Brandy

This post relates to: Dragon Age: Origins, Atari, Inc., Champions Online, Star Trek Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Legends of Norrath, Sony Online Entertainment, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Pokémon Diamond/Pearl

Thursday -

• 9-10 AM - Special hour in the dealer's hall, reserved for members of the press and VIG's (very important gamers - a bit complicated to explain here) - Quick stops by the Beyond Protocol MMORTS booth for a free t-shirt, the Winning Moves booth for a free board game, Fat Dragon Games booth for (hopefully) free dice and t-shirt, the Chainmaille Wench / Gamers for Humanity booth to meet some friends and donate to the cause, earning more free stuff
  
• 10-11AM - More dealer's hall goodness - continuing on booths listed in first hour
• 11-12PM - Pokemon Diamond / Pearl Meet-up in eGame arena (mainly to do a bunch of trading of the game specific Pokemon, and the ones that need to be traded to evolve)
• 12:30-1:30 PM - Meeting with Fantasy Flight Games over World of Warcraft, Starcraft, UFS, and perhaps Battlestar Gallactica board games (if there's time)
• 2-2:30 PM - Meeting with Seven Lights over the Continuum, an online collectible wargame
• 3-4 PM - Meeting with Sony Online Entertainment over Legends of Norrath and the new Star Wars Galaxies TCG
• 6-? PM - Dinner, Cardhalla, Consignment Store, etc.

Friday -

• 10-11:15 AM - Dealer's hall goodness
• 11:30-1 PM - Gamer Wenches lunch (a gaming group of which I am a member)
• 1(ish)-2:30 PM - Gaia Online Meet-up for free goodies
• 3-5 PM - Women in Gaming Seminar (run by the Gamer Wenches)
• 6-? PM - Dinner, Cardhalla, Consignment Store, etc.

Saturday -

• 10-12 PM - Dealer's hall goodness
• 12-1 PM - Animal Crossing meet-up in eGame arena (mainly to track down the fruit that my town lacks)
• 1-2:30 PM - Gaia Online Panel discussing new MMO entitled "zOMG!" Plus, more free goodies
• 4-6 PM - Costume Contest (audience member only - no cosplay for this girl)
• 6-10 PM - Dinner, Cardhalla, Consignment Store, etc.
• 10:30 PM - Cardhalla deconstruction
• 11-1 AM - Hentai Dubbing (simply because a few other Gamer Wenches are going, and watching something hilarious like this couldn't be passed up on)

Sunday -

• 10-11 AM - Freaky Creatures meeting - PC game involved in the Dell / Intel Extreme Gaming Tour
• 11-12 PM - Pirates of the Burning Sea meeting - One of the highest rated MMO's to come out in recent time
• 12-4 PM - Lots of time spent in the dealer's hall, meeting up with friends for one last lunch, game, etc. and seeing the end of the con proper
• 4-5(ish) PM - Packing and beginning the drive home from Indianapolis

• Cryptic Studios - Star Trek Online and Champions Online
• Matrix Games - PC games, mostly of the war and strategy genres
• Atari
• Bioware's Dragon Age - Demo/Trailer from E3 will apparently be available
• World of Warcraft Darkmoon Faire - think of a simple 10 x 10 booth with a couple of posters for a game, and then blow that up to fit into tens of thousands of square feet of meeting and exhibit space; that essentially is the Darkmoon Faire
• 4kids - Perhaps have coverage of TMNT's 25th anniversary, along with the Chaotic TCG
• Cloud Kingdom Games - riddle books for free swag!
• Tiny Mantis - Thugs! online game
• Gozer Games - Collateral Damage, anime themed board game
• Upper Deck - anything and everything gaming
• Wizkids - same as Upper Deck
• Ape Games - duck, duck, GO! board game
• X360 / Fable 2 booth - self-explanatory, no?
• EA Mythic - Warhammer Online
• Darkened Sky Studios - Chron X, an online TCG that is free to play
• Shard Studios - RPG's
• Konami Digital Entertainment - Blue Dragon RPTCG (role playing trading card game)
• Bandai America - lots of variety in gaming
• North Star Games - party games with the possibility of LOTS of swag!

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This post relates to: Atari, Inc., Sony Online Entertainment, Mythic Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

So, we’re less than three weeks away from my most anticipated trip of the year, that being my yearly trip to the Gen Con gaming convention held in Indianapolis, August 14^th-17^th.

Whoot!

Where my last two trips were one or two day affairs, this year I am doing it up right, coming into town on the 13^th to not only get acclimated but also to take part in a few unofficial events (like The Stink, the Weds night gathering of the Gen Con Community forum members), and perhaps meet a few friends for lunch or a quick pickup game on the DS.

While I will post more specific info about my schedule in the days immediately before the Con, I wanted to give everyone a quick (or maybe not) update as to where everything stands as of today.

I am currently about 1/3 of the way through emailing the companies on the (still very unfinished) Gen Con exhibitors list, asking them what sorts of things to expect at their booths at the Con, and whether or not they are scheduling meetings.

So far, I have had people approach me from SimplyFun Games, Fantasy Flight, and Wizards of the Coast (among others), and am looking forward to hearing from companies like Upper Deck, Wizkids, Sony Online Entertainment, EA Mythic, and even Atari (among MANY others).

Apart from setting up actual meetings, I will probably spend the majority of my time in the exhibitor’s hall as I did last year – walking around collecting swag, talking to fellow gamers, and trying demos of random games along the way.

Then there’s the (as of now unannounced – give it a week or so) yearly press conference that is held on opening day to look forward to, plus the fact that all members of the press get into the exhibitor’s hall an hour before the general public. The latter of which is especially exciting seeing as how this hour has been pushed up from last year, from 10:00 AM to 9:00 AM meaning that I get yet ANOTHER hour to play around.

One event I CAN'T afford - care to donate? ;)

And none of this includes the literally thousands of side events that I could take part in, with some that I have actually chosen being a “Women in Gaming” interactive seminar, two Gaia Online meetups, and multiple gatherings for DS games. Of course there are more, but why spill all of the details now?

And of course, as usual, you can expect all of my coverage on the event [including loads of previews, some general convention coverage and possibly some interviews – along with (what I hope is) hundreds of pictures] to be posted on GrrlGamer in the update immediately following the event. With so many articles from my two-day trip last year, I can only imagine how my workload will grow with four (official) days of gaming goodness this year!

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