E3 shwag peddled on eBay

Freebies handed out at E3 fetching pretty penny on online auction site; items include 360 faceplates, autographed Diane Mizota E3 badge?

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Indeed, experienced attendees of E3 approach much of the promotional material handed out at the trade expo as deadweight, something that will just take up room in a suitcase. Hardcore gamers, on the other hand, see these limited-edition bits and pieces as collector's items and scour online auction sites for deals.

On eBay, the priciest items from E3 2006 appear to be the Gears of War Xbox 360 faceplates, with bidding approaching the $200 mark as of press time. Sellers of questionable ethics claim the item was only available during a multiplayer demo of the game behind closed doors, and is very rare.

But the bidding doesn't end there. For the right price, any gamer can put up the façade that they were actually at E3 by purchasing some exclusive gear distributed at the show only.

Nintendo fans can show their support with Nintendo lanyards (handed out with every E3 badge on day one of the show) that have pictures of the Wii, the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Micro, and DS. On the other hand, Sony fans can opt to adopt Sony lanyards that were handed out en masse at the company's booth and simply read PlayStation 3 in the familiar Spider-Man font. However, the frugal lanyard seeker will buy the seemingly useless bits of plastic and fabric in bulk or in variety packs.

Even items that gamers try to avoid have found their way onto eBay. The game digests that run down the layout of the event, list conferences, and filled small kiosks by the thousands are asking as much as $16. A pack of E3 press kits that publishers give to media is also available, for anyone who wanted the latest fact sheets from Logitech. One person is even selling a cut-out from a magazine advertising Gameloft's Paris Hilton mobile phone game.

Of course no trip to E3 would be complete without a wrap-up of the infamous booth babes. One Fresno, California-based auctioneer is selling a collection of over 350 digital photos that show off the spokesmodels of the convention, as well as other random pics from the event. The pictures of the ladies are apparently too hot for eBay, as samples show a red heart over what appear to be the more revealing portions of the images.

While it's one thing to get pictures of booth babes in their outfits, it's another (and more desperate) thing to get into one of their outfits. A Nintendo booth babe ensemble for sale has hit the Internet, complete with the blue shirt and white zip-up vest that all the female Nintendo employees were required to wear at the company's booth. It's available for $75, and includes a Wii pin and Nintendo lanyard. The seller makes a special note that it has only been worn twice.

Looking for that one-of-a-kind piece of memorabilia worn by an industry celebrity that shouts, "I am willing to pay lots of money for a piece of plastic"? Look no further than the E3 2006 badge issued to, worn by, and autographed by Diane Mizota, the former host of G4's Filter and Sony's pre-E3 video spots. The seller is identified only as "dmphoto3776," and could very well be Mizota herself as the lanyard will include a personal autograph reflecting the winning buyer's request.

62 Comments

  • alexis100

    Posted May 27, 2006 7:30 pm PT

    Or you can try to win a schwag bag here by May 31, 2006!

  • ocdog45

    Posted May 24, 2006 10:07 pm PT

    its crazy. some of the things people are selling on ebay

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted May 19, 2006 12:25 pm PT

    Think how much I'll get if I sold one of my kidneys.

  • gamecube120

    Posted May 18, 2006 12:53 pm PT

    Thanks Gamespot! I just went out and impulsively bid on like 7 things. Damn my need for unnecessary things.

    What a great idea to sell a virtual tour of e3 2006. Judging by the red hearts, i'd say there was more given away free there than just schwag

  • cesarotromundo

    Posted May 18, 2006 12:46 pm PT

    Ebay, people sell and buy anything.

  • Teivan GameSpot staff member

    Posted May 18, 2006 10:51 am PT

    crazy, but bound to happen.

  • masoumi

    Posted May 18, 2006 10:45 am PT

    That digital photo set that someone was selling is pretty sleazy. I think I might buy it just to get rid of it because it's wrong.

  • SNKrock

    Posted May 18, 2006 10:03 am PT

    what, why is this videogame news? which one of you guys put this stuff up on ebay???? Greg? Tim?

  • gibb1

    Posted May 18, 2006 9:39 am PT

    crazy things, ebay is great.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted May 18, 2006 9:34 am PT

    dang..... i want to go to e3

  • bobreturns

    Posted May 18, 2006 9:18 am PT

    lol some people are crazy

  • Sanguis_Malus

    Posted May 18, 2006 8:34 am PT

    Ebay provides a good service for obtaining certain unusual and rarer items in general.
    However, it takes a shall we say (different kind of person) to pay excessive amounts for a cheap piece of plastic that was free and will likely never have any major monetary value.
    Personally i think its lunacy on behalf of the buyer and laughter (all the way to the bank) on the sellers account !

  • sabru8

    Posted May 18, 2006 8:33 am PT

    i just want a t-shirt, but i'm not paying $100 for one, at that price I can do without one til next year.

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted May 18, 2006 7:42 am PT

    Not surprising really.

  • mithund

    Posted May 18, 2006 6:46 am PT

    wow Diane Mizota must be desperate for money now that she's unemployed.

  • Lauryn2000

    Posted May 18, 2006 4:57 am PT

    The Gears Of Wars faceplate if it was only given out at E3
    You can't purchase it when the game comes out,it's not
    going to be included in a pre-order.
    That it is a "limted edition"...than go for it $$$$$$$$$

    I can see gamers bidding mad money for it.The Nintendo
    E3 lanyard is sweet,it has all the Nintendo systems on it.
    I'll get one from one of my buddies that works at EBgames
    **************F O R F R E E**************

  • TVR_Fan

    Posted May 18, 2006 3:52 am PT

    Since the person selling the face plate opened it, its lost its value now.

  • kekejefferis

    Posted May 18, 2006 3:11 am PT

    Whoever won that gears of war faceplate will be really gutted if you get that as a freebie with preorders for the game

  • Invader_basic

    Posted May 18, 2006 2:10 am PT

    This is supposed to be news? That's great, GameSpot; I'm sure the sellers of this crap are very thankful for all the advertising you just gave to their auctions.

  • waynehead895

    Posted May 18, 2006 1:25 am PT

    Diane Mizota is pretty good looking. (For those who don't know, she used to do Filter on G4. Now she is replaced by someone who doesn't know anything about video games)

  • EvanO_O

    Posted May 18, 2006 12:26 am PT

    I still gotta sell a bunch of my crappy pc games on ebay!

  • Lupus64

    Posted May 18, 2006 12:02 am PT

    Buying old, hard to find games off Ebay is one thing, spending over US$20 for some PS3 Lanyards??? You could get a couple of reasonably new games off Ebay for that much if you tried. What a joke.

  • lc1503

    Posted May 17, 2006 10:45 pm PT

    Like the faceplate won't be available at retail when the game comes out. Geez, as if.

  • animemog

    Posted May 17, 2006 9:16 pm PT

    This is stupid.

  • unimusic

    Posted May 17, 2006 9:11 pm PT

    One Gears faceplate ended at 221 yesterday.

  • NeoJedi

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:45 pm PT

    Oh my God people are just insane. The faceplate is up to $195.50!!

  • killakb

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:42 pm PT

    its up to $500 now, and shwag only weed is shwag sometimes this stuff is HOT obviously

  • joshtheboss

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:32 pm PT

    Some of my stuff is already selling hot. My COD3 hat is up to 35 bucks

  • paradyme777

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:28 pm PT

    Wow...looks like you could buy some pictures of someones ***********. The other stuff is cool though. I really want that Gears of War Faceplate but for $200 these people must be rich.

  • John_of_Fire

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:18 pm PT

    Why people wouldn't just go to E3 and get the stuff themselves is beyond me. I mean the prices these things are going for would pay for your ticket and airfare.

  • djnickz06

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:17 pm PT

    LoL!

    That's just crazy, thou, it's good business.

  • Jhessela

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:08 pm PT

    "and could very well be Mizota herself"
    It is her. She posted about it on her MySpace blog.

  • hionspeed64

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:05 pm PT

    Diane Mizota...damn.

  • hionspeed64

    Posted May 17, 2006 8:01 pm PT

    lol, that's cool

  • con_safo

    Posted May 17, 2006 7:53 pm PT

    did you guys know that diane mizota played fook mi in austin powers?

  • dergy

    Posted May 17, 2006 7:26 pm PT

    its all about quantity. when it happens...people gobble it all up before it can be thrown to the wolves. kinda like watching a boat go over the waterfall.....it sails from the person to the highest bidder....or more likely....the lowest point.

    Love Larry!

  • Zkeptik

    Posted May 17, 2006 7:12 pm PT

    I have so much of this stuff. I filled three of those Webzen bags full of .... stuff. My favorite things are the T-Shirts. NVidia was giving away some quality shirts but I didn't get a chance to get a Tomb Raider one. I got both GameSpot shirts though. I wanted like hell to get all the GameSpot editors to sign it for me but they were just too busy. Oh well, I can't blame them.

    Perhaps one day I will work with them and they will gladly sign it for me then. : )

  • supercrap1

    Posted May 17, 2006 7:04 pm PT

    I'd grocery shop on Ebay if I could. How bout it, Ebay?

  • coolcool23

    Posted May 17, 2006 6:53 pm PT

    Who is so idiotic that they would pay $200 for a 360 faceplate!?

    We are talking about four or five game titles for the console, or close to the actual console itself here. That just seems frivilous and stupid.

  • videogamr49

    Posted May 17, 2006 6:38 pm PT

    I would get a Press Kit from Nintendo but I could probably just get it off the internet at some site. I might get a lanyard though...

  • simon50

    Posted May 17, 2006 6:31 pm PT

    Ken Kutaragi's eyelash! Bidding starts at $600!

  • eckertt001

    Posted May 17, 2006 6:13 pm PT

    yeaaaaa someone else's crap! woohoo

    Let me go bid 20cents now!

  • BobC Works for a game publisher or developer

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:47 pm PT

    hanapepe - no way dude. I might catch a disease from it.

  • Bhob

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:43 pm PT

    Wow, cool stuff.

    Hudson has a E3 swag contest. Why pay for something you can win for free?
    Check it out: http://www.hudsonentertainment.com/feature.php?feature_id=14

  • unimusic

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:40 pm PT

    Questionable ethics, huh? That faceplate WAS only available from the Gears guys at the backstage demo. Is Tim claiming it wasn't?

  • ConManWithGun

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:25 pm PT

    that gears of war faceplate looks awesome

  • paulthespartan

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:23 pm PT

    kinda cool that Gears of War is going to be on eBay.

  • thepeter

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:19 pm PT

    ..does this stuff smell like adult-nerd sweat?

  • gunner123453525

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:16 pm PT

    Ebay does sell food, i bought chocolates off them, and also 10lb's of chicken, of course it was local and in my city, but u can sell food on ebay. some retarded people also sell ice cream over seas= ]

  • soul_motor

    Posted May 17, 2006 5:08 pm PT

    That's some serious hardcore stuff right there.

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