No arcade love during e3

Shaggy July 11, 2007 5

barren_wasteland.jpg

Here is something I would like to express my feelings about. The utterly barren wasteland that is news and attention when it comes to coin-operated video games during e3. It is true that there are two big events for arcades each year, AOU and ATEI but these pale in comparison to the amount of attention that e3 gets. Why should arcade games be excluded from a show that covers everything else about video games? Obviously the answer lies with the arcade manufacturers, several of which are represented at E3 yet they only bother to release news about their console or PC releases while information about any arcade titles they may be cooking up remains unknown. Would it hurt Sega, Konami or Namco to show off one of their games on the e3 floor or to at least mention them in a press release that covers their other games? It makes one wonder if arcades are a threat to their other interests and why they can’t co-exist with the other larger aspects of the market. Hopefully this will change one day but sadly it appears that such changes won’t occur anytime soon.

Of course if you happen to hear any arcade news come out of e3 that we don’t post about, please feel free to contact us. The rest of the video game world may prefer to act like arcades don’t exist unless they HAVE to recognize them, but not us.

/rant off

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5 Comments »

  1. badoor July 11, 2007 at 11:17 am - Reply

    yeah i hear ya, still especially after the reduction theres barelybenough room for companies to showcase console games let alone arcade games

  2. editor July 11, 2007 at 1:22 pm - Reply

    Guys,

    I think you have the E3-Media Submit goggles on a little too tight.

    The amusement sector has five shows:

    – ATEI
    – AOU
    – ASI
    – AMOA
    – IAAPA

    And IAAPA is three times the size of E3 in the good old days!!!

    I know its hard to recognize the significance of the amusement and attraction scene in comparison to the over hyped consumer games bash – IAAPA advertises amongst the trade – E3 use to advertise to the players and the trade.

    Please don’t get pulled into thinking the sun shines out of E3’s cheeks – may be we should do a IAAPA special?

  3. Shaggy July 11, 2007 at 4:09 pm - Reply

    I don’t think so because what I am trying to get at is that even with five events there is virtually no coverage about them in the mainstream. It may be covered well among traders but the problem is that I do not believe that this helps bring more people to the arcade as your normal person doesn’t care about trade shows without the hype and journalist/bloggers talking about it. I don’t believe E3 is the end all of everything but I do think that it is a wasted opportunity for arcades to make a mark on your regular gamers.

  4. editor July 11, 2007 at 4:56 pm - Reply

    I was being a bit flippant. I understood your point, and lament our industries inability to realize that it will have to approach the players at some point to get them to come back and play.

    I think what is needed is for a amusement show to invite players.

  5. Shaggy July 11, 2007 at 5:09 pm - Reply

    It’s no problem, the whole reason for my post was also out of frustration at the industry. I think we just need to keep working together and focus on getting the word out and getting players interested. I just think that unfortunately most players only pay attention to e3 and little else.

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