Last year, the powers that be decided that they would downsize E3 and make it exclusively industry only (which E3 was already) and create an publicly accessible videogame convention called "E for All". The first ever "E for All" was this weekend, and you probably didn't hear much about it because apparently, "E for All" was a bomb. Not "Da Bomb" but "a bomb". Funny how one letter and choice capitalization makes such a big difference.
Sticking a videogame convention in Los Angeles in the middle of October and charging $90 for a four-day pass is likely not going to bring in that many people -- in fact their attendance count is estimated to be 18,000 over the course of the entire 4-day show. While the press release was intended to put a positive spin on these numbers, their original expected estimate for attendance was between 20,000 and 30,000 people. Previously, they had announced that in 2008, E for All will move to the last weekend in August and compete directly with PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) for gamer attendees. "E For All" has since withdrawn their August 2008 date after a scathing interview from the Penny Arcade folks, which makes me wonder if this E for All will be the first and last.
Leave a comment