ESA Announces Free, Public "E3 LIVE" Event

This is a super fascinating move and I can't wait to see how it pans out...

finally a place where they won't tow away the OUYA truck

This seems like a very late announcment. Also the number of actual game developers attending this is really small.

I can see E3 becoming a public demonstration of games, particularly if companies continue the trend of pulling out of media conferences. It makes a certain sort of sense to transition it from a media thing to a public demonstrative and celebratory thing - it should still keep the numbers up, vendors would get foot traffic, and we'd still get a centralized game thing each year. Makes sense.

I live in SoCal and I'm in for Wednesday, bay-bee! Hope the the other attendees know what deodorant is...

I suppose it was bound to happen.

No Mountain Dew?!

This seems like a fairly flailing attempt to keep E3 relevant in light of so many big companies pulling out, maybe even an over-compensation. Still, this finally give the kids the chance to do what I never could: Go to E3....sorta. It also serves to distract the amateur press and fans away from the business meetings and establishment-press E3, which might be for the best as well.

Fudge. Sad the 5-10pm slots are closed out for every day already. Grabbed the noon to 5pm slots just in case!

I think if they can syphon off 'fans', 'gamers', and cos-players from e3 that would likely make all the real e3 attendees happier.

The late announcement also means that the 'fans' cannot take away hotel rooms from e3 attendees that actually needed them, right? I think a better idea would be to hold this "fan event" in San Diego....a totally other city that happens to have far more 'vacation attractions' for people to enjoy...that AGAIN is far away from the people doing business in LA.

E 4 ERRBODY

"Fuck you, E3 is totally still relevant! What have you heard? WHAT HAVE YOU HEARD?!" - the ESA.

My investment in E3 at this point is solely that its an excuse for the two GB offices to come together other than GOTY. I'm not like, rubbing my hands together with glee at the prospect of its decline, but I wouldn't really shed a tear for it either.

yup I think I will stick to pax

Can't wait for those Frito-Lays demos

That's a good idea.

Y'all think this is going to be a bunch of fluff, but every one of those companies is announcing a hot new game at the show. Finally, the Chester Cheetah trilogy will be completed! And I heard a rumor that Warren Spector is working with Monster on an epic caffeine-fueled RPG.

wait, holy shit, did they inform all the other devs months ago about this plan? Why does this seem like something that comes out of the blue?

Also, guys, what Shadow E3?

The European Space Agency is doing stuff at E3? Cool! Oh... Not that ESA... Never mind then.

it just seems like E3 slowly transforms into another Pax.

Frito-Lay, man they have had a stellar publishing year. I can't wait to see what they bring next year.

I really hope E3 doesn't go away completely, I love the press conferences, I even took the week off of volunteering to watch the giant bomb press coverage

That's the sound of a parachute being deployed? I dunno. Maybe it's a chance to shift some merch to punters or, much like Playstation Experience, they see it as a better way to create hype? Leaving E3 to become a smaller, cheaper event to run for press.

So this is what I get, instead of a PAX SoCal? Yeah, that seems right.

KENTIA IS NIGH

Being able to see Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions for free is worth it alone. That performance is DOPE AF.

Well, I live in LA. Might as well.

Now THIS looks like a place that would have some Lobstah Monstahs.

Deep cuts aside, Ive heard people postulate that E3 is going back to what it was, a trade-first show. I believe this is the opposite, that it's a spectacle-first show with fewer trade situations on-site.

At least they're responding sooner rather than later.

Well this year's E3 just keeps getting crazier and crazier.

Thing is, the big publishers won't feel like they need this extra exposure. What does the ESA do to get its senior members on board?

I suspect this has a lot to do with getting more people to try out the VR devices, since you can only do so much with press people and early adopters telling a skeptical general audience how amazing being in VR is without that context of trying it yourself. If they're having trouble selling those devices, this could help a lot.

Or they're just super tired of riff-raff walking up to the doors of the convention center trying to bullshit their way in. This E3 LIVE might be another cake they made especially for those people to ruin.

@mento: No force on earth could stop Riff Raff from getting through the door!

E3 launching a Free-To-Play version? I wonder what DLC and microtransactions are coming next?

every individual publisher is bypassing press and going straight to the consumer, so it makes sense for E3 as a whole to do the same thing

it'll be weird to see if this affects the attendance of E3 proper though

Hmm... I'll be on vacation and always felt like visiting the west coast. Hmm......

Question of what is E3 to the current state of games is questionable. However, it nice to see how it can change to better fit it environment is pretty interesting.

@sparky_buzzsaw: honestly at this point its only the press conferences that make any impact. they should though try to do SDCC for games. itd work well i thing

This would explain why EA said they was going to have a public event at LA Live site months ago and not waste money on an E3 booth.

I saw the Pokemon Symphonic Evolutions show in London last December and it was amazing. I've seen orchestral versions of Zelda, Star Trek, Final Fantasy (Distant Worlds and Final Symphony), but Pokemon's was honestly the best show overall. If you're in the area, maybe try to get a ticket just to see that.

Why not just stop pretending that E3 proper is a "media-only" event?

Thanks Austin.

At last, tacit confirmation that E3 proper is prerecorded.

/Bender I'll just go have my own E3. . . with Blackjack and Hookers!

Finally a place for the riff raff to go in LA.

There's E3 mysteries and then there's E3 LIVE MYSTERIES.

I'm 30 min. away, and this sounds dumb.

The best E3 experience countinues to be taking the day off and watching the streams, while playing some heroes 3 or xcom on a tablet.

It was called an Electronic Entertainment Expo for a reason. They seemed to have forgotten that along the way.

All these years of paying attention to E3 media coverage I've only ever really cared about the press conferences from the big three since any huge game announcement only ever came out of those.