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Game Industry Commentary on the E3 Revamp

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the doing-it-all-over-again dept.

John Callaham writes "FiringSquad examines what happened to cause the Electronic Entertainment Expo to implode and retrench for 2007, and posts opinions on the expo's revamp from game industry insiders. Interviewees include 3D Realms' Scott Miller, Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford, Rusty Williams of Flying Lab Software, Feargus Urquhart of Obsidian Entertainment and more."

5 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Mixed feelings by p0tat03 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On one hand, it IS true that the industry loses a ridiculous amount of time each year just sharpening up E3 demos that don't go anywhere, and a lot of dev time is wasted (on the order of MONTHS) just on this one event alone that are not productive towards the end product at all.

    On the other hand, E3 was the only event that the mass media ever covered. You don't see anything about GDC on the pages of the world, you hear only about E3. Methinks they need to do two things:

    - Scale back E3 to its original model: backroom shows and press conferences. More professional, less glitzy.

    - Create secondary shows *with* the glitz in the same model as the car shows of the world. Publishers come in and let the public get some hands-on time with their new hardware and software. These are darlings for the mass media, without impacting the professional side of things.

    In other words, one perfectly serious professionals-only conference, and another glitzy conference from the proles.

    1. Re:Mixed feelings by anjin-san+3 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I disagree. I think the video game industry has become large enough that it doesn't need a carnival to promote itself anymore. If journalists stop writing about E3 because it's no longer a circus, then they're probably the guys who know nothing about video games to begin with and they're doing us a favor by not writing about the industry.

  2. Re:Cheaper Games? by govtpiggy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Or it'll just get shifted into advertising budgets. Money spent on E3 was generally for the purpose of advertising anyway.

    --
    do you know squarepusher?
  3. Re:Bah humbug. by p0tat03 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As opposed to car babes that reinforce the stereotype that rich sports car/muscle car junkies are clueless nerds that drool over every moderately attractive female that feigns interest in cars?

    Booth babes aren't there to satiate the fantasies of hopeless nerds, they're there 'cos sex sells, clueless nerd or not.

  4. Website journalists... better than us! by st964p62 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "Even though E3 was more strict this past May in keeping some unnecessary people out, there were still a ton of people that showed up that had no business attending the show (you know who you are)."

    That hurts a lot coming from this guy: http://www.firingsquad.com/authors/author_profile. asp/44

    While I understand that E3 is a trade event, I think there's something to be said for "the masses" being allowed in. We're the people who buy the games they're peddling, and for that matter support the press who cover the event. Without us neither game publishers, nor this Firing Squad goober would have a job in this industry.