This week comments on the crapshow that is going on with most of the third party publishers. That, and some updates to games that people really care about.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
I’m here in Seattle Washington awaiting tonight’s Bejeweled Twist launch party. It was a long trip considering Chicago’s the leading city for airport traffic and the wind didn’t allow for a speedy departure. Arriving at 2:00 a.m left me cold, hungry and in dire need of sleep.
Today it’s bright and sunny, still cold as hell, but slightly well rested and awaiting the upcoming launch of Bejeweled Twist. This is by far the biggest launch for a casual game that I’ve seen in the history of casual games so the experience should be a great one. We’re not talking about Bejeweled Cookies anymore, this is the real thing. I’ve got the camera ready and I’ll get some photos and experiences later tonight.
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.
The first Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer dropped, and it has been viewed well over 110M times since. There is much more news post-Game Awards, including Vampire Survivors, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, and a ton of demos dropping on Xbox.
The news includes:
Let us know what you think.
