By Eric Kain

The biggest video game convention of the year always starts off the same: Several of the major players in the industry, from Microsoft and Sony to EA and Ubisoft, hold big stage events at the outset, showing off some of their biggest announcements, trotting out speakers and third-party partners, and showing off the best CGI trailers you’ll see all year.

There’s awkward moments, pauses for applause, and occasionally some really genuine excitement in the crowd, which is comprised largely of industry people and press. These aren’t intimate settings, with pointed Q&A; they’re presentations designed to entertain and create hype.

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