It was rumored for a few days but now it’s official: the E3 we all know and love is coming back next year.
While the Entertainment Software Association says pretty much anyone will be allowed to attend, E3 2009 won’t suffer from the excess that plagued previous expos. Journalists will still be able to meet publishers behind closed doors without having to stand next to strippers, for example.
Speaking of strippers, here’s the status of booth babes, as told to Edge:
Here’s the thing. Our publishers will have the maximum ability to drive energy and excitement around their titles and their products. I would expect that you’re going to see models there, but there will be controlled guildelines, just like we’ve had previous years.
Sure, “controlled guidelines.” What does that mean, no full-frontal?
Anyone, to recap: E3 will be fun again. Lots of folks tangentially involved in the industry running around the Convention Center; publishers spending an incredible amount of money for a blurb in a magazine or 100-word post on a blog; young models showing off their bodies in the hope of being “noticed.”
Real America, in other words.