And so we begin E3 this year with heavy hearts. I didn’t attend this year simply because I wasn’t invited. Something about being [Adam Bergstein the gaming Ronin (http://www.adambergstein.com)] means that I sit in the shadows watching from afar. And you know what? I like it that way. I can’t stand all those big companies patting themselves on the back, congratulating themselves on making success built on monopoly of the market. E3 has shunned the small developers, making it all but impossible to hawk your wares if you are an independent video game maker. They say they scaled it down to make it more intimate, more about the industry and less about the glitz, but if you watched the Microsoft keynote the other day like I did, you would notice that it wasn’t so much about scaling down. It was more about alienating the little guy.
Don’t get me wrong, I work for these companies, they pay my bills, allow me to work in the industry I love. I just wish that there was a conference for the independent game makers. Where is the Penny Arcade keynote, or how about the Hudson keynote? E3 is starting to remind me of the Hollywood awards shows, where all the famous people reward the other famous people for being famous. I just don’t see the point. Exactly how is all this grandstanding helping the industry? It just makes me tired.
