Yep, straight from Aussie Kotakuite Luke from...well, Kotaku, it seems that the Asia-Pacific version of E3 was a bust. Aside from enthusiastic PC and LAN gamers who attended the show, Luke summed up the lackluster turn-out, stating, "The venue was too big, the crowds too small and the number, and relevance, of games on-show was rubbish."

With the promise of game demonstration booths, the 2007 GO3 Expo was a little underhanded to deliver, without giants like Sony and Nintendo to showcase their line-up of games for their consoles at Perth, Australia. Microsoft, as an official sponsor, did make an appearance at the show. According to Luke, the only booth worthy of note was Sierra Entertainment's World in Conflict that allowed gamers to try out the yet-to-be-released game.

While the conference period from Friday to Saturday, with Metal Gear Solid's Hideo Kojima as a guest speaker, was anything but a disappointment, the latter part of the event, which happened at the extremely roomy showroom floor, wasn't something to boast about either. In fact, with booths displaying already released games, there was nothing really left for gamers to go for.

Of course, with the cos-play competition, the LAN gaming event and the showcase of Australia's ESWC 2007 team, it wasn't such a disappointment. Well, at least not to PC fans for the most part, that is...  Click on the "Read" link below to get more picture coverage of the 2007 GO3 Expo, courtesy of Kotaku and Luke.

It's a one-two hit combo for Western Australia as the Asia Pacific region celebrates gaming over at Perth. The GO3 Electronic Entertainment Expo, or GO3 Expo for short, was launched by the Minister for Industry and Enterprise Francis Logan at the Perth Convention Exhibition Center, as detailed from an official press release.

 

With the Asian, Europe, and Oceanic game industry's gaming icons to participate in the event as guest speakers, the three day affair will showcase the industry's games, game hobbyists' leisurely activities, network communication and computer technology. So from March 30 to April 1, expect attendees to be able to try out games from the promotional demonstrations sported by game developers.

Not just focusing on computers, consoles will also be making a scheduled arrival at the event, with Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 demo booths to be available to excited Aussie gamers. So you could expect their little handheld cousins aren't far behind either. The region's industry celebrities, government officials, and high profile media, including but not limited to MTV and Famitsu, will be joining gaming giants in making this uniquely positioned event a great success. Guest speakers include:

• Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear Solid)
• Tetsuya Mizuguchi (Sega Rally Championship and Rez)
• Masaya Matsuura (Parappa the Rapper)
• Goichi Suda (Killer 7)
• Feargus Carroll (LucasArts)
• Nicklas "Cece" Cederström (World in Conflict)

Aside from the Fury MMORPG PvP showcase, guests can also expect other events to tiptoe their way in the busy weekend. First up is the Electronic Sports World Cup (ESWC) 2007 qualifiers showcase, who will be representing Aussies from the world over in the Grand Finals at Paris later this year.

The GO3 LAN Party will also take place at the event. For 30 hours, over 600 attendees can relive the glory LAN party days and boast their talent against their seatmates' hand-and-eye-coordination skills. This is probably one of the largest network gaming setups ever attempted in Australia.

Also making a peep show is the GO3 Cos-Play Competition just to showcase the huge subculture phenomenon in the Asian region. The competition will allow the best game-character to win an all-expense paid trip to the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. Next up is the Nullarbor Game Development Competition, where budding game dev enthusiasts and serious students around Australia can present their work to a large crowd.

Visitors interested will be able to demo the games and vote for their favorite ones, allowing the best ones to bring home cash and prizes. And last but not least is the Dance Dance Revolution Competition, where Australia's best footwork masters duel it out to win more cash and prizes, plus get immortalized as the GO3 "DDR Champion 2007."