f13.net

E3\'06 Was the Last E3?

So sayeth NextGen.biz. I like Next-Gen for the most part. They tend to post articles I find interesting. I hate that they have a .biz after their name though. It just reeks of cheap assholes. .Biz is the sort of TLD a grandmother pics up because she thinks it sounds clever and hip. Or rather, it's the type of TLD someone buys when they can't afford the .com and .net (the .com is for sale by the way). Weak. Anyway, they say E3 is over and Doug Lowenstein will announce it sometime within the next 48 hours. If this turns out to be true (which I hope it does), we can expect two things:

1. Some really shitty articles from a bunch of magazines and "magazines" (hohoho).
2. My plans to destroy LA will no longer be hindered by my love of shiny things... and boobs.

Say what you will, Los Angeles is stil my favorite city.  Sure, it's got some crass plastic fakery, but it beats New York Pretension any day of the week.

Sorry to hear it go, but I guess one had to see this coming; it's likely that something similar might happen to DefCon in the coming years.  When conferences become more about a free party for the attendees than something meaningful, they usually persist for a few years in a debaucherous haze before finally biting the dust.

The E3 is dead. Long live E3.

How long until a new "show" is announced. E3 was and still is the largest media event gamers pay attention to isn't it?

I wouldn't be altogether surprised if the ESA decided to kill E3 and have it reborn, phoenix-style, as a more focused, trade-only conference instead of a spectacle of excess that frames everything wrong with the industry.

The problem is I don't read read all the gaming news (site like kotaku have 10+ posts every bloody day), so if someone want to let me know about his game, it's E3 or nothing. so far E3 was equivalent of Oscars Night  - you couldn't give shit about movies all year, but glance at nominees gives good insight on what to rent.

GDC and other shows are for developers, E3 was the only one for publicity.

A Slashdot update says that the show is just being "scaled down" I guess. I don't really care myself since the people who care about what goes on at E3 aren't the ones who end up deciding who sells the most of what.

Good riddance, in my opinion. Going there was always fun and all, but it's value as a business forum was very arguable. Even years ago. There simply wasn't any reason to have the show except to continue announcing to the world how young and vibrant the industry was.

Except that the industry is neither young nor vibrant, with enough people having their hands in it to make it as generic as any other.

GDC, AGC, Casuality, etc. That's where the real work gets done for those companies that need public forums to sell their services or buy them.

Thanks.  Being investigated by the FBI for posting on a subversive-terrorist-linked website was just what I needed to make my life complete.

I didn't know this was your week to be the straight man.

This is actually what I'd like to see in E3.

Part of this decision (at least according to the current rumor) is that the big name companies who spend millions marketing at E3, and have the huge booths to fill, feel it's a waste of resources, and that's likely because it is. The big companies shouldn't have a monopoly on space, and I'd honestly prefer seeing the smaller companies products in a "GenCon" like atmosphere with the same floor space for everyone (GenCon is the only "trade show" I've actually done and it was many, many years back, so I know that it's changed to a big money marketing dealy probably too).

In the past couple of years e3 has been more about who has the bigger marketing dollar than about who has the new shiny or ooo wow.

I really don't think that E3 will die completely, but I also think that the cash cow flash of E3 needed to die a long time ago.

It also may be the curtailing of booth babes this year that all the big companies don't want to come back. Execs and programmers live for women in skimpy outfits.

I'd rather have marked off areas with a bunch of tables and MAYBE cubicle style walls for writers to talk to people. maybe a regular tv in each cubicle. That would be FUCKING AWESOME.

Also, fuck G4. Just saying.

When E3 goes trade-only, you can guarentee that Sony/MS/Nintendo/EA/etc put together some sort of consumer-orientated show within a year or two ...and within three years of that E3 is a hollow shell with all new releases/hardware/etc being saved for the consumer show.

Automobile auto shows are not about showing off your wares to your peers. They are about creating a buzz about your product in the eyes of the consumer. A chance for you to trot out your products and your concepts in the best lighting with the most media coverage. That is the most relevant parallel that I can think of and even though most players have some presence at the show (Masterati has a booth and they sell only a couple thousand cars total in the US), the biggest spaces go to the biggest makers.

New York Pretension? At least the rich people in ny are fairly smart intellectuals, have you ever been to the rich parts of L.A?

Oh, this will be a fun slapfight.

Both of you, don't be retarded. You can find vapid fucking people anywhere. Both LA and NY are terrible locations simply due to COST.

I'd vote LA over NY any day, because it's a free trip to the west coast. I can drive to NYC, and in fact grew up near there. LA I don't know nearly as well.

As to how people are? Who cares? They're the same everywhere, save the accents. Rich does not mean smart and vice versa.

I completely disagree, hollywood rich or investment banking rich?

Hey, I like Boston... does that count for anything?

Was this thread about favorite cities cuz I got a few I'd like to add... or maybe it was about total idiots per capita? The precise meaning of the word vapid? OO! I got it, how about we derail this to talk about the last scene in LOST... was that freaky or what?

Stop pissing and moaning about cities.

Edit: Damn you Ed, you got in before me.

Most cities suck, because they contain lots of people.

LA is a city I wouldn't mind being levelled by Kim's nuke. Between the aforementioned pretentious fakery, with destitute drug dens a block behind the facade, the massive drug problem, the massive crime problem, the gangs, the racial violence (I was living there during the King riots, I may be biased), the SMOG, the heat, the almost endless sun and lack of seasons, the cops, the earthquakes....yeah it's a great place.

Toronto, Seattle. There's a couple decent cities.

Ar Technica article (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060730-7382.html) (posted by SirBruce on another forum)

E3 isn't going away, but I might get my wish for smaller, and more trade show like... and they may try and more strictly enforce the "press only" thing.

I still think it's because of lack of booth babes... And where else but LA can you find so many women to pose in a video game character's outfit and deal with sweaty nerds for money?

How about glass walls and a closed phone?  Like when you visit a loved-one in prison?

Atlanta, for one.  Not as many as LA, but more than enough for a trade show.

But but....that's the dirty, sweaty south!

E3 was already in Atlanta. :) Old-timers will remember, and shudder.

I think every convention eventually goes to Atlanta if only to remind themselves why they never go there.

I think this is a great oppurtunity for E3 to split off into two factions.

The first can go invade a place like PAX maybe. Turn it into a great "users" convention like GenCon or the ComicCon. A place where the enthusiasts and audience can go and get a glimpse of what's in store. Where they can share their enjoyment of the industry with the creators of it. Very similar to what E3 is (was?) now, but with more focus on showing off their fun new stuff to the fans, not the magazines.

Tack on the other half to something like GDC. The publishers get their large booths, but non-flashy ones where they can do their business stuff. I don't know how much real business went on at E3 though... other than just random networking. Whatever the case, it can be done in a quieter, more professional setting with more of a focus on the craft of building games, and no distraction of trying to shout louder than the next guy to sell your game and get it's name in headlines.

Honestly, I'm glad to see E3 go.  Every damn year, every game site on the web shunts all of it's focus onto E3, like I'm supposed to give a crap about games that aren't out yet.  I'm sure that for the editors of Gamespot or whatever, it's very interesting, but I never see these demos and the previews are always crap ("All in all, game X looks very promising!" at the end of every frickin' article).  When the games are released, the final version is generally different from the E3 version, anyway.  I just don't see the point of it.

Also, I hear they're renaming it to be the E3Expo (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154935.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6154935) now?  AAAAAGH.   That's right up there with "PIN number".

That's funny, I was talking with a developer last night and we came to the conclusion that Microsoft, Sony, and EA (especially EA and Sony) were behind the change to this.

I for one am stoked that the megashow is dead. But then, smaller more intimate means G4 and Gamespot will have the biggest "booth" table thing. Gotta get the TV crew in there.

Seems to me that when an entity exists solely to sell itself, then its only use is to move money from one person to another, which isn't much of a use unless you're the one that gets all that money.

I've never been to E3, but every year it sounds more and more like it's just there to sell itself.

I'd argue this except that it is true.  People from real cities with working sewer and mass transit seem to find Atlanta baffling.  My comment was mostly about the rather large sex industry.  Personally, my commute would be much better if the Georgia World Congress Center shut down completely.  And that damn aquarium.  DragonCon is more than enough.

By all accounts, it deserved to die. 3 days of overloud displays of nerd fury and wanking masturbatory fantasies over booth babes really needs to be put out of my misery.

The ESA confirms a scaled down E3 for next year:

http://www.theesa.com/archives/2006/07/for_immediate_r.php

The only issue I have with this is that it's now going to be nigh-on impossible for anyone smaller than Gamespot or IGN to get interviews/previews of stuff. While this wouldn't be a problem if they were as professional as, say, CNN.. well, they're about as professional as a drunken fraternity party as is.

Unless somewhat smaller media can network and get in, you can pretty much kiss honest E3 reporting - what little of it there was - goodbye.

Or maybe that's just sour grapes talking. :)

The only people doing honest e3 reporting were those who had no vested interest in reporting complete horseshit, i.e. indy people or people who made no money or good payola from writing decent articles. Everyone else? That's a cock in their mouth, not honest reporting.

All the best previews were given to the payola merchants anyway.

There's an article (http://www.firingsquad.com/features/e3_2007_revamp_cancelled/default.asp) I noticed on Slashdot talking about it.

Normally I wouldn't link it, but uh.. I got some good laughs out of this one. Particularly this bit.


Wait, wait, eFocus? The little gathering we went to the night before E3?


Select companies? Select media? Let me refer you to these photos (http://www.f13.net/index.php?itemid=75&catid=11#more). We got in.


(http://www.f13.net/gallery/E32k6/EFocus/CIMG0554.JPG)

There was also a mini-halfpipe on a stage. It wanted to be E3. Bad.

The rest of the article basically misses the point.

She was hot.

I keep looking at that picture, and keep thinking you want to yell, "Cowabunga!"

Who's grandpa did you beat up for that ... nice... jacket?

Señor Nordstrom?