E3

Just announced, E3 will be allowing even more of the public in this year as they detail out E3 consumer passes and what they entail

It looks like dreams can come true for gamers out there as E3 is looking to open its doors to not only media and industry this year, but now it looks like consumers will have the chance to make it in as well. Yes, the general public will be welcome to attend this year's event as now there has been an official addition of consumer passes to the option of getting in. So, if you are one of the lucky 15,000 to get a consumer pass to E3 you can be rubbing elbows with developers and publishers just as you've dreamed in the past many years. You can also look into trying to get to experience a bunch of those video games out there way in advance which is what will generally draw in the gamers and fans.

Consumer passes for E3 will be going on sale next week on the 13^th at 9am PST and will start for at $150 USD in terms of an early bird discount. After that consumer passes will run you $250 USD although given the excitement and hype about all of this already, I doubt that there will be any passes left after the early bird sale. In the past years when this was an option, and even more limited, fans were lucky to see those E3 passes last more than a few hours if they weren't already set aside as contest prizes and such. But I digress and now you should all just be getting ready for the sale as well as the convention on June 13^th to the 15^th.

The passes for E3 will allow fans to gain access to the general show floor and exhibit areas to look and enjoy many of the new video games still to come out. There will also be open panels that consumers will be able to gain access to as well as "other events" that are still to be defined. On top of all of that, Geoff Keighley will be bringing those consumers an exclusive access to things like Developer Interviews and this too will be part of the consumer pass to E3. I'm guessing it will be along the lines of what SDCC started last year with the extra convention streaming website but only time will tell.

Personally, I have a bit of mixed feeling on this happening with E3 this year as it comes to business and fandom. For gamers in general I see this as an amazing thing as it will offer those truly there to experience the games and not looking for YouTube subscriptions to get into the fun. Pretty much as it should always be. The converse to this though is that some sites like ours are not big enough to get into those "private" showings of games and developer interviews and are forced to stand in lines that are too long to be viable for our coverage. Of course E3 could alleviate all of these issues by doing what other conventions already do and opening up only for media and developers for a day or two before going full public, but so far there is no news on this taking place this year.

On top of that, as E3 experimented more with it last year, the convention space is rather limited and crowds already dominated a good portion of the show floor as well as the booths in general. For those, like our team, who need to get from location to location quickly this will just add another hurdle to get past. Not to mention the fact that a good portion of the titles fans want to see will also be behind closed doors and limited to non-members of the media. Not an issue for us, but as a fan I can see it being very upsetting to be turned away from those private locations that are only feet away from the open floors. It just seems like a double-edged blade that will harm both sides of the fandom and industry, but what do I know.

How excited are to see that E3 will now allow a large portion of the public into the event now? Is this just a way to keep the convention relevant in these modern times of online access or just a way to make more money for the organization? Do you think that this convention will soon outgrow its location as many others have already or just a sign of amazing things to come? Let us know down in the comments and then feel free to discuss. For more on this and E3 in general, be sure to keep checking back into the site here. This is one of our major events of the year so we will definitely be covering it more and more as we get closer to June.