Heee's baaack

Yes I'm back after my long, long move to New York. Classes start next week for me at St. John's University, and while my total of zero readers care, I figured I'd post this status update. I've got a lot to talk about when I get back, and that'll be up as soon as I have my regular schedule going.

CES Organizers Reviving E3?

Hallelujah! I don't want to cite my post as the reason for the turn in the gaming industry (cause it wasn't, but wouldn't that be cool?), but GameSpot is reporting that CES organizers are looking to possibly hold an event similar to E3 in late spring 2007. It doesn't need to be exactly what E3 was, but I do think there's place for a gaming megashow.

There doesn't have to be flashing lights, booth babes and $20 million booths, but if somehow CES or some other organization could set a space limitation for exhibitors as well as a budget limit, it could be possible to even the playing field for all parties involved. There doesn't need to be 60,000 people at the event either, but there needs to be an event that the mainstream media will recognize.

"Since ESA decided to eliminate the E3 event in its known format, we have been deluged with inquiries on whether we could fill the tradeshow needs of smaller video entertainment companies," Shapiro said in a statement. He added, "The Consumer Electronics Association believes that tradeshows are the most viable means for reaching a market, as they serve smaller companies and entrepreneurs who need access to media, buyers, and investors."

You guys already know I'm ready for an E3-like event. The question is, are you? There was a collective groan from the gaming community when story hit regarding the downsizing of E3. Let's bring it back in a more respectable form, but still large enough for publishers, press, and public to look at as the source for the big news each year. The great thing about E3 was that you knew all the games for the next couple of years were going to debut. With smaller events, it'll require the public to tune in year round. Possibly good for media outlets and publishers since the spotlight will be solely on their events, but it won't do the readers good. It won't help the gamers. We need to have event for those casual followers, and hopefully the Consumer Electonics Association jumps on the opportunity.

Oh E3, How I Will Miss Thee...

Obviously the news about E3 as we know it being turned into a hotel convention is old, but I decided to share what I will miss about the old E3 and why the event won't be the same.

First of all, losing E3 flat out sucks. I completely understand the math and reasoning behind it, but I will, unlike other journalists, miss the spectacle of it all. I'll miss the half naked failed actresses I never talk to or take photos with. I'll miss the sweaty mass of Walmart stock kids. I'll miss the giant boombox blasting in my ear as I try to get valuable information out of developer. I'll miss the fact that E3, despite its utter excessiveness, was the biggest and most anticipated gaming holiday of the year. Fuck Christmas, E3 deserved it's own yuletide carol.

While I spent the majority of my time at this year's "L.A.-lapalooza" in private meetings checking out some of the best games on the show floor - though I still envy my coworker who got pencilled in for the Gears of War demo - E3 was still...E3. Sure the majority of media coverage was done in meetings or on GameSpot's gigantic live demo stage, and anyone who was anyone didn't do much work on the show floor, but let's face it, what made E3 what it was is the very thing now being stripped away. We can all say it was about the games, and to a certain extent it was, but aren't other events like PAX, GDC, and TGS "about the games" as well? There are somewhat different crowds at those events, but none of them got as much attention as E3. If it weren't for the flashing lights and the CGI trailers everyone rips on after the show and adores during the show, E3 would've been just another gaming event for all these years. Fact of the matter is that E3 was much like a bug zapper: nothing but a fancy glow, but it drew the eyes of and ears of journalists and gamers alike.

Without that glow we'll see the event for what it really is, a place where press and business associates gather to see demos worthy of EB Games' kiosks and maybe the Xbox Live Marketplace. What really makes the demos even newsworthy is the fact that the games aren't out yet, or even close to release. Yet that's what we're playing: game demos.

So while it makes sense financially for just about all the parties involved, E3 will never be the same. In fact I really don't want to call it E3 any more. I think I'll just call it "that convention in LA."

The Dead Rise

"That is going to be the most repetitive game ever."

That's what I said when I first saw Dead Rising last year, a game that pro-zombie advocates have been screaming for the cancellation of since it debuted. I was seriously afraid it would become the next Haitian/GTA lawsuit. After seeing it this year at E3, I actually changed my tune. I didn't actually get my hands on it, but I ran into it between appointments and what I saw of it looked pretty damn good. The game just shipped and next week I'll be playing it on my friend's 360 after I move to New York. I've yet to purchase a 360, but when you're monthly income is $500 as a Ramen noodles digesting college student, the niceities of modern technology aren't alwasy easily affordable.

I can't wait to play Dead Rising, which, may I say, looks like the Neanderthal cousin of Resident Evil. I mean come one you can beat up zombies with giant stuffed animals -- stuffed animals, people! If that isn't good 'ol American Romero-ism at its finest then I don't know what is. Though I haven't immersed myself in the game or plot yet I do know that the main character flies into the mountainous Colorado town on a helicopter. During this fly-by our little photojournalist sees the zombies eating people. He sees this and still goes to the goddamn mall!

First of all, I live in Colorado (for only 6 more days, thankfully) and I don't even like going to my local mall but I work there so I'm kind of screwed in that respect. But not only does this guy enter a Colorado mall, but he goes into one infested by zombies. That's even dumber than the scary movie heroes (or idiots depending on your point of view) who find someone's body in the house and then investigate the house. Why? If I find the maid dead in the laundry room rumbling around in the drier, I'm getting the hell out of that place faster than OJ. So why does our protagonist go to the zombie inhabited mall?

So you can create play.

P.S.: You didn't see that one coming! I can work the name of the blog into ever post...but I won't.