E3, prior to the 2007 event, had become a huge event open to the public. Becoming more of a video game convention and less of a trade show. This upset a lot of exhibitors, partly because the smaller companies couldn’t shell out the money to showcase their products quite as well as the “big boys” and partly because they seemed to great joy in crushing the fun out of the universe. Could be part of why their games never sold, I don’t know.

So, to keep the soul-crushing suits in the gaming industry pleasant and the E3 check books fat, the announcement was made that the trade show would be restructured to a smaller industry-based and invite-only event. They even moved it from LA to Santa Monica to keep the fanboy migration from finding them. This caused the exhibitors to rejoice.

Now, according to Kotaku, they may be opening E3 back up to the public in 2009. Apparently, the exhibitors, press, company suits, and developers all had less than positive things to say about the event. However, the Internet has had other things to say about it. Message boards and blog comments all battle between two opinions; “I don’t want a bunch of kids running around E3!” and “This is great, I can go to E3…now they should move it next door to me!”.

As a “journalist” (and I use the term very loosely), I think it’s a great idea to open it back up to the public. More buzz created around the products, instantaneous feedback from the people who will be using those products, and being able to interview both sides of the industry at once can’t be a bad thing. So what if you have some kids bopping around the convention hall, they bring new energy into your frumpy old life anyway. Kids play just as many games, if not more, than adults do.

Will E3 honestly go public again? Only time will tell, and there will surely be a massive amount of bitching to accompany the decision in either direction.

If you liked that, try...

1. Adventure at Ai-Kon 2007. Part One.
2. Adventure at Ai-Kon Part 2
3. Flash 9 Beta for Linux Goes Public… Finally
4. Midnight Wii
5. Comic Rundown: Free Comic Book Day Edition

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