Table of Contents
- 1995 — The rise of Sony
- 1996 — Sony gets it up and running again
- 1997 — A year of many games
- 1998 — The Secret of the Dreamcast
- 1999 — The year of the new generation
- 2000 — The console wars restart
- 2001 — The exchange of players
- 2002 — The year of sequels
- 2003 – Sony attacks Nintendo's portable reign
- 2004 — Nintendo strikes back
- 2005 — The new round of the console wars
- 2006 — Motion controls fever
- 2007 — The year the fair declined
- 2008 — The digital revolution
- 2009 – The Beatles take the stage
- 2010 — The year of the motion detectors
- 2011 - Nintendo tries to get hardcore players back
- 2012 – The Year of Watch Dogs
- 2013 – The console war chapter
- 2014 – The year of virtual reality
A Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, was born to give due prominence to electronic games. Over time, it has become one of the main events in the gaming world over the last 25 years. Here many of the great consoles and games were announced, in addition to many failures. Although it didn't happen last year, it's already guaranteed to happen this year. So, to celebrate your event, we made a E3 retrospective with the main events of all editions of the event until today.
1995 — The rise of Sony
In 1995 it finally began to E3. It was a year where the three main developers at the time, Nintendo, Sega e Sony were preparing the launch of their next consoles. Who opened the work was the house of Sonic. Your new device, the Saturn, was already available for purchase, for US$399. The amount charged was more than double the company's predecessor console, the Mega Drive, but it was still well received by the public. But everything changed when Sony took the stage.
Sony started its presentation with the price of the upcoming PlayStation, $299, a hundred less than its competitor, and it stole the show right away. In addition, it promised more than 50 games to be released by the end of that year. Meanwhile, Nintendo suffered from very low sales of its terrible Virtual Boy and saw many production companies pledge support for Sony, and decided to postpone the announcement of his new device. Even so, Big N reigned with its Game Boy, in addition to good games being released for the Super nes that year, like Donkey Kong Country 2, Chrono Trigger, Mega Man 7 and many others.
1996 — Sony gets it up and running again
The following year, 1996, the E3 already started with one participant in a coma. The decisions of Sega made the Saturn suffered a lot, and this reflected a lot on sales, with just over 200 devices sold. Still, she showed games that caught some public attention, such as Nights into Dreams e Sonic Xtreme, but did not go beyond that. THE Nintendo had already shown what its newest console, called Nintendo 64. The company used the stage of E3 to introduce its newest innovation, analog control. In addition, he announced that each package of his new device would come with Super Mario 64 and it would cost $249,99, but that didn't last long.
When the Sony entered the stage, the company knew it needed to get a lot of attention, as it was still new to the business, against industry titans. So she did what no one expected: she cut the price of PlayStation, and now it would cost $199,99. This caught everyone in short pants and forced competitors to make further price cuts. THE Nintendo lowered its future Nintendo 64 to $199,99, and the Sega followed the same path.
This was also the first E3 in which the Microsoft participated. The company realized that that market was growing and wanted to ensure that its operating system was the best for games. At the fair, she presented the war simulator Close Combat., and a basketball simulator in NBA Full Court Press among other games.
1997 — A year of many games
In previous editions, consoles had been announced and shown to the public, but as they were already available to consumers, there was only one thing left: the games. THE Sega he got to have a big space at the fair, but he had little to show, and he ended up a little lonely at that big party. THE Nintendo needed to show the potential of its Nintendo 64, even more so after being abandoned by several game producers - many of them, such as Square, preferred that the company had chosen the CD, but it insisted on the cartridge. So, to meet the demand, Nintendo introduced the classic Goldeneye 007, And Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Quest, Star Fox 64 and many others.
Meanwhile, Sony reigned at the fair. THE Konami presented the trailer of Metal Gear Solid, which stopped everything whenever it was shown. In addition, it was also shown what would become the hurricane Final Fantasy VII, and the newest control of the PlayStation, with two analogs (from whom did they get this idea? The question remains).
On PCs, first-person shooter games dominated. Half Life was presented during the fair, along with a series of other games, such as Quake II, Prey, Duke Nukem Forever and many others.
1998 — The Secret of the Dreamcast
After getting beaten up a lot in previous years, the Sega decided that he was going to jump headfirst into the event. The company presented its brand new Dreamcast, which would prove to be his last card in the world of consoles. She showed the graphic power of the device and all the wonders it could perform, but decided to show it only to journalists. What motivated her to do this, no one knows.
A Sony, meanwhile, was quiet. She had just presented her racing simulator, the Gran Turismo, and had several titles from other publishers up his sleeve, such as Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy VIII and more news from Metal Gear Solid.
For the Big N, that was an extremely important year. In 1998, there was a little RPG game that not even the Nintendo had so much faith, Pokémon. As we know, the franchise has taken the world by storm after being featured on E3 1998. But the news didn't stop there: this was also the year in which one of the best games in history was presented: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
1999 — The year of the new generation
And in the year of the turn of the century, the Sega would finally present its Dreamcast for the general public in E3. After it was already released in Japanese lands, we Westerners would finally set our eyes on that console. Was the release date scheduled for 9/9/1999, a paradise for lovers of the number 9 and perhaps with something connected to numerology? Who knows. For the fair, the house of Sonic presented games like The House of the Dead 2, Soul Calibur and others, which drew a lot of attention thanks to the graphics presented.
A Sony wasn't ready to show her new console yet, but she insisted on taking a computer with specifications of what would become the PlayStation 2. Your games at the fair were Crash Team Racing, Dino crisis and others, but fell short of what had been shown by its rival.
But who really stole the show even in that E3 was the Nintendo. During the fair, the company announced that it would adopt DVD technology in its newest console, until then called Dolphin, and that it would have a 128-bit chip. Meanwhile, a series of games from Nintendo 64 was presented, as Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Snap, Donkey Kong 64 and several others.
2000 — The console wars restart
The new millennium was once again dominated by Sony. The PlayStation owner was setting the stage for the western launch of the PlayStation 2 and had promised more than 50 games by the end of the year, which made the public squeamish. Your flagship at the fair was Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, which showed a little bit of the power of the company's newest console.
A Nintendo, meanwhile, showed nothing of the Dolphin and focused on presenting games and dice. During the fair, the company revealed that the Game Boy had hit the mark of 100 million copies sold, a milestone for the industry. And not to let the shuttlecock fall, presented the new adventure of Link, in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and a new game in the Pokémon franchise, in pokemon stadium 2.
Finally, the Sega, despite having a good console in his hands, he didn't know how to present himself at the fair. One of his main titles was a musical game, the Samba by Amigo, whose objective was to swing maracas and score points… There was another game, Seaman, whose objective was to care for a strange fish with a human face that had the ability to converse. Microsoft returned to the fair and showed the prototype of what would become one of his best games in history: Halo: Combat Evolved. In this version, the game still showed third-person gameplay, which was changed to first-person in the final version and subsequent release.
2001 — The exchange of players
2001 was the year of the player change. THE Sega had officially given up on his Dreamcast, and Microsoft took the Xbox for the fair's stages. With a release date, price and a series of games, Bill Gates' company showed that it was no joke. Halo: Combat Evolved stole the show and showed the power of the machine.
A Nintendo, in turn, changed its upcoming console. Dolphin leaves the field and enters the Game Cube. The idea of using DVDs has also gone through the roof, and the disc technology would be miniDVD, which is smaller and has less data storage capacity. One of the main games announced during the fair was Super Smash Bros. Meele, which is still considered one of the best in the franchise.
On top of all that, the Sony floated. Your PlayStation 2 sold like neither water in the desert nor the entrance of Microsoft in the game seemed to shake their structures. She took the opportunity to show games, and the main ads were devil may cry, Klonoa 2 e Silent Hill 2.
2002 — The year of sequels
Following the pace of the previous year, the Sony stayed at the top. She announced that the PlayStation 2 had sold over 30 million sets, the sky was the limit. To continue in this vein, his games at the fair were important, with Devil May Cry 3, Silent Hill 3 and other sequels. Everything was going well for the company.
A Nintendo needed to appeal, and announced games for its main franchises: Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime e The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. To make its fans even happier, the company had signed an exclusive contract with Capcom, and the remakes of Resident Evil 1 e 2 would come to the Big N console. In addition, a game that would become a flagship of the company years later was also announced: Animal Crossing.
While its competitors had several sequels, the Microsoft went to Japan and guaranteed the exclusivity of some of its games, such as Ninja Gaiden, Tecmo, e Panzer Dragoon Orta, Sega, in addition to also showing a series of multiplatform games, such as Psychonauts.
2003 – Sony attacks Nintendo's portable reign
And, for a change, the Sony shook the structures in 2003. Out of nowhere, and taking absolutely everyone by surprise, the company announced its newest console: the PlayStation Portable, or PSP. It was PlayStation's mother's entry into the game that was dominated by Nintendo: the portables. To complement, she presented the trailer of Gran Turismo 4 and other games such as Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
A Nintendo was caught in short pants, as the company never believed that anyone would want to threaten its crown in the laptop world. To make matters worse, there wasn't a major release that drew attention. The thing was similar with the Microsoft, which revealed the existence of Halo 2, but other than that, nothing much of an impact happened.
Who really stole the show was the Valve, With your Half Life 2. Featuring innovative physics and cutting-edge graphics, the game was the highlight of the fair.
2004 — Nintendo strikes back
If in the year before Nintendo was caught off guard, in 2004 it came with heavy artillery. She introduced the public to what would be the successor to the Game Boy Advanced: the Nintendo DS. The new device had two screens, a touch screen, internet access and many other features. Additionally, the company announced that it was working on yet another Link adventure in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
A Sony kept talking about PSP, but nothing new was shown, nor any game. However, the company presented a game that is loved by many to this day: God of War. That alone ensured that Sony's presentation was widely commented on. Running outside, Microsoft highlighted its main franchise: Halo 2. Other than that, nothing very exciting was presented.
2005 — The new round of the console wars
That was the year the three companies announced their new consoles. THE Microsoft took the opportunity and walked in with both feet in the door, showing games, the online system of the upcoming console and everything that would make the Xbox 360 an excellent console. Your flagship was Gears of War, in addition to games Rareas the Perfect Dark Zero and the game adapting the movie King Kong.
A Sony, on the other hand, bragged about the resolution of its new console, the PlayStation 3, which could reach up to 1080p. She also promised that the games would reach up to 120hz, which turned out not to be true. But the main highlight of the console was the media it used, the brand new Blu-ray, which had a capacity of 25GB, and could reach 50GB.
Mario's house also presented its console, but showing only a prototype. The company ensured that the Revolution, the name given to it at the time, would have full backward compatibility with the Game Cube and a game download system called Virtual Console. This system would allow players to buy and download old games from other devices in the Nintendo.
It was during the E3 2005 that many games today considered classics like Alan Wake, Spore, The Witcher, Age of Empires III and many others were revealed to the public.
2006 — Motion controls fever
With Xbox 360 already released and the imminent release of PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii (Revolution's new name), now it was time to introduce the games. THE Microsoft entered the fair strongly, with Force 2 e Fable 2 and presenting once again Gears of War. In addition, she presented the system of Xbox Live Arcade, which sold games digitally, and also news about Windows Service.
Wanting to take advantage and demonstrate the graphic potential of PlayStation 3, Sony presented a game that over time became one of the company's flagships: Uncharted. For the PSP, the company presented Killzone: Liberation, produced by Guerrila Games.
But the one who went all out at the fair was the Nintendo. O Wii totally stole the show with its motion control and, on top of that, Nintendo presented nothing more, nothing less than super mario galaxy, WiiSports, Super Smash Bros. Brawl e Metroid Prime 3; all the games that marked its era on the Big N console. For its handheld, the company announced The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
2007 — The year the fair declined
The organization of E3 decided to change the scope and location of the fair in 2007, going to Santa Monica. Companies, on the other hand, continued to bet everything on the fair and do their best. THE Nintendo, as a company that likes to innovate from time to time, presented to the public a series of peripherals for the Wii, with the Wii Zapper pistol, the Wii Balance Board and others. The company's focus had turned to the casual audience, which ensured good sales for its console.
On the other side of the dispute, the Sony and Microsoft bothered to show games. The PlayStation owner showed a series of games, such as Gran Turismo 5 e inFamous, in addition to reinforcing the launch of Uncharted, which was close. O Xbox, in turn, brought the third chapter of Halo, Bioshock e Assassins Creed.
2008 — The digital revolution
Following the same tune as the previous year, the fair was small, but its ads did not disappoint. THE Sony, which had been suffering from its online network, the Playstation Network (also known as PSN), announced partnerships with movie studios to enhance its service. In games, the company announced the game of the friendly Sackboy, the LittleBigPlanet, and also informed the creation of the Greatest Hits, which brought great console classics for half the price.
A Nintendo followed its casual wave and presented several games of this line, such as Wii Music, a response to titles such as Guitar Hero. But not everything was so bad. Animal Crossing: City Folk was introduced, and it was also announced that the company was working on games in the franchise Mario, Zelda e Pikmin, but the latter more discreetly.
Finally, the Microsoft, for the first time in the history of the fair, allowed the owners of the Xbox 360 attended the company's presentation through the Xbox Live. In the games, several titles were presented, such as Final Fantasy XIII, Gears of War 2 e Fable 2.
2009 – The Beatles take the stage
In 2009, everything went back to normal, and the event was once again as gigantic as it was in 2007. Microsoft all that was left was to set fire to the stage curtains, as it brought Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to publicize Rock Band: The Beatles. She also made the first presentation of the Christmas project, the motion sensor from Bill Gates' company. Other games were also presented, such as Halo: Reach, Halo 3: OSDT, Forza Motorsport 3 e Crackdown 2.
A Nintendo decided to please the company's long-term fans and announced two games for the Nintendo Wii: Metroid: OtherM e Super Mario Galaxy 2. Shigeru Miyamoto also appeared to inform that a new game in the Zelda franchise was in development.
At that time, the Sony suffered from the sales of PlayStation 3. To try to reverse the situation, the company started its presentation with Uncharted 2 and showed a number of other titles, such as Gran Turismo 5, Final Fantasy XIV, The Last Guardian and closed with God of War 3. She also announced the PlayStation Move, which soon fell into oblivion.
2010 — The year of the motion detectors
Following the trend created by Nintendo to Wii, Sony and Microsoft have invested in their motion detectors. THE Microsoft officially presented its Kinect, with several games that took full advantage of its sensor. Other games were announced, such as Fable 3 and the Call of Duty of the year.
A Nintendo showed he wasn't kidding around and Shigeru Miyamoto revealed Link's newest adventure in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, considered the first game in the series in its main timeline. Two other franchises would receive new titles, Donkey Kong e KirbyAnd Nintendo 3DS It was presented.
The new Nintendo handheld had as a differential the ability to reproduce the effect of three dimensions on a screen without the need for glasses. As a launch game, she showed the game Kid Icarus: Uprising, which abuses 3D. To close the announcements, there were the remasters of other games for the portable, with emphasis on Star Fox 64 e The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D.
Meanwhile, Sony announced the PlayStation Plus, which promised to give away a series of games to its users, as well as discounts in the store and other oddities. In the field of games, the company announced Infamous 2, Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2 and many others.
2011 - Nintendo tries to get hardcore players back
The year of another console generation. After filling the money tubes with the Wii, the Nintendo felt it needed to release a new console to please its old school fans, or hardcore gamers. Thus, the company brought E3 o Wii U (such an unfortunate name). The console has a tablet that serves both as a screen (sometimes a support screen) and as a controller. It has a microphone, two speakers, camera and touch screen.
A Sony wanted to face off with Nintendo in the world of handhelds and made another move, with the good PlayStation Vita. The new device had a touch screen, two analogs and a high-quality screen, among other features.
Running outside was Microsoft, which focused on games. As a novelty, she announced Halo 4 and the remake of the first title in the franchise, called Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. There were also presentations by Gears of War e Forza Motorsport 4.
2012 – The Year of Watch Dogs
This was a year of transition for the gaming industry. despite the Wii U have already been announced, nor Sony nem Microsoft were ready to show off their new gadgets. In addition, as the cost of production was increasing, few companies bet on new franchises at the end of generation.
A Nintendo showed Mario's new adventure in New Super Mario Bros. U, and also Pikmin 3 e Rayman Legends. Microsoft has brought an air of freshness to its franchises, announcing the excellent Forza Horizon e Gears of Wars: Judgment, in addition to bringing new scenes to Halo 4. PlayStation's mother showed nothing more, nothing less than The Last of Us at that fair, a game that would snatch a legion of fans in the future, and another exclusive game – Beyond: Two Souls. For your laptop, the PlayStation Vita, which was slipping in sales, the company announced a new Sackboy adventure in LittleBigPlanet, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation and other games.
But among all the games, one of them stole the show: Watch Dogs, Ubisoft. Showing incredibly absurd graphics (so absurd that you can't even measure it here), the game promised to go head-to-head with the GTA franchise, but as we know, it was all a huge exaggeration. Watch Dogs is a good game, but its over-the-top presentation ended up doing more harm than good.
2013 – The console war chapter
And once again, we are in the year of a new generation. THE Microsoft was the first to make its presentation, but miscommunications greatly affected the message the company wanted to convey. The company's idea was to transform its Xbox One in a multimedia center, but many people did not understand the idea. In the field of games, the company of Bill Gates presented several games, such as Halo 5, Forza Motorsport 5 and the impressive Ryse: Son of Rome.
A Sony, as usual, detonated his opponent during the event. O PlayStation 4 would cost $399, while the Xbox One would go for $499. In addition, the company took advantage of all of its rival's mistakes and made a lot of fun of the situation. Some games appeared at the event, such as crack, Killzone: shadowfall e The Order: 1886.
Meanwhile, Nintendo suffered. The 3DS was slipping in sales, the Wii U was doing very poorly and the company saw developers abandoning its desktop console. So, instead of doing a big show on stage, Mario's house presented a recorded video. Some good games were announced, such as Super Mario 3D World (which just got a remaster), Mario barth 8 (which has also received a new version) and a new Super Smash Bros., which came out for the 3DS and Wii U.
2014 – The year of virtual reality
With next-gen consoles launched and established, it was time to introduce the games. And, for a change, nobody wanted to risk much, so it was time to introduce a lot of sequels. THE Microsoft presented Gears of War 4, Halo 5: Guardians, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Forza Horizon 2 and, as the only novelty, Quantum Break.
A Nintendo, still suffering from Wii U sales, presented some interesting games for their fans. It guaranteed the exclusivity of Bayonetta 2, in addition to presenting other games, such as Xenoblade Chronicles X, Hyrule Warriors, Mario maker and what would become The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The one who drew the most attention was the Sony, as she presented the Project Morpheus, the Virtual Reality system for the PlayStation 4. Some games also appeared at the fair, such as LittleBigPlanet 3, 5 person e Uncharted 4.
2015 – The resumption of Xbox
It was in 2015 that Microsoft completely changed direction. Phil Spencer had already taken over the direction of the Xbox and everything started to get better. It was in this E3 that it announced the backwards compatibility program with previous consoles, which came to be expanded over time, and already amended by announcing Rare Replay, with 30 classic games from Rare. were also announced Forza Motorsport 6, recall and some cross-platform games.
A Sony, on the other hand, counterattacked with the announcement of a major remake: Final Fantasy 7. In addition to it, other games were presented, such as the great Horizon Zero Dawn, the return of The Last Guardian e Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. Finally, Nintendo appeared to put away its weapons and offered little. Among the highlights, we have Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Mario maker again and Star fox zero.
2016 – Microsoft and Nintendo dominate the event
The presentation of Nintendo was dominated by a single game: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The company dissected all the new features of the game and totally stole the show. THE Sony, in turn, presented a series of games for its virtual reality system, in addition to other great games, such as God of War, Death Stranding, Spider Man, Detroit: Become Human, Days Gone and many others.
A Microsoft kicked off its event by introducing a new, smaller version of its console, the Xbox One S, and the system Play Anywhere, where a game purchased on Xbox could be played on PC and vice versa. It was in this E3 that the infamous and stillborn Scalebound was announced, in addition to games like Forza Horizon 3, Halo Wars 2, State of Decay 2 and many others.
2017 – Phil Spencer and the Xbox One X
Until the 2017s, the Microsoft was losing in terms of power for the Sony, but Phil Spencer started his presentation by changing that. Until then known as Project Scorpio, it was officially announced the Xbox One X, many times more powerful than the original Xbox One. One of the great games announced at the fair was Forza Motorsport 7, together with Metro Exodus and many others.
Microsoft's direct competitor, Sony didn't have much to show this year, so she rehashed several previously announced titles, such as God of War, Spider Man, Days Gone, Detroit: Become Human and others.
A Nintendo, running outside, had already launched and amazed the world with the Nintendo Switch, but more specifically with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. So all that was left for the Big N was to present what everyone was waiting for: more games. To that end, she announced Arms, Splatoon 2 and a new franchise game Pokémon, which for the first time would come to a desktop console. There was also a greater publicity of the new game of the most loved mustache in the world in Super Mario Odyssey, which would be released later that year.
2018 – The Last of Us, Halo and Fire Emblem
For Sony, the year 2018 was at least different. His performance began with a banjo solo, followed by a trailer for the upcoming The Last Of Us Part II, and then followed up with a long conversation and a trailer of Ghost of Tsushima. Other games already announced appeared, such as Kingdom Hearts 3 and a few others.
On the green side of the force, the Microsoft started with the newest chapter in their classic franchise: Halo Infinite, which is due to be launched at the end of 2021, after a series of delays. The company continued to show Ori and the Will of the Wisps and more game details like Forza Horizon 4, Among others.
But who stole the show from the event was the Nintendo. she announced Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which is still receiving various updates and DLCs. We still had Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Octopath Traveler (which at the time was called Octopath Project) and a new game, Daemon X Machina.
2019 – Sony abandons the fair, Xbox changes everything
2019 was different for the E3: Sony withdrew from participating in the event, which paved the way for the Nintendo and Microsoft shine. Mario's house wasted no time and announced a series of games for the Nintendo Switch. Among the most important we can mention Luigi's Mansion 3, No More Heroes 3, Astral Chain, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, Animal Crossing: New Horizons and many other titles.
Microsoft presented during E3 the apple of the eye: the Xbox GamePass Ultimate, which bundles Xbox Live Gold and Xbox GamePass services into one. The company continues to add games to the service and improve its quality; in addition, even announced a series of games such as CrossFireX, Gear's Pop, Minecraft Dungeons, The Outer Worlds and many others.
In 2020, due to the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, the E3 ended up being cancelled, but it's already guaranteed to happen in 2021, between June 12th and 15th - and we'll have full coverage here at showmetech.
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