E for All – Impressions.
E for All, as expected, is NOT the “new E3.” I had a general hunch that this was going to be the case and planned to only be around for the first two days as a result. Our first clue of what waited inside the hall came upon arriving at the show, where we were met not with 50 foot banners dedicated to the most anticipated upcoming games, but rather an ad for (I kid you not) some sort of franchise fried chicken restaurant’s mobile phone game adorning the entryway.
Heading into the hall, it became clear that the WHOLE SHOW took place in about 1/3 of the South Hall of the LA Convention Center, meaning that it occupied roughly 1/16th the floorspace of the old E3.
Tooling around ahead of the public opening on the first day, I saw all I cared to see in less than 15 minutes. The most generous description I can offer of the show would be “cozy.”
With that said, I feel obligated to offer the following:
If you bothered to head to E for All, you almost certainly got access to games with next to no wait time that would – at any other show – have had you rotting in line for HOURS, just to get a brief sample of gameplay. In that regard, I imagine the show was a special and unique little diamond of awesomeness for certain fans.
We, for example, had a few kids that literally played the WAR demo from the time the doors opened on day one until the time I left some eight hours later. Was attending “worth it” for those guys? I’m guessing that they’d say it was.
So maybe this will become the “secret” spot to hit up in the coming years for folks who want to play the big, upcoming games without waiting in line for ten hours straight to do so.
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| From E for All – 2007 |
A few more random shots can be found here.
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