TalonMan's Epic E3 Journey: From Patty Melts to Booth Babes - P2 - Article
by Pat Fass , posted on 20 June 2010 / 2,192 Views
Introduction
In the articles that follow, I will be bringing you along my fantastic adventure through Downtown LA - from the pre-flight jitters to the mess my final leg of the journey became, I will detail every exciting moment of this trip. I will outline what the E3 experience delivered for me - while giving you a glimpse into what it was like to meet some of the 'anonymous' personas of VGChartz that up till this weekend, I had only known through IM's and avatar pictures.
So, take a break from the bombardment of E3 media for a few minutes - sit back and enjoy the ride, as we hit the ground running and explore my very first E3 journey...
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Sunday - June 13th, 2010
Pre-E3: Welcome to the LA Convention Center
8:20am - We're awake. Ok, so I didn't get a TON of sleep and the sleep I did get, wasn't all that great - sleeping on the floor has a way of twisting one's back in a terrible way. Funny though, it really didn't seem to matter. I was excited about getting the chance to finally see what it was about E3 that made it so amazing. Besides, a nice long shower has a way of clearing your mind and making the day seem brighter. Jacob made his first of many comments aimed at my age (35 yrs old, thank you - not 45!!) and offers to give me the bed tonight. I will let this one slide as I'm smart enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and will gladly take the bed over the floor again.
10:00am - Everyone is showered, cleaned up, and ready to go. We gather up our cameras and head down to the Convention center. Two things I notice about LA upon my first trip out into the daylight:
1) The town pretty much goes to sleep on Sundays. There were barely any cars in the street, and I couldn't quite wrap my head around that. Coming from northern New Jersey and being 15 minutes from the heart of Manhattan, I have NEVER seen a single moment in time that the streets weren't packed with cars. It could be 3am on a Sunday and there would be gridlock.
2) E3 pretty much takes over the town. You couldn't walk 5 feet without being reminded about videogames. Giant billboards, decorated taxis and shuttles - everywhere you looked, videogames were in your face.
Anyway, we trudge on down (it's about a one mile walk from the hotel to the center) and are immediately greeted with Sony's massive 'THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING' banner, which is draped across the highest point of the convention center. Dean is snapping pictures left and right, and seeing the high-tech camera he has, I realize my crappy digital camera is a waste to even carry around.
We made our way inside, and my first impression was - this place is big. I mean REALLY big. Thankfully, Brett had been here before so he was kind of my tour guide. Pointing out where the two main halls were, where the media meeting areas were, etc. Things were pretty chaotic inside as contractors were bustling about and setting things up for the big event. The registration booths were in place, but we would not be allowed to actually get our badge holders until tomorrow. So for now, our work was done. Initial pictures had been taken and we scoped out the layout, time to head back to the hotel and catch up with the rest of the VGChartz group that was still en route.
11:30am - We are on our way back to the hotel and just as Brett is about to stop off and get something to drink, we hear a 'Hey Brett!' shouted to us from up the street - it's Brian with the first group of arrivals. And with that, our head count quickly changes from 5 to 11. We decide to duck into Riordan's Tavern for a quick brunch (and a few beers for the legal folk!) and get into introductions... ...well, sort of. I still only knew about 10 of the 20 or so people that came to this conference, so if there is one regret I have - that's it. But I recognized Nick right away as well as Brian and a few others, and we settled in for a nice meal.
2:30pm - After the new arrivals took a quick tour of the convention center, we all met up back at the hotel. Another group of VGChartzers arrived at that time, so now we were up to about 16. Unfortunately, Keith had booked all of the other rooms in his name so nobody could check-in until he arrived, which wasn't going to be for awhile. So, everyone grabbed their bags and headed up to the only room we 'officially' had at this point, and piled in. We got to the room and I was amazed by the way everyone immediately went about their business - as if having 16 people (with luggage) crammed into one 20x20 room was the norm. Brett was on the website, checking things out and making sure everything was in order. Dean and Liam were working through the sound and video equipment, testing out their procedures. Nick was punching away at the to-do list for the VGChartz party... ...and I was sitting around doing nothing - I'm good at that, afterall.
3:45pm - We make our way to the Bottega Louie restaurant for Brett's VGChartz staff dinner. We ordered about 8 different pizzas and I will say, this was some REALLY good pizza which says alot - as a Jersey guy, I'm bombarded by pizzerias everywhere I go so I've pretty much tried it all. So for me to be impressed, you know this had to be good. All the pizzas were baked in a brick oven and were made with fresh mozzarella. We had some with the standard pepperoni or sausage, and others that were more exotic with arugula or prosciutto. Very tasty!
6:00pm - Brett and Dean set off to go to the Microsoft Natal conference with Nick and Brian, I decide to head down to the hotel bar, Liam eventually joins me and Jacob is hanging in the room to work on some articles. I watch the Celtics/Lakers game to conclusion, and have a nice chat with Liam. We talk about everything from where he lives and what it's like in his town, to the American obsession with football (no, not that "soccer" thing!), to the art of tipping bartenders in America. It is at this time I discover a new British expression as Liam asks to "pinch a cigarette from me" - those crazy Brits, what will they think of next??? Oh yeah, a few days later he asked to "crash a cigarette from me" - my, oh my.
As the night wears on, a guy who's just returned from the Natal event (now called Kinect) walks into the bar and sounds very irritated by the whole thing - can't wait to hear Brett and Dean's take on all of this.
9:00pm - Dean and Brett are back and are not particularly thrilled with what had transpired at the event - Brett so much, I can barely get him to talk about it. So, it's time to head out and get some REAL drinks. I'm not particularly sure at this point where we are actually going and I'm just following the small mob of VGChartz guys as we stroll down 7th Street. Evan decides to stop at some street vendor for some food... ...cow's tongue to be exact. Now, I'm all for eating and trying different things, but cow's tongue is really not something my pallet will allow me to digest - never mind actually buying something like this from a STREET VENDOR! **barf** But, he seems to like it so what more can I say.
9:30pm - We arrive at the Broadway Bar where we were to be holding our VGChartz party the next evening. The place is packed - unbeknownst to me, this was actually supposed to be another 'party'. The Kotaku party, to be exact. It didn't actually feel like any party I had ever been to before. There was no live music and nothing that would make you feel like anybody was actually sponsoring some kind of event. It was just wall-to-wall people, yelling at each other to have a conversation and mobbing the bar to get a drink. It wasn't until long after we left the bar, that I was informed we were at the Kotaku party. Weird.
2:00am - The bar is closing and we have to leave. We start to head back to the hotel when Dean is struck by the urge for a patty melt. Half the group wants to go home, but the other half is determined to revisit the local IHOP. So we split up - Brett, Dean, Liam and myself head back to the scene of our crime. Brett's decided he too is going to take the plunge and dive into a patty melt himself and another foreigner is hooked on the goodness that is, IHOP.
3:30am - Our stomachs full, we head back to the hotel. When we get to the room, Jacob is sound asleep in the bed. Mother@#*&@#!!!! Oh well, I'm still not going to complain. I'm at E3 afterall!!! I'm in LA, sleeping in a nice hotel, no kids up my butt - do I really have anything to cry about???? I shut my mouth, curl up on the floor and off to sleep I go...
