So back in June, everyone decided this "E3" thing wasn't really working out and made a deal to create a smaller, less flashy event for the following years in which game companies could focus on business. The ESA announced the E3 Media and Business Summit, which would take place in a few hotels around LA, and the matter was settled.

Or was it?

Despite the availability of the new E3 for business folk and things like the ever-enhugening Penny-Arcade Expo for the fans, some people just could not let go of the original E3's gaudy, rhinestone-encrusted corpse. Thus IDG, publisher of some 300 magazines including PC World and The Ladies' Home Journal GamePro, have decided to create their own E3 clone, called the GamePro Expo. Because you know the GamePro name ensures quality. The show will take place in October 2007 in LA.

The event will have trade show, consumer, and game competition components and is being presented to Convention and Visitors Bureau members as a show that could rival the old E3 in size, scope, and impact on the Los Angeles economy: "Use E3 as a guide [when prepping for GamePro Expo]," the memo advises.

Referring to the game competition, Krouse said that Staples Center owner AEG is likely to partner with IDG, and, "in concept," the live tournaments would take place at the Staples Center.

So let's recap. Everyone was sick of the old E3, so they made a new expo to replace it. Then some douchebag comes along and makes an expo exactly like the old E3, so now you've got two when you originally were complaining about the time and cost it took to do one. Brilliant.

The "consumer and game competition" part of the above description leads me to believe the GamePro Expo will probably be open to the public, which at least would be one slight difference from E3 (and I suppose make it more like an American TGS). Still, they're filling the schedule with way too many of these things (as the article notes, the Consumer Electronics Association was planning its own show in LA until they recently backed out), to the point that developers will be too busy doing trade shows to actually make any games. Perhaps we could just have a show every month where everyone gathers together to talk about what kind of games they'd like to make if they weren't doing shows.

Expect one of these shows to fall away within a year or two. Hopefully GamePro.