After a week in Los Angeles for theE for All Expo , allow me to empty out my notebook with some thoughts on Guitar Hero III , news and notes about assorted games , a look at a pair of striking no - show , and some observation about the future of this brand - fresh gaming trade show .
• If you have n’t been initiated yet , Guitar Hero III is the latest instalment of a medicine biz franchise in which you repeat a sequence of colored , flashing lights on screen using a peripheral machine that looks like a small galvanic guitar , all timed to cooccur with rock songs you bonk and love , from “ Welcome to the hobo camp ” by Guns ‘ N ’ Roses to “ Cat Scratch Fever ” by Ted Nugent . Mess up , and you ’ll get a line the lead guitar cut up your rock anthem . believe of the honest-to-god Milton Bradley gameSimon , brought to a raw generation , with a stone and bowl soundtrack .
Guitar Hero III certainly does n’t show any signs of slowing down the franchise . Target Stores expended quite a bit of effort to make the game synonymous with Target — it was their booth where you could play Guitar Hero III , and it was their stage where the Guitar Hero contention were ab initio hold .
Guitar Hero III arrives on the Mac and PC a bit later this year , thanks to the efforts ofAspyr Media . It promise to be a caboodle of fun . ethnic music who ca n’t await will be capable to pick up the biz , bundle up with guitars , for cabinet system beginning Oct. 28th .
Rock Band , the new Guitar Hero rival , also took center degree . The biz ’s promoters — newspaper publisher EA and MTV Games — brought in a jalopy where gamers could test their abilities .
Rock Band is a bit unlike from Guitar Hero in that you do n’t just dally a lead story guitar — you may also wager bass , drums , and even sing vocals , using gadget that confiscate to your plot cabinet of pick .
Rock Band has not bad voltage as a company game , specially for karaoke testis , but if I ever have to hear Bon Jovi ’s “ deadened or Alive ” ( a song I never liked to begin with ) or Rush ’s “ Tom Sawyer ” ( a song I screw ) butchered one more time by off - key singing and horribly rhythm - challenged nerds , it will be too before long .
• Konami ’s latest instalment of its stealth activity secret plan , Metal Gear Solid 4 , drew lines that wrapped around its small booth for much of the show ’s four day . Gamers were anxious to get their hands on a playable demo inside Konami ’s booth . This is purportedly the net installation of the game to feature its original hero , “ Solid Snake , ” and plot series Godhead Hideo Kojima says this is the last Metal Gear game he ’s extend to plan . Kojima has a rock adept status in the game world , so it ’s adult news show for fans of the serial .
• Only one major console vendor appeared at due east for All , but Nintendo made its presence felt , drawing crowds to see games like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl ( two new title for its democratic Wii console ) . The Brobdingnagian expanse of the Nintendo kiosk include cubicle were visitant could play games for the DS handheld organization . Pokémon fan who bring their own DS systems with them were encourage to download a peculiar character — a Manaphy — for their transcript of Pokémon Diamond or Pearl , two of the latest adaptation of the popular adventure game whose slogan is “ engender ta Catch ‘ Em All . ”
• While Nintendo was on the scene , Sony and Microsoft were conspicuously absent . Their absence was not unexpected — both company were fundamental in the decision to stop E3 Expo in 2006 and replace it with a much smaller , secret and more media- and business - centrical case in Santa Monica . That event , hold this retiring summer , was also considerably scale down from E3 Expo , which had filled every square column inch of the L.A. Convention Center the year before with hundreds of exhibitors and tens of thousands of visitant .
leave the event ’s timing — October — and its focus — on drawing the care of gamers , not medium or buyers — it seems obvious that east for All would not be a venue for any merchandise annunciation or major crush coverage . That would have necessitate to happen calendar month earlier for it to have an encroachment on the market , which depends heavily on put forward the pot in time for the vacation . And magazine need calendar month of lead clip in monastic order to get product entropy in their varlet .
IDG World Expo says that about 18,000 people attended E for All . The company is planning another E for All in August 2008 — the same weekend , perhaps not coincidently , that the entanglement comic stripPenny Arcadeplans its next convention . PAX has a more “ grassroots ” connotation than east for All does — E for All ca n’t help be compare to E3 for a number of reasons : the same venue , the show ’s direction ( mostly the same squad that add E3 to life ) , the similarity of its name , and its endorsement by the ESA itself , the same organization that decide to kill E3 Expo after 2006 .
Ultimately , neither PAX nor E for All really liken to the scale of outside events like the Leipzig Game Convention or the Tokyo Game Show — annual biz expos that draw hundreds of thousands of visitor . But despite vast attendance numbers from trade pressure and gamers alike , neither event has really amassed the repute or the “ bombination ” of E3 Expo . It ultimately makes one wonder if the ESA ’s determination to end E3 Expo was really that good an thought in the first spot .
