E3 06: CelebSpotting @ E3 06
Clint Eastwood, Napoleon Dynamite, Paris Hilton, Steven Spielberg, Stan Lee, and Jessica Alba all made appearances at the massive game expo or a related event.
LOS ANGELES--Last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo brought in more than 60,000 game developers, publishers, publicists, journalists, executives, and fans who finagled their way into the coveted event. And, as usual, it also brought in a fair number of celebrities, eager to either promote game tie-ins or see what the maverick member of the entertainment industry is up to.
By far, the most widely reported celebrity sighting was Paris Hilton's appearance at the booth of French mobile-game publisher Gameloft. The now-infamous incident saw the heiress-actress-model-amateur-porn-star turn up 90 minutes late to promote her mobile game Paris Hilton's Jewel Jam--by misidentifying it as "Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest."
By that time, though, several hundred onlookers had clogged the southern half of the West Hall, waiting around an empty chair for a chance to glimpse Hilton. They jostled for position--and occasionally threw elbows--with several dozen mainstream paparazzi eager to snap photographs to hock to tabloids. Twenty minutes before Hilton's appearance, though, a coterie of bodyguards cleared the isles, refusing passage to normal convention-goers who just wanted to get away from the spectacle.
Much more dignified was the appearance of an indisputable film legend at E3. On Thursday afternoon in a closed-door session attended by only a few journalists, Clint Eastwood turned up to promote his forthcoming Dirty Harry game for next-generation consoles. Though he'll turn 76 at the end of the month, the Oscar-winning actor-director seemed energetic and affable, and announced that two stars of his films, Gene Hackman (Unforgiven) and Laurence Fishburne (Mystic River), will lend their voices and likenesses to the Dirty Harry game.
Another storied filmmaker also made his usual appearance at E3. On Friday, Steven Spielberg turned up with several of his eight children, bedecked in his uniform of baseball hat and brown flight jacket. However, unlike many previous low-key E3 appearances that allowed fans to see the filmmaker up close, Spielberg had his own massive security detail that kept any potential photographers at bay.
[UPDATE]: A bevy of other celebrities were spotted by GameSpot readers. Robin Williams was on-hand at E3 to play Spore--and talk about it to anyone withing earshot. Rapper 50 Cent hyped the G-Unit brand at an appearance at the Vivendi booth for the drastically different PSP version of his 50 Cent: Bulletproof game.
Not all sightings at the event were as high-profile. Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder was spotted wandering from demo station to demo station at the Microsoft booth, unrecognized by most present. As is the case almost every year, comic book legend Stan Lee held court at the Activision booth, promoting the latest batch of Marvel Comics-inspired games. Speaking of comics, the actor who first played Batman on television and film, Adam West, turned up at the 2K Games booth to promote the forthcoming title based on his current TV gig, Family Guy. Michael Madsen popped into the Eidos booth to promote Reservoir Dogs, and Nathan Fillion, star of the cult sci-fi series Firefly, was also seen doling out autographs.
However, as is often the case, the majority of glitterati skipped the actual E3 event, preferring to make appearances--which they were likely compensated for--at the lavish evening parties thrown by publishers. Other than Thursday's traditionally massive Sony party, the biggest event was ostensibly Wednesday's Access E3 2006 event at the House of Blues, which had an RSVP list that included Paris and Nicky Hilton, Nicole Richie, Jessica Biel, Ashlee Simpson, Nick Lachey, Hilary Duff, Pharrell Williams, Shannon Elizabeth, Jeremy Piven, and Vin Diesel. However, when the actual attendee list was released today, the biggest names on it were Tony Hawk, Bam Margera, ex-N Sync-er JC Chasez, and Queer as Folk star Hal Sparks.
Less hectic was Vivendi Games' Wednesday night Scarface party at the Vanguard nightclub on Hollywood. Besides showcasing the retro-rock talents of up-and-coming Australian trio Wolfmother, the party saw one of the most coveted invitees of the Access E3 2006 event actually turn up. Speaking to the burly but affable bouncer in front of the VIP lounge, one GameSpot editor asked if Jessica Alba was inside, as some at the bar below had said. "Yeah, she's up there," said the bouncer. "No, you can't go up there without a red wristband. And no, I wouldn't bother trying to get one."
68 comments
george clooney was at the nintendo booth, theres an IGN vid where mat and a nintendo exec point him out and you can see him for about 3 secs
Yes, those Aussie Wolfmother boys rock....I wonder if anyone has thought of making a role-playing / strategy / mini-game game that involves creating a world famous band?
PAris Hilton? Jessica Alba! Paris Hilton? Jessica Alba!!!! Paris Hilton? Jessica Alba, please marry me!!
Well the only real celebrities I cared about meeting were the GameSpot editors anyway. I watch and listend to their podcasts so I mistakenly feel like I know them well. Unfortunately I just look like a weirdo when I approach them with a big smile. I got crooked raised eyebrows from Tim Surette and Ryan Davis. : D Carrie was nice enough to wave.
gameloft is a good company, a company which has their own creme of thr crop and their own !@#@$ %^$# of a game and making a paris hilton game is one of those games that were made to make money. the team that made it should be fired. and that putting paris at E3 was an obvious sign that gameloft did it for the name. (any one who goes to a hilton hotel must have this thing... what do you call it again.... right jewel jam )
"Optimusv2 Jessica alba kissed me on the cheek when I told her it was a pleasure to meet her and shes alot more beautiful in person" wow lucky you if that really happened. Cut that cheek off and sell it on Ebay >.> Spielber interested n gears of war? maybe we will see a movie made by him about gears of war
Let's see here...which one of these is more likely to get you a high five and a free beer? "Hey, guys...I just had sex with Jessica Alba!" - or - "Hey, guys...I just had sex with a girl from my school! No, really she hot...hotter than Jessica Alba! I swear!" Yeah, that's a real toss-up there...
jeeze guys jessica alba is hott but there are girls in my shool hotter then her...shes just famously hot...meaning everyone knows shes hot
"CliffHicks Actually, I sat next to Spielberg in the Gears of War theatre, and he was very interested in the game itself. I think that's why he was so low-key -- he actually wanted to take in some of the show." NO WAY! Really? What about the bodyguards? Did you get an autograph?
She doesn't deserve to have her own game. She's waaaaaaaaaaay too ugly. I mean seriously, the monsters in Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Devil May Cry and Quake are more pretty and cute than her. If there are any celebreties that actually love playing videogames, then they should get some respect. Those who do it for publicity, do not deserve to hold a controller.
I agree with FoxhoundADAM. The celebrities just want to get there names out there and pretend to like games for publicity. I don't really care what they do , im just telling it how it is.
Even if jessica alba wasn't a star she'd get lots of attention from the fellas wherever she goes ;)
Also why do people seem to be hating so hard on celebrities you wouldn't be excited if you saw jessica alba right next to you?
Meh, except for Williams, Eastwood, and Adam West, a lot of the celebrities there just seemed to just want media attention.
Robin Williams was at the Wired party... there's a video of him playing with the Spore creature editor on Joystiq. Fantastic video, you all should check it out!
Was Cristophe Gans or any other actors from the movie Silent Hill there? I am surprised if non of them were there to see anything about a new silent Hill game or something, especialy since the movie took of at box offices and rocked.
They were only there for the promotions. they dont give a damn about video games, except for robin williams and spielburg. I mean really, a ditz like paris hilton should NEVER have been there. Shes too ditsy to even know what the hell her own game was called. Good lord!
He's actually a real gamer unlike most of the other celebs. It's a shame he's in RV tough. lol Robin Williams is one my the coolest celebs, imo. Aside from his act, he seems like a genuine guy. I haven't seen RV, but as far as family movies go, it can't be too bad. No worse than Ms. Doubtfire or Jumanji. Eh, I dunno. I'm just rambling.
No Gary Coleman? You can't have E3 without Gary Coleman! Eh, I honestly don't care who shows up. If someone wants to check out the latest videogames, then let them. People have to pay anyway. (Sure, the celebs won't care about losing about 400 bucks, but still. More money for the E3 planners.)
Solarsonic - sure they can enjoy games, but the media puts such importance on them, and many times they are used as selling points for products. Matter of fact, years, ago when I worked at one of the first computer/gaming shops (back before EB and GameStop were born), Robin Williams was a customer of mine in New York. He'd come in, there was no fuss at all. He sat down, I loaded up games like Archon from EA on the Atari 800, and he'd walk out with a few titles each time. He liked our shop because it was a small place on a side street, and no one foamed from the mouth when he walked in. He's actually a real gamer unlike most of the other celebs. It's a shame he's in RV tough. lol
I dont know about you guys, but I would NOT give a damn about Paris Hilton if I was there. Besides, all the games are the important matter at E3 anyways. Any other celebrity, though, I wouldnt mind spotting.
Pumper, celebrities can't enjoy games? Just look at the video that was posted above of Robin Williams playing Spore. He's a huge video game fan and enjoys many games, like Battlefield 2. Even Dave Chapelle enjoys World of Warcraft. I'll admit, the Paris Hilton game just sounds like another stupid attempt to add money to her purse (Anybody who buys it doesn't deserve to play games). I can't wait to see what Steven Spielberg has in store for us in video games. He's a great director and hopefully, that'll translate to games as well.
" turn up 90 minutes late to promote her mobile game Paris Hilton's Jewel Jam--by misidentifying it as "Paris Hilton's Diamond Quest." " I got a laugh outta that. Pretty cool to hear Clint Eastwood was there, I'd forgotten about all the talk of a Dirty Harry game.
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