California Extreme differs from industry conventions like PAX, E3, GamesCom, GDC, etc. in that all of the arcade machines present are hauled there by private owners / enthusiasts and not publishers or other commercial entities. It is somewhat useful to pull up a game's page in the database and see what tradeshows it was first shown/announced at. It's of rather less use to see every enthusiast event to which some random guy dragged his beloved, if half-broken, Joust cabinet. CA Extreme is pretty large, well organized, well advertised, and well attended, but ultimately it is still just a privately run user group event.
/agree with RuinRunner. CAX and EVO (and the broader tournament scene) are more about playing existing games. And try as I might, I don't think Giant Bomb will tend to have arcade game pages that rival console game pages. Other sites serve that purpose well enough. But maybe I'm still bitter GB got rid of the skeeball history page? :P lol
Anyway, I think anyone would be hard pressed to call CAX an industry convention. Even if Stern announced their new pinball tables there, arcade cabinets are not eagerly awaited by gaming consumers at large. Case in point, trade journal RePlay Magazine has been published for 35 years; ever seen a copy at a newsstand? Niche market is niche.
@RuinRunner:@Brackynews: While you're both totally right, wouldn't it be cool if Giant Bomb DID include these smaller events? I mean, it you wanted to find out if such an annual event ever happened in your town, just type it into the searcher, and all the results for regular local events pop up.
I mean, even if they are just fan-operated, that doesn't mean that they aint important, or that people arn't interested in them.
Saying that, I wonder if Giant Bomb is the site for such information.
Eh, I'm sorry but I just don't agree. I think adding concept pages for regular local events is a slippery slope that will just lead to a lot of clutter without actually adding much in the way of database utility to the site.
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