Peter Suciu

Video Games: Alphabet-Soup Edition
April 2, 2008

Most industries have trade groups, trade shows and conferences. But the video game industry — also known as the electronic entertainment industry — seems to be particularly filled with an annoying amount of intialisms.

There is the Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB), which is the non-profit self-regulatory body that assigns ratings; there is the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which is the U.S. association trade group for video and computer games; there is E3, the annual trade show that is owned by the ESA. The list goes on and on.

Too Many Game Conferences?

These acronyms in the world of video game include a crazy amount of conferences and trade shows. In addition to the aforementioned E3, we have GDC (Game Developers Conference), DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain), TGS (Tokyo Game Show), something called MI6 (which I don’t know what it stands for), and of course International CES (Consumer Electronics Show).

This brings up several questions. First, who goes to these all these shows? (If you are one who attends these events, please say so and why in the comments area below.) While games aren’t a huge part of CES, the big trade show has always been E3. And before E3 scaled back, GDC was the spring show where developers met to try to get a publisher for their wares. Today GDC has become the new E3, which itself was the new CES for games. Whew! That’s confusing.

But what exactly does the industry need of these other events? In addition to the shows with acronyms there are dozens of other daylong and weekend long events spread far and wide. These include events such ION Game Conference, Classic Game Expo, Games & Mobile Conference, Toronto Independent Game Conference and the Austin Game Developers Conference. Does anyone get much out of these events? Other than the organizers I mean?

ESRB Adds Desktop Widget

Talking about the ESRB … while I’ve made my point in the past that I’m not all that pleased with the current video game ratings system, I am pleased to see that the Electronic Software Ratings Board (ESRB) is making it a bit easier for parents and other gamers to search for the ratings.

This week the ESRB and Clearspring Technologies announced the release of a new free downloadable widget that will let users search for ratings for more than 14,000 computer and video games. The widget can be placed directly on a user’s desktop, and even be imported on personal and social-networking Web pages. It is customizable by color and size and is available in English, Spanish and French.

The ESRB has announced that several consumer and parenting Web sites will begin to offer the widget as well. No doubt this should make it easier for consumers to find ratings of a particular game. While none of this is a replacement for parents actually viewing the game content of a particular game, it is a good feature to see in place. Now if only the ESRB could make those ratings a little less confusing …

ECA Launches Gamers for Net Neutrality

2008 could be the year that gamers start to vote as gamers. There has been a lot of talk this year already on what politicians think about particular games, but the big showdown with gamers might be over Net Neutrality.

The Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA), a non-profit organization that represents video game enthusiasts, announced that it was joining the fight with the launch of a new Web-based initiative Gamers for Net Neutrality.  This project is a joint partnership between the ECA, SavetheInternet.com and Gamers for Change.

The ECA is arguing that without Net Neutrality gaming might just get more expensive, as ISPs would be free to charge for playing games online.

Posted by Peter Suciu on April 2, 2008 | Comments (0)