As someone recently pointed out on the forums, this is the time of year when we would be getting hyped for the biggest gaming event of the year � E3. Whistle's should be being wetted, rumours flying and downright lies floating all over this big wide internet.

This year: Nothing.

So no E3 Fire Flower for me to write, which is something of a relief as it means that I don't have to stay 100% up to date with every single new game in progress and all the big announcements as they happen. This way I can avoid the yearly death threats for saying something controversial about Game X that looks poorly conceptualised and not worth considering.

However, E3 is the main highlight of the conference calendar, so you cannot help but feel that we are missing out on something this years: the highs and lows, the weeks of anticipation and the little snippets of information cunningly ed to the world at large. Sadly, this year there is nothing.

From a realistic point of view though, what is there to look forward to anyway? All the major hardware releases of this generation have hit, so the only new piece of technology are likely to be new colours or expensive add-ons. Microsoft's handheld is still far enough away to be considered not ready for public exhibition � if it ever gets out of R&D, that that is. Therefore there cannot be any big waves to crash on the shores of the collective consciousness.

As for games, it's so easy nowadays to hold small, private viewings for journalists and members of the public. Who wants to pay thousands and thousands of Dollars to display a half-finished game to a small section the gaming world when the videos will all be distributed over the internet by the end of the first day?

Besides, what new games are coming out anyway? From a Nintendo point of view, the Wii's big games have yet to hit. This said, another video of Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime 3 is hardly going to set the world alight, no matter how revolutionary they may be. The focal problem here is the internet and the ease and speed at which demo footage can be distributed and shared, it has taken all the suspense and anticipation of the yearly event and replaced it with a free-for-all feeding frenzy that enters, metabolizes and burns out before the end of the final show.

That is not to ignore the usefulness of the internet as it enables millions of fanatics like you and I the whole world over to share in a part of the glory of new announcements. But just how desperate are you to shell out for the flights, hotel room and gallons of water to get you through the show? After all, the experience lasts three days and your total play-time experience is likely to endure 20 minutes at most. The rest is just queing and craning your neck to see the repeated footage ad nauseum.

True, the atmosphere cannot be replicated digitally, and there is nothing like being able to casually say "I was there" when friends ruminate for the umpteenth time over the newest Galaxy video. But we Nintendo gamers are a patient lot, as we have had to learn to be over the past decade facing a constant stream of delays and broken promises.

For the companies, the expense must surely outweigh the benefits. Why blow a sizeable chunk of your PR budget on a single event with limited foot traffic? Why not instead have a roadshow across the country picking up all and sundry? Or even better, sponsor smaller parties with the top journalists being treated to lavish personal viewings in return for rave reviews? Money talks, and E3, like a bloated movie star has gotten just too expensive to keep putting on.

The Internet is partly responsible for this, but it is also the saving grace and future of advertising. After all, it takes seconds to upload a movie to a website and only a few minutes for it to suddenly spread like wildfire in inboxes everywhere. While I will miss the atmosphere, sense of belonging and Euphoria, I certainly will not miss the sleepless nights, feverish report writing and endless days of speculation beforehand. Something tells me the companies will not miss this either � otherwise I would likely be writing this feature about the glorious technicolour videos shown in LA.

Iun Hockley
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