Death to E3!

[Jumplion]

Personally I always love watching E3 and finding out the breaking news and such. It's not just a big advertisement thing, it's a place where gamers from everywhere can come together and play the latest games that they're interested in. Someday I'll finally be able to go to E3 and I'd be playing the demos all day long.

That's PAX you're thinking of. E3 is press and industry only. Most of us gamers just hear about it.

E3 is open to the public, albeit still limited to some people. PAX is good to but that's more for the indie games.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

My main problem with E3 is that there are a lot of bad games that get overhyped that makes people like me go out and buy them.

"Bad" is subjective opinion... so games you might not like may be hyped up - that doesn't make them bad games it just means they arn't your style.

An intresting article, but I for one simply love the mass chaos of E3 - just suddenly hearing all this amazing infomation at once is fantastic.

No they are bad under deved games that should either have had an extra year of polish and bug testing or priced at 20$. Modern gaming has become so casual even the bugs get ignored...

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

This is one of your few articles that I disagree with. I see the angle you're taking, but E3 is less about news and more about creating a spectacle. I like to think of E3 as a place where all the major developers gather to say, "This is where our industry is, and this is where we want to push it." And then I like to think of the following year's GDC as a place where developers gather to say, "Okay, this is what we tried, and this is what worked and this is what didn't."

 

[Rigs83]

E3 is like a swingers' party. You are disgusted by the idea of it but want to go because you know some cool people may or may not show up but regardless you probably would hook up with someone.

 

[KeyMaster45]

I like your articles Shamus, they always give me a good chuckle when I need it the most. This one was no exception.

I stopped following what went on at E3 after my Nintendo Power subscription ran out a few years back...or was it after The Revolution became The Wii...I always forget when I lost my respect for Nintendo. If I want to find a good game I ask my friends, they tell me what games they've seen that they liked, or think I might like. Then as I hunt down said games I come across ads for games like The Penny Arcade Adventure series (still waiting on Ep.3) Now I have a steam account and buy exclusively from the indie section, mainly because if I want a game that's a wonderful breather from the gray serious smattering we call gaming today its going to be from indie developers who haven't lost their passion for the art yet under the success of their games.

Then again maybe I'm just the kind of person who enjoys games like World of Goo, Ceville, and The Wallace and Grommit Episodic adventures. I've always strived to remain a kid at heart as I grew and I suppose I've succeeded in that my taste in games is a wonderful mix of the new and grity and the new and silly. God help me I need another adventure and/or platformer like the Jak and Daxter series or Psychonauts...that or God of War 3.

 

[coakroach]

Why hate? Just...why?

 

[randommaster]

E3 would be better if it actually had more focus than "what's happening in the gaming industry." If E3 were the place for NEW things, not announcements of inevitable sequels, then it would be better. As it stands now, E3 is just a massive advertisement instead of a source of information.

 

[Zersy]

My main problem with E3 is that there are a lot of bad games that get overhyped that makes people like me go out and buy them.

There are these things called reviews and also these better things called player reviews you should check them out

Wow, I didn't realize that all the games at E3 were already released and people had already written hundreds of reviews for them. No, I won't read them anyway because people give their opinions and often critique graphics, plot, and other things I don't care about in a game. After all, I'm part of the .01% of gamers that hated CoD4 regardless of how many 25 kill streaks i got. That game was given the GOTY title by millions of people. That's why I don't read or care for reviews anymore because I got the game based on everyone's opinion.

"Opinon's are like asshole's , everyone's got one !"

 

[Woe Is You]

Remember the last 2 years when the E3 was this scaled back event that left everyone including the game press and the developers themselves unhappy? It was an interesting experiment but in the end most realized that it's a good thing to have a central event that every gamer pays attention to. I'm surprised this wasn't mentioned.

 

[PlasticTree]

That last sentence saved your article. Because those 2 pages of serious business can be overruled by 4 words: yet. it. is. awesome.

 

[ben---neb]

I agree.

 

[Echolocating]

Is E3 a waste of time? Yes. Is it hurting anyone? Only those silly enough to let it.

 

[MikeBBetts]

I think I see E3 as simply a celebration of our hobby. Obviously, the money could be spent on R&D instead. We could also stop spending money on games altogether and become monks and nuns. But since we don't, why can't these hard-working programmers take a few days off to just get excited about games, theirs and everyone else's?

We did the no-E3 thing. Everyone hated it. And while you feel like the independent games get drowned in the mess, consider the alternative: no E3, no exposure whatsoever, and press gala events reserved only for the EAs and Activisions of the world. (This is what happened when E3 wasn't around).

The press likes to groan about E3 because, I think, they have to be super busy for a week and it all seems silly when you're up at 3am writing a preview for the latest Wii crap. As for why non-press hate a period of free celebration (for them), I can only imagine.

 

[meatloaf231]

I think I see E3 as simply a celebration of our hobby.

This. Shamus's article has many valid points, but his practical thinking is overtaking any love of chaos, excitement and madness. E3 is fun. People love going and being overwhelmed by the news, announcements, demos, and preposterous amounts of sequels - at least this year.

 

[xxnightlawxx]

My main problem with E3 is that there are a lot of bad games that get overhyped that makes people like me go out and buy them.

same idea basically.

 

[Echolocating]

As for why non-press hate a period of free celebration (for them), I can only imagine.

Because when a game is released with an obvious bug or a feature is cut, I blame the developer-soul-sucking E3 as the reason. ;-)

 

[shMerker]

Personally I always love watching E3 and finding out the breaking news and such. It's not just a big advertisement thing, it's a place where gamers from everywhere can come together and play the latest games that they're interested in. Someday I'll finally be able to go to E3 and I'd be playing the demos all day long.

That's PAX you're thinking of. E3 is press and industry only. Most of us gamers just hear about it.

E3 is open to the public, albeit still limited to some people. PAX is good to but that's more for the indie games.

From the E3 site [http://e3expo.com/content/1125/attendee-registration/]:

Please note that E3 Expo is a trade-only event and is not open to the general public.

At PAX last year I played Battlefield Heroes, Left 4 Dead, and Mirror's Edge. I also saw people trying out Star Craft 2 and Fallout 3. But the majority of the exhibits at PAX are from major developers and publishers. Indie games are a comparitively larger part of PAX because indie outfits can't afford to get noticed at E3, and because PAX is attended by gamers, who don't care how much money you have, only if you have a game they want to play.

If you want to see gaming celebrated by gamers, come to PAX.

 

[Zydrate]

This article DOES make a good point that we don't need E3 anymore, because we have websites and most gaming magazines now cover multiple platforms and even dedicate some pages to actual hardware.

 

[Jumplion]

Condense

Okay then. Go to both, problem solved