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Min-E3 takes off, lands in Santa Monica hangar
After a fair bit of searching and speculation, some of the details surrounding E3's fate have finally begun to emerge from the putrid smoke and piles of debris that remained after the world's biggest games expo spectacularly imploded several months ago. James Brightman at GameDaily BIZ writes that the ESA now has a firm date and location in mind for next year's Min-E3, more seriously titled E3 Media and Business Summit -- a change from the previous and vaguely fruity E3 Media Festival.Right, when is it taking place?The event will take place from July 11th until July 13th, 2007. It's not still in Los Angeles, is it?No, it's been moved to the considerably less vile Santa Monica. Attendee mortality rates should be significantly improved. That means they'll go down ... we think. How does Min-E3 work, exactly?In concept, it's a smaller, more personal E3 comprised of fewer people, less extravagant spaces and more one-on-one time between the press and the latest third-person scuba-karate game. The full list of exhibitors / hotel guests has yet to be revealed, but Nintendo has already committed to showing their permanently grinning faces.What's this about a hangar?Well, in addition to having hotel rooms set up to demonstrate new products to the media, the ESA has obtained permission to use the nearby Barker Hangar (visit their disturbingly sterile website and take a virtual tour) as an expo show floor of sorts. With the event now being invite-only, the smaller space provided by a hangar (which may be smaller than some E3 booths we've encountered) should no longer be a cataclysmic problem. Am ... I invited?Probably not. ESA president, Doug Lowenstein, describes the new E3 as a series of "suite-based meetings with the software showcase in a controlled and business-like environment," meant to "successfully fulfill our primary objective of giving high-level media the best of all worlds." That doesn't sound like it includes fansites or weekend Gamestop employees.Well, with that attitude, you won't be invited either.Please be aware of the fact that we can end your existence with nothing but a few keystrokes. You're just an invented voice meant to organize this post's information. So shut up, okay?
Nintendo commits to next year's Min-E3
After punching out a rampaging E3 hopped up on sex, drugs and caffeine and sending it to conference rehab, the ESA is already preparing plans to welcome a more discreet and otherwise polite press gathering in 2007. The change has garnered much discussion, with one of the central points revolving around the kind of support the major industry players will provide to a significantly smaller event.According to Gamesindustry.biz, Nintendo is the first of the major three platform holders to confirm involvement with next year's Min-E3, though the level of said involvement is still up in the air. A couple of Super Mario Galaxy posters on the wall of a barren hotel room would likely fail to generate the massive lines Nintendo enjoyed at the last E3, though it certainly would help alleviate the problem of getting trampled by an army of wand-waving nerds (always a plus).Microsoft and Sony have been less decisive in their response, though it should only be a matter of time before they reveal intentions to join the officially dubbed "E3 Media Festival" or simply bulldoze the proceedings with conferences of their own. [Via Nintendo Wii Fanboy]
New E3 will be in July
GameSpot is reporting that ESA president Douglas Lowenstein has confirmed that E3 2007 will now take place in July. After the announcement of its downsizing, GameSpot contributes an anonymous analyst saying that the new E3 will "give publishers more time to polish their holiday releases. Publishers apparently weren't pleased at rushing their schedules to have late-year releases ready for the show each May."Now the summer drought problem is solved thanks to the kinder, gentler E3.
