E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, has become the Super Bowl of the video game trade. A gala event featuring living giants, millions of eyes watching, and washed up rock stars. An event that is now so big that many feel it is nothing but a bloated beast.

But such was not always the case. The show stemmed from the tremendous growth of the industry during the late 80s and 90s. At the time the games were regulated to playing second fiddle at the massive Consumer Electronics Show/Porn Convention. Over time the games   got bigger and bigger, so it was time to go out on their own.

The ISDA (now the ESA) was fairly new and wanted the industry to have its own major trade show in the US.
1995 saw the very first E3 in Los Angeles open with a bang, and with many shots fired. The show started with Sega announcing that their upcoming machine, the Saturn, was available to purchase...that day; much to the shock of everyone in attendence. Sega wanted to beat Nintendo and newcomer Sony to the market in the 32/64 bit console war. Not to be outdone, Sony retalliated by announcing the Playstation would be released for $100 less than Saturn. So the stage was set for E3 to become the premier place to make bombshell announcements.

The show also birthed famous events like the stonewall reaction to The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker's cartoony artistic direction, in which Shigeru Miyamoto was overheard wondering why the audience wasn't cheering. Moments like that set the pace and tone of the industry each year.

At first E3 was something that only the corest of gamers payed attention to. Over time it became an extravaganza with massive booths, boobs, and bucks involved. Mainstream press began to take note, and USA Today even featured the Nintendo Wii's unveiling as a cover story.

The show became too big for its britches, however. Big companies bought up all the floor space, small developers got relegated to side halls, and flash became the only way to get noticed...the purists wondered what happened to their cool little show.

The problem was partially solved by splitting the show up a bit. In 2007, February's Game Developer's Conference became a bigger deal, the E For All Expo was created for fans and open to the public, and E3 itself became a more controlled and smaller event with 5,000 invite-only attendees rather than the 60,000+ of the previous year.

Results were mixed regarding the new show. There was less filler, more killer. At the same time it lost some of the 'fun' that makes this industry what it is. As our hobby becomes bigger, we lose some of the punk rock edge that has always made it different.

Hope is not lost however. Feeling that the 2007 show was going to be a little too corporate and stale, upstart publisher Gamecock boycotted the event and rented their own space right beside E3 and held their own event called EIEIO just to give the big boys a little kick. Rock on!

Time will tell whether E3 will continue to be the big deal. It seems that the industry is moving toward more, smaller, and dedicated shows rather than one big daddy; in order to accommodate the size of the industry. Hopefully this will allow everyone to find a place to stand out, but I sure will miss all the cat fights and name calling that the E3 of old made so much fun.

-Ron Whitmer
Senior Editor
www.NewGenGamers.com
(Ron has been playing video games for over 20 years, and wishes that video game and porn conventions will come together again someday.)