A Tree Falling in the Forest

When asked, I told people I started this blog as a cathartic outlet.  I didn't really care if any one read it, and I wrote when I had something to say.  People started to read.  I mean, who doesn't like to watch a good train wreck. There was a period of time I had a lot to say, and after a while the compulsion was gone.  I guess it worked.  I  catharted .   Or so I thought. This morning I saw this quote from Mike - boy do I miss Doug Lowenstien - Gallagher:  "The video game industry's explosive growth and technological innovation were front and centre at E3 2014," said owner and manager of E3 Michael D. Gallagher. "Video games are the most innovative and engaging force driving our culture and entertainment experiences the world over. Congratulations to our incredibly creative members, partners, exhibitors, and the hundreds of millions of gamers who engaged with the show online and through social media." He was trying to say this E3 ...

Do you want these folks playing your game? You should! Attendance for this year's San Diego Comic Con was somewhere between 30 and 40 times larger than E3. The show floor was orders of magnitude larger, and the comic industry is about 400 times smaller than video games - by just about every measure. Adding insult to injury, even the game display area was bigger than the game show floor at E3. Unlike E3, there was more than just show floor and secret meeting rooms. The show was littered with the kind of panel discussions we used to have at E3, the only difference was, people showed up for them. Probably because they were not the game GDC overlapping game industry panels of E3 of old. Instead, they celebrated the real world tangents rising from popular culture. Stuff like the stars and creators of television shows and films who presented first looks at the Max Payne film, or Prince of Persia. More specifically, things the game industry should be doing at E3. But, it wasn...

I just got back from the hollow shell of what used to be E3. On the one hand I think it is wonderful to see the day Into the Pixel's display of amazing concept art has grown larger than the E3 show floor. On the other hand, I think it kind of sucks that E3's show floor is actually smaller than the Into the Pixel concept art display. A number of people described the show as “post appocolyptic.” I like to think of it as a rendering of how the old E3 would look if it was staged by the propaganda department of smaller cold war era eastern block country. I knew this show was different the moment I exited the freeway. I didn't have to see the convention center standing naked without the perennial Atari sign on the South Hall. I could tell by the traffic, rather, the lack of traffic. The traffic jam was replaced by tumbleweed blowing through the barren streets with the whisper of an Ennio Morricone score in the background. In the past, the on site parking lots were full ...

IGN asked for my opinion about Activision and Vivendi's withdrawal from E3 and The ESA . . . So I told them. It ran on The Insider yesterday. Here it is: Last week Activision and Vivendi announced their pull out from E3 and the ESA. There is a lot of speculation out there and everyone is treating it as a single story. In reality, there are two stories and perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come.. The first story is E3, and its not so big. The only reaction to the decision is Yawn. . . . why did you wait so long? It would be a story if E3 really ever was what it called itself in 2006: E3 is acknowledged as the must-attend, must-exhibit event for everyone who matters in interactive entertainment. Over 62,000 of the world's most influential retailers, distributors, developers, investors and media gather here for three days of intensive deal-making. There's nothing else like it in the world. The most products, the biggest crowd, the hottest action: E3 brings it all to...