Videogame titans get back in stride at E3

LOS ANGELES: The world´s leading videogame show ended Thursday with the industry feeling renewed vigor after years of worry that play on mobile devices was leading to decline.
More than 52,000 people from 109 countries attended the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) trade gathering in Los Angeles where blockbuster console games were stars and virtual reality gear got ready in the wings.
“I´ve been impressed by the quality of the presentations and strong line-ups of content,” Sony Computer Entertainment chief Andrew House told AFP at E3.
“I like to think the industry has got a spring back in its step.”
The E3 show floor spanned the Los Angeles Convention Center, with some 300 exhibitors showing off more games, accessories and related offerings, according to the Entertainment Software Association, which organizes the annual event.
“E3 demonstrated both the remarkable transformation of entertainment taking place on all videogame platforms-virtual reality, augmented reality, hardware, mobile and handheld-and awesome games,” said association president Michael Gallagher.
E3 buzz on social media trumped anything seen in the past, with 6.3 million tweets on Twitter tagged to the gathering and 7.5 million ´likes´ racked up by E3 related posts at Instagram, the ESA boasted.
“I love that there is a lot to attract new people to the industry,” said Yves Guillemot, chief of French videogame powerhouse Ubisoft.
“It is a really mature industry with a lot of creativity. It shows that the potential to grow is really high.”
Videogame broadcasting platform Twitch reported that, at times, a half million viewers watched E3 press conferences. More than a million E3-related videos were posted to YouTube.