The Video Game History Foundation’s latest collection is a deep dive into E3 “like you’ve never seen it before”

Ah, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known by many as Summer Game Fes-, wait, sorry, guess I’ve already moved on! Better known as E3, of course, the first of its kind showcase dedicated entirely to video games that died because it simply couldn’t figure out how to live in the modern world (they probably should have asked Geoff). The whole thing ended with much more of a whimper than a bang, but once upon a time it was the place to have your game. And now, the Video Game History Foundation have revealed a new collection all about the event “like you’ve never seen it before,” covering many years worth of a range of materials.

“Over the past year, we’ve received some exciting donations from the people who ran and attended E3, going all the way back to its first year in 1995,” explain the VGHF in a blog post announcing the collection. “We’re excited to preserve this important history – and to make it available for anyone studying the history of E3, for free.” They go on to note that this might be one of the largest single collections of E3 ephemera, showing, for example, how you could pay $25,000 to put your logo on the badge lanyards attendees would wear at E3 1999. What a steal!

A large part of the collection is bits like industry reports, marketing programs, and press kits, so some of this will definitely be for the history buffs and those who like a bit of inside baseball. But there’s some other really great resources too, like oodles of photography from a few of the events, an incredibly 2000s exhibitor prospectus video, and almost 12 hours of footage from the early years of the event showing off development builds and more. It even includes Nintendo’s 1997 press conference, which certainly has a bit of a different vibe from their current Direct format.

It’s a seriously impressive collection, one you could probably spend way too long trawling through, something I’ll certainly be doing post-shift. The value of this really can’t be understated, especially considering that as time moves on, E3 won’t be something younger generations will have ever experienced even vicariously. The passage of time! Ain’t it swell?