• news
  • MONDAY JULY 31 2006 2:00 PM

E3 Cancelled?

Submitted by Posh

Edited by Posh

Tags: E3, bloggers

No, of course not, but that is somehow the immediate conclusion most hardcore fans are jumping to. At least yesterday when news spread like a bad case of the herps that the Entertainment Software Associate had pulled support on the steadily growing, yearly video game convention, and thus the end was upon us.

In actuality, Ars Techica is reporting there's been no cancellation. After doing the wise journalistic tactic of fact checking, sources are disclosing that the E3 show will still be going on. However, as slightly demonstrated with this year's registration process, the show wants to move to a "closed-door", stricter industry only format.

Apparently media access is one of the problems, with the onslaught of Web 2.0 opinion happy bloggers, everyone thinks they are a reporter -- yes, the irony exists there.

One source I spoke with told me that media access is indeed a problem, but it probably does not factor in greatly to the decision to downsize the show. Nevertheless, there are plenty of complaints from insiders about how "blogging" in particular has made the shows more difficult, if only because floor people are instructed to speak only of what they are approved to speak of, lest another half-baked headline make the rounds.



In other words, don't show uninformed people half finished work.

Possibly more influential is the fact that E3 is viewed by some people as being the Sony-Microsoft-Nintendo show, which it is not supposed to be. Smaller players have complained about this before, but really, that's just the nature of a tradeshow. Not everyone can be Wil Wheaton, can they?



Now, I ain't no holla back girl, but man, I'd be one happy lady if a couple more Wil Wheatons existed.

*Update: The ESA has released an official statement which has been reprinted in full over at Gamasutra.

  • PERMALINK
  • PRINT
  • Digg This
  • Email To A Friend
 
Comments
Scopitone

Scopitone

Irvine, CA
OLD SKOOL

JUL 31, 2006 02:03 PM

No more Best Buy and Circuit City employees clogging up the show floor!

Moonrabbit

Moonrabbit

Vancouver, BC
February 2005

JUL 31, 2006 03:03 PM

Wait.... Explain why Wil Wheaton is like a nintendo?

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

JUL 31, 2006 03:14 PM

It was surprisingly easy to get into E3 this year, but I never tried to get a journalist pass so I have no idea how hard that was. *shrug*

Kobold

Kobold

I'm lost
December 2004

JUL 31, 2006 03:18 PM

Dunno the Nintendo link, but Will Wheaton is a mad guy who I believe used to webhost or webedit SG at several points, plus he was a longstanding writer for Dragon magazine etc. A prize geek - in a good way - and not at all as unloveable as his Stark Tripe heritage would have you believe!

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

JUL 31, 2006 03:18 PM

Moonrabbit said:
Wait.... Explain why Wil Wheaton is like a nintendo?



Maybe he has to hold his reset button when he goes to sleep or he forgets what he has done during the entire day?

MrStitches

MrStitches

Brooklyn, NY
November 2003

JUL 31, 2006 03:20 PM

SirPsychoSexy said:

Moonrabbit said:
Wait.... Explain why Wil Wheaton is like a nintendo?



Maybe he has to hold his reset button when he goes to sleep or he forgets what he has done during the entire day?



Sometimes you have to blow in his slot to get him to work properly.

Posh

Posh

SUICIDEGIRL

California, USA

JUL 31, 2006 03:23 PM

Kobold said:
Dunno the Nintendo link, but Will Wheaton is a mad guy who I believe used to webhost or webedit SG at several points, plus he was a longstanding writer for Dragon magazine etc. A prize geek - in a good way - and not at all as unloveable as his Stark Tripe heritage would have you believe!



Wil is still an editor. He is just on hiatus for a brief while. smile

As for the Wil connection, it is in reference to bloggers not having opinions that matter. Wil, on the other hand, is a blogger, and people actually care what he has to say.

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

JUL 31, 2006 03:26 PM

MrStitches said:

SirPsychoSexy said:

Moonrabbit said:
Wait.... Explain why Wil Wheaton is like a nintendo?



Maybe he has to hold his reset button when he goes to sleep or he forgets what he has done during the entire day?



Sometimes you have to blow in his slot to get him to work properly.



I wasn't going to go there, but yeah.

archenemy

archenemy

Chicago, IL
February 2005

JUL 31, 2006 04:24 PM

I'm kinda bummed I never got to go.

sparaz

sparaz

Lompoc, CA
November 2002

JUL 31, 2006 04:53 PM

Eh Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and EA all pulled out of E3. There will be an E3 but without the major contenders.

The large corps. all will be involved in a small scale event but not E3. The expo was costing them in the tens of millions of dollars each.

Jace

Jace

San Francisco, CA
February 2004

AUG 01, 2006 02:15 AM

Honestly, I think this is a good idea. E3 has evolved into this gigantic thing, and it kind of got out of control. The booth babes, the giant game demonstrations, the huge booths and displays... it was more about selling games than it was about the games themselves. I'm glad they're taking it to a more reserved, professional, private kind of level. I think it will result in more good things for the industry, instead of a bunch of drunk gamers invading L.A. for a weekend.

Valeyard

Valeyard

Shreveport, LA
January 2005

AUG 01, 2006 05:55 AM

I can see a problem with limiting the floor audience, Comdex tried much the same thing in it's day and then it suffered a quick death. Love it or hate it, the fan-boys make the show...

Moonrabbit

Moonrabbit

Vancouver, BC
February 2005

AUG 01, 2006 07:18 AM

Yes yes. I knew all the stuff about Wil being an editor and such. I just didn't know what made him like a nintendo.
But I'm satisfied with MrStitches' response.

Julian_Delphinki

Julian_Delphinki

Tijeras, NM
June 2005

AUG 08, 2006 09:24 PM

What's so special about that dweeb Wil Wheaton?

Quirky

Quirky

Birmingham, AL
October 2005

AUG 08, 2006 11:10 PM

Julian_Delphinki said:
What's so special about that dweeb Wil Wheaton?



With a little work, you can get him to use the spread-shot.

featured interviews