Reporter's Notebook: E3 Show in L.A.

As part of EA's Sony presentation, the company showed off a version of its new Fight Night game for the PlayStation 3 that amazed in the amount of detail and realism it depicted.

In contrast, at Microsoft's event, EA was represented by Don Mattrick, president of the company's worldwide studios. He's a bigwig at the company but not someone with the same cachet as Probst. Mattrick touted the new version of Madden NFL football for the Xbox 360, bringing on stage with him Oakland Raider offensive tackle Robert Gallery. But Madden will likely be available for a wide range of consoles, and the graphics on Madden were not as eye-poppingly impressive as those on Fight Night.

Square Enix President Yoichi Wada represented his company at both the Sony and Microsoft press events. At Microsoft's he showed off a version of the company's current Final Fantasy XI game for the Xbox 360. But for Sony, Wada showed clips from Square Enix's forthcoming Final Fantasy XII as well as a rendering of how a previous version of the game -- Final Fantasy VII -- might look on the PlayStation 3.

The distinctions may mean little or nothing at all. Representatives of EA and Square Enix did not immediately return calls seeking comment. But the differences could be an indication of publishers' expectations for the coming console cycle, with the best stuff -- and most respect -- still being reserved for Sony.

Monday

I met with Activision CEO Robert "Bobby" Kotick. Next week, I'll put together a question-and-answer article based on my interview, but here are some tidbits:

During the last console transition, Activision and other companies were surprised by the staying power of the outgoing consoles. Two to three years after Sony introduced the PlayStation 2, it was still selling significant quantities of the original PlayStation. Kotick said that Activision, EA and others left sales on the table by being too quick to abandon development for the older console.

Kotick is determined to not make the same mistake this time around. Activision is in a much stronger place financially than it was five years ago, Kotick noted, and the company believes that it can pursue development on both old- and new-generation platforms at the same time, with little trade-off costs.

Kotick has been at the forefront of talking up the potential of advertising in video games. In that vein, Activision has worked with Nielsen Interactive to research the potential advertising market. But even Kotick doesn't expect advertising to be a meaningful part of Activision's or the industry's revenue anytime soon. Indeed, it could be five years or more before advertising becomes significant to the industry, he said.

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