TalonMan's Epic E3 Journey: From Patty Melts to Booth Babes - P4 - Article
by Pat Fass , posted on 23 June 2010 / 2,294 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
Tuesday - June 15th, 2010
E3 Day 1: Thank God For Nintendo
8:00am - I sense a presence nudging my leg. It's Brett, it's 8am, I'm still drunk, and he's ready to head out for the conference. Oh dear GOD - what was I thinking?!?!? The one event I was waiting for most and somehow I have to drag my drunken carcass to this show??? This is not going to be good at all.
8:30am - I can tell Brett's not in the best of shape either as we stumble out to the lobby like a couple of zombies. When we get out there, we're politely informed that we've missed the last shuttle to the conference by 5 minutes. CRAP!!!! Nothing we can do now but hoof it - ugh. Why, oh WHY, did we have to have our party the night before this??? Oh well, enough crying. It's time to put on the big boy shoes and tough it out - how many times am I going to get a chance to sit in on a conference like this??? So, we start walking. The Nokia theater is almost next door to the Convention Center, so it wasn't all that far away - but a mile of walking when you're uncomfortably hung-over is simply not fun.
8:45am - We arrive at the plaza in front of the theater and as we check-in, it appears that when Brett printed out his invitation he failed to notice that none of the images printed out (including the bar-code that they scan). Hey Brett - you're a tech guy! You didn't notice the little box with the red 'x' that printed on the piece of paper??? So, Brett had to get on a secondary line to get a PROPER registration form while I sat down with a bottle of water and tried to get my head fixed.
9:00am - We're in! This is great, I can't wait till the show starts - anticipation is palatable everywhere in the entire theater. How exciting!!! I won't bother to detail every minute of the conference here - there are many other articles on the site that have already done that - all I will say is that seeing some of these games announced nearly brought a tear to my eye...
...and then, just as I thought I had enough - they announce the 3DS. Now, that was a great moment by itself - I won't lie. Of course, it was impossible to see and know what it would actually PLAY like, simply by looking at the demo unit and some promo material - but just the possibility was enough to get the heart pumping. As my mind was wandering, trying to imagine what a game might look like, Reggie announces 160 (I know this number, because while at the event I had asked one of the Nintendo ladies how exactly Nintendo could locate so many beautiful girls at one time) of the most beautiful women I have ever seen (next to my wife, of course!) - each one, walking up the aisles and lovingly carrying a Nintendo 3DS. I was dead, I knew it. Forget the notion of dying and being surrounded by virgins - THIS was the death I wanted. Dying and being surrounded by gorgeous women with Nintendo 3DS's. WOW!!! Whatever effects I was suffering from the night's previous party, went right out the window!!! Thank you Nintendo - you have discovered the cure for hangovers!!!!
10:40am - The conference is over and Brett and I make our way to the shuttle that will take us back to the hotel. We grab a seat, and wait... ...and wait... ...and wait. Finally, we both agree we can just walk it back. I stop and ask the woman outside the shuttle when it will be heading back and I'm informed - not till 11am at the earliest, and not until it's full. She was less than pleasant and I knew I met my match. So, we walked it back to the hotel.
12:00pm - We get back to the hotel and after sitting for about an hour, it's time to turn around and walk back down to the convention center to see what's going on. Doors are open, let the free-for-all begin!!! Jacob and I walk down together and make quick work of the show floor. At this point, I'm starting to get a bit woozy. From the lack of sleep, to the hangover, to the lights and sounds and mobs of people, I'm simply in no shape for any of this. Jacob and I do manage to scour nearly every inch of both the South and West halls - I get a peek at Donkey Kong Country and Kirby, watch some people demoing the PS3 Move, check out Epic Mickey, and marvel at all the beautiful women that are packed into this place. After a few hours, I simply can't take anymore and I leave Jacob to his own devices as I make my way back to the hotel.
2:00pm - I get back to the room and immediately pass out.
6:30pm - I wake up. Everybody's back in the room and I can only imagine how loud I was probably snoring. Egads!!! Time for a shower - need to wash that hangover off.
7:00pm - Brett, Dean, and Jacob are getting ready to head over to Pachter's party. Liam is passed out on the couch, so I take the opportunity to play my DS and just chill out for awhile. One thing that did occur to me at this point as I heard a helicopter buzzing by over head - Game 6 of the Celtics/Lakers game was going on right down the street. Being from the East Coast, it never occurred to me that a game of such magnitude wouldn't be played during "prime time" - but what is considered "prime time" on the East Coast is 8pm, so of COURSE the game would have to start at 5pm! Funny how the dumbest things are hard to comprehend at times. And how cruddy it must be for people in LA to have to try and get to a basketball game in the middle of rush hour!!!
9:00pm - Brett and company come back from the party. Dean hops onto his laptop to start uploading stuff to the site, Jacob is busy writing articles, Liam is still sleeping, and Brett passes out in the first bed he comes near. I haven't eaten dinner yet, so I figure I will see if I can find a decent sushi place nearby. A quick Google of Downtown LA sushi bars points me to a place called Takami Sushi & Robata - it's gotten great reviews so I figure I'll give it a shot. It's not even a block away so I make my way over - so good, I can barely describe. If you're a sushi fan, you would die for the fish they had hear. Fresh, fresh, FRESH!!!! Good God, I wish I was there right now. The funny part of the whole thing is, I would find out later that Pachter's little shindig was held in the lounge right next door to this restaurant - I had no idea and thought I had managed to stumble on a hidden secret, yet Brett had just been next door eating the same damn food!!!
11:00pm - Brett wakes up long enough to rearrange his sleeping location and put proper sleep attire on, and immediately goes back to sleep. Figuring I want to get an early jump the next day at the Convention Center, I choose to do the same. There will be no patty melts tonight, but I do get the bed once again...
