E3 Radically Changing

[gamefreaks365]

The ESA is about to change E3 forever. They announced on Monday that the show would be downsized and would no longer be at the LA Convention Center. Instead, they expect to use hotel suites and move the "show" to July. They also plan on reducing the number of attendees to as few as several hundred to as high as fewer than 10,000 compared to the 60,000+ at E3 2006. My worry is that all but the largest game sites and magazines (IGN, GameSpot, GameZone, EGM, OXM, etc.) will attend, leaving small to medium sized sites like Random Nintendo and mine out in the dust. While I welcome a more personalized and less chaotic E3, nudging out media with an "invite only" system may not be the best alternative. What do you think and are you happy/disappointed with these changes?

[Waffle Monger]

That blows monkey chunks.

Wow. Alot of the small time sites and such would get shafted. Small time developers would be left in the dust which is worst than small time journalists being left in the dust.

[Pilgrim John]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! That's just wrong! E3 is supposed to be the Superbowl of gamedom! To downsize it to such a pathetic level is like limiting Christmas gifts to rich kids only. I am disgusted at this decision.

[gamefreaks365]

After thinking this over, and reading articles on the Internet, this appears to be nothing but favortism towards big sites like IGN and GameSpot, giving them more exclusive content. Now you don't give favors without expecting something in return. Catch my drift? In the end of the day, it's the large publishers with the big budgets that can afford alternative sources of marketing (i.e. expensive tv advertising, etc.) and under the current invite-only plan, they can squeeze out media less favorable to their interests.

Doug Lowenstein (ESA's president) pretty much said that if the game industry needed a convention today, they wouldn't create the current E3. E3 has in large part generated ALL of the buzz that got the industry moving from a primarily geek hobby to a mainstream acceptable culture. Year after year it is the destination for gamers to find the latest games this fall and for companies to unveil special announcements. All eyes get put on one event, generating enormous press coverage and exposure for fall releases. They can give all the monetary excuses they want, the fact is this is the biggest opportunity that any publisher has each year to market their games. They don't have to spend millions of dollars on exhibits, they choose to.

[Waffle Monger]

Basically making gaming more of a monolopy than it already is. People don't drive the world, it's money that drives the world.

[Pilgrim John]

graymatter said:

Basically making gaming more of a monolopy than it already is. People don't drive the world, it's money that drives the world.

HOLD IT!
Blaming corruption on an inanimate object, are we? I'm sorry, but the fact remains that corruption is a result of human err. It's our love for money that we let control us. In the end, it's all our fault corruption even exists. We are creatures of good and evil: we have capacity to do good, but we are held back by our lower, evil nature. The choice is ours, though: do you want money for yourself, or do you want to let people have the time of their lives at a giant expo? We know what decision the ESA made. On the other hand, that may not have been a selfish decision. After all, that's taxpayer dollars in motion.
...
Man, I seriously need to stop playing Phoenix Wright... Got a little carried away there.

[Waffle Monger]

zer0 said:

graymatter said:

Basically making gaming more of a monolopy than it already is. People don't drive the world, it's money that drives the world.

HOLD IT!
Blaming corruption on an inanimate object, are we? I'm sorry, but the fact remains that corruption is a result of human err. It's our love for money that we let control us. In the end, it's all our fault corruption even exists. We are creatures of good and evil: we have capacity to do good, but we are held back by our lower, evil nature. The choice is ours, though: do you want money for yourself, or do you want to let people have the time of their lives at a giant expo? We know what decision the ESA made. On the other hand, that may not have been a selfish decision. After all, that's taxpayer dollars in motion.
...
Man, I seriously need to stop playing Phoenix Wright... Got a little carried away there.

umm... I wasn't blaming an inanimate object for corruption. I'm saying that corruption is what is making the inanimate object umm a monopoly. umm... does that make sense?

[gamefreaks365]

zer0 said:

graymatter said:

Basically making gaming more of a monolopy than it already is. People don't drive the world, it's money that drives the world.

HOLD IT!
Blaming corruption on an inanimate object, are we? I'm sorry, but the fact remains that corruption is a result of human err. It's our love for money that we let control us. In the end, it's all our fault corruption even exists. We are creatures of good and evil: we have capacity to do good, but we are held back by our lower, evil nature. The choice is ours, though: do you want money for yourself, or do you want to let people have the time of their lives at a giant expo? We know what decision the ESA made. On the other hand, that may not have been a selfish decision. After all, that's taxpayer dollars in motion.
...
Man, I seriously need to stop playing Phoenix Wright... Got a little carried away there.

Taxpayer dollars? Um, E3 generates tax revenue, but tax dollars don't go to the expo.

[Pilgrim John]

Oh. Sorry.
But in that case, why? It wouldn't cost anybody anything to have left the expo alone. Well, except for those attending.

[gamefreaks365]

zer0 said:

Oh. Sorry.
But in that case, why? It wouldn't cost anybody anything to have left the expo alone. Well, except for those attending.

E3 is held at the L.A. Convention Center. I can't say definitively, but it's probably owned by the City of Los Angeles like most convention centers. Exhibitors at the show have to pay for the space and for their booths, which can cost a million dollars or more, depending on your budget. Those attending (approved media) don't pay at all, nor should they. The media isn't charged to enter any other convention. The money publishers invest in E3 should easily be recovered in the amount of coverage they receive, which is free advertising.

[Pilgrim John]

When worded like that, this move not only crushes the dreams of many gamers, but it also sounds pointless.

[Waffle Monger]

Big guy s***s on the lil' guy.