Bethesda defends E3, says it needs to change

by Jason Dobson { Jul 22nd 2008 at 11:58AM }

After returning to its old stomping grounds, last week's E3 was a bittersweet reminder of not only what the annual event used to be, but also what it had become, its once bustling halls now comparatively vacant as handfuls of press scurried past. Even so, while some continue to call the occurrence irrelevant, others, such as Bethesda marketing front man Pete Hines, believe that E3 remains an important event for the gaming industry.

"I'm a firm believer that we need an E3," Hines told TechRadar UK in a post-show interview. However, the exec qualified his statement, adding that "we just can't have it like this year." Hines instead feels that E3 needs to become an "improved version" of 2007's Santa Monica beach side trek, or even a more controlled version of previous years' media bazaar. It will be interesting to see where E3 goes from here; with the event being a few pounds short of a megaton, we couldn't shake the feeling that we were attending both a showcase and a wake.

[Thanks Adam]

Tags: bethesda, bethesda-softworks, e3-2008, e32008, industry, pete-hines, petehines

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Misfit Toy @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:03PM

It will be interesting to see where they take it. They need to get feedback and make adjustments.

Do you hear me E3 people? FEEDBACK!

Deets @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:17PM

I miss the booth babes, the giant displays that took up half the center, the massive amounts of swag and other crap the companies would hand out. You used to be cool E3, what happened to you man?

differented @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:47PM

He overcame puberty?

mr mobius @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:30PM

If so then I say hurry up mid life crisis so we can get some of it back.

Lars @ Jul 22nd 2008 4:10PM

^^ I think you're confused on when exactly puberty hits.

I thought this year's E3 was pretty good. I loved getting E3 vids on my console, including the big press conferences. The only problem was that there wasn't very many announcements. But still, a lot of press got to get hands-on with upcoming games and provide much appreciated feedback to us consumers.

Vol @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:44PM

I looked over the charges that were charged at services needed at the booths and they were outrageous. Every bottle of water provided to a booth was $2, an Internet connection for a game console was about $1,000. A rented table was about $100. Let's not even talk about an OC3 or T-3 connection or the space to lease. Pure ridiculous.

Shawn Handyside @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:54PM

$2 for a bottle of water at any convention is pretty standard. Also why would you need internet at a booth (unless you had a game that absolutely required it)? I've been to quite a few game expos and typically even MMO game demos are just run off local servers.

Vol @ Jul 22nd 2008 12:58PM

Oops.. I meant to type $3. The price for a service at the booth was pure insanity. But with corporate marketing budgets paying the bill, it only makes sense.

Broseph @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:22PM

Step 1: Go back to the old formula for E3

that is all

Darkseid @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:37PM

This is simple, they screwed up E3.

E3 is now a joke! Period!

For all that we learn at E3 now, they could do the entire "event" without even having to get together in the same building. No $2 water, no $1000 internet connections, no $100 tables. Just pick a day, and every gaming company and console maker sends out press conferences and game videos to all the major game news sites, and call it a day.

That wouldn't be much worse than what we have now with the E3 "event".

WorMzy @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:33PM

E3 is dead. TGS is the king of gaming events now.

theberlindoctor @ Jul 22nd 2008 2:51PM

How many people complaining in these comments even went to E3 this year?

GRT @ Jul 22nd 2008 3:13PM

Meh, sure there were 5K press people physically there. How many people watched the pressies streaming live or later on TV?

First the publishers complained it was too big. Now they complain its too small.

I still think you need this kind of dedicated event to generate 'critical mass' to get both the genre press and the mainstream press focused on gaming once a year. And thank goodness for G4 streaming the press conferences, plus the 30-odd games that demoed during the evenings.

The first time since last E3 that I tuned into G4. :)

Paulmichael @ Jul 22nd 2008 9:01PM

I got to go to the Sony Press Conference, and I'd imagine Microsoft's was much the same, with plenty of flash and a loud sound system thumping along to blow our collective minds. Nintendo has all but disconnected with the "core" gamer, and as I saw on the G4 telecast it was a rather mediocre presentation. I do wish that E3 were more open again, considering I was a few blocks away thanks to the Sony conference, but at least there's EforAll in the same location this coming October!