After a relatively lean 2006 for major Mac secret plan releases , the last matter gamers really needed to see at last week ’s Macworld Expo was a waste of a Games Pavilion . Unfortunately , that ’s exactly what they were face with . This was the most grim Games Pavilion I can think back in just about all my years of fare to Macworld Expos , and it really set my teeth on edge .
Back in the good sure-enough days
The Games Pavilion has long been a staple of the Macworld Expo show floor . For the past duo of age it ’s been part of the South Hall , where the quietus of the exhibit hall was . And although it was nestle off in one corner of the hall , it garner big traffic as people were drawn by the phone and action — Apple brought in dozens of Macs that hoi polloi could use not only to seek out new game but also to vie against each other in hourly tourney .
That area was ringed by Macintosh secret plan vendor showing off their latest wares , and supplemented by kiosks filled with dozens of Macs show off title from small marketer that , left to their own devices , would never have been capable to exhibit at Macworld Expo .
In years gone by , the Games Pavilion even featured its own theatre of operations area , with a large protrusion display that vendors could use to take turns showing off their works in advancement and top vender . Sometimes they ’ve even had give sales event area , opening up more booth space for seller to in reality show off their product , and the tournaments have featured high-flown prizes of Macs and gaming paraphernalia .
debris devils and tumbleweeds
By comparison , this yr ’s Games Pavilion was an anemic attempt . It was an affront to Mac gamers and certainly not worthy either of one of the best consumer electronics company on Earth or of the trade show party that plans later this year to offer the surrogate for the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo ( E3 ) in the form of the Entertainment for All Expo .
The Games Pavilion , push off to a removed corner of the new “ Digital Lifestyle Experience ” in the Moscone Center ’s North Hall , was as staid as a formula of tax auditors , and drew about as much enthusiasm from attendees as a trip to Home Depot to count at microchip of internal pigment . There was none of the lights , sound , exuberance and energy of past Games Pavilions .
“ This year we want to provide more of a script - on area , ” explained Paul Kent , brand frailty president in charge of the Conference & Expo , when I spoke to him about the Pavilion .
Feral InteractiveandAspyr Mediamade the best of an obviously bad situation by using their own booth comportment to show off their unexampled titles and sell boxes at discounted show rate . And newcomerRobosoft Technologies — an Native American outsourcing company that now play extensively with Feral Interactive — also had a booth there , not to sell anything but just simply to let folks know about what it ’s doing .
One possible highlighting of the Games Pavilion was , for the first time , the presence of iPods — games on iPods attract some showgoers who professed to not bonk about iPod games before . I just wish more had seen them . I ascertain those kiosk empty as often as not .
funniness of errors
But the Games Pavilion could n’t even draw stalwart Mac secret plan publisherFreeverse Software , which choose or else for a booth in the South Hall after draw out discussion between Apple and IDG World Expo about the size and scope of the Games Pavilion stall .
By the fourth dimension that Apple and IDG World Expo figured out what they were doing , Ambrosia Software , which was listed as an shower until late December , devolve out of the show altogether . Ambrosia ’s departure from the show left a self-aggrandizing gape hole on one side of the Games Pavilion , which organizers tried to fill with board and chair for the upstage eatery . At least it gave some visitors a chance to take some exercising weight off their feet and nap for a bit .
About the only breath of fresh air was the enthusiastic front ofBongfish Interactive , an Austrian game developer close to completing its first Macintosh game deed — a stellar - look snowboarding game called Stoked Rider : Alaska Alien .
“ We ’re happy to provide a gaming domain , and we ’re expect forward to get word more seller in the future , ” Kent say .
Put your game face on
ludicrously , IDG World Expo could n’t even be charge to allow visitant to the Games Pavilion have sex about its upcoming E for All Expo , opting instead to stick some signage in a stand up location in the South Hall rather .
Even if you would n’t sleep together it by this class ’s Games Pavilion , there are games on the Mac , and it ’s a fun platform to flirt on . Apple and IDG World Expo have to do a honorable line of work developing that message and getting it out for next year ’s show , or they should just argufy that place all together and do something more generative with it . Like possibly some more tables and chairs .
