ESA confirms E3's dead, long live E3Expo

Well, word's in from ESA and and E3 is set to be all but castrated -- though not killed entirely. Apparently it will become a kinder, gentler, "more intimate" trade show after E3 sought counseling and found itself to suffer from severe cases of ADD, Tourette's, and harbor deep-rooted antisocial tendencies. But instead of putting the loud and raucous show on meds and calling it a day, they're rebranding it as E3Expo (which would, effectively, stand for Electronic Entertainment Expo Expo, making it E4) for 2007, and calling it a smaller, more focused event because, "It is no longer necessary or efficient to have a single industry 'mega-show.'" Whereas we may or may not agree with that statement, one thing is definitely sure: the days of E3 as we know it are officially over. So to our pals in the media and our readers who loved keeping tabs on the madness come early May each year, well, we'll always have Pari, erm, Vegas.

[Via Next Generation]

[sasoon @ Jul 31st 2006 4:55PM]

oh well

[Smoke_Dawg_187 @ Jul 31st 2006 5:00PM]

I'm glad I actually was able to go to one. Truly amazing event. They should have charged admission atleast for 1 day.

[Parry Cadwalalder @ Jul 31st 2006 5:15PM]

That's depressing. I was all set to skip school this year to stay home and continuely refresh my browers for more updates. Such is life.

[Daniel Rivers @ Jul 31st 2006 5:16PM]

Sad Very Sad

[ron g @ Jul 31st 2006 5:24PM]

It's Apple's fault. They were the ones exhibiting quietly and secretly behind closed doors with an invitation only event requiring you to sign a stack of papers before hand. Now everybody wants to do the same thing... no press, no retailers... NO E3!

Hmmm... I wonder what they were showing... hmmm

[centrf @ Jul 31st 2006 5:26PM]

damn that sucks, once they were making fun of that and kind of predicted it on zouforums.com this is lame...


oh well

[Kevin @ Jul 31st 2006 5:42PM]

I have a feeling Steve Jobs is behind this... to the BatMobile!

[shon @ Jul 31st 2006 5:44PM]

the best thing about E3 was that it was a deadline. a deadline for some official big news from electronics players. Sure there is cbit and those other crappy shows, but E3 was the end-all-be-all for answers and demos. It gave those damned large corps some responsibility to the public and fueled competition.

[L0s @ Jul 31st 2006 6:05PM]

This truly just leads me to one conclusion.

I am really left with no choice but to scale back the amount of attention I give these large money hungry, power hungry, NWO wannabe companies.

The only way to hurt them is to give it to them in the pocket books, it's what intend to do. There are plenty of good, enjoyable freeware, open-source, and public domain games out there to keep my fix fixed.

This is truly dissappointing.

[ray b @ Jul 31st 2006 6:23PM]

it's not a rebranding, guys. they always called it that.

[OutrightLie @ Jul 31st 2006 6:29PM]

I blame this on Sony. Their stupid and uneventful press release obviously have to be the major cause of this.

[Simon @ Jul 31st 2006 7:07PM]

I blame this on Jesus. Him not showing up obviously has to be the major cause of this.

[Raider @ Jul 31st 2006 7:13PM]

Wow, Kevin, I haven't seen any remark anywhere near intelligent from you. Go ahead and flame me, I'm more or less just treating you how you treat other posters on here.....

In any case, Steve Jobs? All I have to say, that is pure brilliance.... yeah right =P

[james @ Jul 31st 2006 7:14PM]

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Silver R. Wolfe @ Jul 31st 2006 7:41PM]

Oh well, there will still be an event and still be lots of information available. So what if it's not a huge geek-fest extrazaganza anymore.

[Eli @ Jul 31st 2006 8:13PM]

E3 was a burden on developers. Do you have any idea how much work it is to take a game that's half finished, patch it up to a semi-stable, playable demo build, and then deintegrate the patches and continue development?

Not to mention the whole thing was a giant circle jerk for the gaming 'media' (I use the term almost ironially, most of the gaming media is so far removed from reputable journalism it's ridiculous). I should mention that I used to be part of that group, and the incompetence and general suceptability to junkets by my colleagues was disgusting.

No, E3 was bad for the industry, and pandered to the worst parts of it. I'll be happy to see the focus move to more consumer oriented events like PAX, which center on the people that really matter - the gamers.

[Afiba E @ Jul 31st 2006 8:35PM]

And so... The last E3 belonged to NINTENDO, how Poetic.

[corbs132 @ Jul 31st 2006 8:37PM]

DAMN!!!!I was all set to go this year, i had everything rady to go, fiends willing to go. i was gonna go for my 16th bday, and now i cant, nor ever will be ble to. this REALLY blows

[rowd149 @ Jul 31st 2006 9:13PM]

As my grammatically-challenged friend above me already expressed, I am extremely disappointed to hear of this. I had planned on attending later on in life (the event seeming as Mecca of gaming of sorts), but, alas; it is not to be... (Aka F***F***F***YOUF***CKINGBASTARDS!!!!!)

[BV @ Aug 1st 2006 1:53AM]

Well it looks like SOMEWHAT HIT E3'S WEAKSPOT FOR M_A_S_S_I_V_E DAMAGE!!!!!!!!!!

[Jason @ Aug 1st 2006 6:58AM]

E3 has become pointless in today's industry, anyway. E3 served no other purpose than to allow the fat cats like EA and Sony to thump their chests and further overshadow smaller niche developers. Now, hopefully the playing field will be more even, if only a little. The industry is still messed up, but this is a step in the right direction.

[Pacos @ Aug 1st 2006 10:36AM]

No Way!

I've been planning to go to E3 2007...this ruins it. Oh come on!

Hell, I couldn't go this year(had the damn tickets) because I ended up with the accounting teacher from hell who wouldn't let me take the final later. Awwwwwwwwww!!!

This is one pissed off gamer!

[Oddmanout @ Aug 1st 2006 12:15PM]

E3 died when they banned the booth babes.

This is just putting the bullet in the beast...

[siirsp @ Aug 8th 2006 11:55AM]

woot woot woot!

[adam @ Jan 6th 2007 9:35PM]

sh!t!! i had 2 aims in life, bag a supermodel and attend the e3!! now the e3 is gone, as soon as i've hit that supermodel i might as well top myself ......

why would they do this too us?!