E3 2016: Here We Come!

It is hard to believe, but another year has come and gone and the time for E3 2016 is here. A year ago, I left for Los Angeles via my home in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with a very Pregnant wife, who was carrying identical twins, along with a 6 year old and 3 year old boys. It had been a very rough Pregnancy that had seen her go on bed rest for the majority of it and even caused us to fly out to the Colorado Children’s Hospital for an emergency surgery.  No, I didn’t carelessly fly out to California to see a bunch of unimportant video game announcements and leave my wife and kids uncared for. Family stepped up and allowed for me to go out to the show. 

Fortunately for us, there were no further setbacks in the Pregnancy and the identical Twin Boys were born on July 23, 2015, during QuakeCon weekend. Since I obviously couldn’t make it to that event, others stepped up for me and covered the show. Three of these guys are a part of the Parents Press Play & Friends podcast today: Michael Toller, Josh Gilmore, and Davis Wiitala.  

The Twins were born at 35 weeks and survived several conditions during the Pregnancy. The chief amongst these was called Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. This condition occurs only in Identical Twins and very little is known about why and how it happens. For us, the results of this condition were staggering. Twin A, named Kennan, weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz.  However, our little Twin B, Karter, only weighed 2 lbs 11 oz.  They both had to go to the NICU and spend time there with Kennan developing a life-threatening air pocket in his lungs and needing a chest tube. He quickly recovered, much to the surprise of the NICU doctors, and was out in 8 days.  Karter, on the other hand, really had no physical issues. His problem was his size.  It took us 24 days to get him out of the NICU–mainly because he had to reach 4 lbs before we could bring him home.

Both kids are doing well and they remain at about 4 lbs difference to this day.  

What does this have to do with E3 2016? Nothing really. Except this is what I think of when I head out to the show. I am grateful I continue to have the opportunity to cover the event for all of you.  This has been a passion of mine since I began covering E3 starting back in 1997.  Throughout the years, I have seen E3 grow to massive sizes, shrink to an invite only event, regain the size and scope of prior years, and finally watch major Publishers drop out of the show entirely. 

Personally, E3 is an event where I have met several colleagues, in the industry, establish relationships with PR contacts, and make some friends that I try to visit with each year.  I have covered the show with my girlfriend, who later became my wife, experienced the show as a single man, a dating man, a married man, a father of 1, a father of 2, and a father of 4.  I have seen consoles come and go, companies rise and fall, and new technologies take shape.  

E3 is also a sad memory for me too. I will never forget the morning I was to leave for E3 2007.  As I woke up, to leave for the airport, my mom called me and left me a terrifying message.  My dad passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.  My dad gave me the inspiration and help to start up CVGames.  I still remember he and my mom trying to talk me out of going off to my first E3 show in 1997 thinking I was a bit young to go off at age 18.  

Being a smaller, independent outlet for covering the videogame industries has always had its shares of ups and downs. Some companies cut you off entirely, others will barely give you access to anything, and finally, some have worked with us well.  I treasure those relationships and opportunities.  The future of CVGames is evolving as my life story has evolved.  I am no longer that same person who started it up in 1997.  In fact, 2016 marks the first E3 I have ever been a part of where I gained Media Access via Parents Press Play and not CVGames.  This is going to lead to a shift in cross-posting my reviews and editorialized coverage of the gaming industry for now.  

We fully plan for a lot of content during E3 2016.  I am teaming up with Davis Wiitala to cover the show this year.  We will be working on written previews and providing thoughts with daily audio podcasts.  In addition to this editorialized coverage of the show and Press Conferences, I will continue to do audio interviews that will be posted separately from the main Podcast.  These will be clearly marked so you can ignore the ones you aren’t interested in.

E3 is changed from when it first began its journey in the mid 90’s.  As the show has grown older, I too have aged and changed with it.  While some may doubt the future of the event, I hope it never goes away.  The industry needs a “Super Bowl” of video games and E3 fits this nicely.  Next year, by E3 2017, I expect the show to start opening up to the public for all or part of the event.  Starting this year, E3 has a public portion of the event outside of the LA Convention Center that, while free, required a ticket to attend.  These tickets were gone in seconds. 

Yes, the public wants to be a part of E3.  Sure, there are events like PAX and Quakecon.  But let’s not fool ourselves. E3 is the Main Event of the gaming industry. Everything else is just an a weak imitation.  That doesn’t mean the events can’t co-exist.  It just means E3 needs to evolve.  We at CVGames and Parents Press Play & Friends are evolving with it too.  Starting with changing the way we cover the industry on CVGames, cross-posting content on Parents Press Play, and modifying the Parents Press Play Podcast to include the “& Friends” so non-parents can offer their viewpoints as well. We have grown from a 30 minute show, to 45 minute, to 60 minute, and now closer to 75 to 90 minutes.  

And we will continue to look at the things we do and modify them to better cover and provide commentary to you.  As we gear up for E3 2016, sit back and get comfortable as we provide you the our unique take on the show via written commentary, audio commentary, and audio interviews with the creators and representatives.