E3 has just ended a few days ago, and while we did get many surprises out of the major press conferences, are we all really happy with the show? Did we all get that excitement, joy, and urge to stay awake till 6 a.m. that we all got years ago? Did the show have the same impact as opening presents on Christmas morning?

I think the answer for most E3 lovers, including myself, is no. The show this year was far from my expectations of being the biggest and best video game conference around. Last year was the year most people predicted would be lame, as the conference was no longer open to the entire industry and was being held in hotels of Santa Monica, but it still had a bigger effect than this year.

Beginning last year, the ESA (the guys that run the event) decided that no general public would be aloud to visit E3. The event was always closed to public, but if you wrote about video games, worked at a game store, or happened to be a hot booth babe you were allowed in. With this new rule being implemented, only the head guys from top companies are allowed in, and no ... the hot booth babes are not allowed to follow. So by doing this, they are cutting out every small video game website and every smaller developer or small employee from entering the show, which cuts the draw out of people dramatically.

Then to make matters worse, they decided to make it more difficult on small developers by putting HIGH price tags for buying booths in the show and then giving the smaller companies booths the size of bedrooms. Now the problem is ... companies like Activision, Blizzard, and several other companies have already withdrawn from the ESA and won’t be attending E3 until it’s fixed. So not only have they lost attendance, but they have lost major companies, small companies, and pretty much all the people that keep the industry alive.

Now some people may see it as them just making it easier to spread out news, cut the crowds down, and make it more professional. Well, this is what they want you to believe, but it’s having the complete opposite effect. Less crowds means fewer people to show off new products, fewer journalists means less sites are digging up news, and fewer companies means you’re only seeing one-fourth of what the industry has to offer. After all, with GDC right around the corner gathering 50 times more people, why should companies care what happens at E3? Why should companies even bother announcing anything when it can be announced in front of the crowds at GDC? These companies want people to see the products firsthand and get as many viewpoints as possible.

The problem is they are trying to hard to “ruin” E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo has always been known to be full of entertainment, having many people, and being the biggest party of the summer. They are stripping the “entertainment” aspect of it out of the picture. If we want pure rules and professionalism, we have plenty of other conventions in Las Vegas, Tokyo, and even San Francisco that we can turn to.

What I propose is they cut back on these rules and allow the fun back into E3. After all, it’s not them that’s paying for it all. It’s the developers. The developers set up the booths with loud music and effects, the developers pay the captivating girls to be booth babes for delineating attention to their booths, and the developers make it fun. The ESA just has to sit around and watch, and maybe “leak” who will be attending the show.

Furthermore, let’s open it completely to the public. Now you may think, "Ah that’s a stupid idea, you just want it open so you can go..." and well ... is it really stupid to be making money on a show that normally has invites only? Look at San Diego’s Comic Con. It’s 50 times bigger, it’s way more anticipated, and yet it has a lot more news flowing through it. The thing is, it’s done correctly. They allow the press to get up close and the fans to stay fans. They have many of people there, which is great for the companies, and have tons of coverage from all angles. The more people there are, the bigger the announcement, the bigger the effect, and the more media advertises the event. Then everyone wins because all the people attending paid to get in, and yet they have volunteers running it all. Just look at it this way, Comic Con had more anticipation for articles, more company announcements, and even had rumors floating around about who will be appearing at the event. All this was happening while E3 was happening. E3 hasn’t had any of this for the past few years, and this year it had absolutely none at all. Comic Con has been the big grand finale of all summer conventions for some time now. In addition, it’s growing and we’re seeing the video game industry becoming a major asset to the show as well.

Lastly, let’s think about the video game industry and what it needs. The industry has no Comic Con, and the closest thing they have is E3. Movies are huge at the Comic Con and video games will never be able to compete on such a scale anytime soon. E3 needs to follow in the footsteps of Comic Con, and learn how to run an industry-leading show where both the fans and companies are happy. I believe E3 desperately needs to be open to the public if it’s going to succeed anytime soon. However, if it’s open to the public, it would have to be moved to a more likable place. L.A. is not the most welcoming place in California, and there are many places it can move within the state. Just don’t move it any further north as you will lose many potential out-of-state fans. Keep it in a rural area where people can do more outside the show as well. Keeping it in L.A. would be fine if some changes were made. Along with moving its location, the date for the event should be moved to earlier in July or late June ... that way it won’t be competing with Comic Con or GDC simultaneously. Otherwise, keep it at L.A. but jazz it up and make it more welcoming.

I’m sorry, but with the turn out it had this year, I don’t expect E3 to be around much longer. I really hope it does stick around, but what use is a show that has no key announcements? I remember the days when E3 would have weeks of anticipation and then a week of nothing but huge announcements. I don’t know whether the ESA will listen to fan requests or not, but something needs to be done. The San Diego Comic Con is happening this weekend, and the attendance has already sold out over online sales. Both conventions’ contracts end in 2012, but with the way things are, I don’t expect L.A. to be welcoming E3 back while San Diego keeps its show stopping convention time and time again.