The Numerous Problems With E3

Pixelfoot writes "Loud music, scantily-clad models, guys hoarding free 'schwag', these things are all the lifeblood of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, but the writers of Gaming Horizon have had enough. They've got an article entitled Stuff We're Sick of: E3 Edition, going into their biggest gripes about the show and giving suggestions for how to improve it, including the now-popular notion among journalists to include a full day where the show floor is only open to media." I'll buy that for a dollar. From the article: "It seems like everybody has forgotten what E3 is for, exactly. Without droning on about the vibrant history of the expo, it's more than fair to say that E3 is supposed to be a place for people to do their jobs and it's turned into a carnival for looky-loos and swagbaggers."

He's right, and whoa... also dead wrong...

[BTWR]

he's got some good opinions, and some misguided opinions. First, the good:

Swagbaggers
I agree 100% with this. I haven't been to E3, but I've been to enough medicine conventions to recognize these guys. They suck. I can't ask a single question because the bigshot guy is talking-up the Pfizer rep to get a coveted USB-keychain.

I say that all demos should have a timer built in that kindly informs patrons that they've been playing for five minutes
Another great idea. The demos are for demonstrating the game, not for beating levels 1-4.

Now, the bad...

Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo should all have their conference on the same day, at the same theater, one after another.
I disagree. These presentations are arguably the most important company announcements (at least in MS and Sony's game divisions) that these multi-billion dollar companies will make for the next 365-or-so days. I say let them make it themed to their liking: slick metallic stages, colorful light stages, pyrotechnics, whatever they want. That's like saying all mp3 players should look exactly the same, but with their own features and content.

If you draw an online comic strip, you don't need to communicate directly with the gaming industry.
I'd much rather hear Gabe and Tycho's honest take on the industry than one of the bigwigs "I've-been-bought-like-a-whore" sites.

Why not have a second E3, or similar show, take place on the east coast or perhaps in the Midwest?
Why not have one every week, in each state?

No "behind closed doors"-only content
OK, this guy hates IGN and Gamespot. That's obvious. Well, maybe the reality is that he's jealous of them. I know IGN can be crappy sometimes, and not willing to take a stance and a huge game sucks (or a crappy game was actually fun), but the simple fact is, they're big, and gaminghorizon isn't. Shigero Miyamoto doesn't have room for a behind-the-scenes hands-on demo of the Revolution controller for everyone. Luckily, Miyamoto wants me to see it, so he got 1up, IGN and a few others a demo, so people like me would be more likely to see it.

I'll buy a lobster dinner for anybody who can provide a reason why it'd be a bad idea for the first day of the E3 show floor to be open only to people with Media badges.
How about Best Buy, wanting to see if Halo2 is going to sell "well" or "break all records" from the initial feel? How about other developers, who want to see the competition? It's a HUGE place, and making 1 of the 3 days as media-only cuts the others' days by 33%.

E3 hasn't changed one bit..

[vega80]

E3 *always* had looky-loos, swagbaggers, booth babes, and loud music. Maybe the writer romanticized the idea of E3, and the reality didn't fit his perception, but I've been to every E3, except for the Atlanta one, and even a few CESes before that, and I can assure him it's remained unchanged, except that the crowds are larger now(b/c the industry is larger). In fact, I remember the early Acclaim booths being even louder than EA's or Capcom's current booths. And strangely, I remember *more* booth babes at the early E3s. I remember Eidos having a bevy of Playboy bunnies - their one booth probably had more booth babes than the entire E3 does now (of course, I'm exaggerating a bit..). He may have legitimate gripes about E3 *in general*, and those may be valid gripes, but there were no "good old days" of E3.