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Downtown Puts on Its Game Face
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| This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo will fill up every inch of the 770,000-square-foot Convention Center with elaborate multi-million dollar exhibits and nearly 70,000 attendees eager for a sneak peak at the next generation of games and gadgets. Photo courtesy of E3. |
As Video Game Expo E3 Arrives, So Does the Money
by Kathryn Maese
This week, the Los Angeles Convention Center will be nearly unrecognizable. The building with the lofty ceilings and plain walls will instead be filled with booth babes with bare midriffs, deafening rocket explosions and swanky VIP parties.
It's all part of the bacchanalian bounty known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short. But it's more than just a haven for technogeeks: By week's end, $13 million will have been spent and nearly 30,000 hotel rooms booked in what has become the video game industry's most anticipated event and one of Downtown's biggest economic games.
"This is our bread and butter," said Chris Heywood, a spokesman for LA Inc., the convention and visitors bureau. "We use room nights as an economic indicator of an event's success, and this is the biggest of the year."
Though the annual computer and video game trade show has been held at the Convention Center for the past eight years, exhibitor interest in the May 17-19 expo has exploded like an alien hit with a pulse rifle. More than 540,000 square feet of space - all five halls of the Convention Center - were reserved by March, making 2005 the fastest sell-out in five years, according to event organizer the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
"The speed at which things sold out is attributed to the fact that there will be a greater amount of press at the convention because of the buzz surrounding the new game consoles being released," said ESA spokesman Dan Hewitt.
About 70,000 media and industry professionals (the event is closed to the public) are expected to ogle and sample the next generation of game consoles, titles and gadgets being unveiled by mega-players such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. At a time when the Convention Center has struggled to secure bookings, local business owners and managers say E3 is the biggest chunk of convention business they'll see all year. Many storefronts and hotel marquees sport signs welcoming convention goers in the days leading up to the event.
Downtown restaurants are ready to cash in on the digital smorgasbord. At the Palm Restaurant, general manager Geoff Ellis said the staff is working overtime to prepare for the non-stop shifts of diners and gamers. Ellis said the steakhouse has booked about 20 parties a day for lunch and dinner, a welcome rush of business considering its mainstay, the L.A. Lakers at Staples Center across the street, failed to reach the playoffs.
"It's going to be insane," he said. "It's probably our busiest week of the year as far as conventions are concerned. The sporting events and concerts are always large, but this is the biggest because it's three days straight."
For hoteliers, the impact is just as dramatic. As early as last Monday, participants began checking into hotels to prepare for the convention. Many will stay until the end of this week at hotels across the city.
Downtown hotels big and small are booked, including the Hilton Checkers, the Holiday Inn City Center, the Millennium Biltmore and the Westin Bonaventure. About 75% of the 107-room Standard Downtown is being used for E3 attendees, said Director of Sales Manya duHoffmann.
"We've been sold out since last August," said duHoffmann, who has scheduled a number of E3 parties at the rooftop bar. "If we wanted, we could be sold out a month after the expo for the following year. It's the highlight of the year."
Many of the big players will host invite-only press conferences in the early part of the week, usually large-scale events at hotels and venues throughout the city. After 5 p.m., the party circuit heats up with plentiful open bars, splashy entertainment and schmoozing.
At the Moroccan-style Figueroa Hotel across from the Convention Center, which has frequently served as an industry hotspot, events are scheduled each day of E3, including parties for publishing giant Ziff Davis Media, International Game Developers, Access Communications and Gigex. Other Downtown Los Angeles events include the Konami press conference at the Richard J. Riordan Central Library and the mammoth Microsoft media event at the Shrine Auditorium - last year the landmark was decked out in Xbox green.
$9 Million Displays
Inside the eye-popping convention, more than 400 exhibitors from 87 countries have spent about $3 a square foot to rent booth space, many doubling in size from last year, according to organizer ESA. Preparation included laying 250,000 feet of cable and blanketing the show floor with nearly 5,000 video monitors and displays.
Some of the biggest exhibitors, Sony and Nintendo, create entire worlds to showcase titles and consoles that will reach market in the next six to 12 months. It can cost up to $9 million to buy and build out the elaborate displays and structures, according to trade publication N-Sider. The undertaking is so vast that crate wood used to move all the supplies was enough to frame a 15-story building and required more than 87 forklifts to move, Hewitt said.
The mecca of the expo is the South Hall, which generally hosts many of the larger American and European companies such as Microsoft. The West Hall houses the big Asian publishers such as Sony and Nintendo. Some booths are two stories tall and feature working fountains, full bars, lounges, lasers, fog machines, and every whirring, buzzing and exploding noise imaginable. With the blinding lights, rock-and-roll volume, bikini-clad models and crush of people, the atmosphere has been likened to a giant rave or the Vegas strip.
With exhibitors trying to one-up the competition, celebrities often touch down to tout games in which they appear. Last year, for example, Vin Diesel promoted the "Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay," while Stan Lee pushed "X-Men Legends."
To Atlanta and Back
In 1995, the Convention Center snagged the lucrative expo when video game executives decided to set up a showcase apart from the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas. ESA organized the first E3 in Downtown, where it was held until 1996. In 1997 and 1998 it moved to Atlanta, where attendance plummeted.
Looking to recapture the momentum of the rapidly growing industry, which last year garnered $7.3 billion in revenues, ESA signed on to stay at the Convention Center until 2012. It was a rare commitment, said Heywood, who noted that most conventions rotate around the country or change venues every year or two.
"Los Angeles is the only place where there's such an intersection between technology and entertainment," Heywood said. "This convention is well suited to Los Angeles because we have a history of hosting high-tech events like the Microsoft convention. There's also a concentration of entertainment names."
Through the life of the 13-year contract, the blockbuster event could generate more than $170 million for the local economy, according to LA Inc. For the city, few events come close to the size and scope of E3. Heywood said a distant second would be the National Education Association convention July 1-6, which is expected to generate about 39,000 total room nights with 15,000 in attendance.
"We had to pull out all the stops for E3," Heywood said. "Here, they know they are the big game in town, whereas if they were in Las Vegas they would be one of many conventions. We've worked hard to have a good relationship with them so that L.A. would be their permanent home."
Game over.
Downtown Gets Played
Nick Kang knows the streets of Downtown as well as any Central Division cop. The only difference is, he works for Sony.
Kang's turf is the gritty, virtual world of crime fighting in "True Crime: Streets of L.A.," a video game in which huge tracts of Downtown and the city are recreated in vivid detail.
The Central City has had its share of starring roles on the big screen - Collateral, Heat and Training Day, to name a few. Now, more and more frequently, the video game industry is tapping into Downtown's colorful and gritty streetscapes to add a realistic punch to its hottest games.
"The latest trend in games is to incorporate real world locations," said David Colleen, chief executive of Planet 9 Studios, a company that creates virtual worlds and has worked in the gaming industry. "We have done a number of quotes to game companies in the past few months for Las Vegas, New York City and San Francisco."
"True Crime" delivers an up-close and accurate view of Downtown streets and landmarks, which in the end are the real star of the game. Every chunk of pavement, every street, avenue and boulevard are right where they should be. Even the back alleys are said to be accurate.
Downtown Los Angeles also makes an appearance in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Although part of the game takes place in a fictionalized version of L.A. called Los Santos, graphical advances display minute details right down to swaying palm trees, hazy L.A. sunsets and even gang colors. In this game, where the player gets to be the criminal, Downtown sites include the Financial District, City Hall, and bridges and freeway underpasses. The Los Angeles Convention Center is a prominent icon.
The only reality these games fail to capture accurately is the traffic. If only that were the case in Downtown.
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) May 17-19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center is Downtown's biggest show. Here's a look at the blockbuster event by the numbers.
$13 million will be spent and nearly 30,000 hotel rooms booked.
More than 540,000 square feet of space - all five halls of the Convention Center - has been sold.
More than 400 exhibitors from 87 countries will set up booths.
About 70,000 media and industry professionals will attend the three-day trade show.
The 13-year contract at the Convention Center is expected to generate more than $170 million.
1.5 million pounds of equipment will be hung from the ceiling of the Convention Center - roughly the equivalent of 500 automobiles or 250 elephants.
Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.
page 1, 5/16/2005
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to redistribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
It's all part of the bacchanalian bounty known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 for short. But it's more than just a haven for technogeeks: By week's end, $13 million will have been spent and nearly 30,000 hotel rooms booked in what has become the video game industry's most anticipated event and one of Downtown's biggest economic games.
"This is our bread and butter," said Chris Heywood, a spokesman for LA Inc., the convention and visitors bureau. "We use room nights as an economic indicator of an event's success, and this is the biggest of the year."
Though the annual computer and video game trade show has been held at the Convention Center for the past eight years, exhibitor interest in the May 17-19 expo has exploded like an alien hit with a pulse rifle. More than 540,000 square feet of space - all five halls of the Convention Center - were reserved by March, making 2005 the fastest sell-out in five years, according to event organizer the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
"The speed at which things sold out is attributed to the fact that there will be a greater amount of press at the convention because of the buzz surrounding the new game consoles being released," said ESA spokesman Dan Hewitt.
About 70,000 media and industry professionals (the event is closed to the public) are expected to ogle and sample the next generation of game consoles, titles and gadgets being unveiled by mega-players such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. At a time when the Convention Center has struggled to secure bookings, local business owners and managers say E3 is the biggest chunk of convention business they'll see all year. Many storefronts and hotel marquees sport signs welcoming convention goers in the days leading up to the event.
Downtown restaurants are ready to cash in on the digital smorgasbord. At the Palm Restaurant, general manager Geoff Ellis said the staff is working overtime to prepare for the non-stop shifts of diners and gamers. Ellis said the steakhouse has booked about 20 parties a day for lunch and dinner, a welcome rush of business considering its mainstay, the L.A. Lakers at Staples Center across the street, failed to reach the playoffs.
"It's going to be insane," he said. "It's probably our busiest week of the year as far as conventions are concerned. The sporting events and concerts are always large, but this is the biggest because it's three days straight."
For hoteliers, the impact is just as dramatic. As early as last Monday, participants began checking into hotels to prepare for the convention. Many will stay until the end of this week at hotels across the city.
Downtown hotels big and small are booked, including the Hilton Checkers, the Holiday Inn City Center, the Millennium Biltmore and the Westin Bonaventure. About 75% of the 107-room Standard Downtown is being used for E3 attendees, said Director of Sales Manya duHoffmann.
"We've been sold out since last August," said duHoffmann, who has scheduled a number of E3 parties at the rooftop bar. "If we wanted, we could be sold out a month after the expo for the following year. It's the highlight of the year."
Many of the big players will host invite-only press conferences in the early part of the week, usually large-scale events at hotels and venues throughout the city. After 5 p.m., the party circuit heats up with plentiful open bars, splashy entertainment and schmoozing.
At the Moroccan-style Figueroa Hotel across from the Convention Center, which has frequently served as an industry hotspot, events are scheduled each day of E3, including parties for publishing giant Ziff Davis Media, International Game Developers, Access Communications and Gigex. Other Downtown Los Angeles events include the Konami press conference at the Richard J. Riordan Central Library and the mammoth Microsoft media event at the Shrine Auditorium - last year the landmark was decked out in Xbox green.
Inside the eye-popping convention, more than 400 exhibitors from 87 countries have spent about $3 a square foot to rent booth space, many doubling in size from last year, according to organizer ESA. Preparation included laying 250,000 feet of cable and blanketing the show floor with nearly 5,000 video monitors and displays.
Some of the biggest exhibitors, Sony and Nintendo, create entire worlds to showcase titles and consoles that will reach market in the next six to 12 months. It can cost up to $9 million to buy and build out the elaborate displays and structures, according to trade publication N-Sider. The undertaking is so vast that crate wood used to move all the supplies was enough to frame a 15-story building and required more than 87 forklifts to move, Hewitt said.
The mecca of the expo is the South Hall, which generally hosts many of the larger American and European companies such as Microsoft. The West Hall houses the big Asian publishers such as Sony and Nintendo. Some booths are two stories tall and feature working fountains, full bars, lounges, lasers, fog machines, and every whirring, buzzing and exploding noise imaginable. With the blinding lights, rock-and-roll volume, bikini-clad models and crush of people, the atmosphere has been likened to a giant rave or the Vegas strip.
With exhibitors trying to one-up the competition, celebrities often touch down to tout games in which they appear. Last year, for example, Vin Diesel promoted the "Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay," while Stan Lee pushed "X-Men Legends."
In 1995, the Convention Center snagged the lucrative expo when video game executives decided to set up a showcase apart from the Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas. ESA organized the first E3 in Downtown, where it was held until 1996. In 1997 and 1998 it moved to Atlanta, where attendance plummeted.
Looking to recapture the momentum of the rapidly growing industry, which last year garnered $7.3 billion in revenues, ESA signed on to stay at the Convention Center until 2012. It was a rare commitment, said Heywood, who noted that most conventions rotate around the country or change venues every year or two.
"Los Angeles is the only place where there's such an intersection between technology and entertainment," Heywood said. "This convention is well suited to Los Angeles because we have a history of hosting high-tech events like the Microsoft convention. There's also a concentration of entertainment names."
Through the life of the 13-year contract, the blockbuster event could generate more than $170 million for the local economy, according to LA Inc. For the city, few events come close to the size and scope of E3. Heywood said a distant second would be the National Education Association convention July 1-6, which is expected to generate about 39,000 total room nights with 15,000 in attendance.
"We had to pull out all the stops for E3," Heywood said. "Here, they know they are the big game in town, whereas if they were in Las Vegas they would be one of many conventions. We've worked hard to have a good relationship with them so that L.A. would be their permanent home."
Game over.
Downtown Gets Played
Video Games Set Their Scene in the Central City
Nick Kang knows the streets of Downtown as well as any Central Division cop. The only difference is, he works for Sony.
Kang's turf is the gritty, virtual world of crime fighting in "True Crime: Streets of L.A.," a video game in which huge tracts of Downtown and the city are recreated in vivid detail.
The Central City has had its share of starring roles on the big screen - Collateral, Heat and Training Day, to name a few. Now, more and more frequently, the video game industry is tapping into Downtown's colorful and gritty streetscapes to add a realistic punch to its hottest games.
"The latest trend in games is to incorporate real world locations," said David Colleen, chief executive of Planet 9 Studios, a company that creates virtual worlds and has worked in the gaming industry. "We have done a number of quotes to game companies in the past few months for Las Vegas, New York City and San Francisco."
"True Crime" delivers an up-close and accurate view of Downtown streets and landmarks, which in the end are the real star of the game. Every chunk of pavement, every street, avenue and boulevard are right where they should be. Even the back alleys are said to be accurate.
Downtown Los Angeles also makes an appearance in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas." Although part of the game takes place in a fictionalized version of L.A. called Los Santos, graphical advances display minute details right down to swaying palm trees, hazy L.A. sunsets and even gang colors. In this game, where the player gets to be the criminal, Downtown sites include the Financial District, City Hall, and bridges and freeway underpasses. The Los Angeles Convention Center is a prominent icon.
The only reality these games fail to capture accurately is the traffic. If only that were the case in Downtown.
They Got Game
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) May 17-19 at the Los Angeles Convention Center is Downtown's biggest show. Here's a look at the blockbuster event by the numbers.
Contact Kathryn Maese at kathryn@downtownnews.com.
page 1, 5/16/2005
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to redistribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
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