Simply stated...yes! Right now i'm referring to the livestream the 1st of February 2013. In the chat there was a few comments regarding now showing up on E3. PAX and gamescom were the possibilities. But why not E3? the more people who learn about PA, the more popular it will get. Personally, it took me about 5 months to learn about Planetary Annihilation. And i am always looking for new strategy games. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E3, is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It is used by many video game developers to show off their upcoming games and game-related hardware. So why did Uber state that it "sucked" at the chat yesterday? The fact is it's the biggest expo yearly, and thousands of people watch it. Many probably dont know PA exists atm. The E3 is usually covered by Konami, Microsoft,EA,Ubisoft,Sony and Nintendo(the big boys? EA money scrubs atleast). This is a way to show a future upcoming game. And many of the companies use E3 to declare new games coming up. So why can't uber do the same? PAX and Gamescom arent half as big. Personally those two are pointless as i am unable to show up and be there and take a look around, and it isnt even streamed. E3 goes live for 3 days in a row, and is globally seen. Which lets, i dunno, probably anyone with a internet connection to watch. There are no negative sides of showing your game to the world. The result would probably be more people interested and hence, more players, more fans. I am not making this into a poll, since Uber already stated they would not go. Discuss.
Doesn't seem like they have enough content to show off. Once they get some gameplay footage out there then they can start with the advertising but why hype up the game nowhere near release with nothing to show? Doesn't make sense. E3 is for the big boys i.e the companies with lots of money to throw away.
I remember them stating a variety of reasons, and I will write down the ones that I remember : 1.that it was too expensive for the trip there as well as time consuming. 2.It's more of a media and publisher-centered expo and catering to console spot-light. 3.They would go to PAX where it's more for fans and less for media and considering that this game is for a fanbase funded by the fans, it would be better to go to PAX and maybe Gamescom. Those are the reasons I remember them saying.
A quick breakdown of shows, and reasoning. We all have different attitudes about different shows, but here's some general thoughts: E3: Incredibly expensive to go to (Hundreds of thousands of dollars to be on the show floor, generally speaking), high noise to signal ratio, and while some good can come out of it, since it is a pure industry/media focused show, for an indie company, it's usually more trouble than it's worth. Last E3, I hit the show floor for an hour, and then, held meetings at the nearby J.W. Marriott for 12 hours a day, for five days straight. This had the advantage of having the hotel bar close at hand. And I finished the show with my voice, and ears, in still working order. ;-) But the show was very peripheral to my time there. PAX (in all its forms): Very player focused, with still a fair amount of media. Relatively cheap to attend (in case of PAX Prime, a 20 minute drive for us), and worth being at, whether you have a booth, or just meet with fans, media, and anyone else at the show. Gamescom: Great overall show, only real downside is that for most of the industry it's a HUGE trip to get there (especially if you're bringing a lot of equipment). I'm less familiar with the costs related to having a booth at this show, but I'd guess it's somewhere above PAX and below E3.
So, to expand the topic a bit, does PA need more Publicity(in general)? Yes. Is now the time to make that push? No. If it were me, I'd hold off making any big marketing pushes until after the Beta has gone live and stabilized, then you start making the rounds, showing the 'journalists' gameplay, letting them wade in, smash a planet or 2 ect. Right now there just isn't really anything new to show yet, sure, don't turn people away either but they'll still be defaulting to the kinds of things used to drive articles back from the beginning of the project(the Visualization, the KS success ect ect) so it's not really "worth it" to make that big marketing push quite yet. Mike
So I'll see you in July in PAX Australia then? Or I can man a booth for you with a non-stop video conference call in to your office! You would all need work night shift (17:00 to 07:00) for a couple of days though. On a more serious note, when I mentioned PAX Aus. in the chat you said you'd "love to go back to Aus", so you've been here before then I take it?
I think I would actually fly over east just to meet the uber team if they went to Pax Aust... that would be amazing. Of course, I'd hover around their booth probably way too much
I'd love to be there. I lived in Canberra for about 6 months, working with the team there on XCOM. Got to do a bunch of diving and snorkeling on the east coast in and around Sydney a bunch of times. Absolutely loved the NSW/ACT areas, the people, the cities. Eager to go back some day. Still want to visit Melbourne, and definitely Perth and the GBR for the diving!
It's only a 45m flight for me. I could feasibly fly down to Melbourne in the morning (very early morning) and then fly home that night. Canberra is pretty epic. If I had to move there for a job, I certainly wouldn't be upset.
We still have some local game developers left!? Never heard Canberra described as "epic" before, quite the opposite in fact, but having spent a fair amount of time over there for work recently (not living but flying in on and off for a week at a time), I know it's not that bad. Restaurants were very good. Got to keep all those politicians and foreign dignitaries well fed. :lol: Well that's quite the trip you've got planned, it's a big country and there's lots to see, I live here and I've not covered nearly as much ground as I would have liked. But don't forget South Australia and Northern Territory if you do come back, plenty of good diving to be had all over, they even head down in to the caves in the south-east of SA. But if you can tear yourself away from the coast, heading in to the "Red Centre" is quite an experience, looks like the surface of Mars in some places. P.S. If you do go to Melbourne, learn how to pronounce it correctly.
