E3's replacement!

[hippie_hunter]

E3's Spirit Lives On
A new game expo promises to be a loud, raucous, gaming event -- but will there be booth babes?
by Daemon Hatfield

November 1, 2006 - Since the Electronic Entertainment Expo called it quits last summer, many have wondered who would step up to take the place of its spectacle. The Game Developers Conference has inherited many exhibitors who were left out in the cold in E3's wake, but it remains an industry-only event that focuses on developers. Now it seems a new expo on the block is rising to mimic the environment E3 provided -- loud music, crowded show floors, and all.

According to Gamasutra, the International Data Group (IDG), publishers of several tech magazines including MacWorld and producers of hundreds of trade shows, has distributed a memo to the LA Convention and Visitors Bureau members announcing plans to produce a new game convention. Called the Game Pro Expo, the show will be held in the LA Convention Center (E3's old home) on October 18-20, 2007. Members of the Bureau are being told to plan as if they were planning for E3, and that organizers are aiming to match E3 in size, scope, and impact on the Los Angeles economy. The Expo will include trade show, consumer, and game competition components.

Apparently, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is backing the new convention, even though they are the ones who decided E3 wasn't necessary, anymore. Mary Dolaher, a former top executive with the ESA, recently left her post to set up shop at the IDG.

Michael Krouse, VP of Sales for the LA Convention Center (LACC), told IGN he could not confirm the news, but did say that the news of E3's demise was "disastrous for the Convention Center, its hotel partners, and the city of LA." Krouse said that the LACC has been working with the IDG and the ESA to bring a similar event to LA ever since they received the disastrous news.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/743/743351p1.html

 

[hippie_hunter]

E3 lives on as GamePro Expo
[UPDATE] Publishing and events powerhouse IDG will launch consumer game show next year in LA; ESA endorsement ensures visibility.
By Curt Feldman, GameSpot
Posted Nov 1, 2006 2:13 pm PT

Earlier this year, a collective sigh issued forth from the hundreds of thousands of gamers lamenting the general miniaturization of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The event's owner, the Electronic Software Association (ESA), bowing to pressure from members who saw diminishing returns from the multimillion-dollar expenditure the show required of them, evolved the show into a more manageable and less-costly event.

In July, the ESA downsized E3 and renamed it the E3 Media and Business Summit. The near free-for-all that attracted 60,000 attendees would now be invitation-only and would no longer fill the cavernous halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Many in the game industry called it the end of an era, albeit a bloated era.

Well, the bloat is back--and it could be a good thing for gamers.

According to a memo circulated to a short list of LA Convention and Visitors Bureau members this week, International Data Group, publisher of dozens of tech magazines and producer of hundreds of trade shows around the world (including Macworld), will produce a new games show to be held in Los Angeles in mid-October 2007.

"IDG has been secured to run the new GamePro Expo show, what we knew as E3," the memo reads in part. While IDG owns and publishes GamePro magazine, it is not clear how IDG plans on leveraging the brand.

According to Michael Krouse, vice president of convention sales for the LA Convention and Visitors Bureau, IDG is estimating that the event will draw 30,000 attendees, and that long term, those numbers could grow. "I am absolutely convinced this show will be as big as [the old] E3," Krouse told GameSpot.

The new show will be endorsed by the ESA--"a very important element to the partnership," says the memo, which goes on to say the event will take place at E3's former digs, the Los Angeles Convention Center, on October 18, 19, and 20, 2007.

The event will have trade show, consumer, and game competition components and is being presented to Convention and Visitors Bureau members as a show that could rival the old E3 in size, scope, and impact on the Los Angeles economy: "Use E3 as a guide [when prepping for GamePro Expo]," the memo advises.

Referring to the game competition, Krouse said that Staples Center owner AEG is likely to partner with IDG, and, "in concept," the live tournaments would take place at the Staples Center.

The news is tangentially related to the departure of ESA exec Mary Dolaher who took a new post with IDG this week. Dolaher's staff, versed in the nuances of producing E3, moved en masse to IDG as well. Talk of publishers coming on board is already filling the rumor mill, though none have yet to announce a firm commitment to exhibit.

Confirmation of the IDG event today follows on the heels of the Consumer Electronics Association's announcement last month that it would not produce a game-oriented trade show in Los Angeles in 2007.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6160840.html?tag=latestnews;title;0

 

[hippie_hunter]

E3 Successor to be GamePro Expo?
by GamePro Staff | 11/01/2006 | 5:42:29 PM PST
Is GamePro planning to hold a successor to the Electronic Entertainment Expo?
The GameSpot story, which is allegedly based off a "memo circulated to a short list of LA Convention and Visitors Bureau members," details plans for IDG to hold an E3 successor in October of 2007.

Stay tuned for an official comment.

http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=85168