Top 10 Greatest E3 Press Presentations of All Time
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#10: Microsoft 2015
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The Xbox One may have started its lifetime on a bit of a back foot compared to the PS4, but Microsoft turned the tables in 2015 with a surprising reveal at their conference. It turned out that backwards compatibility was going to be coming to their eighth-generation console, and all you needed to do was put your old 360 discs into the Xbox One and let the downloading commence. Since Sony still haven’t made a backwards compatible PS4 outside of PS Now’s scant titles, they were well and truly one-upped by this reveal. It even overshadowed some of Microsoft’s biggest game reveals, like “Halo 5” and “Rise of the Tomb Raider.”
#9: Nintendo 2010
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For a long time, Nintendo has dominated the portable console market, with other manufacturers simply unable to compete. Their innovation reached new heights in 2010 when the long-awaited Nintendo 3DS was finally revealed, and fans could see exactly how the 3D worked and how it could change gaming. Arguably their biggest showcase of the event, its no surprise that Nintendo decided to dedicate almost half the show to it. Other highlights of the presentation also included a look into the motion controls of “Skyward Sword” presented by Miyamoto himself, and a brand new “GoldenEye 007” remake, which would hit shelves that holiday season.
#8: Sony 2010
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There are so many great E3 moments packed into this one now-legendary press conference. After much fan demand for him to show his face, Sony’s fictional executive Kevin Butler took to the stage to deliver an iconic speech mocking the rival presentations, but there was also a surprise appearance from Valve’s Gabe Newell. After hearing the sinister voice of GLaDOS interrupt Jack Tretton, fans knew they were in for something special, and it came in the form of “Portal 2’s” official reveal. Newell also said that the best place to play “Portal 2” was going to be on the PS3, and upon release, it was critically acclaimed.
#7: Microsoft 2018
Technology took a backseat at Microsoft’s 2018 conference, making way for the games themselves to shine – and shine they did. We got numerous formal announcements of AAA titles, as well as longer looks at big games that weren’t console exclusives – namely “Cyberpunk 2077,” “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice,” and most importantly, new footage from “Devil May Cry 5” after it was stuck in development hell for years. But big exclusives weren’t left behind, either; the presentation began with a brand-new teaser for “Halo Infinite”, and went on to show further system sellers like “Forza Horizon 4” and “Gears 5.”
#6: Bethesda 2015
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While Bethesda, as one of the industry’s biggest publishers and developers, have always had some kind of presence at E3, 2015 was the first time they hosted a conference of their own, and it was easily one of the best. It included big reveals for the outstanding 2016 “Doom” reboot as well as “Dishonored 2”, the follow-up to 2012’s surprise hit. But great as these were in their own right, they paled to the formal reveal of “Fallout 4.” Todd Howard came on stage to show concept art, preliminary gameplay, the new character creation screen, and lots of footage of the Commonwealth.
#5: Devolver Digital 2018
Few presentations are as persistently off-the-wall as indie publisher Devolver Digital’s. They’ve been telling a zany, ongoing story with their conferences for the last few years, while simultaneously poking fun at the expo’s biggest issues. After their debut 2017 conference saw some criticism for not being “professional” enough, they turned the volume up to eleven when they returned, with fictional executive Nina Struthers getting even more aggressive with her parody marketing. Along with games like “SCUM” and “My Friend Pedro,” Struthers also jokingly announced “LootBoxCoin”, a shameless lampoon of rampant monetisation and cryptocurrency.
#4: Nintendo 2006
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Yet again, Nintendo was on the cutting edge of innovation, and the global fervor preceding their last conference before the Wii went on sale was intense, to say the least. Very little was known about the console at this point, except that it would use motion controls and had a silly sounding name. But when Miyamoto walked on stage, using the Wii-mote to lead a digital orchestra playing the “Legend of Zelda” main theme, people fell in love with the Wii and all its oddities. The whole conference was dedicated to the Wii and its upcoming titles, including the reveal that “Twilight Princess” would be released on this new console as well.
#3: Sony 2015
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Another year where the games really ruled the show, Sony’s conference finally revealed one of the most wanted games in living memory. After previously showing the opening of “Final Fantasy VII” with reimagined graphics on the PS3 back in 2005, it was finally announced ten years later that we really would be getting a fully-fledged “FF7” remake on the PlayStation 4. The crowd reaction to seeing Midgar beautifully recreated speaks for itself. But that wasn’t all; we were also treated to new content from “The Last Guardian” a teaser for “Shenmue 3”, and finally got a glimpse at the award-winning “Horizon Zero Dawn.”
#2: Nintendo 2014
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Nintendo’s digital event in 2014 featured, to great surprise, animated segments created in collaboration with the Adult Swim show “Robot Chicken.” A strange route for Nintendo and their family-friendly image to go, but hey, it worked. With all your favorite Nintendo executives rendered in stop-motion animation, along with a huge roster of all their classic characters – including Mario and Link – it was one of the most entertaining events of the year. The trend continued into 2015, when executives Reggie Fils-Aime, Iwata and Miyamoto appeared as puppets by the prestigious Jim Henson Company, to promote “Star Fox Zero”.
#1: Sony 2013
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In 2013 we saw both the formal reveal of the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, but Sony’s wouldn’t have been so great if Microsoft’s wasn’t so terrible. It was announced that the Xbox One would have DRM so games couldn’t be shared, and would be required to always have an internet connection. After this disaster, Sony took to the stage and said the PS4 would not have DRM and would be drastically cheaper, in a conference designed to poke fun at Microsoft’s rookie errors. Things got even worse for Microsoft when they embarrassingly had to do a U-turn on all of these features in order to have any chance of competing with Sony in the long run.
