I really welcomed the disappearance of the week-long assault on my senses that E3 had become in recent years. Our primary focus at the show has been to meet with our publisher and developer partners to discuss current projects as well as begin talking about things they had announced at the show. The mega-event had grown so over-the-top that it was difficult to get anything done. As the E3 booths grew more elaborate and the decibels increased meetings held on the show floor literally turned to exchanges shouted between drum beats.

I was relieved when the ESA announced the format change last year. President Doug Lowenstein cited making the show more "business-friendly" among their key reasons for the change:

"When we asked key audiences what they wanted in the new event, we heard that they wanted opportunities for high-level meetings in a business-like setting, to play games, network, and socialize, to see major company offerings while also preserving the sense of discovery that is so much a part of the show, and to hear substantive presentations on the most important issues and trends facing the industry," Lowenstein said.

Sure enough, this year's format was great for business. The 30 minute shouting matches were gone and replaced by leisurely conversations with publishers and developers in private, quiet locations. It was easy to bump into someone walking down Ocean and have an impromptu discussion on the way from the Fairmont to Lowes. What a change!

What was missing, though, was the "sense of discovery." What was missing, more specifically, was Kentia Hall.

Kentia always held a special place in my heart. You never quite knew what you would discover there. There were crazy peripherals, like the CyMouse, that you controlled with your head instead of your hand. I saw the first cool use of a USB camera on a PC at Kentia in Gaijin's Flight of Fancy in which you controlled your dragon and cast spells via gesture recognition.

Kentia was always the home of the risk-taker. While there was certainly a large number of flat-out kooks (God love 'em!) showing their wares in Kentia you could always find one or two gems that you knew would go on to greatness. You can never forget the biggest thing to ever come from Kentia: Guitar Hero. Would Rock Band be all the rage this year without the help of Kentia oh so many years ago? I tend to doubt it.

There was no place at this year's E3 for the smaller developer to participate. If the ESA can crack that nut next year I think that the new E3 will be on the right path.