked like cutscenes to me. I know I know, they showed us that this was real time rendering. But what they didn’t show me any of was actual gameplay.
So whoop-de-freekin’ do. It looked gorgeous, sure. Everything always looks gorgeous in demos. When I see the real thing, and see whether 200 characters on screen drops the framerate I’ll get excited.
Look, both systems are going to be clearly very capable new devices. Each one is going to offer it’s own little bells and whistles. I for one plan on taking advantage of the Xbox’s capabilities and integrating it more into my entertainment system. I’ll probably get a PS3 also.
What it will all come down to is titles. Sony has pretty clearly OWNED everyone in this respect for quite a while, but you’d be foolish to underestimate Microsoft’s power or their commitment. They’ve clearly acknowledged this with their aggressive pursuit of well known producers like Square Enix.
I actually think this fight will be the interesting one. The first gen Xbox came in on a playing field that was vastly tipped in Sony’s favor. With these new consoles, the playing field has been wiped in a sense. (backward compatibility is nice, but it’s not the coup de grace for most people) Who will have the better library of games? That will be what’s fun to watch, and of course participate in. =)
Most embarrasing thing ever in E3 is what Sony has done in PS3’s presentation. Showing pre-rendered videos as real-time videos is cheating every single PS fan in the world.
Yep, the audience was fake. We could notice that because none of them made a thing out of what was presented, just acted like puppets in the proper moments.
But Sony was pretty embarrasing as well with the PS3 presentation. That pre-rendered thing was odd and the fact that no PS3 were turned on in E3 also indicates something. It that sense, MS was the better presence in the expo because, at least, you didn’t have to starve in a line to give a look into what they were showing.
The absence of Revolution was an embarrasing moment as well. E3 2005 as a whole was a disgrace. No new thrills, just more of the same, packed with thousands of people around searching for stickers, flashing parafernalia and go-go-girls.
That boomerang/dildo controller was by far the most embarrasing presentation of E3.
Now who wants to be seen with that?
LOL @ these xbox fagboys in denial, damn all i see you ppl do is make up dumb excuses like “OMG ITS PRE RENDARED!!!, LOL STUPID SONY SHOWING CG”, i know it pains you to see your fav console totally get shut down at E3 now you idiots cant do anything but cry that its all pre rendered LOL. hahaah oh man, “WELL ATLEAST THEY SHOWED REAL INGAME STUFF LOL” im sorry but they all looked like current gen PC games with higher resolutions. pathetic really 🙂
xbox is stupid
the last press conference was boring and lame. They are just out there to prove how great they are.
and what upset me the most is that people are comparing the PS2to xbox 360. can people just Waite for the PS3 to come then compare?
For one the “O” so great 360 had some technical difficulties and break downs. It was like they were rushing their products like if the PS3 was out or something.
Now the E3 sony press conference was great and fun to watch and there were some great surprises.
MY BROTHER IS AN XBOX FAN AND HE WHENT NUTS OVER SONY E3 SHOW
WE WATCH THE SHOW OVER AND OVER until are eye balls fell out
AND KNOWING THAT MY BROTHER IS AN XBOX FAN I DOWNLOADED THE 360 PRESS CONFRENCE. OK I THOGHT IT WAS GOOD AT THE BEGINING BUT AFTER A WHILE ME AND MY BROTHER GOT BOARD SO WE WATCH SONY.
And to the xbox fans
please please waite until PS3 comes out then judge.
don’t be mad just because the system dose not match up with its awesome power and its 7 controllers and psp wire less system.
and its motion censored controllers. i KNOW you are all mad and just want to break the ps3.
And hey when i buy my ps3 i will invite 7 of my friends so we can all play NBA 07 and MADDEN 07
just think 7 controllers 7!!!!!
DO I have to spell it out for you seven seven seven seven seven seven seven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I an so glad GAYLO 3 is ending.
SO to ALL you PS3 fans buy play station don’t let other people talk you in to buying the xbox just because they are stuck with one.
PS3 ALL THE WAY.
XBOX GAYLO always GAY!!!
🙂