zrath

I had a very busy week indeed.
It all started on Monday June 2nd.
I got up, ran various errands, then contacted ultraken to make dinner plans.
He was in town for E3 and we had never done lunch while he was working in L.A., so this seemed like the
perfect opportunity. He picked me up at 8pm and we went to the local Poquito Mas.
I accidentally ordered refried beans instead of black beans on my chicken nachos and it actually made
the nachos taste better! I will have to remember that. We ate and chatted a lot. Ultra is a talker. :)
We went back to the Kzinti Freehold to chat some more, drink, and look at stuff online.
He eventually left some time after 1am. It was cool to meet him and talk about stuff.

Tuesday June 3rd: Run various errands, nothing special. Created and printed business cards for E3.


Wednesday June 4th: on that day, I went to E3. (Electronic Entertainment Expo)
E3 is the videogame industry's main tradeshow, and I've attended an awful lot of them. They're held in
Los Angeles, at the Convention Center in Downtown, except for two that were held in Atlanta, Georgia,
for no logical reason I could discern. I did not attend those Atlanta shows.
Three years ago, E3 was downgraded to a small mostly-press event without any booths.
This year marked the return to the old more massive tradeshow format, so I was pretty excited to go.
I arrived at around noon, picked up my badgeholder and went right in. No lines at registration.
The show was about 2/3rds the size of the last big one, which made it easier to navigate and see stuff.
It was also light on freebies, which is not too surprizing. I got free issues of Official XBox magazine,
Official PlayStation magazine, and the July 2009 issue of Edge, the intelligent Brit game magazine.
I got some "Tony Hawk Ride" and "Trauma Team" stickers (shaped like big bandaids).
Electronic Arts' booth may not have been the biggest, but it was definitely the LOUDEST. The damn thing
had Sensuround and the floor vibrated with the bass. I can't even remember what they were showing.
Oh wait, yeah, I remember three different "Need For Speed" games. Hmmmm, that's it.
Square-Enix had the biggest screen and didn't allow photography of the latest Final Fantasy trailer.
Activision's booth was the most fun, with the new Tony Hawk game controlled by a wheel-less skateboard.
You stand on the board and do the tricks you normally would and it translates the motion to the screen.
You can also "pump" with your foot to gain speed because the board sees your foot gping by. It's nifty!
DJ Z-Trip was performing live and demonstrating his skills at mixing together tracks with very different
styles and beats. Which is the mark of a true DJ, and something that DJ Pascal excelled at.
Ironically, Activision announced "DJ Hero", the next evolution of "Guitar Hero". Hmmmmmm...
I tried a "Michael Bay-inspired" racing game at the Disney booth called "Split Second". It had lots of
SPLOSIONS! and a race course that changed based on said SPLOSIONS! It was only playable in 3rd-person
view and had the game HUD placed under the rear bumper of your car, something I found unworkable.
There's a bumper crop of Lego games on the way! There's "Lego Rock Band", "Lego Indiana Jones 2",
"Lego Battles" (on the DS), and "Lego Harry Potter".
I gave "WipeOut HD Fury" a whirl at the Sony booth and I was weirded out at how twisty the tracks were and
how slow the sled seemed to be going. I also kept bouncing off the sidewalls a lot. This is the not the
WipEout I know and love.
Woot.com had a booth, for some strange reason. They're not a game publisher after all.
There was nobody there when I swung by, but the sign said they were coming back.
Ubi-Soft had a small mech parked in their booth. Several photos of it and other E3 snaps are here.
I saw a lot of sequels and also some games brought back from the dead, like "Red Faction".
And there sure are a lot of games set in decrepit urban landscapes. Look at the nicely rendered rust! :)
I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever see a clean city again.
I did E3 on the cheap. Parking at the Grand Avenue parking facility was only $5 for the whole day.
I ate at home before leaving and brought a frozen Gatorade with me to handle rehydration.
So I only spent $5 and whatever gas was needed to get to E3 and back. Not bad!


Tune in next time for exciting tales of unicorn guest star and Califur adventures!