E3: Losing it's luster?

bearkub

http://www.corpnews.com/node/37

Just read through this article and most of the initial comments. I have to say that I do agree to a point. Other comments?

oXYnary

Agree.

nitzmoff

Agree as well. It was my first E3 this year, and I was bored to death with the show. I just don't get who the show is trying to get the attention of really.

Not only that, but there was just too much press. Had I not been in the industry it seems all I needed to do is start "nitzmoff's game reviews.com" for all of 2 days and pay my way. I saw far too many 15 year old kids there, even with the supposed 18 and over rule. It was just silly.

Josh_Singh

I suspected as much. That's why I didnt go this year. Im saving up for GDC.

AstroZombie

I remember being blown away at my first E3 in 2000. This year was the first time I have been back since and I was very disappointed. I think part of that may be because in 2000 I was still a student wanting to break in to the industry, but I also remember the booth babes being hotter, the displays being more impressive, and GOD was still around and had the lot across the street from the convention center. Next year I plan to spend one day at the show and the rest at Disneyland

doc rob

It just seems like a pissing contest to me. The big console companies and publishers have to wave their dicks around just to show that theirs isn't the littlest one.

I can't imagine that there's very much effective media coverage that comes from E3. The whole thing seems like a ridiculous waste of money to me.

r13

i personally enjoy the spectcle. It's silly and loud and big and funny. But you must remember about the show, it's not for you. If you went by the Rockstar or SOE booth you would see that you weren't seeing much. in fact you werent seeing anything. only invited press and buyers got to get inside and see what they were showing off. thats who it was for, thats the true E3. e3 is about impressing the walmart vice president of videogame purchasing or whatever variant you can think of. we as developers and fans are totally useless at these events, but we are allowed to go as we help fill the hall with people; we are part of the show. buyers like to see a crowd of people, supposedly all industry people, panting over some game. it gives them confidence when they agree to buy 100k copies of some game that they will be able to sell all 100k copies of the game.

myself: i get to see the specticle, i get to see friends and i get to enjoy a few days of just screwing around in LA. GDC however i found useless long ago. the talks are uninformative, boring or behind the times and way way too expensive.

in any case, thats my opinions

Frank

This year was my first, and will be my last, E3. It was a gigantic commercial, and very loud for no good reason. I don't like marketing in general, and since it was essentially a marketing spectacle...well.

And on the chick front, I saw many, many more and more attractive chicks in the crowds of attendees than standing outside a booth in a skimpy costume. Actually, I have to say that was one good thing about E3, I saw that our market isn't all that male-dominated, and is getting less so.

Frank the Avenger

KDR_11k

BTW, that Corpnews guy claims that his blog is a "medium to large news site". Honestly, who has ever heard of "Corpnews" before?

Thegodzero

R13
[ QUOTE ]
i personally enjoy the spectcle. It's silly and loud and big and funny.

[/ QUOTE ]

Were you talking about E3 or ben?

acc

"Honestly, who has ever heard of "Corpnews" before? "

Not me. And that makes me wonder if there's a bit of jealousy behind what he says. Maybe he's not getting behind doors to see everything because he's not as big of a hotshot as he makes out to be. Maybe now there's more competition than there once was and he's just not keeping pace.

Mind you, I agree most of the booth babes stank and less and less companies are releasing actual content to the public.

Joshua Stubbles

I agree with r13. It's not an event for us, but it's still great to be there. I personally love the energy that surrounds E3. Big games, loud music - it's all great to me.

My first time going was 2003, and I loved it. I stayed at the Travel Lodge, right on Santa Monica beach. That year though, E3 smelled. Not sure if people decided not to shower, or had too many chili dogs. But it smelled =\

Last year was much better. We stayed at the Radisson Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard downtown (Bungie was a few rooms down from us). It was quite a good show, with Halo2 and Halflife 2 being the best, course.

This year I only flew down for one day, and spent most of my time running all over the place, trying to soak up as much as I could. There weren't as many impressive games though, since most of the focus was on the suprisingly absent "next-gen" games, which were being shown off behind closed doors. What I played for Xbox360 was certainly good, though.

All in all though, I love the E3 experience. Everyone there is having fun, and it's good to see people who are just as big of a geek as you are.

Steve Schulze

Ah well, it was nice to see footage of people playing the games that I've worked on and some of my art up on big video screens and posters. Not bad for a newbie like me. I might have to go along one year to view this spectacle first hand - its probably something you need to experience once in your game dev career.

Paul Jaquays

Despite the introduction of major consoles, I thought E3 this year was not as impressive as years past. Even Kentia hall seemed to lack viewable content ... I suspect that soon it will be nothing more than offices for offshore developers (from the US point of view). I spent most of my time at the show demoing Age of Empires 3. I had at least one shift in front of a monitor each day. All our demo people were developers. We've found that this serves two purposes ... it puts a knowledgeable person in front of the game (who didn't have to be extensively trained) and the media and buyers who come buy are often delighted to be able to speak to actual developers.

For me, it was also like being cheered on in the final stretch of the race. I came back from the show wanting to work harder on my game!

drakino

From that same site
link
[ QUOTE ]
Some people recognize the Corp web link on our press passes, but few have ever actually read the site enough to know what a monumentally thorough mistake it is to let us into anything official. Between our unquantifiable-but-legitimate press passes, and Mr. Poppinfresh's ability to ninja-speak our way into VIP demos, we drift through E3 in a strange grey no-mans-land, where we see all and are required to produce nothing of quality in return.

[/ QUOTE ]

That article also goes on to show how they were ruining interviews in 2003 for fun.

So first this is a fake news site having fun getting into E3 and acting like kids, then two years later with blogging in the mainstream, they whine because so much is now being shown behind closed (to them) doors and that too many people are getting in with no credentials.


For me, I take a similar approach to r13, and this probably comes from attending 6 E3s now. I use the time in mid may as a vacation to LA, with E3 being used as part of that. I go in, I see some interesting things, then I leave. I try to meet up with some people and have a good time. This year I hit the Final Fantasy concert, Six Flags, Venice Beach, Star Wars Episode III, and E3.

I definitely can't justify the trip just to walk around a crowded convention hall with people from retail shops that have no idea how to shower. But throw the rest in, and it starts to become appealing.

Dravalen

[ QUOTE ]
BTW, that Corpnews guy claims that his blog is a "medium to large news site". Honestly, who has ever heard of "Corpnews" before?

[/ QUOTE ]

While it's true that not too many people know about it, the site is one of the better run rant sites(of it's type) that still exist. They cater to a pretty narrow niche(MMO/etc) so I think it would be expected that not too many people know of them.

bearkub

Holy hell, drakino. I didn't even see that on the site when I read through it! Good eyes.

I guess I posted this with little into my view of it. E3 is too loud and too big for me, personally. I am much more a fan of smaller gatherings where it is easier to see/meet up with a larger portion of the attendees. All personal preference, obviously. Don't get me wrong, I don't HATE E3 nor am I going to picket outside or anything. It's just not my bag and I was beginning to think I was in the minority. The 2 years I have been to E3 in the past were a HELL of a lot of fun. Crazy, but a hell of a lot of fun.