E For All hasn't had the most successful debut, with Kotaku.com describing the expo as being a "ghost town". Parking lots, booths, and halls have been practically deserted on the first two days, and the only interest the public have been displaying was towards the Konami and Nintendo booths. In particular, being able to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metal Gear Solid 4 demos garnered the most attention, with the majority of visitors flocking to those two awkwardly set-up queue areas.
Pulling into the Los Angeles Convention Center this morning, ready to bask in the wonder of the E For All Expo, I was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which I could park. Walking into the convention center lobby, pictured above, I was concerned that I'd come on the wrong day. E For All is, by no means, packed. There's plenty of room to spread out, with exhibitors taking up only a portion of the location's South Hall, an estimated 20% of the space simply curtained off with expansive booths looking like ghost towns. Most gamers flocked to Nintendo's and Konami's booths, with the Rock Band stage sadly tucked away from the crowds.
Around 3 PM, when those who hadn't pre-registered for the event were permitted to enter, crowds grew by about a third, but there was virtually no waiting to get on most games.
Nintendo's booth drew the biggest crowd, featuring unreleased games like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Link's Crossbow Training and Super Mario Galaxy.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl aside, a playable Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PlayStation 3 was the main draw for attendees of E For All. While line waits for the latest Yu-Gi-Oh! on the Nintendo DS were minimal, Konami seems to have underestimated interest in MGS4 with a less-than-efficient booth layout for Kojima Productions' latest.
First impressions of public interest in the event isn't fantastic. We could very well be looking at the first, and the last, E For All Expo. No one will mistake this event for the "new E3."
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Then again, the floor space sucks.
The reason no one turned up is because Americans take things like that for granted.
Put that in melbourne or sydney (australia to you geographically *bleep*ed people) and it would be fuller than anything.
Or.
The show ended up stumbling around trying to find a goal without being too much like anything else and fell flat on its face in the process. I'll be writing up many of the pitfalls of this show for monday on neoseeker.com
What i was thinking. There's only like 10 people there!
D'oh, helps to research these things.