E3

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Presented by the Entertainment Software Association, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E³, is the world's largest annual trade show for the computer and video games industry. The expo is a strictly over-18 event, it is only open to game industry professionals, journalists, and guests of exhibitors, such as celebrities.

E³ is usually held in the third week of May of each year at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) in Los Angeles. The Expo was held in Atlanta for two years during the late 1990s, during which attendance plummeted. The ESA said that over 70,000 people attended the show in 2005.

Many video game developers show off their upcoming games and game-related hardware at the event, The independent "Game Critics Awards" have been given to "Best of E³" games in various categories since 1998.

The Game Developers Conference is another yearly milestone for developers held in the spring each year in California, but it focuses on talks and discussions about the development of games, while E³ is primarily a showcase, aimed at the press and retailers.

Schedule

E³ happens on a week-long schedule that only slightly varies from year to year, making it easier for attendees. At the LACC, the ‘Conference Program’ normally runs from Tuesday – Thursday, while the main attraction, the expo, opens its doors on Wednesday.

Many of the big players (currently Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony) have their press conferences on the Monday and Tuesday of the week of E³. Generally, large-scale events are at a rented-out hotel or the amphitheatre within Los Angeles County and are usually invite-only – Sony, for example, has in the past, hosted pre-E³ press events in the Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City. The large console makers are known to make large announcements during these events and unveil products E³ attendees are to expect on the show floor.

The conference program which runs from Tuesday to Thursday is aimed at game publishers and developers to discuss the development of the industry. Conferences generally happen behind closed doors on the second floor of the LACC, away from the eyes of the public. Wednesday starts the three days of the exposition (designated Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3). This is when the attendees get to move around the floors. Friday is the shortest day, ending two hours earlier. In 2006, only those with early access (exhibitors and pre-approved media) were allowed on the floorshow before 11am on opening day of the expo.

History

Prior to E³ , most game developers went to other trade shows to display new products, including the Consumer Electronics Show and the European Computer Trade Show.

The first E³ was put on by the Interactive Digital Software Association (now the Entertainment Software Association). It coincided with the start of a new generation of consoles, with the release of the Sega Saturn, and the announcements of upcoming releases of the Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Virtual Boy and SNK's Neo*Geo CD. Specifications for the Nintendo Ultra 64 (later renamed the N64) were released, but there was no hardware shown.

The event ran from May 11th through May 13th of 1995 in Los Angeles, California. Keynote speakers included Sega of America, Inc. president and CEO Thomas Kalinske; Sony Electronic Publishing Company president Olaf Olafsson; and Nintendo chairman Howard Lincoln.

Layout

Using the LACC, over 540,000 square feet (50,000 m²) are available for exhibition space across the five halls. The LACC is located over two blocks in downtown Los Angeles and shares a block with the Staples Center. Parking is available under the West Hall, South Hall, Venice Parking Garage, and Cherry Parking Structure. The parking fee is $10 a day, cash only, no in-and-outs.

Show floor

The show is exhibited over five halls: Kentia, Petree, South Hall, Concourse Hall, and the West Hall. Booth space is purchased ahead of time by publishers. Some publishers, in turn, spend millions of dollars creating elaborate displays and structures to accommodate the promotion of their bigger titles.

While E³ is noted as being noisy and busy, sound levels are not what they once were, in recent years (2005, 2006), publishes like EA have kept their sound down compared to years directly before. At one point, sound levels would fluctuate as exhibitors raised the volume to compete with near by stands. Shouting was common at some stands. Meanwhile, in 2006, attendance was down 10,000, according to the organisers it was a planned move as industry accreditation was stringently checked.

Booth babes are deployed specifically to promote various games. There was a wide spread misconception that ‘booth babes’ were to be banned from E³ 2006 and future events – this is incorrect, however, guidelines have been set in place regarding how they are dressed. The enforcement of the rules is at the discretion of the event organisers.

Different booths will also invite celebrities over for signings for their specific games. For 2004, Activision brought in Stan Lee and Tony Hawk to promote X-Men Legends and Tony Hawk's Underground 2 while Vivendi Universal brought in Vin Diesel to promote his new game Escape from Butcher Bay, a prequel to the summer 2004 film. Celebrities are generally only available for a few hours, so line-waiting is a general practice at E³.

Concourse Hall and lobbies

The external apparatus that connects the bigger halls is the Concourse Hall and subsequently, the West Hall and South Hall lobbies. The lobbies are used for registration, picking up badges and badge holders, and other general information. Bag stands and the daily magazine are available in the lobbies. The lobbies are also the signature glass structures of the LACC and are massive structures.

The Concourse Hall generally features four booths and a few media outlets as well as the recent Into the Pixel game art exhibition started at E³ 2004. The Concourse Hall is generally used as a link between both lobbies and features a window display with a beautiful view of downtown L.A.

South Hall

The largest hall of the LACC and the largest exhibition space by default. Microsoft and many of the largest Western developers from North America and Europe generally find their homes here.

Kentia and Petree Halls

The second smallest and smallest halls respectively. The Petree hall is the indefinite home to Atari and Midway's massive booths. The Kentia Hall is generally used by smaller developers who can't afford the hefty fees of having a booth 'topside'. As a result, the look of the Kentia hall at E³ is similar to that of a bazaar.

West Hall

The West Hall is used by the biggest publishers from Asia. Nintendo and Sony's booths are normally located here. The West Hall is also normally temporally home to private press rooms, and sometimes TV studios, of large gaming media outlets such as IGN, 1UP.com, GameSpy, and GameSpot.

Online scheduling system

In addition to the physical event, E³ supports or is otherwise associated with a number of online sites. One site introduced in 2006 was E365, an online community which attendees use to pre-network and schedule meetings with one another.

Media coverage

On behalf of the organisers, Future Publishing now publishes the free official daily magazine, named in 2006 as ‘The 2006 Official Show Daily’. Previously published by Ziff Davis under "SHOWDAILY", the magazine provides news, and maps of the show floor.

On site, the event is covered by accredited journalists from around the world. Credentials are verified before the event or on-site. Once nearly completely dominated by print games journalist, the mixture now includes general and specialist TV crews, newspaper journalists, website journalists, and ‘fansite’ journalists. Many armed with consumer-level digital video and photograph cameras.

G4 aired live coverage of E³ 2005 and 2006 (E³ '05 Live, E³ '06 Live) three hours a day for 4 days in one week each year.

IGN, 1UP.com, GameSpot, Eurogamer, and Yahoo! Video Games, as well as many other sites provided video coverage, and copies of official game trailers.

External links

Computer and video game trade shows | 1995 establishments

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