E3 organiser reportedly calls police to close Ouya booth

The long-running conflict between the ESA and makers of the Ouya micro-console has taken a hilarious turn for the worst at this year’s E3.

Ouya founder Julie Uhrman reports that ESA, the organisers behind E3, called the police to close down their booth.

Why, you ask? Well, prior to this year’s E3, Ouya confirmed that it would be demonstrating its product at this year’s convention, all be it in a slightly unconventional way – by renting a car park opposite the E3 expo.

Instead of renting a booth inside the main E3 hall, which is housed in the LA Convention Center, Ouya opted to rent an entire parking lot facing the centre.

A clever idea indeed, but one that didn’t sit well with the ESA.

Now, Uhrman has told IGN that the organisation allegedly called the LAPD in to close down the Ouya booth. However, a quick flick through the firm’s permits and the law officials were off on their way.

This is where it gets interesting, as tweets posted by Uhrman and the official Ouya Twitter account indicate the ESA – not wanting to have its ejection plans foiled by the legal system – opted to switch to plan b.

Nothing's gonna stop us 🙂 “@playouya: Hmmm I wonder who parked this semi in front of #OUYApark stay tuned in #E3 https://t.co/NYnZnvbExP”

— Julie Uhrman 🏝⚽️🚀 (@juhrman) June 11, 2013

The latest incident saw a mysterious semi-truck parked directly in front of the Ouya booth – a truck that is believed to have been placed by the mischievous ESA.

If the hilarity of the situation hadn’t yet reached its peak, it was to do so shortly, as Ouya then carried out its own plot of revenge on the trucks allegedly parked by the ESA.

Without stating the obvious, Uhrman followed up with a new Vine post, which revealed a Ouya banner placed directly in front of the aforementioned semi-truck.

BAM “@playouya: You thought a little semi truck was going to stop our #OUYApark? You were wrong #E3 open to… https://t.co/Lt3CDIQ3cO”

— Julie Uhrman 🏝⚽️🚀 (@juhrman) June 11, 2013

In case you’re a little lost, here’s a catch up: Ouya rents parking lot to host stand, ESA calls the police to close Ouya stand but fails, ESA rents parking space to block Ouya stand with semi-truck, Ouya responds by renting the space in front of the ESA truck to place a banner.

Absolute insanity, but after all, it’s LA folks.

It would be interesting to know quite how much all of these antics have since cost both firms – if reports are correct – and if they outweigh the initial costs of Ouya simply renting a stand in the main E3 expo hall.

Of course, it’s safe to say this isn’t about money anymore, it’s about pride.

Image from Ouya Twitter feed