Let's face it. 2006 was the last time E3 was truly any fun. Yes, it got a little taxing as a game reviewer trying to get impressions on all your assigned titles, but it was fun. You walked around the absolutely packed Los Angeles Convention Centre, watching kids getting all excited about the Nintendo Wii, and even though you hated the 1 hour lines to try it, a small part of you felt like those kids. It was a spectacle, and while it may have gotten a little too big, that doesn't mean that it was the wrong direction to take with the event.

Today, Ryan Kim from the San Francisco Chronicle published a story about several industry execs wanting to bring the old E3 back from the dead. Bring back the booth babes, re-introduce the oversized statues of Master Chief, and throw some of the best parties the gaming press will ever experience. While many companies did spend over $10 million on their booths, in some way it was totally worth it. It created that flash that this industry strives on and actually made the event feel like something other than a glorified preview copy of a game you just flew halfway across the country to play.

Within Kim's article there are several comments from some of the gaming industries biggest names. Our good buddy John Riccitiello from over at EA had the following to say. "I hate E3 like this" and "Either we need to go back to the old E3, or we'll have to have our own private events." For anyone who saw EA's press conference, you'll totally understand where JR is coming from. It was so tight and charismatic that for a brief second you almost felt like you were at the old E3. They brought out some big names, they showed some great games, and they made a pretty big announcement with the "id software" partnership. They were trying.

Laurent Detoc, the president of Ubisoft NA came right out and said it. "E3 this year is terrible." We were all thinking it, many people said it, but it's totally different when someone at Detoc's level just outright proclaims it. He also stated "The world used to come to E3. Now it's like pipe-fitters show in the basement." We have no clue what the pipefitter thing means, but we do understand the "The world use to come to E3" comment. It's true. At one time you had people actually making the trek from Europe, from Asia, from everywhere to take part in E3. Now, why bother? Yeah you can try out some games, but the payoff just doesn't seem to exist anymore.

While I don't think E3 should get as massive as it was back in 2005 (record setting 70,000 people through the door), I think some adjustments are definitely in order. Bring back the real events and get people excited over hitting the show floor again. Move the show back to a weekend in May. It fit into everyone's schedule, and LA is way too hot in July to be rubbing up against stinky fat guys all day. Lastly, and I absolutely hate to say it, but bring back the public. I know many people won't agree with this, but I think that the more people that are excited about the industry, the better. I know of several people that never followed gaming news, went to E3, experienced the glitz of the gaming industry (no matter how manufactured it was), and started to care about what was going on in it.

So. Where do we go from here? I think there really is only two different paths the ESA can take, and that is either, bring back the old E3 or abolish the show all together. Many companies have stated that they would hold their own events, but is that really good for the industry as a whole? What we have personally loved about E3 is the fact that there are some companies who might not have the money to spend on a lavish booth, but with the show they actually have an outlet to showcase their games. No matter how small the booth, someone, somewhere will stumble in there and get the word out about their title. Take that away and it really does hurt the smaller companies trying to get the word out.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/18/BUR811R133.DTL&feed=rss.technology - San Francisco Chronicle

Kim Fidler