Opening

June 9, 1995.

This date had been circled on the calendar for a very long time.

From the IDSA's initial planning to selecting the Los Angeles Convention Center as the venue, from each manufacturer signing up to exhibit to the final confirmation of booth allocations, the whole thing had dragged on for more than a year.

The video game industry finally had its own dedicated trade show—E3, Electronic Entertainment Epo.

No more squeezing into a corner of CES, no more fighting washing machines, televisions, audio amplifiers, telephones, and electronic computers for the same audience's attention.

This time, every flashbulb, every camera, every recorder in the hands of every media reporter was aimed at games.

The show lasted three days in total.

June 9 and 10 were media days.

Those two days were not open to the public. Only credentialed media, suppliers, distributors, partners, and industry insiders invited by the various manufacturers were admitted.

In other words, these two days were the true core of the entire show. The press conferences were concentrated in these two days, the important news was concentrated in these two days, and the ammunition the manufacturers had stockpiled for more than half a year all had to be fired off within these forty-eight hours.

Media-day admission credentials had started being issued two weeks earlier, uniformly produced by the IDSA and color-coded into three categories: manufacturers, media, and distribution channels.

Blue was for manufacturer badges, yellow was for media badges, and green was for channels and partners.

The back of each badge was printed with the holder's name, affiliated organization, and valid dates, while a one-inch photo was pasted in the upper-right corner of the front.

The lanyards were also distinguished by color, so from a distance, one could tell what identity the other party had.

June