This WAS E3 2012 [Photo Gallery]

Noah J Nelson on Friday, Jun. 8th

Whelming.

Both Over- and Under-.

That is what E3 2012 was. Whether it was the sheer number of people (Over), the cookie cutter nature of the games (Under), the ultra-violence on display in the sizzle reels (Over), or the lack of surprises (Under) there was a whole lot of whelming going on.

Which isn’t to say that there wasn’t joy to be found. Despite landing with a thud during their press conference, the WiiU mini game collection led to a lot of laughter and smiles on the show floor. If you wanted to see grown men screaming like giddy little children all you had to do was stand by an Animal Crossing kiosk.

This was also a year all about the subtle changes at work– like the Vivitouch technology we told you about the other day. It was also about games like Watch_Dogs and Star Wars 1313, which are probably or the next generation of consoles, but no one is willing to own up to that rumor.

The gallery that follows are some of the sights of E3 2012.

: If you see this near the Golden Gate Bridge, don’t even bother to run.

: Activision found the $$ for this video wall in their sofa cushions.

: People say Ubisoft won the press conferences. What they didn’t win were any design awards for their booth.

: Snapped this to give you a sense of the sensory overload. Sonic. Star Trek. Race Cars. Whoa.

: While this blasted out desert bus was set up for Spec Ops: the Line, it had more of a zombie attack vibe.

: Oh THERE are those Zombies! J/K Luvs Youse Guys!

: This might have gotten mixed in from my last Vegas trip. Not really sure.

: Nothing says E3 like massive dioramas that will one day be adorning a developer’s lobby.

: Shout out to the guys at the Playstation Booth who though it was their job to just beat everyone who came through at Battle Royale. Not THESE guys, but this is where they were hanging.

: Undead dragons are the WORST.

: This kid is already way better at NBA Baller Beats than either you or I will ever be. Give up now.

: Horrible truth about the Planetside armor: actual armor. These actors were wearing plate for hours.

: No one seemed to be having more fun than the people at the NintendoLand kiosks. No one.

: This IS Kratos’ happy face.

: I should really spend the money on making this a Gif.

: Three minutes after the doors to E3 opened on Thursday the line was already bursting.

: The Warthog was there in case the Halo fans got out of line.

: On your marks! Get set!

: Go!

: Horde Mode: the fans just keep coming.

: This is pretty much what E3 looks like: a bunch of dudes standing in front of monitors playing games under weird lighting. Beats me why Arcades went away.