Thursday, May 11, 2006

E3 Expo: New Consoles, Less Booth Babes

E3 Expo continued yesterday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, bringing a massive crush of video game industry, video game fans, and press eager to see the latest that the industry had to offer. Notable announcements so far at the show have been Nintendo's announced of its new Wii console, and Sony showing its next generation PlayStation 3 hardware. Santa Monica-based Activision was showing its new title based on the upcoming Over The Hedge movie, and RedOctane, the firm it acquired yesterday, had a huge crowd trying out its popular Guitar Hero game. Calabasas-base THQ also had a huge presence, where it was showing a slew of new titles, including Company of Heroes, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and the Disney/Pixar licensed Cars, and its gangbanger title Saints Row titles drawing lots of attendees. Local MVNO startup Amp'd Mobile was also at the show, where it was showing its youth-oriented, cell phone service, although it seemed like gamers were more interested in the consoles and gaming titles than the firm's live events, cell phone games, and booth stocked with booth babes.