Despite billing itself as an “industry†event, it was clear that E3 had become essentially a consumer show, with sacks full of giveaways, carnival-barkers, and babes, all aimed at attracting stragglers into companies booth. As I’m sure everyone’s heard, that crazy circus feel was a distant memory at this year’s event, which was spread across a number of not-quite-next-door to one another beachfront hotels, as well as an airplane hangar!

The bad: The booths were fairly far apart, but even if you ignore the physical distance, exhibitors from different companies weren’t really allowed into one another’s booths. I felt this hurt the spirit of the thing, since E3 was always a fun and interesting way to see what everyone was up to around the wide world of video games. This year it was hard to see much outside of the big press events or your own booth. Boo.

The good: The hotels (and Santa Monica) in general were very nice. Of course the long show schedules during the day meant we didnt see much of the sun, but it’s nice to know it’s there. Being a real industry event meant most people that showed up were there for appointments, which gave everyone a chance to really spend some time with the titles apart from the crush of crazy fans streaming through on all sides. That said, I missed the crazy fans too!

Here are a few of my pics from inside the Capcom installation, which was located in a small ballroom at the Shutters on the Beach hotel. They include a few shots from setting up as well as people coming through for demos of the game.