The video-game industry deserves some credit for reaching out to fans with the E for All Expo, held last weekend at the Los Angeles Convention Center. And the inaugural event drew 18,000 gamers - not bad for the first time, but less than half the attendance of the fan-created Penny Arcade Expo, which attracted 37,000 people to Seattle in August.
"We are thrilled with the attendance, and we are pleased that we delivered the event we aimed for, which was a celebration that truly was for the entire game community," said Mary Dolaher, the CEO of IDG World Expo, which mounted the event. And for gamers who got their first chance to play Konami's "Metal Gear Solid 4" and Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," the trip seemed to be worth it.
Still, IDG needs to get Sony and Microsoft on board if it expects more players to show up. And it needs to rethink its schedule: Next year's E For All is slated for the last weekend of August, the traditional dates for Penny Arcade Expo.