First to 10k posts

[jakncoke]

8.................Jeff Bell Brings the Boring

By 2007, however, Allard had shifted to work on Microsoft's Zune media player and Moore was weeks from leaving the company altogether. Sensing Moore's impending resignation, Microsoft de-emphasized his role at E3 2007. Who best to fill the giant shoes of the company's greatest orators? Why not the newly-appointed Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing, Jeff Bell?

Unfortunately, Microsoft learned, his marketing power stopped just short of the stage. Bell's robotic tone and awkward presentation marked a lackluster conference for Microsoft. Bell's tenure at Microsoft came to an end less than a year later, with much speculation that his E3 performance played a bit of a role. But hey, at least he didn't accidentally pause Rock Band twice. Check out Bell's performance below: during a live demo.

[jakncoke]

7- Nintendo Shows off Virtual Boy (1995)

The creator of the acclaimed Metroid series, as well as the Game Boy hardware, had but one serious misstep during his tenure at Nintendo. That mistake was the Virtual Boy, Nintendo's ill-conceived virtual reality console that gave gamers headaches and gave Nintendo its first and only console flop. At E3 1995, Yokoi was on the show floor demoing the soon-to-be-discontinued system, with the product and its producer being all but ignored while the attendees focused on the Nintendo 64. He left Nintendo the next year, and he died in a tragic accident a year later.

[Scott]

I have pics but they're

[Trunks]

,..........

[jakncoke]

6- Sony Steals Sega's Saturn Thunder (1995)

At E3 1995, Sega set up the bomb for E3 attendees when the company revealed that its in-development Sega Saturn console, scheduled to be released in September of 1995 would be released... immediately! Bumping the Saturn's release up six months to compete with the impending launch of the PlayStation contributed to it being a flop. Third parties were unaware of the surprise launch, leaving a meager launch game lineup, and the retail price of $399 was unexpectedly high. Sony actually took most of the air out of Sega's tires at the same E3: Sony's keynote speaker went up on stage, said "Two hundred and Ninety-Nine Dollars" and walked off the stage. And with that, Sony became a legitimate console company.

[Scott]

I have pics but they're

... All on the PS3's Hard Drive.

[jakncoke]

5- N-Gage Price Revealed (2003)

The Nokia N-Gage, the much-maligned phone/portable gaming system, got off on the wrong foot at its debut during E3 2003. The press conference for the N-Gage was awkward and stilted, and the capper was the price reveal. Nokia trotted out a girl in a bikini, who revealed the price painted on her stomach. Unfortunately, the $299 price was agreed upon as far too expensive by the gaming community, and the company wasn't able to get the phone out to an eager side-talking public.

[Trunks]

7- Nintendo Shows off Virtual Boy (1995)

Someone killed him for making the Virtual Boy!!!!!!

[Scott]

So I can only...

[jakncoke]

4- Booth Babes Banned (2006)

Some say 2006 was the final year of the spectacle that was E3. We politely disagree--2005 was the last real E3. The reason? The booth babe ban in effect in '06. Sure, there were attractive women, but all those clothes made us yearn for years past when supermodels would pose in chain mail bikinis for a random MMO that nobody ended up buying. Memories...