re: Scoop: E3 2009 To Take Place During First Week of June, Be Open To the Public, Attendance Capped At 40,000

solomonrex — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:19:51 GMT

They should create a 'World Series of Poker' for gamers type event. Have a big game tournament that anyone can enter - with enough money and some qualifying events, of course. Put it in Vegas. Make sure there are satellite events run by the competing console makers/ publishers on first party games- then advertise who qualified in what event to create natural fan interest, Sony fans cheer for the Resistance 2 qualifier, MS fans cheer for the Halo guy, etc. Keep everyone involved in the actual tournament by playing 3rd party cross-platform games (COD, TF2) on EVERY console and get this on a major network. Charge both consumers and press for entry - a lot of money, but a discount for legitimate press (average daily hits or something for blogs). Then you can have the industry stuff on the side. If you make it profitable, then the game companies can be compensated for their time.

It will give the event real exposure and give the fans something to do outside of waiting in lines to criticize beta builds. It would allow them to do exclusive party type stuff on the industry side, but still have something for fans. Penny Arcade is successful because of the things the fans can do while they are there - not just stand in lines and listen to PR nonsense. But E3 has to be an industry show, so you need a way to control access while still creating buzz -and you can't compete with Penny Arcade anyway. A tournament would accomplish this. A publisher could show off their games to the press, not have to polish it for thousands of fans, but still have something for the fans. Special tournament editions for popular games would probably satisfy most fans who make the trip. Quality ports between PS3/360/PC would be encouraged. Publishers could still show off betas if they're ready, but the pressure would be off.

I really think it's in everyone's best interests to push gaming as a TV sport. With Starcraft 2 coming up and the resurgence of Command and Conquer it's perfect timing. And this is the perfect time to get Sony and MS to team up to serve hardcore gamers - since they're both losing to Nintendo. If they can work together to unify this scene, then there could be a huge payoff for them in terms of sales of multiplayer games, special editions and DLC content.

Unlike NFL fans or baseball fans, there's nothing much to capture a gamer's imagination on a grand scale. Gaming needs that. The current Major League of Gaming (?) isn't supported widely enough to cut through the clutter of the media. And retailers need more physical things to sell, which a viable league or regular tournaments could provide (nascar type merchandise and golf-type lessons).

re: Scoop: E3 2009 To Take Place During First Week of June, Be Open To the Public, Attendance Capped At 40,000

Daigoji Gai — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:19:43 GMT

SolomonRex: There are numerous gaming leagues that have tried this and are attempting to already do what you pitched, unfortunately professional gaming ala a "World Series of Poker" type of event hasn't reached the critical mass in the US that would warrant the expenditure to do such a thing. Korea has been leading the charge and are pioneering major game competitions, and I doubt we will see interest in this area reach the levels of South Korea (where stadiums are filled and girls and guys cheer for stereotypical gaming geeks).