Overview
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is an annual video game trade exhibition run by the Entertainment Software Association. During the fair, major video game developers including Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony unveil new games and hardware during presentations and in booths purchased on the showroom floor.
Background
E3 was co-founded by IDG’s Infotainment World and the Interactive Digital Software Association in 1995 as an exhibition for the computer and videogames industry. Prior to the creation of E3, video game creators attended the Consumer Electronics Show and the European Computer Trade Show, which covered a broad area of consumer technology products. For gaming news sites and communities, E3 is one of the most significant annual events, bringing in sneak peaks of new hardware and software in development for gamers.
Notable Developments
The first event was held from May 11th to 13th, 1995 in Los Angeles, California, which featured the unveiling of Sony’s PlayStation video game console and Nintendo’s Virtual Boy game console.
- May 16th – 18th, 1996: The second E3 featured Nintendo’s unveiling of the Nintendo 64 console, Capcom’s preview of the first Resident Evil game and Square’s teaser video for the game Final Fantasy VII.
- June 19th – 21st, 1997: The third E3 featured announcements of the game Half-Life, Quake, Unreal and Fallout, as well as showcases of Banjo-Kazooie and Metal Gear Solid.
- May 28th – 30th, 1998: The fourth E3 saw the introduction of the games Gran Turismo, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Duke Nukem Forever.
- May 13th – 15th, 1999: The fifth E3 featured unveiling of the Sega Dreamcast and announcement of the Nintendo GameCube, as well as Electronic Arts’ The Sims.
- May 11th – 13th, 2000: Featured a trailer for an early version of the game Halo: Combat Evolved.
- May 17th – 19th, 2001: Introduced the Nintendo GameCube and the Microsoft Xbox consoles.
- May 22nd – 24th, 2002: Microsoft’s unveiling of the online multiplayer service Xbox Live. Other major project announcements included DOOM 3 and Metroid Prime.
- May 14th – 16th, 2003: Valve’s unveiling of the game Half-Life 2, as well as the birth of the Reaction Guys, a multipane reaction image featuring then-staff of gaming review site IGN and the earliest known meme spawned from the annual event.
- May 2004: Announcements of Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo’s Nintendo DS.
- May 2005: Unveiling of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Related Memes
Reaction Guys / Gaijin 4Koma (2003)
Reaction Guys / Gaijin 4Koma is an exploitable 4-pane comic series featuring two photographs of IGN employees. The first photo, in which the men appear uninterested, was taken during Nintendo’s 2003 E3 press conference during the announcement of the game Pacman vs.. The second photo, in which the same men appear excited, was taken one year later during Nintendo’s E3 press conference during the announcement of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Giant Enemy Crab (2006)
When Sony unveiled the Playstation 3 at E3 2006, a demo was shown for the game Genji: Days of Blade. During the live demo, the player was shown encountering a large enemy crab to which the narrator proclaimed, “you attack its weak point for massive damage.”
During the same press conference, Sony Executive Deputy President Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai announced the PS3 would cost “Five hundred and ninety nine U.S. dollars” at launch. The quote became infamous for being an extremely high price for a console. Hirai also spawned another phrase “Ridge Racer” (With the words usually being elongated) when talking about a Ridge Racer game at the press conference.
My Body Is Ready (2007)
“My Body is Ready” is a catchphrase that often associated with images where the subject is posed in a sexually inviting manner. It originated during Nintendo’s 2007 E3 press conference when the Wii Fit peripheral unit was unveiled by Nintendo executive Reggie Fils-Aime who proclaimed, “My body is ready”. The line was later referenced by Reggie himself during Nintendo’s E3 2012 conference.
WABAM! (2009)
WABAM! / The Bottom of An Avatar’s Shoe / Well BAM refers to an accidental glitch which occurred during Microsoft’s unveiling of its upcoming motion controller Project Natal (now known as Kinect) in . When Microsoft’s Kudo Tsunoda demonstrated the Kinect’s abilities, he said “You ever wonder what the bottom of an avatar’s shoe looks like? Wabam! There it is.” At the same time, his on-screen avatar glitched showing its right arm protruding through his torso and his left arm and legs twisted into an awkward pose.
Translator San (2009)
Translator San / He Just Doesn’t Give a Fk refers to the Japanese-English interpreter Takayuki Nushida who became the subject of an exploitable photoshop meme after translating at at E3 2009 using a pen and notepad.
Remember Me? (2009)
Remember Me? / MBD (Mysterious Black Dude) refers to a character who appeared in a trailer for the game Metroid: Other M at Nintendo’s 2009 E3 press conference. In the trailer, the character removed his visor and asked “Remember me?” despite never having being introduced before.
Mr. Caffeine (2011)
Mr. Caffeine is the stage name of television personality Aaron Priceman, who hosted Ubisoft’s press conference at E3 2011. During the presentation, Priceman’s jokes were generally met with uncomfortable silence from the audience, receiving negative reviews from many gaming publications. As part of Ubisoft’s 25th anniversary, the press conference featured videos of Ubisoft franchises such as Driver, Tom Clancy’s Future Solider, Just Dance and Assassin’s Creed. To transition between the conference and these videos, Priceman would make the sound effect “doodly doodly doop” while moving his hands left to right.
Great Job Jeremy (2011)
Great Job Jeremy is a phrase repeatedly said by Zindagi Games president Umrao Mayer to his on-stage assistant Jeremy Ray during the gameplay demonstration of the motion-control action adventure game Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest for Sony PlayStation 3 at E3 2011.
No One Trailer Should Have All This Power (2011)
“*No One Trailer Should Have All This Power*”, also known as *No One X Should Have All This Power" and “Power Goes With Everything”, is a catchphrase that refers to trailers, or other videos, using the Kanye West song “Power” as the audio track.
Non-Specific Action Figure (2012)
Non-Specific Action Figure is a figurine featured during Nintendo’s 2012 pre-E3 direct conference designed to showcase the Wii U’s online features. The conference showed a player talking to the figure, often directing questions towards it.
Satoru Itawa Holding Bananas (2012)
“Satoru Iwata Holding Bananas” refers to a pre-recorded clip of Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata staring intently at a banana bunch that was screened during Nintendo’s 2012 E3 press conference. The random placement of Iwata silently looking at the bananas struck a chord with the E3 audiences and many viewers on the web, triggering a series of photoshopped images, parodies and remix videos on various gaming forums and imageboards.
I Feel Just Like a Purple Pikmin (2012)
“I Feel Just Like a Purple Pikmin” is a memorable quote by Reggie Fils-Aime during the E3 2012 Nintendo Press Conference. The quote was said after the announcement of Pikmin 3 by Shigeru Miyamoto at the beginning of the conference. After Miyamoto left the stage, Reggie stepped up and said the quote “I feel just like a purple pikmin." The phrase quickly began to spread on many video game related video game sites and forums, such as IGN and GameFaqs.
Just Let It Happen, It’ll Be Over Soon (2013)
“Just Let It Happen, It’ll Be Over Soon” is a controversial joke made by the producer of Killer Instinct, the upcoming reboot of the 1994 fighting arcade game for XBox One, to his female co-host during their on-stage gameplay demo at Microsoft’s pre-E3 press conference held on June 10th, 2013. During the showcase, the two presenters casually exchanged playful taunts as they try to beat each other and when it became clear that the male producer was dominating the game, he jokingly said to his struggling colleague: “Just let it happen, it’ll be all over soon.”
The banter was reportedly met by some nervous laughter and groans from the audience at the conference, as noted by video game designer Jonathan Blow via Twitter[3] (shown below).
“Let’s bring a woman on stage and joke about how she’s bad at games, and say stuff like ‘relax, just let it happen, it’ll be over soon’”??
— Jonathan Blow (@Jonathan_Blow) June 10, 2013
Meanwhile on Twitter[4], the producer’s remark was received far less favorably, with many interpreting the trash talk as an unintended joke about rape and others vilifying the episode as a perpetuation of misogyny and sexism that remains visible in the video gaming world. Blogger Devin Faraci of Badass Digest[5] also chimed in on the troubling implications of the dialogue, while acknowledging that it may have been the heat of the moment that led to the joke (shown below).
In some ways this wasn’t a big deal. The banter was tasteless, and we don’t know how the decision was made as to who would go up against the producer on stage. What makes this a big deal isn’t the fact that it happened, but that it’s indicative of a larger cancer eating away at the gaming community (and, to be fair, many other geek communities, but it seems most horrible in gaming). This, basically, is what institutionalized misogyny looks like.
In contrast to Twitter users, many Redditors quickly went up in arms to dispute the labeling of the producer’s remark as a “rape joke,” spawning several discussion threads on /r/TheRedPill[11], /r/MensRights[12], /r/SRSsucks[13] and /r/SRSGaming.[14]
Trash talking between guys = lol grow a pair
Trash talking between guy and girl = omg he’s talking about rape, he’s raping about rape, rape’s raping rape
The presentation was met by mixed opinions from several internet news sites, including The Atlantic[6], Kotaku[7] and The Huffington Post.[8] Later that same day, a Microsoft spokesperson told the gaming news site Kotaku[9] that the banter was unscripted and apologized for the banter.
“The comments in question during the Killer Instinct demo were not scripted. The demo was meant to include friendly gameplay banter and there was there was no ill intent.”
The Villager (2013)
The Villager (a.k.a Creepy Animal Crossing Villager) is a nickname given to the male protagonist character of Nintendo’s social simulation video game franchise Animal Crossing. Following the announcement of his inclusion as a new character for the Super Smash Brothers franchise in June 2013, fans of the game quickly began characterizing the Villager as a psychotic and ruthless killer through image macros and video remixes.
“A Weapon to Surpass Metal Gear” (2013)
“A Weapon to Surpass Metal Gear” is a catchphrase from the end of the E3 2013 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain extended trailer. The phrase is often used to describe abnormal machinery/weapons, much like tacticool, and because of it’s ambiguity, it has lead to many online discussions about what could actually surpass a metal gear. Because of it’s use in the trailer, videos with the phrase often contain the song Sins of Our Father or Nuclear playing in the background.
Super Smash Bros. Character Announcement Parodies (2013)
Super Smash Bros. 4 Character Announcement Parodies, also known as “Super Smash Bros. Challenger Approaching,” are photoshopped images of character introduction cards for the game Super Smash Brothers as featured during Nintendo’s showcase of its upcoming title Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS/Wii U.
Reggie vs. Iwata (2014)
Reggie vs. Iwata refers to a comical promotional video featuring Nintendo executives Reggie Fils-Aime and Satoru Iwata competing in a battle that was released during the 2014 E3.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Wikipedia – Electronic Entertainment Expo
[2]3dsbuzz – E3 Nintendo Conference Rundown
[3]Twitter – Jonathan Blow’s Tweet
[4]Twitter – Tweet Results for ‘Microsoft Rape Joke’
[5]Badass Digest – Hilarious Rape Joke At Your E3 Presentation, Microsoft
[6]The Atlantic – The Rape ‘Joke’ at Microsoft’s E3 Reveal Is a Bigger Deal Than Another Bad ‘Joke’
[7]Kotaku – The Trash Talk During Microsoft’s Conference Was Awful [UPDATE]
[8]The Huffington Post – There Was An Awkward, Rape-Insinuating Joke At This Official Xbox One Event
[9]Reddit – ‘Feminists’ are accusing Microsoft for making a ‘rape’ joke on their E3 presentation, when there isn’t one.
[10]Reddit – Twitter feminists get upset at a “rape joke” during E3 presentation.
[11]Reddit – “Rape Joke” at E3 Causes Irreparable Emotional Damage
[12]Reddit – “Feminists” are accusing Microsoft for making a “rape” joke on their E3 presentation, when there isn’t one
[13]Reddit – Twitter feminists get upset at a “rape joke” during E3 presentation. Pretty extraordinary case of projection because no one thought of rape except them
[14]Reddit – Rape joke at Microsoft conference [E3]: ‘Just let it happen, it’ll be over soon’
[15]Reddit – Why a Microsoft Employee Is OK with a Rape Joke Made About Her at E3