For women who think it’s hard to get a date in Los Angeles, last week was Christmas all week long—provided they fancy finding a guy whose thumbs are welded to a video game console under their trees. About 70,000 mostly male gamers and the executives, programmers, and creators who feed their habit descended on the Los Angeles Convention Center for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3.
Video game producers and merchants used the opportunity to flaunt their wares and reward their loyal customers at half a dozen parties around town. How do you make thousands of solo guys happy? Hot music and plenty of beer. Hosts vied to present some of the hottest acts and DJs around, but only a small fraction of conference attendees were able to snag invites. Even so, the parties were huge and jammed.
Nintendo’s bash, which kicked off the week on Tuesday, drew 2,000 guests to the Highlands, where Wolfgang Puck Catering fed the hordes from seven buffet stations while the Black Eyed Peas and Miyamoto performed. At the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Tropicana Bar, Xbox threw the first of two parties starting with one that beckoned Hollywood. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 E3 event attracted actors, agents, and party guest du jour Paris Hilton to a festive bash designed by Zed Ink creative director Julia Zarro. While gamers tried out Xbox’s wares in hotel rooms around the perimeter of the Tropicana’s outdoor bar area, models in white bikinis lounged on white floats in the middle of the pool and DJ Danny Masterson of That ’70s Show spun hits of the ’80s.
On Wednesday night, Best Buy took over the House of Blues, guaranteeing traffic jams by posting go-go girls in hot pants on pedestals outside the club. Inside, Video Game Television Management put together a party cohosted by BPM magazine that featured DJs Z-Trip, BT, Steve Aoki (a k a Kid Millionaire), Samantha Ronson, Benji and Joel Madden, and Michelle Pesce as well as a live performance by Kanye West’s protégé Lupe Fiasco.
On Thursday, Sony took over Dodger Stadium for its enormous PlayStation event, which one blogger called “a showcase in bacchanalian lifestyle.” After cruising multiple DJ stages and open bars, guests left with a PlayStation rolling suitcase. Also on Thursday, Vivendi Universal showcased its new game Scarface: The World Is Yours at a party at the Vanguard in Hollywood, which was transformed into a seedy version of itself with gold-painted statuettes of nymphs hugging the walls.
The next night was Xbox Live, the company’s party for 700 of its most fervent fans, press, and top-tier programmers and creators. Microsoft took over Social Hollywood’s bar and empty-pool-turned-nightclub and turned them into a virtual warehouse of technology: Thirty-two monitors beamed new games, such as Table Tennis and Shadow Run, as well as trailers for upcoming ones, while the electronic-music duo the Crystal Method pounded the 8,000-square-foot space with sound from a 12-speaker audio system worthy of an outdoor concert. Xbox reinforced its branding with giveaways—500 T-shirts screen-printed with each gamer’s tag and Polaroids taken throughout the evening and sealed in Photoflyers embossed with the Xbox logo. The event was co-produced by Omelet and MM & Associates and designed by Keith Greco of Greco Decor. Evolutionary Media Group oversaw the PR.
—Irene Lacher
Photos: Nadine Froger Photography (Xbox 360), David McNew/Getty Images (Convention Center), Michael Buckner/Getty Images (Xbox Live)
Related Stories
Xbox Launches With Two-Party System
PlayStation Kicks Off L.A. Fashion Week
