Call of Duty XP 2011 will begin on September 2 and will last for two days. This event has been described as the BlizzCon of Call of Duty. There will be events taking place on courses that have been recreated from popular CoD maps, live entertainment, a $1 million dollar tournament, an opportunity to try the multiplayer for CoD: Modern Warfare 3 and plenty more. You may have already decided that you’ll pay $150 for the ticket. The question is when can you spend your precious dough?

Welcome to the latest installment of Gamertell’s 2Bits, where writers debate opposing sides of video game issues.

For this round, Gamertell writers ponder the Entertainment Electronics Expo (aka E3) and whether or not it should be an industry-only event or open its doors to the public.

While most debates have two sides, we’re adding a third for your reading pleasure because, let’s face, some people simply don’t care if E3 is open to the public or not. Sure, we should probably call it “3Bits” this week but, hey, who ever said we have to follow the rules?

E3 – Open, Closed or Who Really Cares

• E3 should open its doors, let the people flow
• Keep those E3 doors closed
• It doesn’t matter whether E3 goes public or not

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) recently announced that E3 2009 will be expanding into something that more closely resembles the massive spectacle the event used to be known for, as opposed to the smaller E3 Media & Business Summit of recent years (2007‒2008).

In response to this news, the International Data Group (IDG) has confirmed that the E for All Expo will not be making a comeback in 2009. Speaking with Joystiq, an IDG spokesperson confirmed that the organization’s “focus now turns to E3.”

An ESA spokesperson explained…

After getting shut down, resurrected by new owners, moved to a new venue and taking place two month earlier than normal, the Mid-Ohio-Con (aka MOC) was this past weekend (October 4-5, 2008) at the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH (USA). The convention is typically a showcase for Ohio area comic book artists and stores with a smattering of additional celebrity guests and other goodies.

There were two videogame booths a the MOC, one for Ninja Gaiden and the other was promoting Soul Calibur IV. There were a few celebrities, several big-name comic artists, the Batmobile and costumes aplenty…

Stubb’s Bar-B-Q in Austin Texas is set to host the second annual Expo for Interactive Entertainment, Independent and Original on March 6, 2008. The event, announced this Tuesday (January 15, 2008) and cleverly abbreviated E.I.E.I.O., will be an instantly memorable acronym for fans of the children’s song classic regarding Mr. McDonald’s ownership of a farm.

Gamecock Media Group has teamed up with South by Southwest for this year’s events. The less cleverly dubbed “SXSWeek” (missing a ‘W’ there guys, you have to follow the rules) will run March 7-16 with the Interactive portion running March 7-11. Among the development companies already slated for E.I.E.I.O are Wideload, Red Fly Studio, Spark Unlimited, Replay Studios, Firefly Studios, and Timegate Studios. The show will include demos of Hail to the Chimp, Section 8, Mushroom Men, Legendary, Sabotage, Dungeon Hero, and Insecticide. More developers and games will be announced later.

Plans for the evening concert included this interesting plea built right into the press release:

E.I.E.I.O. 2008 will be an all day event at Stubb?s and will lead into a concert that evening. The evening shenanigans will be open to the local gaming public (via tickets issued prior to the event). Gamecock is hoping to feature bands with members of the gaming press in them for the concert, so if you write about games and play in a band, please contact {encode=”press@gamecockmedia.com” target=external title=”press@gamecockmedia.com”} about bookings.

I’m going to be honest with you. I was once in a little band by the name of “Cock of the Rock.” People didn’t like the name. And why not? It’s obviously phallic, and thusly…

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is all about games and gamers. Lots of games. Lots of games and lots of gamers. Games of all types and gamers of all shapes and sizes. If you can play it, it will likely be there in some form for you to enjoy.

This year, PAX 07 has moved to downtown Seattle, WA, for the three-day event being held from 2 p.m., August 24, 2007 to 6 p.m., August 26, 2007, at the The Washington State Convention and Trade Center. The larger venue was necessary to accommodate the annually increasing size of the event. The first PAX. held in 2004 in Bellevue. WA, had 3,300 attendees and more than 30,000 are expected to attend this year. Tickets are $50 for the entire three-day event.

Penny Arcade recently announced the full lineup of activities for this year’s iteration of PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo), set for August 24-26, 2007 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. This year is going to be big for the game-culture convention, with 22,000 pre-registered guests already signed up for the festivities.

PAX started in 2004 and has more than quintupled its attendance rate since, featuring upcoming games, speakers, panels, concerts and other game culture goodness every year. 2007 will be no different, with events as diverse as a speed run showcase, a girls in games panel, and a (real life) Jenga tournament.

Highlights include a…

The fourth annual Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) , an event meant for gamers of all types, ages and creeds, has moved to a new location and increased its floorspace from last years’s event. Created by Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik, the goofy duo who brought you the Penny-Arcade webcomic, PAX has been doubling in size each year starting with only a few thousand attendees and, now, needing room for tens of thousands.

PAX07 will take place August 24-26, 2007, at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in downtown Seattle, WA.

Click through for more details including the complete list of exhibitors…

While the debate rages on about whether or not videogames themselves are art, collections of game-inspired art are gaining popularity. Case in point: The Into the Pixel art exhibition to be shown this July (11-13, 2007) at E3 2007 and opened to the public at the E for All Expo at the LA convention center more »