![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
It is hard to explain to people what exactly E3 is like. It is ostensibly an opportunity for publishers to push their products to retailers (read Wal-Mart). Since all the publishers are there with bells on, it is an ideal opportunity for developers to hit them up for contracts. And since everyone is trying to show off of their soon-to-be released titles, it is also a great place for industrial espionage. Oh, and it's a Press feeding frenzy fed by equally frenzied press relations people pooping all over one another for the best story and the best buzz. Naturally, all this behavior means lots of booth babes, give-always, boozing, late-night attempts to get demos to stop crashing in the middle of the floor, and an opportunity for booth crews to substitute volume for game play.
The funny thing is that after having seen Moscow's much smaller but certainly more hedonistic developer event, I expect the whole thing to seem tame in comparison. Still, should make for a good networking opportunity and a good way to catch up on industry trends. So, bring on the dancing girls, crank up the unrelated screaming techno, and show me your piles of derivative titles!
In short, it is a spectacle of modern marketing marvels and like every industry trade show both the place to be and the place you wish you could avoid having to deal with annually. There are traditions of attending the show like trying to spot the publisher that spent their last million dollars of capital on the booth and will be out of business in a few months, or trying to find the Duke Nuke'Em Forever demo for like the tenth year in a row, or trying to finagle your way into all the 'closed' booths that won't let the random person at the Trade Show in, but parades every simian with a press badge and developer with a meeting appointment through. Gives it the velvet rope of exclusivity I suppose.
Last time I went was in 2003, when Beep sent everyone for a day. In 1998 I went with the unenviable task of trying to find work for my company at the time. This time I'm not anticipating the release of my work or under the pressures of keeping a dozen other people's employment. Should be fun.
The funny thing is that after having seen Moscow's much smaller but certainly more hedonistic developer event, I expect the whole thing to seem tame in comparison. Still, should make for a good networking opportunity and a good way to catch up on industry trends. So, bring on the dancing girls, crank up the unrelated screaming techno, and show me your piles of derivative titles!
In short, it is a spectacle of modern marketing marvels and like every industry trade show both the place to be and the place you wish you could avoid having to deal with annually. There are traditions of attending the show like trying to spot the publisher that spent their last million dollars of capital on the booth and will be out of business in a few months, or trying to find the Duke Nuke'Em Forever demo for like the tenth year in a row, or trying to finagle your way into all the 'closed' booths that won't let the random person at the Trade Show in, but parades every simian with a press badge and developer with a meeting appointment through. Gives it the velvet rope of exclusivity I suppose.
Last time I went was in 2003, when Beep sent everyone for a day. In 1998 I went with the unenviable task of trying to find work for my company at the time. This time I'm not anticipating the release of my work or under the pressures of keeping a dozen other people's employment. Should be fun.
