http://www.joystiq.com/2010/05/13/microsofts-e3-project-natal-event-to-feature-cirque-du-soleil-p/

Anyone have any thoughts on this?  I guess it kinda fits, but not sure what to make of it fully. 

Pardon me if there is a thread specifically dedicated to this already.  I didn't find it.

That's a really creative idea!

Style vs substance.

That's going to be pretty awesome!
Cirque du Soleil ftw!

It makes it a lot more interesting to watch. Face it, E3 is more about the show now and entertaining the audience in order to market products than it is a gaming trade event.

Well one thing I like is that the Natal presentation is rated 'E' for everybody and the actual E3 presentation is rated "18+". This means to me that Microsoft will show some games off that I bought the 360 for.

I wouldn't be surprised if they sneak in a "mature" Natal game at the E3 conference.

The economic meltdown caused those who were running E3 to end up rethinking their idea that they wanted a small trade show just for outsiders, without much media.  They had what was considered one of the lynchpins of promotion in the industry and nearly ran it off a cliff, because they didn't like the excessive chaos being seen.  It is first, and foremost still a trade show, BUT they are mindful of how gamers are affected by it.  It is important for them to the extent that people come on here and post asking who would "win it".   I don't see anyone asking who wins COMDEX, for example.

One thing is for certain, MS E3 event is going to be a circus.

HAHA nice one, mighty patapon.

But the main purpose is marketing. Thats the whole reason why its there. People are mingling, sure, but thats mainly reserved for places like GDC where all the real deals go down earlier in the calendar year. Most game companies rely on the additional gamer and media exposure with both the mainstream and game industry press. Thats why having a smaller E3 never worked because it was always about building hype and interest and without that mainstream element they lose their legitimacy as a source for hype which is why most game companies didn't want a scaled down E3.