"E For All" Game Expo Withers, PAX Thrives
After the continued struggles of E3 this year, it looks like another IDG-based games conference will have its own troubles. BigDownload reports that most major game manufacturers are skipping E For All, in part due to their focus on the upcoming Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and BlizzCon (which will be televised). E for All will have major presentations by Microsoft and EA, but you'll have to go to PAX to see events and exhibits from other big publishers; for example, the playable Jumpgate Evolution demo, the Guild Wars tournament, or the Omegathon. The Seattle Times ran a story about Penny Arcade's creators and how PAX came into existence. Further competition for E For All is coming from the Tokyo Game Show, which runs in the beginning of October.
I don't think they advertise it this way, but it's really by gamers, for gamers. They seems like talented guys too, so it's pretty cool to see them do so well at something they love to do.
I'd love to go to PAX one of these years. They're talking about a PAX East at some point as well. I hope it doesn't spoil it.
E For all just doesn't understand some things. For example, they clearly went with the LA Convention Center because of the E3 nostalgia. Anyone who's actually gone to a show at LACC knows it's about one of the most unfriendly venues out there, though. There's no food *at all* nearby, there are very few nearby hotels, parking is often hard to find or expensive, and because it's LA there's nothing nearby to do at night after the show.
There are so many better locations they could have gone with that would have been relatively close but so much better for visitors. San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas...
Uh, last year's Omegathon featured Halo 3. Before it was released. Probably pretty major for the publisher.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
Last year's Omegathon also featured Rock Band before its release.
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