The Electronic Entertainment Expo might be on hiatus with an unclear return, but like one of Metallica’s best songs, the memory remains. Specifically the memory of Sony’s 2006 E3 press conference, which has been uploaded in glorious HD by video game documentary makers Noclip, who recently launched a new channel dedicated to preserving the history of gaming media.
Sony’s E3 press conference from that year is especially memorable, as over the course of almost two hours, the company presented a showcase that was the polar opposite of its 1995 E3 outing. Compared to the mic drop moment when the PlayStation’s competitive price was succinctly revealed, the 2006 press conference saw jaws drop when it was confirmed that the 60GB PlayStation 3 had a $600 price tag. Or more specifically, a $599 US dollars price tag.
The rest of the show wasn’t much better either, as a poor lineup of PS3 exclusives being revealed, awkward gameplay segments, giant enemy crabs, and a weird controller reveal sucked all of the energy out of the room. In comparison, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 reveal the previous year at E3 helped generate some serious momentum for the company, but it did lack the Ridge Racer meme goldmine that Sony would bring to the table in 2006.
You can see more archival footage like this from Noclip on its Noclip Game History Archive channel. Noclip recently got its hands on a literal truckload of tapes, which contain high-definition videos of trailers, gameplay, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews. Over a decade of video game history has been rescued by Noclip, and the group is currently uploading as much of the salvageable content online.
On its main channel, Noclip’s latest documentary has also gone live. If you ever wanted a deep dive into the making of Vampire Survivors–with puppets–this 30-minute documentary is a great look at how the game came to be.
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