Episode 212: E3 2001

E3 2001 is the 17th episode of Scott The Woz Season 5 and overall the 212th episode, as well as the 12th episode of E3. The video was uploaded on August 25, 2021, by Scott Wozniak on Scott The Woz.

Description
Scott will be done talking about old E3s in roughly fifteen years.

Characters

 * Scott Wozniak

Credits

 * Scott Wozniak as Scott Wozniak

Plot
WIP

Music

 * Title Screen - Wii Chess
 * A Game of Chess 4 - Wii Chess
 * Menu 1 - Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * Main Theme - Halo: Combat Evolved
 * Fever - Dr. Mario 64
 * Princess Peach's Castle - Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * Menu 2 - Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * Professor E. Gadd - Luigi's Mansion
 * Grasslands - Kuru Kuru Kururin
 * Today's Results - Pikmin
 * Trophy - Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * Overworld - Super Mario Advance
 * Mountain Pass - Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
 * Yell 'Dead Cell' - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
 * Normal Battle - Final Fantasy X
 * Choose a Game - Super Mario Advance
 * Blitz Cowboy - Fuzion Frenzy
 * Secret Base Zone (Act 1) - Sonic Advance
 * Breakout - 3D Dot Game Heroes

End Cards

 * Sonic & Knuckles | Locked and Loaded
 * E3 2021
 * E3 2000

Gallery
WIP

Transcript
Scott Wozniak: Hey all, Scott here!

[He claps his hands together]

Scott: ''So. It’s about that time. Let’s have-''

[The camera cuts to a side shot and he swivels in his chair to look at the camera]

Scott: The talk.

[A dramatic music sting plays and the scene changes to Scott sitting in an armchair in front of a fireplace with a book in his lap]

Scott: ''Let’s talk about birds, bees, Hell- even sex. I’ve gone across the country teaching the proper education professionally-''

[He holds up a name tag that says “Scott Wozniak” and “Dr. Crotch”]

Scott: -And I’ve learned it all from this here book.

[He holds up the book, which has the cover “Let’s Talk About Sex”]

Scott: So, let’s start with chapter one-

[He opens the book]

Scott: -Luigi’s Mansio-

[He stops reading and stares at the page before looking at the book cover. He pulls it off to reveal the true title- “E3 2001”. He stares at it before breathing in and standing up]

Scott: ...I gotta make some calls…

[It cuts to a calendar on a wall for August 2021. Every day on the calendar up to August 24th is crossed out and says “Talk About Outdated Sh*t”. Scott crosses off the 24th with a Sharpie]

Scott: ''It’s finally that time of the year! E3 2001 occurred from May 17th to the 19th in 2001 at the Los Angeles Convention Center as any E3 2001 would. And this year for gaming as a whole had some of the most ICONIC releases of all time, MASSIVE console launches like the GameCube, GameBoy Advance, Xbox- the Playstation 2 was still in its first year on the market and SEGA finally did the right thing-!''

[An article headlined “Sega Goes Third-Party, Nintendo Ties Announced”, “Sega drops out of the hardware race to become a software-only firm -- and looks to the competition.” is shown]

Scott: ''-Give up! Every couple o’ years, we hit one in the industry where EVERYTHING happens… all the games release, new consoles launch, and the only year I think even remotely matches 2001 would be 2013.''

[A PS4 and an Xbox One are shown with a variety of games in the background]

Scott: But even then, I think overall 2001-

[The text 2001 appears and is surrounded by a GameBoy Advance, Sonic Adventure 2, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, a GameCube, SSX Tricky, Dragon Warrior VII, Black & White, an Xbox, Super Mario Advance and Pokémon Crystal

Scott: -may have been the BIGGEST year for video games of all time.

[It cuts to Scott at his desk]

Scott: God, Scott - stop suckin’ the year off!

Scott: ''Well, let’s dive in to what occurred in E3 2001 and as per usual I’ll be rating each major company’s presence at the show on a scale of one to five knee slaps. Let’s start with a company that needs no introduction.''

[It cuts back to his desk, where he is holding a piece of paper that says “INTRODUCTION” on it. He looks at it and crumples the paper into a ball. He glances around and motions blankly at the camera. The Nintendo logo is shown]

Scott: ''The final few years of the Nintendo 64- well, they sure were years. We did get some amazing games during this time… but they were going up against the launch of the Dreamcast and Playstation 2 alongside all the titles coming out for the ten times as popular Playstation 1. Doctor Mario 64- brace yourselves- wasn't gonna cut it. And looking back at the history of E3s, the past few years REALLY felt like Nintendo were spinning their wheels. While other companies were pushing forward with new tech, Nintendo was saying “Nuh-uh - WE have a new console!” Alright, can we see it?''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk. He holds up Mario Party 3]

Scott: You can see Mario Party 3…?

Scott: ''The 64 was just kind of… ‘in existence’ for a while, now… but E3 2001 was Nintendo’s first E3 show for not only the GameCube, but the GameBoy Advance as well. Yeah- read off that spiral notebook! This isn’t a press conference, it’s a book report! We’re still in that era of press conferences where press conferences WERE press conferences, dammit! For some reason, going on about how the GameCube has a shot against the competition via graphs. Uh- this graph would have more value if you show me the games that would give it a shot against the competition. This conference had the theme of… “The Nintendo Difference.”''

[It cuts to Scott holding two rolls of paper towels against the floor with the text “The Nintendo Difference” at the bottom of the screen]

Scott: ''What, are you a brand of paper towels? No, according to Nintendo, the Nintendo Difference is this:''

[A video from E3 2001 is shown of a spokesperson speaking on stage]

Spokesman: -an absolute fetish for quality-

[It cuts to Scott at his desk]

Scott: ''Heyy, guy! What’s your fetish?''

Scott: Uh, well-

[He counts on his fingers]

Scott: Quality, quantity, the pursuit of happiness, ass and chips…

Scott: ''Satoru Iwata comes on stage just a year before he became president of Nintendo, discussing how games all look the same and really leans into the Nintendo Difference. Over at Nintendo, in comparison, it’s all about innovation and quality.''

[Dr Mario 64 is shown]

Scott: They released this a month prior.

[A video of Shigeru Miyamoto walking on stage holding up a GameCube controller in one hand and a GameCube in the other]

Scott: ''Miyamoto comes out on stage and- holy sh*t- he’s one-handin’ that bitch! Bill Trinen, the company’s in for translation, introduces the first game with the concept of trying to figure out what characters to bring to GameCube first.''

[The video of E3 2001 is shown to pan over to the left, where the opening cutscene for Super Smash Bros. Melee is being displayed. The crowd cheers. It cuts to Scott at his desk]

Scott: C’mon- that’s a technicality!

Scott: ''Super Smash Bros. Melee was revealed to the world with the opening cutscene and a short overview of the characters. They don’t spend long on it, considering you get the general idea of what this is by reading… the title.''

[The title for the game appears on screen]

Scott: ''Melee’s reveal will forever be one of the best E3 moments, as you can tell just how giddy and excited the audience is. Watching it now is like opening a time capsule… whenever Samus appeared, everybody roared since this was during a large gap between Metroid games. Zelda and Sheik were given a huge applause compared to the one guy recognising Ice Climbers.''

[Scott is shown at this desk, pouring brown liquid out of a purple plastic cup through a funnel into a glass with numbers marked on its side like a scale, already filled up to the ‘40’ mark. He looks at his ‘equipment’]

Scott: Scientists studied this man afterwards.

Scott: How does one man remember that much Ice Climber?

Scott: ''Melee was the Smash Bros. series’ transition from a fun party fighter to a massive gaming event. The bombastic orchestral music, gorgeous graphical upgrade, iconic characters paired up with those who haven’t seen the light of day in ages. Melee’s reveal was the perfect introduction to GameCube and also showed this console was hopeless.''

[The Wikipedia stats for units sold of a console are shown, with the Playstation 2 at 155 million, Xbox at 24 million, GameCube at 22 million and Dreamcast at 9.13 million]

Scott: ''You practically launch a system with a game that invokes THIS kind of reaction and it gets third place? This marked a change in consoles… it was no longer enough to have the best exclusive games - you had to have multimedia features or a gimmick and the GameCube… had a calendar.''

After Smash, we get a look at what’s called “The next in the Mario series.”

[A video of E3 2001 is shown. The camera pans to show the reveal of Luigi’s Mansion]

Scott: Ladies and gentlemen…

[It cuts to Scott holding a copy of a book titled “Mario Puzo” in front of his shelves]

Scott: -The next in the Mario series.

Scott: ''So I like Luigi’s Mansion, but the way it was shown here felt more like a joke. And I think a lot of critics had this feeling towards Luigi’s Mansion when it first launched. The stigma that it was… lame as sh*t. You’re not getting a Mario platformer at launch, you’re getting his drippy-nosed brother with a shop vac. As time went on, I think everyone’s come to appreciate this game a whole lot more. But, at E3 2001, the main thing Nintendo pushed with it was how it utilized the GameCube’s capabilities. They showed off the controller- which the Wavebird has a… different button layout from the wired link- why do that? The game disks, which Nintendo bragged about being severely anti-piracy as a selling point…''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk, holding up his Luigi’s Mansion GameCube disk]

Scott: ''Here’s our product! And the best part about it is - you can’t steal it!''

Scott: The GameCube startup is shown prior to the Luigi’s Mansion demo and gets applause.

[It cuts back to the desk]

Scott: As it should.

Scott: ''And we get a demo for Luigi’s Mansion- which, again, was created to show off the GameCube’s capabilities. Dual analog control along with tons of elemental effects… it was impressive, no doubt… but the fact it wasn’t a Mario game and was a Luigi game… just made it kinda lame for many. It’s pretty shallow that various people thought that way but… that’s what the general consensus was at the time. And the way they showed it off, here- while fine… I think undersold the game quite a bit. Even if it looked very graphically impressive.''

''Interestingly, they state right after the demo how the GameBoy Advance can be used as a GameCube controller, but the way they talked about it implied it would work with Luigi’s Mansion. Which woulda made sense, I mean- you have the GameBoy Horror and [?] you have a map screen on the GameBoy screen at all times, it would’ve been handy. But no, they just move on to more graphs and SPEC TALK! Which is VERY unlike Nintendo. What IS like Nintendo, is to show us something we can’t have.''

[It cuts to a shot of Scott’s laptop. A Nintendo Direct video is playing but instead of a name of a game, it says “Pure Happiness”. It cuts to Scott holding the laptop at his desk. He looks to the side]

Scott: Damn-!

Scott: The Panasonic Q- the Japanese-only GameCube with a DVD player was shown here for…

[It cuts to Scott at his desk looking confused]

Scott: Spice…?

Scott: ''They just kinda show it like “This is for the Japanese market” so… I don't think they ever really had plans to bring it over here. But they also had it on display at the E3 2001 showfloor. If I had to guess, even if they were never gonna sell it in the US, just having a GameCube with DVD-playing capabilities at the show would be enough for people to think the GameCube was actually worth a damn.''

[It cuts to a shot of the GameCube box on the floor]

Scott: Y-yeah,

[He holds up a copy of “Bark Ranger” on DVD to the box]

Scott: ''-you can play DVDs on it! You just, uh-''

[It cuts to a shot of a Panasonic Q box on the floor. Scott tries to pick it up]

Scott: -Need to be able to deadlift 400 pounds.

[He drops it]

Scott: ''Some developers are shown in a video talking about the GameCube, namely Silicon Knights, Rare and Retro Studios - all showing off games that were barely real. Retro had Raven Blade!''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk, on the phone]

Scott: Yeah- sure, honey, I’m on the phone.

Scott: ''Retro had Kameo and Donkey Kong Racing but titles like Metroid Prime Eternal Darkness and Star Fox Adventures were displayed with Star Fox Adventures having the subtitle of Dinosaur Planet. This is awesome to see in the context of an actual press conference. For so long, I’ve only known of the origins of Star Fox Adventures through articles and random trailers, but actually seeing it alongside Donkey Kong Racing and Raven Blade at E3 shows- it’s pretty wild and gives a much better idea as to how these games were positioned back then. Next up, we have a brand new game from Nintendo.''

[A video of the reveal of Pikmin is shown]

Scott: ''What the Hell was that? Nintendo announced Pikmin as their next Pokémon in the sense that it may not make sense now, but just you wait!''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk grinning with the text “2021” at the bottom of the screen]

Scott: Give it some time.

Scott: A quick demo was shown and Miyamoto says that he got the idea of Pikmin from gardening.

[It cuts back to the desk]

Scott: You’re selling a CONSOLE!

Scott: The GameCube is set to launch on November 5th in North America, September 14th in Japan and 2002 in Europe to the audible disappointment of the audience.

[It cuts to Scott’s desk again. He points dramatically at the camera]

Scott: LIAR!

Scott: ''It actually ended up launching on the 18th in North America… but I’ll let this one slide due to the scissor reel at the end. Star Wars Rogue Leader, Raven Blade, Wave Race BS, NBA Courtside 2002, Donkey Kong Racing, Animal Forest for GameCube- interestingly, they announced this a month after the game launched on the Nintendo 64 in Japan. Metroid Prime, Mario Kart for GameCube- just using Smash Bros. character models in go-karts. Mickey for GameCube?!''

[It cuts to the desk. Scott claps his hands together]

Scott: Alright, the delay was worth it.

Scott: ''Ending things on that infamous Zelda for GameCube demo, showing a realistic Link and Ganondorf fighting. To which one year later, we got a puppet show instead.''

[The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker is shown]

Scott: ''Why wasn’t any of this sprinkled throughout the press conferences? Instead we got-''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk, holding a sheet of paper and talking to the camera]

Scott: Did you know the GameCube is going to do well?

Scott: ''Well if you showed me Mickey for GameCube earlier, that wouldn't be a question! There’s quite a lot to like about this showing, though- interesting to note- Nintendo barely talked about the GameBoy Advance. For THAT, you’d have to check out the showfloor. This giant screen saying “Fun fact; to ensure innovation, we employ the strongest and most successful exclusive game development resources in the world.”''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk, frowning]

Scott: That’s not a fact- that’s just smug.

Scott: I love this rotating actual GameCube logo and the Gameboy Advance demo units showing games like Mario Kart Super Circuit, F-Zero Maximum Velocity, Wario Land 4… this was a damn good show… though, their presentation seems better on paper because when you actually watch it-

[A video from E3 2001 is shown of Iwata speaking at a podium]

Iwata: -and more innovation will be on this play when our Space World exhibition-

Scott: ''Brings me right back to economics class. It may have felt like there were a lot of games, but it was primarily just Smash Bros., Luigi’s Mansion and Pikmin. Everything else was just sort of thrown in a scissor reel. They still did a good job of impressing, and that’s more evident by taking a look at the showfloor… though Nintendo just didn’t show much that clawed people away from the Playstation 2, unfortunately. Yeah, Smash Bros. looked amazing but did that make up for the relative lack of third party support? To some, yeah. And I think something big Nintendo proved this E3 was a massive change to their software output. That slowed down to a CRAWL on Nintendo 64- but with the GameCube, they showed off a ton of exclusive games in development… most of which came out within the first year or two. Nintendo in 2001? ...Keep it up.''

[It cuts to Scott sitting with a leg on his desk. He slaps his knee four times, indicating a score of four out of five knee slaps. It cuts to Scott holding an Activision O2 cap up against the floor]

Scott: ''Now let’s take a breather in the form of E3 2001 memorabilia! These Activision O2 hats were given out- Activision O2 is a sub-brand they use for their sports games.''

[Scott is shown holding the hat at his desk]

Scott: ...’Cause sports require oxygen!

Scott: ''Well. That was fun. Let’s move on to Sony! Let’s see how good boy Playstation did this year- they have the best selling console of all time-! Again, so… why even try? Well, Kaz Hirai… just stepped off the golf course. It’s crazy to see these iconic Sony executives there so long ago… Jack Trenton, Andrew House- the gang’s all here, which means their first announcement must be BIG!''

[A video from E3 2001 is shown]

Announcer: First we’ll debut a DVD wireless remote.

[It cuts to Scott at his desk]

Scott: ''I stand corrected. F*cking huge.''

Scott: ''Gran Turismo 3 gets a trailer, even though it’s already been out in Japan. Jak and Daxter gets a trailer AND demo- being the big holiday title for the PS2 that year, being poised as the Playstation 2’s Crash Bandicoot. But who gives a sh*t when the PS1 LCD screen is announced?!''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk holding a copy of “The Self Help Book”. He flicks to the last page, which has “You should.” written on it]

Scott: Yeah- it says right here.

Scott: ''The PS1 is still a lucrative piece of Sony’s business… while the show is all about PS2, they still intended on giving their first console some proper support. Sony’s done that with all their consoles… even when the PS4 came out, they released Gran Turismo 6 exclusively on the PS3 a month later. They highlight that Square will remain exclusive to Playstation consoles for the time being, which showcased how powerful this partnership was at the time. But with all this power and having the most successful console out at the time, that mean-''

''Ten minutes of EA Sports. Wow! Madden 2002’s on the Playstation 2- these mad sons of bitches finally did it! If this was the first Madden on PS2 or on this generation of game systems in general, I’d understand a gameplay demo for the conference.''

[The cover of Madden 2001 for Playstation 2 is shown on screen]

Scott: ''Final Fantasy 10 is shown- like- my God, can you believe how fast they were pumping these games out at the time?! Final Fantasy was practically a yearly series at this point - 7, 8 and 9 all coming out one after another made some sense with them all being on the same console but 10 was for the Playstation 2 and still released just a year after 9. They show a movie trailer for Final Fantasy The Spirits Within.''

[It cuts to the desk, where Scott is squinting at the camera in confusion. He holds up a piece of paper that says “Okay?”]

Scott: ''Then we dive in to some other big PS2 exclusives… a long, LONG speech about Devil May Cry and then on to Silent Hill 2 and finally, a trailer for Metal Gear Solid 2, which was pretty much E3’s darling game at this point- grabbing everyone’s attention, THIS was the killer app for the time. They end things off with some accessories- a PS2 network adaptor and hard drive, along with an LCD screen, keyboard and mouse for…''

[A PS2 PC setup is shown. It then cuts to Scott at his desk staring in shock into the distance. He addresses the camera]

Scott: Who did this?

Scott: ''I have never seen the Playstation 2 marketed as a straight-up desktop PC. They say this is for email.''

[It cuts back to the desk. Scott shoves a PS2 at the camera]

Scott: This!

Scott: ''They also show a bit of Socom, kinda to push the online capabilities of the console… with the Xbox looming over, that was smart to do considering that system was FAR ahead of the PS2 in terms of internet connectivity. Eh- y’know- Sony did have some of the biggest names on their side, and just looking at their booth, it’s quite obvious that not only did they have the biggest names, they had all the names. The amount of games on display for PS2 was STAGGERING and while Nintendo gave you a reason to check out their stuff, Sont gave you a reason to BUY their stuff. The PS2 obviously had a TREMENDOUS future in front of it… they were even talking about streaming HD movies to the console. THIS!''

[The PS2 computer is shown again]

Scott: I may be a Nintendo…

[The scene cuts to show Scott standing with his arms crossed in a cult-like room]

Scott: -We’ll say fan- and while E3 2001 had a lot to make me happy… it was also obvious who was going to truly win this generation.

[It cuts to Scott sitting with a leg on his desk. He slaps his knee four times and flicks his knee once, indicating a score of four and a half out of five knee slaps. It cuts to Scott holding an E3 2001 booklet against the floor]

Scott: ''Let’s return to E3 memorabilia. Here we have an E3 2001 program given out on the second day of the event. It’s designed as if it’s a magazine… featuring advertisements that looked ripped right out of one. Except they’re actively begging you to check their booth at E3 out. This… is absolutely fascinating. Reading articles detailing the announcement of Kingdom Hearts which- yeah- debuted here. “In a match made in gamer heaven”...''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk. He holds a Final Fantasy game cartridge in one hand and a copy of Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure for Xbox in the other. He bumps the two together]

Scott: [wistfully] If only.

Scott: ''Articles detailing Xbox and Nintendo’s booths, giving attendees the motivation to keep it up, what other companies brought to the show, whether it’s games, hardware, accessories… there’s interviews, conference schedules, maps, the “Mario Awards”. Nintendo of America would award their retail partners with Mario Awards based on categories like their catalog, magazines, promotions, in-store flyers… that gave good motivation to advertise Nintendo. See, we could put the Playstation there, but we’re neck-and-neck with Sears, here- do Wario.''

''Hell, even advertisements for DVD scratch removal machines are here- this entire thing feels like I’m where I don’t belong. Shuttle services and food options… Namco is right out begging for applicants. This is an awesome piece of E3 history that truly does give you the actual feeling of being there.''

[It cuts to a shot of the booklet next to a copy of Luigi’s Mansion on the floor]

Scott: It’s a little big, though.

Scott: But what’s this?!

[The Microsoft and the Xbox logo appears on screen]

Scott: ''Xbox?! WHO’S that?! While Microsoft had a presence at E3 2000, 2001 was the year of the system’s launch and gave us a much better idea of what we could expect. The console’s design was finalized, making it much more consumer-friendly. Like, c’mon, that’s a choking hazard! And a little game called Halo, which was shown last year went from a third-person game for PC and Mac, to a first-person shooter launching exclusively with Xbox. This was always the go-to game for Xbox… as outside of that… it was a pretty mediocre show for them.''

''They were still in the peach-fuzz era of understanding gaming- they got it much more than other companies did, but this was their first console so the hiccups were to be expected. However… going against Nintendo and Sony, Microsoft had a few technical problems during their conference and not nearly as many games on display. They had Dead or Alive 3 as an exclusive for launch alongside Oddworld Munch's Oddysee. Racing games like Project Gotham and Nascar Heat and Press, but Microsoft’s booth was half Xbox and half PC gaming. A launch date of November 8th, 2001 for North America was announced.''

[It cuts to Scott at his desk. He points dramatically at the camera with both hands]

Scott: LIAR!

Scott: ''November 15th. And a launch in Japan would occur BEFORE Europe, which many people already knew was a mistake. The Xbox has famously never done well in Japan - many knew the Japanese wouldn’t take well to Xbox but Microsoft sure wanted them to considering modern gaming was practically born in Japan.''

''But all this did was waste Microsoft’s time by launching in Japan before Europe and piss off customers in Europe because they had to wait longer. All for a retail price of $299- which was fairly expensive… but with the Xbox being the most powerful of the main three consoles, and with Halo as the killer app, it sufficed. But it’s pretty clear - without Halo, this woulda been a pretty weak showing… but, Microsoft came out swinging with one of the most iconic launch titles of all time. ...That’s gotta count for something.''

[It cuts to Scott sitting with a leg on his desk. He slaps his knee three times, indicating a score of three out of five knee slaps]

Scott: ''Grand Theft Auto 3. Yeah, there was quite a lot more to E3 than just what the big three brought to the table- namely, Rockstar brought the big three. I even have the final part of E3 2001 memorabilia! This sticker they gave out!''

[Scott holds the sticker and flips it around]

Scott: ''Ah, yeah. Take a look at that. Okay.''

Scott: ''Duke Nukem Forever made another appearance, this time looking quite a bit different than the last time we saw it. This one showcasing how truly expansive the game was going to be- look at all these environments, characters, things to do, epic music…! NONE of it ever happened!''

''SEGA was everywhere this year; making deals all over the place with the announcement that Dreamcast would be fizzling and SEGA as a company would become a third-party. Each console manufacturer made a deal to get a certain SEGA franchise on it exclusively, most notably- Sonic on Nintendo. The sheer amount of massive, industry-defining games to come out of this E3 is unprecedented. Prior years felt like growing pains, but E3 2001… truly does feel like where E3 became E3 from there on out.''

[The scene cuts and changes back to the armchair in front of the fireplace. Scott closes his E3 2001 book]

Scott: Wait a second…

[He takes off the E3 2001 cover, showing “Let’s Talk About Sex underneath it]

Scott: Now I’m just confused.

[Wipes to blue. Breakout plays]

[End.]

Trivia
WIP