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# E3 2017: Braving the Crowds
- URL: https://www.superjumpmagazine.com/e3-2017-braving-the-crowds/
- Published: 2017-06-15T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-12-02T07:35:34.000Z
- Description: Navigating a sea of humanity at the largest E3 ever
- Author: James Burns
- Tags: Events, E3

**I have never been to E3 before.** Even though I’ve written for various publications since around 2001, my involvement with the landmark gaming show was always as part of a “home team”. I’m not salty about it; I always really enjoyed covering E3 remotely while working with the awesome team at [*N-Sider*](http://www.n-sider.com/), but I was also very aware that I was missing out on the sheer *spectacle* of it all.

Well, finally, after some 15 years of writing about games on-and-off, I actually attended E3 this year, proudly waving the [*SUPERJUMP*](www.superjumpmagazine.com)banner.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c0/e7/c0e78dd7-e7af-4603-8ab9-09f05cab06f3/content/images/2022/02/image-33.png)

Inside the SEGA booth. Source: Author.

What a year I chose as my initiation! E3 2017 marks the first time that the event is open to the general public, and the crowds are *insane*. [This piece by *Polygon* sums up the situation really well, I think](https://www.polygon.com/e3/2017/6/13/15794784/e3-2017-open-to-public-crowds-hazard). Apparently 15,000 tickets were sold for this year’s event.

On the one hand, it was truly awesome that the general public were able to attend. This was a great opportunity for video game companies to speak directly to the very people who might be buying their games, and to invite those people in for hands-on time with upcoming releases.

That said, the crowds were so big that the lines to play many games — in some cases, to enter the booths themselves — were incredibly long. I stood in line to play *Sonic Forces* on PS4\. It took somewhere between 45–50 minutes to actually get into SEGA’s booth to play the demo, and that was absolutely one of the shorter lines. Games like *Destiny 2* had massive wait times, despite there being numerous stations to play on. And the Nintendo booth, well…

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c0/e7/c0e78dd7-e7af-4603-8ab9-09f05cab06f3/content/images/2022/02/image-34.png)

You want to see Nintendo? Fuggedaboutit. Source: Author.

From a media point of view, it wasn’t so bad; sensible media types had made their appointments well in advance and so our times with various games were scheduled (in my case, the only booking I had was with Nintendo — so, I joined the queue along with everyone else for SEGA).

I can’t help but feel a little sorry for E3 expo pass holders who paid the full $249USD for three day access (you can also buy a three day on-site pass for a whopping [$995USD](https://www.e3expo.com/attendee/2905/attendee-registration-faq/)). Yes, they will have been able to wander around and see the spectacle (and it is rather incredible), but if you are interested in going hands-on with games — especially the big names — you’re going to find yourself spending hours in line over the three days.

The clever and well-prepared expo attendees at least brought their handhelds (I saw a lot of Switch and 3DS players floating around) to ease the pain.

As mentioned above, I did spend a good deal of time with Nintendo playing a handful of titles. Over the coming days, I’ll post my initial impressions, so please stay tuned.

P.S. By the way, total aside: *Sonic Forces* doesn’t look to be a total trash fire based on my time with it today, which is rather pleasing. More on that later.