I just returned from E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, in LA and what a busy week it was! E3 is the premier trade show for the video and online gaming industry and Robert Scales from Raincity Studios and I went down on behalf of New Media BC and the Digital Media Association of Alberta to provide coverage of the show including recording podcasts with several companies from BC and Alberta who were exhibiting at E3. You can find the podcasts when they're uploaded on iTunes and lots of fun photos from the show over at Flickr. Some of the companies we met with are Jarhead Games, Buena Vista Group, Piranha Games, Next Level Games, and Hal Josephson of Media Sense.

Scales and I attended a great 'power breakfast' called "Gaming's Future and Cross Platform Design" with the leaders of the Canadian video game and electronic entertainment industry hosted by the Canadian Embassy Los Angeles and held at the prestigious Los Angeles Athletic Club... think members only, old money, dingy rooms full of polo trophies and pictures of body builders, Persian rugs in the washrooms, and a Rembrant hanging behind the speakers podium. It was beautiful. At the breakfast we heard a great talk by Mike Yuen, Senior Director of Gaming at Qualcomm on the future of the gaming industry and Lynda Brown of New Media BC spoke as well and gave an overview of Vidfest 2006 in Vancouver and invited everyone to come up for the event. I attended Vidfest last year and sat on the NMBC program committee that helped Kirsten Richter plan this years event and am excited to say that we've got quite the conference in store. Check it out and signup now.

From Van to L.A. to Toronto and Back Again...

Raincity's Robert Scales is heading down to Los Angeles for next week's E3 Conference on behalf of New Media BC and the Digital Media Association of Alberta. The conference spans over three days and Rob will be podcasting and blogging about all the next generation of video games, getting acquainted with all of the fun new toys, while mixin with the likes of Doom 3 lead designer Tim Willits and Killer 7 designer Gouichi Suda of grasshopper manufacture, as this year marks the largest group of speakers in the history of the conference.