How to Score E3 Using 'Science' 2013

For the third year running I'd like to present to you my 'scientific' method for judging an E3 winner. Those of you familiar with this 'experiment' should notice the rules will be almost the same as last year, scroll down to read. For everyone else here's links to the old blogs followed by results for each year:

2011
Rules - http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Results - http://n4g.com/blogs/detail...

2012
Rules - http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...
Results - http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...

So in an attempt to keep this short and sweet here are the rules for 2013:

**** AAA is intended to mean big budget, non-motion controlled, disc-based game and not a reflection of the games final quality. For the purposes of eliminating opinion completely ‘casual’ will mean any game aimed at children or 100% motion controlled (I know that may not be completely accurate regarding some games but the line had to drawn somewhere, for science) ****

10 points for:

1. Announcing NEW hardware or revealing in reality i.e. not just a trailer/picture or specs (consoles, hand-helds, tablets and phones only)

5 points for:

1. Announcing a new, exclusive, core, AAA game
2. Announcing a new, exclusive, AAA IP (stacks with number 1)
3. Showing actual gameplay of any AAA game (not in a trailer)
4. Announcing the purchase of any game development studio
5. Announcing a console price drop

3 points for:

1. Announcing a new casual game
2. Showing a new trailer with actual gameplay in it. (game 'reels' do not count)
3. Obtaining 3rd party exclusive content (not timed)
4. Announcing new hardware but not showing it in reality (consoles, hand-helds, tablets and phones only)
5. Console re-design/new model

1 point for:

1. Timed exclusivity deals
2. Each newly announced feature of an existing OS
3. New trailers without gameplay
4. New peripherals for existing hardware

-1 point for

1. Every E3 gaffe (see bottom of avatars shoe, giant enemy crab and interference)
2. Trotting out any mainstream celebrity
3. Talking about sales figures

A bonus 10 points will be awarded to the company that announces exclusivity of a Metal Gear, GTA or Final Fantasy game (not timed) and 5 points to MS if they get FFv13 on their system. However HD remakes of old titles will not be granted the bonus.

[UPDATED] Since new hardware has already been revealed I have amended this section with the following rules:

+1 for solid release date (at least the actual month given) before the end of the year
+1 for announcing price
+2 if price is below $350 (not including subsidies)
-2 if price is above $500
+2 for exclusive launch window line-up of over 10 games (as of E3)
-2 for exclusive launch window line-up of under 5 games (as of E3)
+1 for backwards compatibility (redundant this year but I'm going to leave it in for posterity)

[Note] I'm not sure what time period 'launch window' actually means, some help in the comments would be appreciated, thanks.

* * * *

There it is then, you can keep track yourselves for funsies but keep checking back here as I will personally tally up points in another blog. As for Nintendo this year, I won't be tallying their points since they decided to opt out of E3. However, there's nothing stopping you from posting your results in the comments section of the 2013 results blog. If demand is high enough I may overcome my laziness and include them in the blog but no promises.

Again feel free to offer suggestions in the comments and I'll update the rules with the good ones, suggestions/edits close 24hours before E3.

Anyway, thanks for reading hope all of your E3 dreams come true and, above all, have fun.

[BiggCMan]

HA! I knew you would do another one haha.

[Emilio_Estevez]

Me too, kind of expecting it now.

I think launch window should be up to 4 months from release date. 6 seems too long and less than 4 seems too short to be considered 'launch'.

[febreeze1]

yeah anything greater than 4 months to me is not a launch window. Some devs think launch window could be up to 9 months lol

[dedicatedtogamers]

YES! SCIENCEEEE! I love your blog Chaostar.

[Chaostar]

@Emilio & febreeze - Damn, must be getting predictable in my old age, better make this one interesting... TO THE DEATH!

Thanks for the input regarding launch window time I was thinking no more than 6 months myself so 4 sounds good, I'll update the blog if there's no objections soon.

@dedicated and all - Thanks :) and thanks for reading, guess this is becoming a tradition now, I'll keep doing it until I stop enjoying it.

[rainslacker]

Hmmm...interesting

If I may say though this

"Talking about sales figures too much"

Is subjective and not scientific. I may think more than 1 minute spent on sales numbers is too much, whereas you may think anything less than 5 minutes is OK.

So should put a time on this to make it "scientific".

May want to include a point deduction for showing too much of a motion controlled game(say Wonderbook) or a overly extended tech demo of a feature most hardcore gamers wouldn't care about(anything motion controlled to validate it's existence, or MS TV functions from the reveal, as examples).

:)

Will be interesting to see the results either way.

[Chaostar]

You know what, I added the "too much" part in this year knowing it sounded wrong in the back of my mind. I'll change that right away, thanks. Think I'll put it back how it was and have the point deducted for ANY sales statistics, science is a cruel mistress :P

As for your other suggestions, I'll take them into consideration; although showing a game, motion controlled or not, is still showing a game.

Thanks for reading and giving feedback :)

[Cernunnos]

-10 points for changing the voice actor of a main character?

[coolbeans]

"-1 point for

2. Trotting out any mainstream celebrity"

Given what occurred at Stone + Parker's presentation, could this negative be canceled out if said celebrity actually makes a joke against the very company that hired them?

[Chaostar]

If I remember correctly (and I do because I just went back through the old blogs) I gave Microsoft a -1 for the Trey and Matt thing. Somebody brought up the point that they were working on the game so they shouldn't count as celebrities and after careful consideration I decided to keep the -1 for reasons explained in the old blog.

It could be argued that mocking the company you're on stage to represent could be classed as an E3 gaffe and warrant a further point deduction. To my surprise nobody made that argument or yours so I left it as it was. If there's a consensus in the comments for a valid point my judgments will always reflect them, hope that answers your question.

[Christopher]

Glad to have this back this year, Chaostar!