It’s not surprising for me to say something like that, since the current, smaller format means people who don’t write for gaming websites can’t get into the convention.

Wait, I write for a gaming website. Dammit. Why didn’t I realize that earlier?

All right, but even if I HAD gotten in, apparently there wasn’t a whole lot going on. There was no spectacle. Ray Maguire, UK managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment, said:

I think we felt that E3 suffered by not having that grandeur and the theatrical shows that demonstrate this is a business that generates billions of Euros. It was more like a convention for plumbers. But behind closed doors, there was a decent amount of business going on.

A convention for plumbers. Ouch. And he’s not the only one who thinks so, according to EA’s Peter Moore:

That is the predicament that E3 now finds itself in as the dust settles from last week’s summit. There was a palpable sense of frustration at the structure and logistics from all participants, from publishers like ourselves to the working press and financial analysts. Soulless and lacking an epicenter, the fragmented layout gave no indication whatsoever that we are the fastest growing entertainment medium in the world. While I am not sure I want to revert back to the old days of excess and one-upmanship, I do know that this format isn’t working…

One of the key things, Moore says, is bringing the fans back in. It’s an approach that’s worked worked well for EA.

Because of the fans, we’ve already addressed a handful of issues in NCAA Football…

Hopefully that includes the issue where the rosters don’t work. Har har. Sorry, cheap shot.

Here’s Simon Jeffery, president of Sega of America:

“E3 was a strange beast this year. We had an extremely strong product showing, had some great meetings, and got our messaging over pretty strongly – all at an event that had all the atmosphere of a large hospital corridor.”

The purpose of E3 is to promote games, not to please the fans. But E3 has rapidly gone from a carnival that everyone looks forward to a more traditional industry convention. That kind of thing might work for plumbers, but a relatively young entertainment industry would benefit from something more.

(All links collected from Kotaku.)

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