To: The Game Industry
From: Gen Katz, Editor
Topic: E3 -- Going, going, gone
Date: Aug 2006

The information processed at E3 has been getting leaner and leaner. When I first started going, media handouts were fancy game catalogs of glossy pictures bound in ways to attract your attention. Then came the CDs -- no print copy. Finally business cards with the url. Now -- just e-mail.

Things I will miss:

  • Staying at the Figurora
  • Meeting the PR staff in person
  • The E3Program guide -- who will publish the next compendium?
  • The pens -- guess I'll have to buy them now
  • The box lunches for the media -- saved time, provided energy. Did anyone say thanks?
  • Kentia Hall -- where all the really new things were.
  • Having everything in one venue -- I really don't want to go bopping around the country

    Things I will not miss:

    • The incredible noise -- when Microsoft had to use headphones and a mike to communicate -- I knew we had gone past the point of diminishing returns.
    • The tanks and soldiers -- playing war is not war.
    • The girls -- sad.
    • Mega-booths -- like a giant supermarket -- too big to walk around
    • The crowds -- past the point of being exciting.

      What's next?
      The smaller venues may be better for the game industry. I just returned from the Konami Barbecue where I spent four hours looking, talking and soaking up their programs for the coming season. There were immediate answers to questions and even input from a knowledgeable group of attendees. Four hours! The same is true about EA's Hot Summer Nights. Smaller companies in the area could even do with an Open House event.

      It's the small foreign countries that I worry about. I keep in touch with some from Canada but at the last show I noticed Anaconda, a German company and was impressed with their inventive games. I have kept in touch with then and was pleased to see that they had great presence at the Leipzig game event.

      So in closing, I would like to have a venue for foreign and smaller game companies. I need a yearly compendium of game companies, phone, addresses and product. I appreciate a closer contact with the PR people and I am happy to spend my time at events run by the big companies.