Will E3 be da bomb or a flop?

[Peench]

All of you know that the format for E3 changed this year with the companies going to a more "business-related" model where actual business can be accomplished (in theory anyway). Gamers have historically looked to E3 for announcements of all the new games/consoles, etc coming their way, this new format is something a bit different.

In years past gamers could wander the large convention center and peruse new games, new products and immerse themselves in gaming bliss. This year the convention is spread out over Santa Monica among several hotels and an airport hangar. Traveling between the different hotels to see everything may be a challenge. Making appointments even more so.

So what do you all think? Has E3 been sufficiently nerfed to be worthless to the average gamer or will it still offer all the news and hype of years past?

[KEEZY]

I voted flop... though I don't think it will flop, it just won't be what it used to be. It might be better for those that actually go, however, as there won't be crazy masses of people. I am just worried that since it is more business centric, regular gamers won't get as much out of it.

[BrewCityUpstart]

It will rule because there will be new stuff.

[AlphaQ GehaD]

OK, the way i see it is that this E3 will not be nearly as big, or exciting as last year, But it will be better then the ones previously done before last years.


No matter what there will always be new games at any E3, Last year was mainly consoles and previews of what is coming out in the beginning and mostly at the end of 07. And now we are nearing the end of 07' so that means they are gonna hardcore preview the LONG AWAITED games we have been reserving and dreaming about.

All i know is

GTA IV
Halo 3
Fallout
Bioshock
Huxley
Fracture
Too Human
Mass Effect
Army of Two
Assassin's Creed
Half-Life Orange Box w/Team Fortress

And MANY MANY more that i forgot will be discussed, VERY NIIICE!!!!

[Rocky2000]

I think it will be just as strong if not stronger. All the major developers are holding conferences up the yin yang, and are still obsessing about the huge summer / fall blowout of games... Coverage is still going to be constant over the Xbox Live Marketplace, so I can only imagine what aces the big names are holding in their sleeves! I can't wait!

Don't let the attendance number 6,000 fool you; now, it's the important people that are going, not the regular public -- think of it as a summit meeting, but with journalists.... It's still going strong! Perhaps the cash saved this year will bring something bigger next year?

[Gordon]

Well they actually made it a little bit too hard to make it into the show. I have completed hundreds of videogame articles over the last year but I was not invited. I am on the press list for most of the major developers (Damn you Squaresoft / Eidos / Ubisoft) so I get their press releases. It does not make any sense to me really, so it really sucks.

Probably what was worse though was the E3 hotline. As a rule of thumb I normally hate hotlines because they generally do not solve any problems. 90% of the time I phoned in to it I got voicemail. That tenth time I got a woman with a thick Indian accent saying it was too late, because I needed to be sponsored by one of the developers.

The odd thing is that I thought I was sponsored by a few of them since they offered to have private meetings with me at the event. Microsoft sent me an email about them wanting me to go to their briefing.

But anyways... Last year at E3 it was great. I do agree it was a bit too over populated but I loved the atmosphere. I loved getting the private meetings and testing out the games on the floor. The event had fantastic energy, and I feed off of other people’s excitement when I started to get tired after the 10th hour on my feet. Oh, I also loved the private pressroom.

This year does not seem as exciting. It could be that the event is being handled in several locations, some of the larger announcements will be pushed to the TGS / GDC, or it could be that I was not invited, but it does not have that same kick as I felt last year. Hopefully they go back to the larger venue with the giant displays, but keep the approved list a bit tighter.

I'm a sad panda.

[Peench]

I think it will be fun this year, but not as fun as years' past. But I could be wrong. The thing that I know will be tough this year is making it to all of the different appointments for me. The convention center had everything in a central location. This year everything is spread out across several hotels and an airport hangar. From what I understand, the hanger has everyone centrally located, but everyone got a tiny booth at which to show their wares. So most of the big players have rented our rooms and whatnot at the various hotels. My concern is missing my appointments while I'm trekking around in a taxi. That would suck.

There will still be the press releases and the buzz and the info, but without the mass of gamers I'm wondering if there will still be as much buzz. I guess most gamers will have to rely on coverage from websites and whatnot, as opposed to the chance to go themselves.

I really don't know what to think or what to expect. I'll bring as much info as I can to you all here and hopefully not miss my appointments due to Los Angeles Traffic, but not having everything in one place leads me to think that alot of my time will be wasted between meetings instead of with actual games.

[Serren]

Leave earlier to make your appointments. :-)

[Peench]

Haha! Yeah, I would, but they run on the heels of prior appointments so I'd be dogging out on one to make the other. I just hate having to waste time and money on taxis. I'd rather it all be in one big arse place so I can just walk in between meetings.

[BrewCityUpstart]

I'll just let other people go and waste their time. I can see everything on my computer.

[GoatMother]

I think it will be relatively good. I'm with brew in that I'm happy to watch on my PC

[Serren]

Since I am MS knowledgecentric, I'm curious on what Sony and Nintendo are going to be doing. Wii online stuff should/could be big. Sony price drop info?

Ohh, buy an 70 inch sxrd2 and get a free ps3! I'd take that deal!

[lovekeiiy]

Where's the option for neither? I think it'll be good for new gaming news. It will be interesing this year more than normal because of the new format. But beyond that, like all the rest of consumer shows, anticlamatic seems to be the right word.

[Admiral Madden]

I think it's gonna flop, as all hardcore gamers know, it's customary for game developers to keep secrecy, but reveal tiddbits near completion, (moreso near launch)

alot of the jaw droppers were revealed last year, meaning that they release shortly after E3, by now the majority of teasers will be released, leaving not much to talk about.

Halo 3 is definately subject to this, it's only hope is to show more multiplayer maps, have a semi-unrelated to the story demo, (which shows gameplay more intensively than the beta) or finish it's ARG.

other developers will fall prey to not building much fan-suspence, wich could impact them negatively.

also as peench mentioned it's gonna be a bummer with the traffic, so attendee's may end up missing key tiddbits, making a scavenger hunt to get entire reports on the web due to missing news.

oh well eh, i'll be here getting my monitor tan while this is going on, so it doesn't really matter to me eh!

~Admiral Madden~

[Crippler]

Wow, now that the show has started. It's crap. Nothing big from ANYONE at this show. I don't see it being around next yr.

How does it compare to last yr Peench? It just seems like it has totally lost it's excitement.

[D_Litch]

When's X07?

[Wondermonkey]

Come on Crip, there's still time to get our tickets for PAX.