Comic Updated  July 21, 2008

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Monday, July 21, 2008

Yes, we STILL have an E-comic store! It did not disappear over the weekend!

So, E3. Intense disappointment, and I'm happy to learn that it wasn't just me who thought so. Not that I mistrust my judgement (I mean, I DO mistrust my judgement, look where it's gotten me), but age skews perceptions. E3 used to be the gaming industry's Christmas and Mardi Gras, all rolled into one big, sweaty, excessive package. Game journalists thought it was a hassle, granted, but as I only worked on the fringes of the game journalism world and did not have to do any of the actual running around and hailing of cabs and battling of crowds and bargaining with bouncers, I really only got the good parts of the convention. BIG announcements! Big games! Booth babe attire in flagrant violation of dress codes!

And then came the purge. The show was downscaled, booth babe attire was upscaled, the convention went invitation-only. Old hands'll say that the convention had begun going downhill years earlier than that, but if downscaling was their solution to E3 becoming a sprawling,  chaotic, ineffective mess, it was the wrong one -- unless their goal was to turn E3 into a cramped, boring, ineffective mess, in which case, bravo!

People this year, well, they aint happy. Even Electronic Arts'  Renaissance CEO John Riccitiello was of the opinion that the show either needs to go back to the old, mad carnival that it was, or just die. A lot of analysts are leaning towards the dying. Companies have been moving progressively towards their own, smaller, independent venues, these last several years, and towards other conventions like GDC and PAX.

I say, cut out this foolishness. The world needs an E3, and it needs it to be huge and insane and drain the very life-force of everyone who participates in it. It's gotta be E3, because even if other conventions grow to byzantine proportions, well... they wouldn't be E3, and people know this. It's gotta be in America -- we KNOW excess, we inspire it in others. The benefit of huge E3 isn't to the journalists -- though they sure get their traffic spikes out of it, and it isn't necessarily even to the companies that exhibit there, who've long complained that the effort just doesn't justify the monetary returns.

The benefit of huge E3 is to the industry as a whole, because it aint about the news and promotion -- it's about the symbol. E3 is the gaming industry's Great Pyramids, or any other behemoth monument built by a megalomaniacal tyrant out of the blood and sweat of his people just to show the rest of the world how big and scary and awesome his nation is. The gaming industry's huge. We NEED the huge show, to whip up every gaming fanboy  and girl into a shame-filled frenzy once a year, so that even if the nongamers don't know WHY, they'll know that something in the air is different. Something in the air... tastes likes gaming.

Which can be remedied by brushing one's tongue a little.

Check out the e-Comic store, at the banner under the strip!

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Friday, July 18, 2008

So... Spookingtons has an E-Comic store, now. It's up and running,  and you can check it out at this barely-visible link  HERE  . Only two strips up, yet, but ONE of those is the current Otters' strip, "The Survivors!" Enterprising readers who wanna help out the cause  AND part with a buck-fifty at the same time can skip the wait and download the whole comic now, for keeps. Credit cards and Paypal accepted, and be sure to check out (and give me a hand with) the FAQ there. I'll be interested to hear what you think about the whole thing! Send mail to spookingtons@gmail.com.

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