When it was announced that E3 would be downsizing, the IDG World Expo moved to try to fill some of the void by introducing a convention for "people who are passionate about video games and everything related" called the E for All Expo. The problem thus far has been getting the major game publishers to attend. Among the list of notable no-shows: Sony, Sony Online, NCSoft, Sega, Capcom, Midway, Disney, Microsoft, Activision. [ Source: various gaming news sites ]

I'm not 100% sure about E for All. And apparently, given the list of no-shows, I'm not the only one. I just have to think that it will be exceptionally difficult to get gaming enthusiasts to come to a convention that fails to bring in the major publishers.

I'd like to go so that if the event ever catches on I can say "I was at the first one". But the truth is, I keep getting this image of stumbling into West Hall only to find a caverous space occupied only by a single guy who shrugs at me before going back to playing Pokemon Diamond on his bright yellow, Pikachu branded DS.

The E for All Expo will be held October 18-21 at the LA Convention Center and is open to everyone.

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Today's Pimpage: Woody is wearing an "Anthill Trap" shirt from Threadless.Com.

Apparently these guys were playing the "Hard Sell" out in front of PAX.

Well, at least in so far as they were handing out... wait for it... glow sticks with their logo on it.

I'm sorry. They may be nice guys, they may have the best interest of the gaming community at heart, but guys walking around with TVs in their shirts, handing out glowsticks to con-goers strikes me as the worst PR move since the White House let Karl Rove "bust a rhyme, yo".

In my not-so-humble opinion, it's just another attempt by cynical business-folk to tap into the "yoof vibe". I give it three years. Max.

This may go somewhere but i doubt E for all is going to actually reach their goal...especially sense it looks like Sony is ignoring them.

Also I'm pretty sure the ESRB rating E stands for everyone not all.

Why do all the good nerdy conventions never seem to happen on the east coast? I would love to go to one some day.

By the way, I love the earlier posting of the comic!

I think that they should have large gaming conventions then we might have more of a idea of what is going on out there.

And apparently this looks like it will convention of two or three companies.

Maybe some indie developers might show up hehe.

With no Sony and no Microsoft, Nintendo could take advantage of a perfeot convention monopoly by showing off Nintendo systems. Doesn't take much to set up a bunch of TV's and Wii's and throw on a few of their A list games to sell the system some more.

Showing up somewhere thats full of your potential customers? Terrible idea

Although I'm with you on the glowsticks. Something actually useful would have been better. Perhaps cans of E for All branded deoderant......

Originally Posted by CoyoteSeattle:

Well, that gives a whole new meaning to the E in E For All, doesn't it?

Not one to normally reply with a "lol" type comment but... uh...

LOL

Ok, so why the heck is E3 downsizing? First they take away all the hawt chick uniforms and now this. I'm kinda hurt, here. I get a feeling of one of those 'Betrayal most Foul" things are coming our way.

Largeshadow, you a bit behind on the gaming news eh? The new downsized E3 has come and gone this year already. The ESA announced the downsizing right after E3 '06 amidst complaints by the exhibitors about how much it was costing them etc. E3 had gotten too big for its proverbial britches. Costs and attendence were spiraling out of control.

And they didn't take away "hawt chick uniforms" they told exhibitors that the booth babes needed to be wearing more that a string and two bandaids.