E3: Invite Only - some thoughts

MCV fell through the letterbox today and I spent a few minutes skimming it before returning to the heady task of writing dialogue. It wasn't until lunchtime that I read a little more as I chewed on my scrambled eggs. Sometimes MCV scares me because it highlights the wealth of material that's out there that I don't have a hope in hell of keeping up with. It wasn't this that prompted me to write, though, but a small piece on the front page (if you ignore the advertisement that is the wraparound cover). The piece is also on their website here.

Now I knew that E3 was going to be a much smaller event next year, but I wasn't aware, until now, that it was going to be invite only. Even that didn't really give me any thoughts about posting something to the blog until I came across the following statement by Doug Lowenstein: "We don't want people wandering around that aren't the people companies want to meet."

Now is it me, or does this come across as incredibly snooty? Does it mean that the only people who get invites are going to be those that the big publishers know will say nice things about them? Is there a danger that journalists who are fortunate enough to attend will feel pressured into writing positively to ensure that they get invites in future years?

Although many may well argue that E3 became too large, is this not going too far in the opposite direction and may well not cover the true diversity and range of gaming across all platforms?

One good thing that I think will come from the shrinking of E3 is that many of the people who felt they ought to attend in the past because it was the "done thing" will be saved the time and the money of doing so.