E3 Discussion

Earlier this week, I had a discussion with Benjamin Moskowitz, an avid gamer and econ major at UC Berkely, about the E3 downsizing. Enjoy:


Ben: So, did you hear about the Penny Arcade event? They say PAX might fill the E3 void.

Me: Maybe; Comicon and GDC have both been getting more and more commercial each year. Not to the extent of E3, but enough. I really don't care that E3 has been downsized; gamers will still get the information whether there's an E3 or not.

Ben: I care; going is fun. There always needs to be a major gaming touchstone event. Cancelling something like E3 is like cancelling Cannes.

Me: How so?

Ben: It's just foolish. ESA and all of them are just whiny bitches.

Me: But, how is Cannes like E3?

Ben: It's not open to the public, officially, but it's a major event with major press. And when you're there, you can go and see independent as well as major film. It's a cultural touchstone.

Me: That's basicly how the new E3 will be.

Ben: No, the new E3 will be closed to smaller developers, and it won't be a cultural touchstone.

Me: I guess not.

Ben: E3 is a major event, conference, and expo. That means there's an enormous show floor with hundreds of games.

Me: No one said the conferences were going away.

Ben: And that's cool. Now it's going to be closed door meetings and the like. It's also cool that gamers know that they'll be getting a lot more gaming news than normal.

Me: The biggest titles at this E3 were shown behind closed doors. Only a specific number of the press got to check out titles like Gears of War and Army of Two. What's the point of making a $5-12 million booth if something like GoW is behind closed doors?

Ben: Trust me, if you went, you'd understand. It's going from an expo to a media festival.

Me: I'm ok with that.

Ben: That still means, once a year, you'll get more news than normal, but the event that unified gamers is dust.

Me: Soooo, we won't get news, now?

Ben: It's just foolish.

Me: It's still E3, just with a smaller audience. We'll still get news, just no booth babes. Press conferences are where we get the big news anyway.

Ben: You have to understand the difference between an "expo" and a media festival. At an expo, anyone can rent a booth and show off their game(s); with this new format it's basically big devs, inviting media, warping, less hands-on playtime, and less visceral reaction. You can't just walk up and play the game, you'll have a dude demoing it and then you report on that.

Me: Hmmmm...I'm starting to understand you now.

Ben: This is weak. Invite-only means they hold it in a hotel with small rooms where reporters come in and do write-ups about demoes. Maybe some limited playtime, but it's still weak. Devs might as well do that year round. For all intents and purposes, E3 is done.

Me: Well, than E3 will be the event for big announcements and news and such, while events like PAX could be where gamers can get impressions.

Ben: There will be another event to replace E3. Lezpig, TGS, etc. CES even. All the old ones will resurge.

Me: Do you think Spaceworld will come back?

Ben: [laughs] That would be awesome!

Me: Do you think it's plausible?

Ben: Doubt it. And you, as a Nintendo fan, shouldn't be too pleased about the cancellation of E3. A large part of it has to do with Nintendo's awesome presence. I have no doubt that Sony was pissed about its lavish, deserted booth.

Me: True.

Ben: When right next to them, the Nintendo booth (much more lo-fi) boasted a 4-hour long line. That's what it boils down to. Did you hear about the big devs unimpressed with the return on their investment? It's because their interactive entertainment business model doesn't lend itself well to this format, where can you have much more fun at the Nintendo booth while the big N is spending a fraction of what you did. So, it's EA, multimillion dollar soulles shit, Vs. indie developers and Nintendo. And they win because the new format is a lot kinder to them.

Me: Well, isn't that why they had this downsize in the first place? Sony spends millions of dollars just so Sony fanboys can stand in line for the Wii.

Ben: That's right, but that's a failure of Sony's for taking the wrong path; they have a guy on a huge trinitron talking aabout the ultimate PS3 setup that no one can afford...idiots.

Me: E3 is for announcements, it should be a benefit to all devs.

Ben: Right.

Me: Then I feel Sony and EA are justified.


It was after that that we began talking about other important matters, such as banana peels and flip flops. I didn't really think you wanted to read that. Well, you can form your own opinion on the subject; feel free to comment. Just thought this could be interesting.