by Danreb Victorio
While waiting in line, attendees could take pictures at the various photo-op stops at Bethesda’s party.
Despite what it looks like, SmashPad isn’t at the event in official capacity, and we haven’t been since 2010. With E3 open to the public, we have three people in the area attending the event as well as other events in the surrounding area, and this feature is all about telling you what it’s like from “the public’s” perspective.
After the shitshow that happened on Sunday, my expectations weren’t all that high. EA Play’s line was a complete waste of time, and IGN’s Community Meetup, while fun, just didn’t satiate anybody’s appetite for post-show enjoyment.
Monday featured two highlights, Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference as well as Bethesda’s.
I didn’t have access to Microsoft’s press conferemce. Christian did, and for all accounts and purposes, he thought it sucked. We’ll post our impressions soon, but the general positive thing people spoke about was backward compatibility with the legacy Xbox, namely the original Halo. But come on. The Master Chief Collection includes the original Halo. So who cares? I’m personally in it for Otogi and Panzer Dragoon Orta, but until these awesome Sega games make it on the service, I’m not going to bother giving Microsoft any hints.
There was a pretty cool art gallery, but the reason people stood around here was to get free champagne in glass goblets they could keep.
The next big highlight was Bethesda’s press conference. With a theme park setting, “Bethesdaland” was all about providing a heck of an experience for its attendees, and it did exactly that.
When getting in line, the lanyard provided doubled as a map showcasing each of the theme park’s offerings. Whether it was balloon figures, a caricature, an actual demo of a game, or even a line for an In-N-Out Burger, Bethesdaland featured something for everyone.
I was there with one of my good friends. He’s not the biggest Bethesda fan, and I’m not either. We both played and enjoyed Dishonored, but that’s about it, so we were there to have fun, and that’s exactly what we did.
Bethesda’s party was beyond legit. They had turkey legs, cotton candy, soft pretzels, beers (with steel steins you could keep), shots (with skull-shaped shot glasses you could keep) all for free, so while my friend had the quest of getting as many of each giveaway as he can, I was just checking out the various offerings.
If you’re a Disneyland goer, you’re probably well aware of “pin trading,” and that same stuff was happening at the Bethesda party. They had eight pins in total, one for each franchise, and I was able to nab seven for my lanyard, which you obtain by checking out the various things at event, but the highlight was definitely the food.
Yep, there was a working ferris wheel, but I didn’t ride it because, well, I’m afraid of heights.
The press conference itself it was awesome. We’re getting sequels for The Evil Within as well as Wolfenstein, and the Switch version of Skyrim will actually have Link, and most importantly, each and every one of these games is slated for a 2017 release, so by all accounts, Bethesda passed with flying colors.
At the end of the presentation, the Chainsmokers performed some of their hits. I was just there for eating and heavy drinking, and it was beyond awesome–for an obvious lack of a better term.
Bethesda might’ve just outdone E3, and I wouldn’t be surprised if each day I stay in LA this week is disappointing due to how awesome Bethesda was this year.