Achtung, ESA!: The 10 Things That E3 Can Learn From the Leipzig Games Convention
8/25/2008 7:43 PM | 1 Comments | Page 2 of 3
Scott Jones
Status: Coffee makes me feel 4-percent sexier.
There's supposed to be a business meeting in here somewhere.
Thanks to the separate press/business area, it's possible to attend Leipzig without ever setting foot on the show floor. These areas were walled-in structures -- picture giant cubicles -- and featured demo rooms, café-like tables and fully stocked bars. These oases made it terribly easy to see the games you needed to see, and talk to the people you needed to talk to, in relative peace.
"I need to get in there for an appointment. Can you clear a path ... please?"
Sure, it's great to see gamers flood the show floor. They're so excitable and cute! But it's not so great to see them when you're late to your next appointment, and you need to get from one end of the convention center to the other. The first day of Leipzig is a press-only day. That way, you let the press get their work done before letting Charlie into the Chocolate Factory.
It's amazing what you could find in the depths of the old Kentia Hall.
Leipzig had ample room for smaller companies to show off their oddball wares and peripherals. Not every doohickey and WiiCrap item is story-worthy, but sorting through this third-world bazaar of videogame goodness is always entertaining. And remember a few years ago when Red Octane was showing off its then-novel guitar peripheral in Kentia at the L.A. Convention Center? E3 needs to make room in the boat for them again.
Human bowling? What's not to love?
The pageantry. The drama. The pomp and the circumstance. All of these things were out in full-force at Leipzig this year. Yes, booth babes still exist there, which seems almost quaint and old-fashioned now, on par with unicorns or cigarette girls. E3, of course, has tried to evolve beyond such nerdy juvenilia. Yet when it did so, it also seemed to neuter itself, transforming the formerly hyperbolic event into its current, identity-less state. We say bring back some of the playfulness. Human bowling? Castles made entirely of Styrofoam? Poor saps dressed in quiz-master Buzz! costumes? Check, check and check at Leipzig 2008.
