Last week was extremely busy, seemingly more so than usual because on top of my normally overwhelming amount of emails and ever-growing project list I felt like I spent 90% of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in meetings.  There’s nothing more frustrating than talking about doing things but not actually having the time to do them because I’ve spent too much time talking about it.  Fuming about this at my desk between meetings, I was suddenly halted by the realization that around this time last year, I was dealing with E3.  Oh my, how perspective changes everything. 

There is an E3-shaped hole in my life and actually very I’m happy about it.  Don’t get me wrong, E3 always came with its fair share of games and debauchery (other people’s debauchery of course, but entertaining nonetheless), and I always enjoy hanging out with my fellow gaming enthusiasts. E3 sometimes felt like a giant, flashy summer camp in the middle of downtown LA, but for the most part, working at E3 was one of the most hectic, stressful things I’ve ever encountered.  My E3s were typically filled with schedule juggling, press handling, game demoing, video directing, interview giving, hand shaking, head nodding, crowd weaving, road raging, phone calling, lunch forgetting, receipt collecting, purse hiding, Advil popping, more hand shaking, resource managing, outlet hunting, laptop hauling, camera charging, trash talking, note taking, swag giving, tired schmoozing, and cat herding, except really that’s an unfair simile because my cats are much easier to herd than a group of 30+ people.

The worst part was doing all that and then not having enough time to go look around at all the games.  Working the Ubisoft booth meant that I had access to the Ubi games, closed door or not, which is certainly an enviable perk, but still… so many games to see and all I could do was wave at them from afar and jealously listen to other people’s descriptions of what they’d played.  With all the debauchery and game playing being enjoyed by other people, you might understand why I’m one of the few who is glad that E3 won’t ever be the same.

E3 is not gone, just evolved.  We still don’t know exactly what the new format will be except that it will be held at a smaller venue, attendance will be strictly limited, and there will not be the same gargantuan booth displays that had only 3 day lifespans but cost millions of dollars to build.  This year, game companies are exploring other ways to show off their games to press and business partners.  Personally I think that these more intimate events being coordinated by each game company offer a more careful look at the games being presented.  Journalists get more time in a less hectic environment to play and ask questions which results in more careful consideration.  Through this sort of review process it’s possible that the truly excellent games will get the attention they deserve whether or not they’re being made and marketed by the wealthiest companies.

One obvious drawback is that I’m not going to be invited to all these showcase events being put on by other game companies.  This means that I won’t have the same opportunity to see non-Ubisoft games, but considering that I didn’t really get to see other games at E3 anyway, I figure this set-up provides me with the same amount of actual hands-on play without the torture of knowing what I’m missing.  Besides, the game industry is too fond of giant booth presentations with really loud sound systems and uber expensive lighting to really let the spirit of E3 die.  We will see other events stepping up to fill in (most likely more than one) so I’m only thinking of this as a temporary break from crazy.