Wired has a 2 page piece on the Gamespot event. Evidently they put on a nice spread but no one was eating.
In keeping with this, the “music” portion of GAME took a clear back seat. When I first got there, the area devoted to music – a huge, optimistic dance floor, two DJ setups and a stage – was nearly devoid of life. A DJ earnestly plied his trade as giant screens writhed psychedelically, but for all the audience he was drawing, there may as well have been a force field that screened out anyone who knows the identity of Princess Peach.
I guess theres a lot to be said for companies that do these things for a living. Its been many many years since I’ve been clubbing. People that were into punk/alternative rarely got into any type of “club”/dance atmosphere (except for when the Manchester thing started…New Order, etc), has that changed?
In other tales of desperate marketing, you couldn’t walk halfway around the hall without someone offering you a free trial of Star Wars Galaxies, even though stacks of free trial discs teetered near the eating area and next to the actual playable demo. It was comforting to know that if disaster struck and I was stuck in Moscone Center for an extended period of time, I could fashion primitive shelter and perhaps clothing from the Star Wars Galaxies trial discs scattered about.
I went. I thought was boring and lame. Then again, I’ve been to several E3s, so I’m sort of biased. Oh, I did get a chance to play some multiplayer Mario Kart while I was in line to get a G4 tshirt, so that was kind of cool.
My boss and his kids went, they thought it was fun.
The main problem was that they claimed to be showing “New, Upcoming games,” when what they were really showing was “shit that’s been out for 6 months.”
I think the problem is that music and games don’t really mix, unless it is game music. People either came to see the games, or they came to see a band. Getting both is no draw.
Plus, the young people are watching less and less TV these days in favor of games, so you know they’re listening to less and less music too.
Plus, when you
really hard (as if there’s any other way) you can get that rushing noise in your ears that affects listening to music.
If you want to provide added value for a gaming event, there’s just a few things that could possibly work: sex, booze, free stuff, Q&A panels, autograph booths, specialty merchandise-- the standard convention stuff. Everything else is just a sideshow that will get very sparse attention. They have a concert every year at QuakeCon, and a comedy show as well, but it’s just there in the schedule and not the whole point of the event.
Headlining music makes about as much sense as headlining yachting and snowmobiling. For want of an acronym, an event went silly.
Headlining music makes about as much sense as headlining yachting and snowmobiling. For want of an acronym, an event went silly.
Does this mean Gamespot won’t do the Games And Yachting Event next?
So did anyone see the Woooo! Dude? Kasavin promised in the other thread the dude would be there. I’m convinced he’s a virtual person created in Photoshop, much like S1m0ne in that awful Al Pacino movie.
The 10th Annual Games and Yachting/Snowmobiling Experience would probably be a pretty big hit in San Fran, but I think attendees and exhibitors alike would be confused.
