E3 has for decades been the focus of major video game announcements, you wanted to see a new title from that studio you like, surely there was going to be some hint of its development, unfortunately it has been news that E3 is going through its worst run since its inception in the 90s.
It doesn't look like we will see this event in the next few years due to the insistence of the big 3 (microsoft, sony and nintendo) going their own way and doing their own events, after all it costs them a lot less than renting a booth and an entire conference hall for their announcements.
While all of this may be a blow to gamers, we still have some big events on the schedule that involve gaming as a centerpiece, let's review some of these to see who can take the torch from E3 and emerge as the new focus of the studios.
Tokyo Game Show
In Asia video games have had an unprecedented place in the culture for several decades, Japan in particular has nurtured this industry since its inception so these events take on a lot of momentum especially for Japanese developers who have a special place here.
A special mention to the JRPGs that are announced here every year, a very good catalogue of games arrives every year to the doors of this event and now I think it will have a much more marked protagonism for the oriental devs.
Gamescom
The biggest videogame fair held in Europe also has several years being one of the most important focuses of the industry, held in Germany has gained strength in recent years but with the withdrawal of E3 seems to be in the expectation to see if the studios are still betting on it.
Since 2009 has had great acceptance by studios and gamers, among the most prominent announcements that I remember were the Playstation 3 Slim and some Fables by Microsoft, it seems somewhat short its catalog but every year many players are approaching.
PAX (Penny Arcade Expo)
This conference came to my attention recently, it's kind of like a game show full of indie game developers letting early versions of their games play to the gamers that come along, it's a number of conferences that are held across the US, UK and Australia and have as their main focus indies, a type of game that is gaining a lot of popularity with how easy it's become to develop games.
Apart from the classic section where the studios present their developments and let you play a couple of previews there is also another area in these conferences reserved for developers and to share progress and techniques to create video games, something that I found quite interesting.
The Game Awards
The Oscar of video games and one of the events that has caused the most buzz in recent years, at first it seemed like it was just another event for the industry to high five itself but surprisingly in recent years it has been one of the best events we have throughout the year, of course it is full of hype as it is free on all platforms but we are also getting used to seeing some amazing releases at this event.
Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox
All of them have their own virtual events as well as small annual conferences to share some of their exclusive developments, in fact I've come to think that it's because they can do their own events and cut costs that all these giants have left out E3 and a large majority of the usual conferences, my favourite of this set are without a doubt the Nintendo Direct that the Japanese company has been doing for several years now and that has become the centre where their fans come together to see what's new.
Sony is not far behind with its Playstation Experience that although it has had a downturn in recent years, every time there is a new exclusive game for its consoles it has to go through this event.
Gaming is far from losing its place in the public eye but I found it productive to investigate some of the conferences that take place every year.
All yours, @slashint - Gamer, Video Game Analyst.
