New GamePro Expo to take the place of E3

GameSpot brings us news that IDG is creating a new, high-profile gaming expo cleverly named the GamePro Expo which they hope will become the big event of the year, much like E3 was in the past. When E3 was officially shuttered, you could almost hear nerds all over the Internet screaming in pain, and if you can read, you certainly saw it in the forums. While the actual success of the industry-wide plan to scale back huge events in order to save money and reach people who actually matter (read: journalists, like Summa, or Barbara Walters) is yet to be determined, it's very apparent that the general public wanted a game show that they could attend in order to ogle games (that they can't play with) and girls (that they can't play with either), and the GamePro Expo is trying to fill that need. The GamePro Expo will take place in the LA Convention Center, much like E3 did, on Oct. 18-20 of 2007. More details after the jump.

According to a memo circulated to a short list of LA Convention and Visitors Bureau members this week, International Data Group, publisher of dozens of tech magazines and producer of hundreds of trade shows around the world (including Macworld), will produce a new games show to be held in Los Angeles in mid-October 2007. "IDG has been secured to run the new GamePro Expo show, what we knew as E3," the memo reads in part. While IDG owns and publishes GamePro magazine, it is not clear how IDG plans on leveraging the brand. According to Michael Krouse, vice president of convention sales for the LA Convention and Visitors Bureau, IDG is estimating that the event will draw 30,000 attendees, and that long term, those numbers could grow. "I am absolutely convinced this show will be as big as [the old] E3," Krouse told GameSpot. The new show will be endorsed by the ESA--"a very important element to the partnership," says the memo, which goes on to say the event will take place at E3's former digs, the Los Angeles Convention Center, on October 18, 19, and 20, 2007. The event will have trade show, consumer, and game competition components and is being presented to Convention and Visitors Bureau members as a show that could rival the old E3 in size, scope, and impact on the Los Angeles economy: "Use E3 as a guide [when prepping for GamePro Expo]," the memo advises. Referring to the game competition, Krouse said that Staples Center owner AEG is likely to partner with IDG, and, "in concept," the live tournaments would take place at the Staples Center. The news is tangentially related to the departure of ESA exec Mary Dolaher who took a new post with IDG this week. Dolaher's staff, versed in the nuances of producing E3, moved en masse to IDG as well. Talk of publishers coming on board is already filling the rumor mill, though none have yet to announce a firm commitment to exhibit.

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