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 14-17.

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 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!