WTF VGXPO?

Um, but it was pretty lame.

Check out these excerpts from a press release about the recent Video Games Expo:

Philadelphia, PA - (November 25, 2008) - NBC Local Media and Lunar Tide Communications, Inc. announced today that the 2008 America's Video Game Expo more then tripled its' attendance versus 2007, with 24,674 people attending over a three day period. This is largest turnout, to date, for any video game-based event east of the Rockies.

The three-day turnout has put VGXPO on the game industry map, and made it one of the largest video game fan gatherings ever. The high attendee turnout suggests that Philadelphia, and its surrounding region, are a hot bed for gamers and strong market for exhibitors to showcase their latest products.*

Wow, really? I mean, we noticed it was busy... but we couldn't figure out why.

Holy crap, imagine what it was like last year, with only 2,500 people a day! No wonder the GameStop booth kept running out of freebies!

I guess there were exhibitors there. Not game exhibitors, but exhibitors. If you wanted to learn about Panasonic HD sets, they were there. Or if you wanted some literature about DeVry. But game developers? Not so much.

"VGXPO far exceeded my expectations with regards to the total number and profile of the attendees," said George Woo, Events Marketing Manager of Intel Corporation. "I am very happy to bring the Intel Extreme Masters to this event to allow attendees to watch Americas top e-Sport teams compete for prize money and qualification to the Global Finals in March '09 and the opportunity to play the latest game titles running on lntel latest gaming processor based PC's."

Oh, fuck PCs.

"VGXPO's an amazing success story," said Amber Dalton, founder of the all-girls game competition team, PMS Clan. "There is so much to be said for what VGXPO has become for the video game industry...the core gamers, plus the casual games audience, were here to play all the top games. Certainly, VGXPO 2009 can't be missed by any company that markets games."

We say PMS Clan doing a stage show, but barely felt the need to comment on it. It seemed largely an excuse for the 99.99% male audience to stare at some woman. And for a select few to be degraded, because she was doing a well-practiced Simon Says bit.

I guess this is good news, because now maybe some actual game companies will consider attending next year's show. Unfortunately, it will probably only be Microsoft. :(

*Philadelphia is, not Philadelphia are.

Incidentally, that Wilford "Diabeetus" Brimley picture came from me googling "You Win," during a stab to find some hilariously ironic internet picture to pair with this entry.