Uh Oh, E3 is coming!

I would venture to guess that most game enthusiasts that actually follow the development cycle of upcoming titles will be pretty excited that E3 will be taking place in a few short weeks. For those of you that don't know what E3 is, it's the yearly Electronic Entertainment Expo that takes place in Los Angeles.

The show in general is a big media showcase where everyone in the game biz gets to show off their products and hopefully find some buyers and distributors. This of course is a very base way of putting things, since there are so many facets to the business and personal reasons that people go to this show, but I wanted to give you some idea of what its purpose is.

I used to get overwhelmingly pumped for the show back in the day. I can still remember how excited I was when the first E3 rolled around and how anguished I felt when my car broke down on the way there. There is just something exciting about getting to see the newest games first and actually getting to check them out way before they get released to the public.

Unfortunately, over the years my excitement for the E3 expo has diminished somewhat. I am still extremely passionate about games, and still want to see the newest "cool stuff", but the annoyances come with the show have grown to a point where I'm beginning to wonder why I show up every year.

The past couple of E3 expos were a madhouse. There were so many people crammed into the exhibitor halls that you can't get a good look at any individual game without literally crawling over someone or elbowing your way in to get a close look. I've all but stopped actually playing the demos because I just can't get to them! I've never really looked into why this was the case, but when I am stumbling over children at the show, I begin to wonder to myself what company they "work" at, because they look kind of young to be a game designer.

I've been told that this year there has been a bit of a crack down on credentials to get into the show. I don't know if that means that every EB employee that ever was and ever will be will be attending, or if that means that if you are not working for a developer or a distributor, good luck getting in.