E3 Coming Back Big In 2009 35
Newsweek reports that next year's E3 will be expanding its attendance cap to 40,000 in an attempt to return as the premiere large-scale gaming expo. E3 scaled back its operations over the last few years, leading some to speculate that it was outliving its usefulness. This year, according to E3's organizers, we can "expect a boat load of press conferences on Monday during the day and on Tuesday morning." Newsweek also claims E3 will be opening to the public for the first time, allowing fans inside for the last two days of the event. However, G4's coverage says that while the vetting process for attendees will be eased, the event still won't be open to the public. An official announcement will be made tomorrow by the Entertainment Software Association.
Re:So they say. (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't know anyone who went to the old E3 and could say it was about the industry. You had Gamestop stockboys from a 5 state radius there trying out games for their own personal amusement, while companies set up booths with automobile-sized speakers and threw a party because that's what the aforementioned stockboys expected. And if you really were in the industry, sure, whatever you say, you still wait in line.
The ultimate example of this I believe to be the line for the Wii in 2006 immediately after it was announced. It was hours and hours and hours long, a quite unprecedented line even by E3 standards. And it was filled with gawkers: the stockboys, their girlfriends, their best friend, and other people who had no business at an industry event. Lord help you if you had a legitimate reason to be there, you'd still need to send someone to stand in line all day just to get a shot at using the Wii to cover it for your publication, decide if you want to allocate shelf space for it, etc.
The new E3, on the other hand, was definitely an industry event. In fact I'd call 2008 a very good year; everything was well organized, getting to meetings was easy, and getting face time with a game and a developer was a piece of cake. Everyone was there to do business, there were no gawkers and vendors weren't forced to throw the equivalent of spring-break indoors.
I don't know why the E3 organizers would want to go back to the horrible old format, I guess it's better for them if it's a public show like PAX rather than an industry event? In any case, make no mistake, going back to the old format means it's a gamer show, and by extension it's gunning for PAX.
I should add that PAX is a cool show too, but like the old E3 it is not a good place to do business, and with the increasing crowds it only gets worse
Re:You don't get it!!!! (Score:3, Interesting)
It's rather appropriate that DNF in racing stands for "Did Not Finish". Seems rather apt for Duke.