Well, it shouldn\'t be ignored that Nintendo\'s booth will be divided between GBA, GBC, NGC, and N64. Most of the emphasis will, of course, be placed upon NGC and GBA, but I just felt I\'d point that out. Nintendo will have many different things to show at E3 in contrast Microsoft. Hence, it only makes sense for them to have a larger booth.
Sony\'s booth will be divided up between PSOne and PS2. At the same time, though, it should be assumed that much more emphasis will be placed on PS2 than PSOne, so the same doesn\'t apply to Sony that does to Nintendo.
Microsoft\'s booth will be divided between Xbox and some of their PC games, but I\'d assume that Xbox would get almost all of the emphasis in that instance.
Basically, Nintendo has a bigger booth than Sony and Microsoft, but they also have a lot more to show. Sony will have the most space devoted to their next gen console, I\'d assume, even though they have less space overall.
What will it mean for coverage? Well, as I previously pointed out, Nintendo will have their booth divided between mainly Game Boy Advance and Gamecube. Considering some of the past comments from their president (click
here to see his most recent picture), it\'s possible that even more focus will be placed on Game Boy Advance than on Gamecube. I won\'t judge yet, though, simply because I am not a psychic.
Still, though, it can be assumed that GBA will get a massive amount of Nintendo\'s booth, leaving less space for Gamecube coverage.
Sony will, as I already said, most likely have more space devoted to their console than anyone else. Just judging from those floor maps. At the same time, wouldn\'t it make more sense for them to have more floor space? After all, their console has already launched, unlike it\'s opposition. Sony will have a lot of upcoming titles that look amazing at E3; Gran Turismo 3 and Twisted Metal Black, for instance, will come out immediately therafter.
Many great looking Playstation 2 games will be released during the months between E3 and Xbox/Gamecube\'s launches, so Sony will have a lot more to show for this upcoming time period. It would only make sense for Nintendo and Microsoft not to show as much, their consoles won\'t be out for several months.
I do expect Nintendo and Microsoft to show great things at E3--but they probably won\'t have anywhere near as many playable games to show off as Sony, simply because their consoles won\'t be out for a long time.
Also, I do want to ask.. are the two sides of that picture actually to scale? From the little map in each corner (that shows the three dimensional picture of each part of the convention center), it looks like the South Hall (red) is larger than the West Hall (purple). Whereas, the map that shows where every developer and console maker will be depicts the West and South Halls as the same size. Still, though, Microsoft would have a much smaller booth than Sony and Nintendo.
Does Microsoft\'s lower amount of space surprise me? Quite a bit. But looking at the situation rationally, it doesn\'t seem like such a big deal, nor does it seem like it would have too much of a negative effect on Microsoft.
Now.. Microsoft\'s location at E3 may be a bad thing. They aren\'t located near the other two big console makers.. so it may pull people away from their booth.
We can only wait and see, though, to be honest. To quote hundreds of people who have spoken on videogame message boards:
Just wait until E3.
