E for All was originally envisioned to be a Mecca for the casual and hard-core gamers who wanted to experience the behind the scenes world of game development in the wake of E3 going invitation only; unfortunately with the recent recession and the game publisher’s budgets dwindling away to practically nothing it appears that the second annual E for All has become nothing more than an exposition of recently released games and game peripherals.

Held in Los Angeles California at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which was conveniently the home of the aforementioned E3, E for All has all the show floor a major gaming expo could want. It just did not have the attendees or exhibitors one would expect from such a major show.

What E for All does have is the personal touch, and smaller titles getting their much deserved five minutes in the spot light. The registration is a mere $35 USD, so if you live in Southern California you should probably stop reading and head on over. You will be treated some forty-ish booths and a crowd small enough where you won’t feel claustrophobic.

Attendees are treated with the requisite massive screens playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and a small sea of computers and Xbox 360’s with dozens of titles available for play. They are even a small assortment of classic arcade machines set up with free play. I know I should have brought my Captain America and the Avengers machine to share.

The real highlights of the show were Ubisoft and Activision. Ubisoft had demos of the soon to be released Far Cry 2, Tom Clancy’s End War and Shaun White Snowboarding. Activision was showing off the much anticipated Guitar Hero World Tour, which I must say is looking pretty sweet.

Some less publicized, but innovative exhibits at this years E for All are the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) Game Career Seminar, and the Gaming Bootcamp: Learn from the Pros, and the Into the Pixel video game art exhibit.

The GDC Game Career Seminar “offers developers the opportunity to learn new skills, network with peers, and advance their career sin video game and digital development”. The Gaming Bootcamp will have two on-site bootcamps open to all show attendees on October 4th, 2008. The bootcamps will give an introduction to the world of video games from the basics to gaming terminology. Of course the Into the Pixel video game art exhibit showcases the best video game art in one place.

This years E for All is not quite the Mecca one had hoped would fill the void for the average consumer, but it is definitely worth a trip for the average to hard-core gamers who live in Southern California. If you can’t make it this year, then make sure you don’t pass it up next year.