E3 Still Working Out its Relevance

Disappointed in the small size and uncertain mission statement of the radically-downsized E3? Wishing for a return to form? You just might get it in 2009.

Several sources, among them Newsweek and G4, reported Monday that next year's E3 will represent a drastic upscaling of the current Media and Business Summit. While the reports don't agree entirely on what exactly is going on, they share a few details:

• E3 will take place from June 2-4, 2009 in the Los Angeles Convention Center;
• Attendance will "shoot up by the thousands" (G4), perhaps to as much as 40,000 (Newsweek).

Newsweek's Level Up blog has a bit more in the way of insidery speculation. The blog's anonymous source said that at least one of the publishers that wanted the E3 trade show downsized into oblivion in the first place has now switched its position and wants the show back, if not to its former glory than at least to an industry-wide extravaganza.

Where the two reports differ is whether or not the show will be open to the public for the first time ever. G4 says it won't, but that the ESA will "get rid of the rigorous vetting procedure," which means it will begin to cast a more industrywide net rather than simply inviting the media. Could GameStop cashiers' days in the sun finally be back?

Newsweek -- although writer N'Gai Croal has added a note that says he is still investigating the source's claims -- reports that the show will have two more days, June 5 and 6, on which it will be open to the public.

Whatever happens, it seems like E3 is... well, it might not be back, but it's something new, again. Never a dull moment.

by Chris Kohler for Wired.com

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