Remember April’s week of nonstop gaming events? This was another one of those, except this time around, I had Stephen Totilo along for the ride.
Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sega, Ubisoft, Konami, Eidos Interactive and Sony — yes, all in that order — held media events this week in San Francisco. Some we’ve talked about already (more next week) and others we’ll have to stay quiet on a little while longer.
Needless to say, we’re a bit exhausted from it all. But as much as these intense weeks can wear on a person, they’re also very fun. Sometimes too much fun…
The larger the event, the more people there are. I’ve had a many friends move from games writing and into development. Luke Smith, friend and former news mentor, was my editor at 1UP before he shacked up with Bungie Studios and I took his old position. Despite both being on the west coast, we don’t see each other very often, but Microsoft’s event managed to bring him into town.
Good times were had late into the night. Let it be known the Microsoft and Bungie, including none other than “Gears of War”’s smooth-talking CliffyB, certainly know how to take advantage of a presidential hotel suite. But despite my careful ears, no “Gears of War” or “Halo” secrets were spilled.
I’ll get you next time, Luke! In the meantime, I’m left wondering what’s up with this sticker Bungie’s Frank O’Connor was handing out at Microsoft’s event.
Sometimes the experience of running into a friend who’s made the crossover ends up a complete distraction from the jobs both sides are supposed to be doing. My first interview at the Konami event on Wednesday night had me sitting down with Kojima Productions‘ Ryan Payton, once a games writer. We’ve shared hotel rooms and embarked on ridiculously late night treks in search of bottled water.
I hadn’t seen Ryan since he’d made Japan his new home, so we spent the first five minutes catching up with one another before I asked my first question about “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.” Not more than two or three questions later, my time was up and it was onto the next of Konami’s speed dating-style interviews with their developers.
Most of the week was your standard press junket, though. An hour or so of announcements followed by a few hours of demos with each publisher’s lineup. From there, the press hops into a shuttle and move to the next one.
Sometimes we walk.
Oh, and if you’ve been disappointed some of your favorite games didn’t show up — i.e. “Spore “ was conspicuously absent from EA’s event — there’s no reason to worry. There are more events to come in the time ahead of E3 in July. EA, for example, has another event for the press in June, just a few weeks ahead of E3 itself. Chances are, “Spore” will be there. I still haven’t played it.
For now, I’m just happy the weekend’s here.