Gamertell

One of the more colorful characters - in more ways than two - at the last two E3s was the raucous bunch of indie developers from GameCock Media.

Just one example of the company’s attitude was a staged a funeral and a wake for originality for E3 in 2007. Wearing giant cock costumes (cockstumes?), serving booze and symbolically flipping E3 owners, the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), the bird, Gamecock was certainly generating its own type of excitement. In 2008 the company continued its anti-E3 celebrations known as EIEIO (Expo for Interactive Entertainment Independent and Original) with games, skate ramps and strippers, getting a little extra media attention.

The company was ultimately caged in 2008 when it was purchased by SouthPeak. Hardly shaking a tail feather in public in the past year, GameCock’s name was essentially erased and the company’s web site now autoforwards to SouthPeak’s home page.

That might have been a good thing for the company and meant gamers got to hold GameCock’s games in their hands a bit sooner but the loss of GameCock’s presence is noticeably and unfortunately missing from E3 2009.

GameCock’s indie, anti-E3 antics simultaneously exemplified why the ESA needed to tone down the event while kicking the event’s excitement level up a notch. At E3, the scantily-clad ladies, outrageously expensive booths and after hours parties were simply too much and needed to be toned down (GameCock parodied those elements on a much less expensive level). Unfortunately, those were some of the very aspects that helped E3 get the attention of the non-gaming world while also perpetuating the Expo’s reputation for becoming the ultimate game-a-bration.

Simply put, the ESA over reacted and used too large a broom to clean up the Expo, causing companies to bow out the next year (2008) and bringing down the overall excitement level of Expo attendees and game fans. That wasn’t good for the industry, which is why GameCock tried to re-inject the Expo with its own brand of bird flu for those two years.

What has become more clear, and the ESA may have started to realize, is that E3 needs to exist with two distinct personalities: A serious side for members of the media and a not-so-serious side for fans and consumers. A yin and a yang. A saint and a sinner. The Batman and the Joker.

As an educated journalist, I’m all for E3 maintaining an air of professionalism with industry-only meetings. All of the whining by so-called (and often self-proclaimed) game journalists that E3 has become less interesting simply because it’s turned more of a business meeting than a party is silliness to me. And all the companies bowing out of E3 as a result of fan pressure to open its doors is more a PR ploy for cheap popularity than fostering better media-corporate relations (or better coverage).

Even so, the gamer half of me cannot deny the benefit of a bit of frivolity, some overt eccentricity and a child-like enthusiasm for video games. Some element of out-there-dness and absurdity just seems right in the world of cartoon heroes, high-diving assassins and soul-stealing swords.

Yes, conduct the media portion of E3 with an air of professionalism, sans booth babes and avec quiet meeting rooms. These are, after all, product demos and information gathering sessions with companies, not casual play time with drinking buddies. A bit of skin should not be allowed to sway writers’ pens.

For the rest of the world, however, go for the gusto. Give them prizes and ginormous screens. Haul out celebrities with new Sharpies in hand, escorted by the eye candy everyone loves to photograph. That is where the presence of the outlandish GameCock antics of the previous two years makes the most sense. The existence of a GameCock-like presence - since the company is but a memory - is sorely needed to help re-invigorate fans, returning vitality to its proper place, as well as get the attention of some non-gaming media.

ESA simply has to remember that E3 should both treat journalists with professionalism and give the fans the extra large dose of GameCock-iness they want.

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