E3 2008 Returns to Los Angeles

December 19, 2007, 3:40 pm EST
Total comments: 4

It won't be a return to the glitz and glam of the show's past, but at least the hallowed halls will be familiar to attendees.

Entertainment Software Association Announces 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit

Washington, DC – December 18, 2007 – The 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit will take place from July 15 – 17, 2008, at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC), the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today. The event will continue to focus on the business of the computer and video game industry, with an emphasis on press events and small meetings with media, development, and other key sectors. While there will be opportunities for game demonstrations, the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit will not feature the large trade show environment of previous years.

“The US is the world’s number one video game market and the E3 Media & Business Summit is its premier video game conference. The 2008 Summit will provide a professional and efficient environment for suite-based meetings with media, and other industry leaders," said Michael D. Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, which represents US computer and video game publishers and organizes the E3 Media & Business Summit. “We look forward to welcoming the media and top industry executives to a centralized, business focused and personalized experience. Our program of high-level meetings, networking and personal dialogue, and industry-shaping panel discussions will capture the explosive growth we have seen in 2007 and lay the foundation for the 2008 video game marketplace."

The event will be open to ESA members and non-members alike. Companies involved in console, PC, online, and mobile game publishing and developing, as well as makers of video game hardware and peripherals will be eligible to participate. Attendance at all events, meetings, and demonstrations will be by invitation only.

Additional details about the Summit will be forthcoming in the next few months.

Talkback

NeoThunderDecember 19, 2007

the video game industry got as big as it is though because they allowed it to be a big blowout.

Just cause every fan that attends doesn't get the chance to see and play everything doesn't mean the big press annoucements and new exciting games arn't heard about.

CrimmJames Jones, Associate EditorDecember 19, 2007

I still feel like this newer format gives the publisher's too much control. It's too easy for them to hide their shame when you only get a few people to play a game for a few minutes.

TJ SpykeDecember 19, 2007

NeoThunder, the industry getting bigger had nothing to do with E3 becoming a clusterf*ck. It got bigger because more people started playing video games, not because thousands of EB Games employees were sneaking into E3 just to play video games when E3 is and always was supposed to be a TRADE show (meaning for press to cover the games and retailers to look and buy games for their chain), E3 was never meant to be for gamers to show up just to play games and get free stuff, which is what it had become. E3 was pretty much the same to me this year as a fan.

NWR_insanolordJ.P. Corbran, Community ManagerDecember 19, 2007

It's not the same to me, even though I never would have been able to go. The spectacle of it was great; there's no way Miyamoto would make a surprise appearance on stage brandishing Link's sword and shield with the new E3 format. And with the new format the big three don't treat it the same, they don't go out of their way to try and out-megaton each other anymore, and that was great for the fans. Unless E For All really improves and evolves into what E3 used to be I am always going to miss the old E3.

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