You wouldn't know it, but the E For All expo is this weekend. Wired.com considered attending the show, but it quickly became clear that nothing much is happening there.
Last year's E For All was a near-total ghost town, with only a few major exhibitors. Nintendo and Konami anchored the show, with Nintendo packing a giant booth full of first- and third-party games and holding Smash Bros. competitions. Konami went crazy, bringing star designers to America to meet and greet with fans. But once you played Metal Gear and Smash and shook Akira Yamaoka's hand, there wasn't anything else to do.
Amazingly, this year's show makes last year's look like PAX in comparison. Nintendo and Konami have pulled out. So have THQ and Take Two, so nobody gets to meet Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross anymore. Not even Namco Networks will be there to sell *Pac-Man *hats. Video Games Live is in Brazil. The only major game publishers of note are Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft, and there's no telling exactly what it is they're going to be showing.
With that in mind, it's impossible to justify sending a writer to Los Angeles to cover the show -- especially not with Penny Arcade Expo just over and Tokyo Game Show and Blizzcon looming just ahead.
Gamasutra -- whose parent company is putting on a "Game Career Seminar" at the show -- will be covering, so look there to find out what, if anything, happens.
