The buzz at E3 Expo,the big daddy of video game trade shows,was more intense this year than in recent years.
And no wonder: The big three video game console makers, Sony Corp., Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co., all showed off their forthcoming boxes at Staples Center in Los Angeles last week.
E3 had the usual array of cute young models with bright colored hair marketing the latest games and gadgets. There even was a cameo appearance by former child actor Gary Coleman.
Several Orange County companies were on hand, from game developers to Lake Forest disk drive maker Western Digital Corp., which makes drives for Microsoft’s current Xbox.
Cypress-based Bandai Games Inc., the U.S. game unit of Tokyo’s Bandai Co., had one of the busier booths, with a large video screen and free T-shirts.
Newport Beach-based The Collective, part of Los Angeles-based Foundation 9 Entertainment Inc., had its first booth at E3 this year.
Irvine-based Atlus USA Inc., the North American arm of Japan game maker Atlus Co., had one of the more notable displays, with elegant Japanese shoji screens.
Like other trade shows, E3 has grown into a spectacle where being seen there is as important as doing business.
“E3 is the convention,there’s no other convention in the world for video games that is larger and offers more exposure,” said Brian Horton, lead artist at The Collective. “For us it’s a way to introduce our products to the entire world.”
The Collective showed off “Mark Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure,” a game from New York-based Atari Inc. for which it did engineering work.
In March, The Collective combined with Backbone Entertainment of Emeryville to create Foundation 9. The Collective continues to operate as it has with about 100 people in Newport Beach.
E3 is a chance to meet with retailers, buyers and software developers, sources said. It also gives companies a chance to test out games and devices on attendees, who typically are serious game players.
The show also affords a peak at the competition.
“We’re revealing our titles to our competitors, but they are doing the same, so there is a lot of strategy,” said Joon Hwang, assistant marketing manager for Bandai Games in Cypress. “We regularly look at our booth to see how many people are actually visiting there. You can tell whether the game has a future.”
Bandai’s strategy has been to roll out games that later can yield toys and other products, which the company also makes.
“We’ll make a product that comes out as a videogame, and then as a toy,” Hwang said. “Later it will come out on card games and TV shows.”
Jim Ireton, vice president of sales for Atlus USA, said he made a point to see for himself how attendees reacted to the company’s products.
“We’ll do a recap at the end of the show,” he said, “asking our staff, ‘what did you hear? What did you see in people’s faces when they played our games?'”
Atlus makes anime-style role-playing games. At E3, it showed new titles such as “SBK: Snowboard Kids DS.” The company’s display also featured games from Japan’s Nippon Ichi Software Inc., which opened U.S. arm NIS America in Anaheim last year.
Atlus distributes Nippon games to stores with NIS America marketing them.
