After E3: How GDC Is Evolving
Traditionally, the Game Developers Conference has been a relatively low-key event which was, if not entirely ignored, given lukewarm by the gaming press. This was for a few different reasons: it was held in San Jose for a number of years and didn't occupy a huge convention center, it was really meant more for industry developers and publishers to compare notes, and, let's face it, if we wanted to really hear about game announcements we needed to wait until the utter chaos that was E3.
A lot of us actually came to dread E3 because it was so large, so loud, so jam-packed with stuff that we were never able to cover even a quarter of what we wanted to, housing was a nightmare, we'd lose our voices after three days of screaming over the din of the various booths, and it was so open to the masses. As time went on, I found myself increasingly surrounded by teenagers who just wanted to play games or run around in costumes (that was largely at the Square-Enix booth, though) and having to fight with them so I could talk to people so I could get my questions answered. When it was announced that E3 would be limited to 5,000 invitations, a large part of me let out a huge sigh of relief and a couple of us went out to have some celebratory drinks.
Now that E3's effectively dead and gone to the general public, it feels like GDC might be vying to take its place... at least, to an extent. Granted, there's a distinct lack of unruly fanboys and retail employees shoving me out of the way to play games, I have yet to spy a dreaded Booth Babe, and there's nowhere near the number of people here, but the move to San Francisco's Moscone Center seems to have come at just the right time: there's definitely a bigger crowd, Phil Harrison's keynote speech felt and looked like a less-bloated version of the one he gave back in May, and I have actually seen some swag bags being carried around the center.
So could GDC be on its way to becoming the next E3? In some ways, with the increasing crowds, media coverage, and PR-spin, yes. But, at least for now, it's still an event that's largely off-limits to the general public because it's simply not meant to cater to them. The show is still about information and discussion, not about free T-shirts and scantily clad women promoting shitty games... but, down the line, who knows what could come?
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to Miscellany on 7 March 2007
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: booth babes, crowds, developers, e3, games, gdc, keynote, los angeles, microsoft, nintendo, san francisco, san jose, sony
The booth babes have already started. Motorola had some kind of knock-off Fanta girls working their booth.
There was also some Japanese company in the back. I have no idea what they were selling, but it must involve women in mini skirts cause that's all I saw.
The Expo floor seemed to have more camera crews than actual attendees. And the fact that I crashed the party to get a peek at some new games proves this has become the new E3 :)