Paul’s back for an episode, as the crew still has E3 on the mind, and still discuss stuff from the show. In fact, the conversation remains so much on E3, half of the scheduled news items don’t get done. Instead, it’s just a reunion of sorts as the rambling goes on and on.
The news that does get discussed includes:
Let us know what you think.
The first episode of 2024 is a short one, though the guys discuss the original Mickey Mouse hitting the public domain, Square Enix declaring it will be “aggressive in applying AI”, CD Projekt RED staying independent, and Valve ending all support for CSGO in favor of Counter-Strike 2.
The news includes:
Let us know how your 2023 went.
Most folks in the game industry are already writing off E3 as an actual event to be attending. Even Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is calling it “virtually useless” for both retail and investors. The writing is on the wall and the reasons are obvious.
Publishers and developers didn’t want to invest the millions of dollars to make E3 a glamour show of epic proportions anymore. The lights, camera and action are all what the industry is about; the hype wagon in full steam. Gamers eat up the hype, bloggers and journalist rely on the hype and action to build readership and keep them coming back for more and retail uses it to gauge new releases and get a grip of the future.
Without the entertainment value of E3 nobody seems to care anymore. Large scale gaming entertainment is reflected in the large scale events and, at the end of the day, we want our conferences and shows to reflect the emotion and exciting of the industry.
“E3 had much more of an impact when it was a show,” comments IGN.com vice president of games content Tal Blevins. “The video game industry is about fun and entertainment, and we should have a show that reflects it.” (gamasutra)
Everyone is sad to see the state of E3, it’s like a cancer patient waiting for their final diagnosis. It’s unfortunate, it’s going to get worse and life will go on without it. In its wake, new shows will crop up while old shows increase in audience, excitement, intensity and cost.
As one show begins to fade others will grow to replace it and developers will yet again find themselves spending millions of dollars to be the best of show.
This week we’re flashing back to Metroid II for the Game Boy, something new and different from the normal arcade/console/pc flashbacks. We’re also tackling a good deal of community comments and hitting up the news wire:
We didn’t get to cover history this week because we had lots of back-and-forth arguing about Netflix and the PS3 and rants upon DJ Hero and its “obvious” low-demand. This weeks question of the week, are there any good sim games left that are simple?
