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Blog Time Capsule: E3 1999 - Day 2

Come with me to good old days. The days of May 1999. It was the second day of E3 '99 in downtown Los Angeles. There were games to play, wrestlers to meet, and booth babe photo ops to be had. Here's the journal I wrote for my old PlayStation Underground website twelve years ago. I'm old!

E3 1999 - Day 2

South Hall Entrance
South Hall Entrance

Well, I woke up Friday morning ready for nine hours of walking the show floor. I got ready, caught a cab to the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center and, since I was a little early, I went up to the food court inside. I got a huge, kick-ass blueberry muffin. It was the best muffin ever. It had...wait a minute...I'm talking about a damn muffin?! Uhhh...let's get inside the show...

Acclaim - WWF Attitude
Acclaim - WWF Attitude

The first thing I did when I entered the show was go straight back to the Acclaim booth and play some more WWF Attitude. I couldn't get enough of this game. Playing four player hardcore matches is fun as hell. Then, after playing I had the oppurtunity to talk in length with one of the Acclaim representatives about the game. He was very informative and unbelievably nice to answer my questions. He said they were shooting for a July release on the PlayStation and an August release on the Nintendo 64. Disappointing to some are the late dates but once you play the game, you won't care anymore.

Then, still in the mood for wrestling stuff, I went across the walkway to the Electronic Arts booth. There still stood the WCW ring from the match from the day before, but now all around it were TV's setup to play WCW Mayhem . While I was playing the game I noticed a guy in a suit standing behind me. I asked if he wanted to join in and to my surprise he said "No thanks. I work here." He then asked me how I liked the game and other questions like if I'd played Attitude yet and what I thought of the gameplay. I knew exactly what he was doing, but I was glad to give him the feedback. He was actually really cool about it, and when I asked him what he was shooting for as a release date he told me they were hoping to make it out before Christmas. After all that wrestling talk, I wanted to move onto something new, something I hadn't seen yet.

Activision - Vigilante 8
Activision - Vigilante 8

I started wandering around the floor and ran into something odd. A full size prison bus was sticking straight up into the air at the Activision booth. That could mean only one thing...Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense. The speed and animation of the vehicles and projectiles just makes this game ten times more fun. When a game plays that smoothly, it makes for a better game, always. And that certainly is the case for V8 2. There's this one new motorcycle type vehicle that is bad ass. It's so short and low to the ground that it's hard to hit unless the enemy fires heat seekers. You gotta play this game. Behind me, I heard a loud uproar and yelling. I turned around and couldn't see what it was until I looked over the wall of Panasonic's booth and noticed the Eidos logo that rested above their jumbotron. Gee, I wonder where I went next...hmmm...I don't know.

Lara Weller as Lara Croft
Lara Weller as Lara Croft
Either I'm a giant or she's tiny. Or both. Could be both.
Either I'm a giant or she's tiny. Or both. Could be both.

Entering the Eidos booth, I realized what everyone was all excited about. Center stage, seated on the Harley, toting two shiny guns was Lara Croft in the flesh...if that's possible. Of course, I pushed through the massive crowd of men and took some pictures. Then, Don, an Eidos employee who got the lucky job of MC'ing the whole deal, said that it was Polaroid time. One of the Eidos booth babes made her way to the front of the stage with a camera and Don picked people from the crowd to come up onto the stage, sit on the bike with Lara, and get your very own picture with her. The Eidos booth was the loudest, most popular, and the most fun place to be at the show in my opinion. If you just wanted to come and have a good time, Eidos was it. Lara Weller, the model portraying Lara Croft, was really taking a lot of heckling from the crowd but seemed to be having fun anyways. When I got to go up there I asked if she was having fun doing all of this and she said "Are you kidding? I'm having a blast." She was really nice. One of the funniest things I saw at the show was when one guy called Don over and asked if he could sit in the front. Don said "So, you wanna sit on the front of the bike? Are you crazy? You wanna get your head shot off?" And the guy replied "Uh...YEAH!" So he sat on the front of the bike facing Lara and she put one of her guns to his head as they took the picture.

Midway - Michael Buffer
Midway - Michael Buffer

After that, I decided to make my way over to the West Hall but on my way through to the exit of the South Hall something caught my ear. Llllllllet's Get Ready RRRRRRRUMBLLLLLLLLE! That's right, Michael Buffer himself was standing in a mini boxing ring with two swimsuit models at the Midway booth. They were promoting Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, one of the surprise smash hits with the crowd at E3. The game is all out fun. After shaking Buffer's hand, I played R2R with one of the Midway guys. As we played, he told me that in the end there will be 20 fighters and even more combos and special punches different for every fighter. I think this is the game that really sold me on the Dreamcast. I had been a skeptic before E3 '99 but after seeing the differences between the N64 R2R and the DC R2R...the choice was simple. Nothing contends with Dreamcast's graphics capability and framerate...except if you include the PS2 demos that I'll get to later.

Acclaim - Randall Cunningham
Acclaim - Randall Cunningham

Then, again something kept me inside the South Hall as I attempted to make my way out. Randall Cunningham was signing autographs at the Acclaim booth to promote NFL QuarterBack Club 2000. The line was really long so I didn't get an autograph but I got picture of him. He seemed really nice as he talked with the fans and was laughing all the time. Anyway, I was finally on my way to the home of the "big 3," the West Hall.The main entrance of the West Hall brings you right in front of the THQ booth. Their booth had plenty of WWF posters and periphinalia but no game on show. THQ is picking up the WWF license in November when Acclaim drops it. Since no game was showing, I decided to ask one of the THQ representatives. The guy said that it wasn't ready for showing yet but he had seen it and it's looking great. The new WWF game is running on a souped up version of the Revenge engine. Just thinking about it makes me wanna see it more. That's all the info he could give me though.

Then, I walked around the corner to the PlayStation booth and right in front of a huge Um Jammer Lammy display. I had played this game the day before in the scavenger hunt thing that Sony had going and I couldn't resist playing it again. The game's captivating element is its sound, and Sony capitalized on that by equipping every Lammy station with a set of headphones to wear so you could really hear it well.

Sony Booth
Sony Booth

After that, I walked up the ramp to the catwalk and into a little room up there. It was entirely dedicated to Final Fantasy VIII. There was one giant screen running the intro video to the game. I watched it twice it was so good. Then, to the left of that video wall were about four stations set up to play FF8. I really don't have to say that it's a must buy...but I just did anyway. Final Fantasy needs no explanation. I could know nothing about the next one and see it in a store one day and not think twice before buying it.

Sony
Sony

When I came down the stairs, I noticed a woman holding a mic up to a guy and they were both staring at some type of screen. I got closer and joined the onlooking crowd to see what was going on. On the screen was Crash Bandicoot and you could actually talk to him and ask him questions as he moved around. He even made the right facial expressions and stuff. There was a guy in the back room with a motion-capture type mask on who could see you on a screen and he would talk back to you. Really cool technology and the guy was pretty funny too. Later in the day when I passed by, it was Spyro the Dragon on the screen. Someone asked if he and Crash were friends. Spyro joked that he wasn't included in Crash Team Racing because Crash knew Spyro would "toast" him.

Well, the Nintendo booth was right behind me at that point, so I decided to go back in and check things out again. Of course, I had to go right back to Donkey Kong 64. This game is going to be a best seller no doubt. If an original title like Banjo Kazooie can sell so well, imagine what a title that everyone's already familiar with can do. The graphics are simply amazing with the 4MB Expansion Pak, which will packed in the game. It looks a lot like Banjo but once you play it you'll notice the differences. While walking around the area I spotted something I'd wished for and never thought it actually happen. Excitebike 64! I couldn't believe it. I know it'll be nothing like the old NES classic, but it just brings back so many memories...knocking over other racers with your back tire, creating your own tracks, and even the music still sticks in my head. Okay, okay. Back to 1999 now. Excitebike 64 is fully 3D of course but sadly you couldn't play it yet, only a video demo.

The famous duck.
The famous duck.

Then I remembered, I hadn't played the PlayStation 2 yet. I skipped it because the line was so long on Day 1 but when I walked over there it was pretty small but many onlookers. There were 3 different demos on display in the big silver pyramid. One was Gran Turismo. If you thought GT looked good now, wait til you see it in action on the PS2. Words don't describe the realism of the graphics. Even the smoke from the burning rubber of an out of control tire looks real as it drifts off into the wind...it's perfect! The second demo was the Rubber Ducky. Sounds pretty dumb but it was simply put up to show you the graphical capabilities of the system. You controlled a rubber duck in a small swimming pool. The camera never moved but you could dive down and knock around the intertube and other toys in the pool. The whole point was to awe you with the realism of the water and the ripple effects. And guess what...it worked. It looks amazingly real. The final demo shown was the Facial Animation demo. Some old dude's head was show on the TV. On the right side was a menu to use and you torque this guys face to any expression you desired. It's not a cartoony face, it looks like a real person and you could make him look any way you wanted. It was quite impressive.

After putting my eyes back in the sockets, I decided to go over to the Sega booth. Games like Soul Calibur and Sega Rally really look great. But as I was playing Sonic Adventure, someone says "Hey, did you see Booker T over at Tiger?" Overhearing this I asked when and the guy said now. You know what that means...I going back to the South Hall.

Booker T didn't always have long hair.
Booker T didn't always have long hair.

I got back into the South Hall and raced to the Tiger booth where I found a line of people and could see Booker T, five time WCW Television Champion, signing at their front desk. There was a Tiger employee standing next to me when I got there and he said "You're the last guy." I was feeling lucky then. Everyone that showed up after me was turned away. But then they told me that they might not have enough pictures for him to sign. Even though I'd have loved to have an 8x10 signed, I told them I'd just like to shake his and get my picture with him if I could. Me and three others didn't get an 8x10 but he was really nice and signed my Polaroid. I asked him when he was getting his belt back and he said "I'm looking for bigger and better things bro. It's US Title time now." I said thanks and walked off...that was cool.

The King
The King

I looked down at my watch and saw it was almost 3:00. Hey, time for more wrestling stuff! Jerry "The King" Lawler was to appear at the Acclaim booth from 3-5pm. So I walked over there to find a huge, long ass line but I had to get into it. The line took about fifteen minutes but that was okay because I met a cool guy from PlayStationInteractive.com, Jason Rivera. We talked about the WWF and other stuff going on at E3. I took his picture with Lawler as he got his 8x10 and he gave me his card. When it was my turn I asked Lawler "When are you guys ever going to come to Georgia?" He shrugged and said that they had one scheduled at the Georgia Dome but got cancelled. I had known about this so I then asked him if he had finished the movie Man on the Moon with Jim Carrey. It's a movie on the life of comedian Andy Kauffman. Lawler said they had finished and it'd be out on November 5th. I shook his hand and said thanks and walked off.

Angel Boris and Nikki Ziering are why E3 exists.
Angel Boris and Nikki Ziering are why E3 exists.
Eidos
Eidos

After all that standing in line, I stopped by the Eidos booth again. They were starting to do polaroids with the Eidos booth babes. I yelled with the rest of the crowd to be picked and eventually I was lucky enough to get up there. After they stopped the photo ops, they brought Lara back out and that kept the crowd going.I'd seen enough Eidos for the day so and didn't want to miss other stuff at the show so I left.

I walked down the aisles and found myself at the Fox Interactive booth and that's where something really freaky happened. As I walked by looking at their sports wall, someone walked straight into my shoulder. I look at him as he goes by and he turns and says "Sorry." Then I pulled a double take and realized that it was one of those friggin' Hanson kids, the middle one I think. I thought it was just a look-a-like or something at first but then when I sat down to play Fox's NHL game (not good) I look to my left at the next station and there's the youngest Hanson kid. What in the hell is going on here I thought to myself. So I got up to go try Croc 2 and as I walked by, two Fox guys were talking to each other and one said "So did you see those Hanson kids running around here?" Well, that proved it to myself that I wasn't having a nightmare, they were actually there. Some of those Fox sports games are pretty bad if you ask me and with that and Hanson in the same area I had to get out of there.

That's what we all came to see, obviously.
That's what we all came to see, obviously.

It was getting closer to closing time so I headed over to one of my favorite booths of the show, Midway. They had a really cool simulator set up for Hydro Thunder. The line wasn't long since it was the end of the day so got in line. Once inside, they closed the side door and the video screen came on. The ride was pretty cool. The twists and turns almost made you fall out of your seat. After getting out of that thing I played Ready 2 Rumble Boxing with these other guys in a winner stays type deal. It was cool. That's one of my favorite things about being at E3, interacting with other gamers that you would never meet otherwise. The whole experience is really different than you'd ever expect.

Well, once again, the lights came on in the LACC signaling everyone to pack up and go home. So we did. And I caught a shuttle back to the Bonaventure.Day 2 was history and only one day remained. Gotta make the best of it. It's my last chance for an another entire year. So what if my feet hurt and my back is about to give out? This is E3 dammit and I'm gonna keep going.

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Blog Time Capsule: E3 1999 - Day 1

Last week I shared with you a diary entry (we didn't call it blogging back then) from E3 1998. This week I bring you the adventures of the first day of E3 1999. Again, this was written twelve years ago, so keep that in mind. This was the first time I'd ever been to the west coast. On top of that, I flew out there alone. I had just turned 18 and it was during the second to last week of my senior year of high school. I don't really remember how I pulled off getting out of school for a week right at the end of high school, but I'm glad it all worked out. I flew out on Tuesday and met my friend Gary Barth at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles. I got to tag along with him for the day visiting Universal Studios (the them park and the game publisher's offices). The offices were decked out in all things Crash and Spyro at the time. We met up with some of his friends for dinner at a place across from Mann's Chinese Theater. This happened to be the week that dozens of people were camping on the sidewalk in preparation for Star Wars Episode I. Man...remember that? We also went by Naughty Dog's studio in Santa Monica.

Thanks to Gary, I was able to get a free room in the Westin since Sony had rented out just about the whole place. I just kinda hung out around the hotel area Wednesday and counted down the hours til Thursday morning. So, here's what I wrote shortly after getting home from the show...

E3 1999 - Year of the Dreamcast
E3 1999 - Year of the Dreamcast

E3 1999 - Day 1

Sony Breakfast - That's me barely in frame on the right.
Sony Breakfast - That's me barely in frame on the right.

Well, I had already spent two days in the "city of angels" and I was ready for the show to begin. I woke up at 7:30am in my Westin Bonaventure hotel room and got ready for Day 1. I went downstairs to meet Gary, producer of Underground, for breakfast and a meeting that he was supposed to have but it got called off so it was just Gary, Scott (Gary's main cameraman for UG), and I at breakfast. After we finished eating we spotted Alan, who I had met before at the past to E3's in Atlanta, and he showed us that there was a breakfast room set up for Sony to at and the rest of the PlayStation crew was already over there. Why no one told us still remains untold. They were all discussing business and their gameplans for the day at the show and after that we headed for the valet garage and it was off to the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC).Once we arrived in the parking garage at the LACC, Gary, Scott, and Alan gathered up their gear and I laced up my backpack and digital camera and we headed inside to register. Gary had to get straight inside so the three of us stopped at the big line and handed the person our VIP tickets, entered our information into the computers, and picked up or ID badges at the counter. Alan and Scott had to take pictures of the entrance and stuff, and of course I wanted to get inside the show so I told them I'd catch up with them later and hit the escalator.

Acclaim
Acclaim

There it was, right in front of me for all the taking...the REAL Greatest Show on Earth, E3. Right as I walked through the doors I was standing in front of one of the things I wanted to see the most, WWF Attitude in the Acclaim booth. The gameplay isn't much different than War Zone but the detailed options and new modes make the game. I wrote a whole article for Attitude on www.wwfattitude.com, so I'll move on.

Midway
Midway

After getting a taste of Attitude, I moved to one of the best booths at the show...Midway. Midway was showing off a ton of new titles including MK Gold, MK Special Forces, Jackie Chan's Stuntmaster, HydroThunder, Gauntlet Legends, NFL Blitz 2000, and the two big ones...NBA Showtime and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing. I went straight for NBA Showtime because I've always been an NBA Jam fan and Showtime is made by the same slam-master, Mark Turmell. The game is bad-ass! The players look as real as ever and the dunks and special moves are more abundant than ever before as well. You can run fast breaks from the inbounds, watch instant replays, and there's even a foul system. The game's format is set up where it looks like you're watching the game on a regular Sunday afternoon on NBC, all the way to to the music at halftime and the score graphics. It's really authentic but with that arcade style. Right next to the Showtime cabinets was a netted cage holding the NBA Showtime Free Throw Contest. I got in line and when it came my turn, I made 2 out of 3 and received a great Ready 2 Rumble T-shirt and Showtime Mini-ball from one of the wonderful Midway cheerleaders for my efforts. Very cool!

EA - WCW
EA - WCW

I looked at my watch and saw it was 11:30 and I knew that EA Sports and WCW were teaming up to put on a show at the EA booth at noon so I went of there. Right in the middle of the EA Sports arena was a WCW ring. I made my way up to the security railing as the masses of people crammed into the area. Eventually Mean Gene Okerlund came out and prolonged the wait for the show three times. Then they started up Diamond Dallas Page's music and he came down to the ring yellin' at the crowd. He was right in front of me. They showed off the cheesy plastic "WCW Mayhem Title" and then Gene said that Goldberg couldn't be there and showed us all the clip from Slamboree where Bret Hart hit him with a chair injuring him. DDP, playing full heel, challenged fans to a match and called us all "computer geeks and Nintendo nerds." At that point, Sting came down from the rafters and challenged DDP to a match, which he refused. So Sting challenged him to a game of WCW Mayhem to which Page agreed. A TV lowered to the ring and the ref handed each of them each a cordless PSX controller.

EA - WCW
EA - WCW

They began the match, showing off lots of the moves in the game and the fight led down the aisle to the back locker room that WCW Mayhem is flaunting big time. Once there, Sting powerbombed DDP in the game, which pissed off Page who turned around and clocked Sting in the face for real. The TV raised back up and the two started fighting. After two Stinger Splashes, Sting wrapped DDP in the Scorpion Deathlock. That's when Bret Hart came running through the crowd right past me and got up in the ring and clocked Sting with a chair, disqualifying Page, and therefore giving the plastic belt to Sting. After they cleared the ring, I talked to Mean Gene for a minute about Underground. He was pretty cool and talked to the fans for a while. It was a good show.

Since Acclaim and EA were right next to each other I walked back to Acclaim to play a little more WWF Attitude and noticed a line forming at Acclaim's desk. I saw a poster that said Jeremy McGrath was appearing. So I got in line and got an autograph from him. He was a pretty cool guy and really friendly with the fans and gamers. Then I decided that since it was the first day of the show, I needed to familiarize myself with the convention center with some quick rounds to be better prepared for the next two days of roaming the show floors.

Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII

First thing to catch my eye was this year's Oddworld display. They weren't showing a movie again this year but they did have peep holes all over this box that you could look into to see a TV screen showing the making of the next two games. Next, I spotted EA's Final Fantasy VIII display. They had about four TV's set up with two FF8 crew members helping people. Those dudes knew everything about the game possible. It was almost scary. After checking that out for a bit, something REALLY caught my eye. The Eidos booth was once again rockin' and in the center of it all was a stage with a giant television above it, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the middle, and surrounding that bike were seven Playboy models in blue and white spandex Eidos jumpsuits. I knew what this was all about from last year, so I ducked in caught an Eidos T-shirt, bag. a deck of Tomb Raider playing cards and got the heck outta there.

Sony
Sony

That's when I decided to head towards the West Hall where the "Big 3" were hangin' out. In the middle of it all was the PlayStation booth decked out with giant balloons of all the PlayStation mascots (Spyro, Crash, Lara, Sweet Tooth, and Parappa). I went up to the front desk to see if they were doing another passport thing like they had the last two years and they were. So I picked up my card and saw that this year's games to play were Spyro 2, Crash Team Racing, Ape Escape, and Um Jammer Lammy. As I walked off to find the games I spotted Gary over near the PlayStation 2 pyramid. I walked over and he was making sure no one got in the way of Scott's camera shot of an interview Alan was doing with the guy in charge of showing the demos on the PS2. I said hey and went looking for the games since I knew he was working and didn't have time to talk right then.

Crash Team Racing
Crash Team Racing

The first game on the list I found was Crash Team Racing (CTR). If you liked Mario Kart, you'll love CTR. It's a cart racing game with all your favorite Crash characters including CoCo, Tiny, Neo Cortex, N. Gin, Polar Bear, and even a brand new villian Nitros Oxide. I had never heard of the game before E3 but it's definitely on my "To Buy" list.

Next was Spyro the Dragon 2. I'll probably still buy this game but it's not much different than the original. It's basically the first game with a whole new set of levels. Same ol' purple dude blowing fire and pickin' up gems from what I saw. I also had the chance to play one of the fly through levels which was very well done. The game's not done yet so I'm sure there's a lot more than what I saw.

Sony - Ape Escape
Sony - Ape Escape

Third on the card was Ape Escape. It's the first game on the PlayStation that requires you have an Analog Controller. The game is definitely innovative and it's takes some time to get to liking it. You run around as a kid with a bunch of acquired tools that help you catch monkeys in every level. Like I said, after you play it a bit and get used to the analog sticks, it gets pretty great.

Last and definitely not least on my card was Um Jammer Lammy. I'll admit it. This game gets your head bobbin' to the music. No matter how childish people say the look of the game is, the game rocks...literally. The sequel to Parappa the Rappa is here and this time instead of many styles of rap jams, it's loaded with all types of rock tunes. You play as Lammy, guitarist for the all girl band, MilkCan. There's even a 2-Player challenge match and co-op modes. You gotta hear this game!

Next Generation PlayStation
Next Generation PlayStation

After turning in my card, and pickin' up my new PlayStation bag-o-goodies for my efforts, I checked out all the decorations and displays of the PlayStation booth. The front was a wild display of colors with the giant inflatable mascots and in the very center of the front was a big, silver, four sided PS2 Pyramid. I didn't want to wait in the huge line to play the PS2 Gran Turismo 2000 demo so I took a few snapshots and headed for the catwalk that circled the entire PlayStation booth. From up there you could see everything in the West Hall. It was a photographer's dream up there because you take wide shots of entire areas including Sega, Nintendo, and the inner area of PlayStation.I came down and went towards the Sega booth. Their booth was very intriguing with everything in there being new with Dreamcast. I made a quick round through there catching glimpses of Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur, and House of the Dead 2. I really wanted to see the Nintendo booth so I promised myself I'd be back to spend a lot of time at Sega and headed out.

Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong 64

As I strolled into the Nintendo booth my eyes graced the likes of Kobe Bryant 2, Star Wars Racer, Perfect Dark, Rayman 2, and the one everyone has been waiting for...Donkey Kong 64. DK64 is running on a souped-up Banjo engine plus a required 4MB Expansion Pak, which will be packed in with the game just like Star Fox 64 had the Rumble Pak. You can easily tell it's the same engine but on the other hand the differences in detail are amazing. Speaking of Banjo, no signs of Banjo-Tooie anywhere at E3. Anyway, the levels of DK64 are beautifully done with lots of vibrant colors and textures. The 3D renditions of the mine cart levels are the best. Instead of just jumping up to grab stuff like on the SNES, you can now lean out of your cart to grab stuff to the left and right. I got to fight one boss that was a big tank type guy with red, menacing eyes. The board was rainy and the lightning was really cool because that was the only time you could see him really well. He shot fire blasts and missles out of the sides of the tank as you ran from him around the circular board.

There's a car on that wall! Two of 'em!
There's a car on that wall! Two of 'em!

After playing DK64 for a while, I spotted two hot rods hanging on the wall over at the PlayStation booth. I walked over knowing it could only be...Gran Turismo 2! The interface and speedometer graphics are about the same but the game looks even better than the original already. From what I saw, Ford and Volkswagen have been added to the roster of cars. And now there's even some new off-road tracks to go tearin' through. GT2 is coming and it's going to blow everything else out of the water.

Me & Debra
Me & Debra

I got caught up in GT2 so much I almost lost track of time and realized that it was almost time for WWF Women's Champion Debra to be appearing at Acclaim's booth to sign autorgraphs. So I took a couple more shots of GT2 and stuff off of the catwalk and then high-tailed it back to the South Hall. I got in line and when I got to the front I told Debra that I was from Georgia because I knew she was from Atlanta and she told me how she had to fly to Philly that night for a house show the next day. I asked her if I could hold the belt and she was really nice and said sure. I tell you what...that thing is pretty damn heavy, and that's what I told her. Her response was "Yeah, it's pretty heavy for girl's belt don't ya think?" I got my 8x10 autographed and got the Acclaim rep to take a picture of Debra and I together. That was just too damn cool being the big wrestling fan that I am.

Well there wasn't much time left for Day 1 so I went back over to Midway and played some more NBA Showtime with three other guys...damn that game's fun. After that, I couldn't help it, I had to head back over to the party atmosphere of the Eidos booth. That place was just pure fun. After taking Polaroids with Eidos booth babes, they left the stage for the day.

Eidos
Eidos

On my way out I stopped by EA Sports to see the aftermath of the WCW match earlier in the day. The ring was still there but no guard rails. I walked up to the ring and was tempted to get in but I didn't it. And now they had four TV's set up running WCW Mayhem so of course I had to play it. It's hard to really tell how the game will turn out since it was only 50% done. The controls are a little slow. All in all, it looks like it could be good in the end.

About that time, all the lights came on in the LACC signaling that it was time to get the heck up outta there. I went outside, carrying a good 20 pounds more than when I came in. And walked home down Figueroa Ave to the Bonaventure. On the way, I spotted where they were holding the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, but of course I wasn't allowed to go in. I shook Mario's hand though. He was greeting people as they got out of their limos. I got back to the hotel and unloaded all my stuff. I went down to the food court, got some grub, came back to the room and cashed out.

Day 1 was a blast and now I knew where everything was and where the hotspots were. Two more days lied ahead and I was going to make the best of them.

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Blog Time Capsule: E3 1998

I thought it'd be fun, if not a little embarrassing, to go back and look at my write-ups that I did for gaming events of the past. The first one I dug up was for E3 1998. I was 17 years old at the time, so forgive me if I seem too excited about a WWF game coming to PlayStation. You may be wondering how I was at E3 before I was 18. I have PlayStation Underground to thank for that. I used to run a website dedicated to it (which is what this blog was originally written for), and the producer of the mag (Gary Barth) found me through that. Since I lived in Georgia, he invited me to E3 in Atlanta in '97. So this was my second trip to E3. The writing may be bad, my views of certain games may make me cringe, and some of the things I decided to devote my limited time to at the show are certainly questionable. But here it is, including most of the original images I used on my site...

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E3 1998

Once again, E3 kicked ass, 'nuf said.

No Caption Provided

The day had finally arrived...May 29, 1998. It might possibly be the busiest Friday I ever had. I woke up around 6:30am to get ready for school and take my first final exam. While taking that exam, my mom was getting me and my buddies tickets for WCW Monday Nitro. After my exam, I had to participate in my schools annual tradition of "Moving Up Day," which officially announces my class as seniors. Well, after all that was over, my sister and I cut school and we raced home. I changed out of my tie into my jeans and t-shirt as fast as I could, checked out my new Nitro tickets, and then we left around noon.

E3 '98 Keynote
E3 '98 Keynote

I live in Macon, GA. It's about an hour from Atlanta. So, on the way, I looked at floor maps of the show and read about the conferences that were held on that Wednesday. They may not have been that interested but I was too excited to care.

We arrived at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) at around 1:30pm. We walked in, picked up the free E3 mags and stuff, then paged Gary to tell him we were here. After about 15 minutes of me looking over the Level 3 railing watching for Gary, my mom says "Is that him?" I turn around and there was Gary with Alan walking towards us from the opposite direction. We said hello and introduced each other. Gary gave my mom and I our passes but he didn't know my sister was coming so he said "I'll be right back." While he was gone, I talked to Alan about E3 last year and about what games I've been playing lately and also what I was looking forward to at this year's E3. Then Gary came back. Four words...Gary is the man. In a matter of minutes, he had an all new pass made up just for my sister. Gary then tossed me a red PlayStation shirt that Sony people were suppose to wear during the show, but Gary didn't want to so he gave it to me.

E3 '98 Keynote
E3 '98 Keynote

Then it was time to go down the many escalators to the main floor and I had returned to heaven once again. We walked in and Gary said to just have fun and he'll see us later. He also gave us our Sony PlayStation E3 Party passes for later that night (to give you an idea of how rare these things are, Gary's boss was even trying to find more). Little did I know that I wouldn't see him for the rest of the show. Since we only had about 3 hours left of the show for that day, and I was going to be there all day Saturday by myself, my mom took it as her oppurtunity to make the three hours time to get free stuff. We walked around and I basically got an overview of the layout of E3 98 and made mental pictures of what I would want to do and see the next day. I played some games like Crash Bandicoot 3 "Warped" and Zelda 64 but I'll tell you more about that later.

The Colour & The Shape
The Colour & The Shape

So let's get to the really kick ass part of Friday. Oh! You thought that E3 itself was as good as it gets? Well, the Sony E3 Party was the simply incredible. It all started at 7:00pm. All the people filed in and handed their passes to the gatekeeper who ripped them in half and threw them away. The party was all held outdoors at a big stage right next door to the GWCC. They already had a big set up for a camera to shoot the band and one on a crane that would swing around the stage. The entire place was covered head to toe with PlayStation stuff. Lara Croft, Crash, and others lined the sky with giant banners. I asked the camera man in the tower when the band would start and he said around 9:30. So I went downstairs and found that there was a mini E3 down there! Crash 3, NFL Xtreme, Tekken 3, and MediEvil were all playable. I played Crash 3 until a guy eating sushi started breathing down my neck, so I just let him play and went over to the Tekken 3 area. I started whoopin ass over there. I was playing a German guy who didn't speak English very well, but we still had fun. He gave up the controller to a guy who worked at Prima. We talked about the show while I wiped the floor with him as Hwoarang. I then went across the street where had a big screen. How big? How about 2 stories high and 30 feet wide? You sat in giant chairs and played Gran Turismo. You'll never play a PlayStation on a bigger TV than that. And then someone said that people were preparing the stage, so I went back across the street.Finally, after about 30 minutes, Kaz Hirai came out on stage. He talked about the worldwide success of the PlayStation and everyone cheered. Then the rest of the Sony big wigs came out and launched off some confetti rockets followed by several minutes of fireworks. Then Kaz came back on and said "Have I got a surprise for you. Ladies and gentlemen...THE FOO FIGHTERS!!!" The Foo Fighters rocked. They started out with "My Hero" and never stopped. Dave Grohl came out with a gray knit hat and 1930's style airplane goggles. He was hilarious. At one point he told all the Sony guys to "Take off those damn suit and ties and SHAKE YOUR BOOTY!!" It was an awesome show and I'll never forget their performance. I went back to the hotel around midnight and unloaded all my stuff from my bag so I could refill it the next day. Then I went to bed.

PlayStation E3 98 Hat
PlayStation E3 98 Hat

I woke up at 8:00am smelling like beer and cigar smoke so I jumped in the shower. I got dressed wearing that red PlayStation shirt that Gary gave me the day before. I thought it'd be funny, and I'd look like I worked there. I also wore my new PlayStation E3 1998 Hat that they gave out when you left the Party. I went down to the lobby to find out that it was raining like all hell had broken loose. I asked where the E3 Shuttle Bus would pick us up and the lady said "Out there." In the rain? Yeah, so I stood under the pavilion with about 10 other E3 goers but they were getting cabs. Lucky for me, one group had room for one more, so I hopped in and got a free ride to E3! I thanked the guys for getting the tab and ran for the GWCC through the rain. Once I got in, I picked up the E3 Show Daily magazine for Day 3.

Nintendo Product Catalog
Nintendo Product Catalog

When I went in, I was right in front of Acclaim's booth. I went straight for WWF WarZone. This game is a must have for a wrestling fan. When I walked around the corner I saw a sign showing all the celebrities that were going to be there on Day 3 and the ones that were there earlier. The names included WWF European Champ Triple H with Chyna, Brett Favre, Keith Van Horn, Donna D (the Forsaken girl), WWF Tag Team The Headbangers, and a few more. I walked a little farther and ran smack into the Nintendo booth. I felt like I had to be brave to walk in there wearing my PlayStation shirt, but I did it. I had to see Zelda 64. I'll tell you right now, this game is awesome. The boss battle scenes are intense. The only trouble is the control (and of course it was all in Japanese). With six face buttons it's hard to utilize your weapons fast enough. I walked through the Nintendo booth catching some odd looks at my hat and shirt but I didn't care. I got a look at GameBoy Color which looks pretty cool, and other games like Twelve Tales: Conker 64. I had my fill of Nintendo for a while, and I'd come back later. I couldn't help being drawn back to Zelda. So I then headed for the greatest booth of them all; the Sony PlayStation booth!

E3 '98
E3 '98

The PlayStation booth was awesome. The front had two giant jumbotrons where a guy from the other side of the booth was interviewing Crash Bandicoot and Lara Croft (both were in CG form). As you walk through, there was a big Crash 3 area with an underwater theme (there's scuba levels in Crash 3). As I walked through, there were many great new PlayStation games like Tomba, MediEvil, NFL Xtreme, Jersey Devil, Syphon Filter, and Cool Boarders 3 to name a few. Then I arrived at the PlayStation Stadium. It was a miniature stadium and you walk up a few stairs into the center where they had three TV's with MLB 99 on it. Immediately a lady walks up to me and says "Would you like to play in our MLB 99 HomeRun Derby?" I said sure, and sat down in the bleachers to wait my turn. As I waited they handed me PlayStation megaphone. Finally it was my turn and I went up to play. The record was 8 when I got up there. I had trouble with hitting foul balls. Everyone had to use McGwire and I kept hitting them foul because I was swinging too soon. I ended up with a respectable five homers and got my PlayStation baseball for playing.

Oddworld Bottle Opener
Oddworld Bottle Opener

After taking shots at MLB 99, I walked down the opposite side of the stadium and saw the GT Interactive booth. GT published Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee and they had a great thing last year for it so I wanted to see what they had this year. I walked over and found the little theater that was there last year and got in line. The show started and we all walked in to watch Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus. The game starts off right where the last one left off. Abe and his followers must save the blind Mudokens from Rupture Farms' new mining site. What the blind Mudokens don't know is that they're digging up dead Mudokens bones for Rupture Farms to make Soul Storm Brew. The promos are hilarious and the antics in the game like fart bombs are funny as hell. This looks like it's gonna be twice as good as Abe 1. As we walk out they give us a bottle opener with Soul Storm Brew on it, and then a cup of Soul Storm Brew. It was a blue, slushie, gatorade, kinda drink. I think this year's Soul Storm Brew was a lot better than last year's Snot Gulp, but that's just my opinion.

Mortal Kombat 4 Photo Op
Mortal Kombat 4 Photo Op

After that I went to the Midway booth in the hunt for some Mortal Kombat 4. I found it and started playing the PlayStation version. It's fairly choppy, but the N64 version is smoother. Goro looks great in 3D and Noob Saibot is finally back. I hadn't seen him since the MK4 Road Tour in August of '97. As I was playing MK4 I looked behind me and there was a line forming. I stopped playing and checked it out. People were standing in line to get their pictures taken with MK4 stars Kerri Hoskins (Sonya), Lia Montelongo (Tanya), John Turk (Scorpion), and the guy who played Raiden. When I got to the front they handed me a card to get a Midway T-shirt after I was done and then asked me who I wanted in my picture. When I went up there, I told Kerri I had sent her a question about MK3's motion capture on her official web site in the Q&A section. And my mind was blown when she remembered my name from it. Kerri and Lia were both super nice.

WWF's The Headbangers Autograph
WWF's The Headbangers Autograph

After that thrill, I looked at my watch and saw it was time for the Headbangers to be at the Acclaim booth. So I raced across the GWCC floor to the Acclaim booth. I saw Mosh and Thrasher sitting behind a table with a stack of photographs. A line had already formed so I took my spot. When I got to the front, I asked if they were gonna get a title push anytime soon. As Thrasher answered me, a cop moved me along and I said thanks for the picture. After that I went back over to play a 4 person cage match with three other guys in WarZone.

I went back over to the PlayStation booth but before I went in, something caught my eye. The Eidos booth was filled with about 100 guys screaming "LARA! LARA! LARA!" so I had to check this out. I went over there to find that four Eidos booth babes were throwing t-shirts and bags to the crowd. I was lucky and caught one of each and ducked out of the mass of testosterone with both still in my posession. I then went over to get a look at Tomb Raider 3. It's alot like TR2 but a lot more detail. For example, when you shoot an animal and they die, blood runs across the floor from their body. And when Lara runs through dirt, mud kicks up on her legs. Overall, TR3 looks like it's gonna be another smash hit for Eidos. I didn't spend much time in Eidos other than TR3.

Eidos @ E3 '98
Eidos @ E3 '98
PlayStation Passport
PlayStation Passport

Then I went back to the PlayStation area and found a lot of people crowded around the personnel area. I went up there and they were handing out E3 1998 PlayStation passports just like they did last year. You had to hunt through the GIGANTIC PlayStation area and find each of these five games: Syphon Filter, MediEvil, Tomba!, Jersey Devil, and Cool Boarders 3 and once you played each one, you got a sticker on your passport. Once you completed it, you got a free PlayStation shirt sporting their new catch phrase...Live in your world, Play in ours. Syphon Filter is a new 3D action game. It plays a lot like Tomb Raider but you're a cop in the middle of a city at night trying to stop a terrorist attack or something. Anyway, it was cool. Tomba is pretty cool too, but you've seen the video in Underground #5. Cool Boarder 3 is better than either of the other two CB's. CB3 looks a lot more detailed with the courses and boarders themselves. MediEvil needs some more time but it looks promising. And you've also played Jersey Devil on Underground, but the demo I played at E3 is even better and a lot more in depth.

NASCAR Heat Hot Sauce
NASCAR Heat Hot Sauce

After completing the PlayStation passport, I started walking and found a warzone. No, not WWF Warzone again. It was the Konami booth. It was decked out in army special forces boxes, nets, towers, spotlights, and even guards dressed up and pacing back and forth. Plus there was a PA system saying "Warning, restricted area, highest personnel only." All of this was for one game and one game only...you guessed it...Metal Gear Solid. And this game is totally awesome. I didn't get to see much because of the crowd around it but from what I did see, MGS is going to be amazing. It's a game changer.After that, I went over to the Electronic Arts booth, which was decked out in full with a miniature boxing ring displaying their new boxing game, Knockout Kings. Of course they also had Madden 99, Tiger Woods 99, NBA Live 99, and more. Madden 99 has answered NFL GameDay's 3D polygons with polygons of their own. Now Madden has got everything NFL GameDay does, plus two man commentary. Or does it? Well, Sony is keeping their lip sealed on GameDay 99. It wasn't on the show floors with Sony's other Sports 99 titles. So maybe GameDay has something new up it's sleeve.

Midway Product Catalog
Midway Product Catalog

At this point, it was already about 2:30pm and the show ended at 4:00pm. So I started to make quick rounds back through the show to see everything I could one last time. This is when I journeyed back into the Nintendo booth and played Zelda 64 for a little bit more time. I also went back to the Midway booth and played some more MK4 and NFL Blitz. I went back to the PlayStation area for one last time too, just to play some more Crash 3 and Tomb Raider 3. And finally, around 3:30pm I went back to Acclaim and played WWF WarZone until they shut it down. I played against a guy who worked at Acclaim and we talked about the game since he's seeing it everyday in development and I asked him if I could get one of the demo copies but he said he couldn't do that. So we played and played until 4:00pm when they turned all the light on in the GWCC and the guy said everyone had to start packing up and heading out. So I said my goodbyes looked around one last time and said goodbye to the greatest place on earth and then took that dreaded step onto the up escalator. See ya in Los Angeles, E3...

17 Comments

By the Numbers: StreetPAXin

That Addictive Green Light

Shane Bettenhausen can't resist StreetPassing even during a panel he's on.
Shane Bettenhausen can't resist StreetPassing even during a panel he's on.

First things first. I stole the word StreetPAXin' from Wafflestomp.

Before the 3DS came out, I was fairly outspoken against it. I decided to get one when the price dropped a couple weeks ago and was able to get it from Walmart before the official price drop hit. I knew I'd get a 3DS at some point, so I couldn't pass up on an $80 price cut and 20 free games. I'm still not super excited about it, but it definitely added to the PAX experience this year. There were times where you could have the maximum 10 Mii's and you would get 7 or 8 more while you were trying to clear out those 10.

Going into PAX Prime 2011, I had only StreetPassed with two friends of mine. By the second day of the show, I had already completed all of the puzzles and two runs through the Find Mii dungeon. From that point on, it was just about seeing how many people I could check into my Mii plaza. I didn't check as often as I could have on the third day since I was more focused on finishing up my photography. The majority of people that use Street Pass share where they are from, so on the flight home (no WiFi), I decided it would be interesting to run an audit and see how many different states and countries were represented. Here's a breakdown...

State#State#Province#Country#
Alabama1Nevada3Alberta19England6
Alaska1New Hampshire2British Columbia29Japan1
Arizona6New Jersey3Manitoba3Norway1
Arkansas1New Mexico2Ontario16Scotland1
California52New York2Quebec1Puerto Rico1
Colorado4North Carolina1Saskatchewan2
District of Columbia1Ohio2
Delaware1Oklahoma2
Florida2Oregon25
Georgia4Pennsylvania3
Illinois4South Carolina1
Indiana1South Dakota1
Iowa2Tennessee2
Louisiana1Texas11
Maryland1Utah9
Massachusetts2Vermont2
Michigan3Virginia4
Minnesota6Washington93
Mississippi2West Virginia1
Missouri4Wisconsin2
Montana1US (no state given)6
Nebraska1
Total Americans279Total Canadians70Total Int'l10

Yep. That's 359 Street Passes. There were 4 more that did not list their location. I know there were a bunch that I got more than once as well, but this number represents unique Miis. Unfortunately, I didn't catch any Whiskey Media Mii's, but I did get Johnny V (presumably during the GB panel) and Shane Bettenhausen (during the Weekend Confirmed panel). It's worth noting that Johnny V's greeting is "Where all the ♀ at?"

Not surprisingly, the most represented state, province, fiefdom, zone, or empire was Washington. California also had a respectable showing. And it looks like a decent number of folks from the Vancouver area came across the border for the show. Then, on the far right, we've got the crazy awesome folks (i.e. Matt) who flew thousands of miles to come to the greatest show on Earth.

For those of you in Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, North Dakota, and Rhode Island... I am severely disappointed in your lack of participation in this event. I better see some of you at PAX East 2012, especially those in CT, ME, and RI. That might be the next time that I ever see that green light start flashing on my 3DS.

9 Comments

1000 Pages: Three Years of the Giant Bomb Wiki

We're less than two weeks away from the third anniversary of Giant Bomb going fully live, which means the wiki is also almost three years old. It's been a long road, but yesterday, I made it to 1000 pages that I've added to the database. Some I'm proud of, others not so much. But I figured I'd take a look back at some of my favorites and some not-so-favorites as well.

Just to be clear, these are pages that I've added, not necessarily completely built. Thankfully, a bunch of members of the Giant Bomb community have taken the initiative to fill in many of these pages. I can't tell you how awesome it is to revisit a page I've added and find that someone has decked it out with a ton of information. So, if you see anything below that piques your interest, please jump on it.

Here's the full list if you're interested: Marino's Created Pages

You Always Remember Your First

The Attack
The Attack

The first thing I ever did on the wiki was add Hyrule as a location to the Link to the Past page, but the first page I ever created was for The Attack. The TI-99/4A was the first game system that I had, so there's a lot of nostalgia there. That's why my first project on the wiki was to fill out the the library of TI-99/4A games like this one, Blasto, Car Wars, and Chisholm Trail.

PlayStation Underground

Issue #1 Front Cover
Issue #1 Front Cover

This was my first big page. I wasn't really sure there was a place for it on the site, but luckily Jeff gave me the go ahead to add it as a concept. Back in 1997, I received the first edition of PlayStation Underground because I had registered my PlayStation with one of those post cards that you get in the box with any new system. At the time, the idea of being able to play demos of games that weren't out yet and getting high quality video content was unheard of. The Internet was still fairly new, and you certainly weren't going to be downloading all this stuff like you can today. I had been teaching myself basic HTML at the time, so I decided to create a site about it. While in an AOL video game chat room trying to get people to check out my site, I got an IM from a guy claiming to work on PlayStation Underground. Of course I didn't believe him, but when he sent me an email from a Sony domain, I couldn't argue with that. Turned out that he was the producer of the whole thing, Gary Barth. I kept working on the site, which became fairly popular with fans of the CD magazine thanks to inside information provided by Gary pertaining to what was coming in each next issue. When Gary found out that I lived in Georgia, he invited my friend Christopher and myself to E3 in Atlanta. I was only 16 at the time, so we were told that if anyone asked, to tell them that we had won a contest from Sony. The site pretty much ended in 2001 when the magazine stopped being produced, so I'm happy that some of the site's content found a new home here.

Electronic Entertainment Expo

E3
E3

When I ran the Underground site, I built a sub-site specifically for E3. I was able to attend the show for 10 years from 1997-2006. I had a lot of documented info from my old site, but I had to create a bunch more especially for the years I didn't attend. Trying to find documentation online for an event that happened in 1995 isn't easy. Despite not having been to the show in five years, E3 is still one of my favorite times of the year.

EverQuest

Norrath
Norrath

For over three years, the world of Norrath was pretty much my life. It sounds crazy now, and maybe a little sad, but I enjoyed just about every minute of it. I've come to terms with the fact that EverQuest is likely the most fun that I will ever have in any game for the rest of my life. Nothing will ever match that first MMO experience and sense of community in a virtual world. It's hard to convey to people that didn't play it at the time. Anyway, I've only added two actual EQ games to the database, but there's a bunch other stuff related to the game that I've submitted.

Mortal Kombat

Kerri Hoskins
Kerri Hoskins

After the TI-99/4A stuff, I started tackling MK related content. Specifically, I wanted to add the actors that portrayed the characters in the first three games in the series. Things branched off from there into NBA Jam secret characters.

The Penny Arcade Expo

No Caption Provided

I've been to every PAX since 2008 including the East coast versions. I hope that those that aren't able to go can get some benefit out of the hundreds of pictures I take.

The Wall of Shame

No Caption Provided

Hey, sometimes you come across a game, object, location, character or concept that doesn't exist in the database. It may not be "important" or "significant" or "good," but upon realizing that it's not there, it become your duty to make things right in the world. When building the E3 pages, I came across many games that required a page. Sometimes that leads to making a franchise page. And that leads to character pages. And that... it's a bottomless pit of despair!

The Conception of Concepts

Discontinued MMO
Discontinued MMO

Concepts are easily the most loosely defined category on the site, so they are the ones that most often have their credibility questioned. Sometimes I come across something that still surprises me that we don't have a page for it. The hardest part sometimes is coming up with a concise, yet descriptive (and sometimes funny) name. Here's some of my favorites over the last three years.

The Johns

John Tobias in NBA Jam TE
John Tobias in NBA Jam TE

John is a pretty common name.

#1000

Last night's 1000th created page came from my favorite console game of all time. I must accept part of the blame in this, but how on Earth is it possible that, after three years, we don't have every character from a game as popular as A Link to the Past in the database already? That's crazy! So, the descendant of the seven wise men of Hyrule became #1000. Thanks for all the help, Sahasrahla.

If you need help with the wiki, Marino will speak to you telepathically through magical tiles known as the
If you need help with the wiki, Marino will speak to you telepathically through magical tiles known as the "PM Button."
61 Comments

Quest Pioneering - The Return of Lincoln

We've been doing this quest thing here on Giant Bomb for over a year now. Most people seem to like it a lot, a few don't, and I'm sure there's a bunch that are apathetic about it. Personally, being a fan of scavenger hunt type stuff, I think it's pretty fun. I still remember doing easter egg type hunts on AOL channels in the mid-90's (I'm sure ZombiePie will enjoy that reference). Anyway, thanks to dozens of other users, I have reached the mountain top. I'm pretty sure that I'm the first to have witnessed this piece of text, so I'm here to share it with you.

No Caption Provided

Now, to the more important news. I can confirm, with evidence, the continued existence of the Lincoln telling you that you're awesome. We've been unable to witness his magnificence for the last five months.

If we could get rid of that pesky Day 6 Christmas quest, all would be right with the world. I'm looking at you, Coonce!

32 Comments

This Concert is an Everlong Ways Away

Last year, my sister got married and moved to Columbus, Ohio. One reason I'll always remember the date is because I ducked out of the dinner the night before it to get back to the Big Live Live Show Live's chat room. Anyway, I live in Georgia. So, my sister has been begging to come up there and visit her. The plan was to go up there at some point in the Summer and go up to a Cleveland Indians game. I have a somewhat lackadaisical goal of going to all of the MLB stadiums, which is currently at measly 5. It's now two months into the baseball season and we hadn't made any plans. That's when I got this crazy idea.

Given to Attendees of the Sony E3 '98 Party
Given to Attendees of the Sony E3 '98 Party

I was looking at the Foo Fighters' tour schedule to see if they were coming to Atlanta this year. Sadly, ATL wasn't on their list. But guess what was? Yeah, Columbus. I sent her a message to see if she'd be interested, but that was a dumb question of course. The last time (and only time) I've seen the Foo Fighters, my sister was with me as well. That was at Sony's company party at E3 1998. I was 17, and she was 14. We were clearly the youngest people there, and probably shouldn't have been allowed in, but I know a producer at Sony that somehow got me into the party along with my E3 badge. I've been a huge fan of the band ever since. I haven't been to any arena or amphitheater shows since I saw Dave Matthews Band at Philips Arena in 2002. So, I'm well overdue for a concert.

So, right now, I'm holding tickets to a concert that's 650 miles away from me. I have no plane ticket. We have no baseball tickets. And I have not been approved for the time off from work yet. But fuck it. We're gonna make this shit happen.

No Caption Provided
14 Comments

By the Numbers

So, I got bored last night and decided to take a look at the achievement tracker here on Giant Bomb. One of the more interesting things about it to me is that it shows how many Giant Bomb members have played each title. Unfortunately, we can't sort information based on this statistic, so I dumped it over into Excel to sort it out. Now, this is just based on the 150+ games that I have played so it isn't all inclusive, and I didn't include the PS3 games from my list since it would skew the results seeing as trophies were tracked for such a short period of time. Here are some random facts I was able to pull out of the raw data. The results are somewhat depressing.

Did you even know this was a game?
Did you even know this was a game?

Halo 3 is the most played game with 27974.

Minesweeper Flags is the least played game with 253.

205 Giant Bomb members were a part of the Kinect Beta program last year. Don't tell anybody!

Only Halo 3 and Gears of War have been played by more people than Hexic HD.

Roughly 24% more people played the original Mass Effect than Mass Effect 2. I blame the Mako for scaring people away.

Shadow Complex is the most played XBLA title with 17269, which beats Castle Crashers by about 1500 players.

The number of players playing the Assassin's Creed franchise have fallen drastically from 22258 (AC1) to 18496 (AC2) to 9488 (ACB). That's a 57% drop between the first and third game.

A whopping 81% fewer people played Crackdown 2 than the original. And rightfully so.

Although it's still fairly early, 77% fewer people have played Dragon Age II than Origins.

And to continue the theme of lackluster sequels, 70% fewer people have played Fable III than Fable II.

In fact, I can't find a sequel that has more players than its predecessor. Even Modern Warfare 2 has about 1000 less than Call of Duty 4. Hell, even the Doritos games had a drop off from Dash of Destruction to Crash Course.

More people have played this than NBA Jam and You Don't Know Jack...combined!
More people have played this than NBA Jam and You Don't Know Jack...combined!

Despite being universally praised by reviews and being the only NBA game last year, NBA 2K11 has fewer players than NBA 2K9 and NBA 2K6.

Wanna know why Penny Arcade didn't get a third episode? While 3964 people played Episode 1, only 1510 have played Episode 2. Tycho redeemed himself though with the 3622 people who have played Poker Night at the Inventory.

More people have used the Rock Band Music Store than have played Rock Band 3. So sad.

Thanks to the XBLA release of Torchlight, now over 10000 Giant Bomb members have played the game.

Currently, there are 45 games on my list with over 10000 players. Bayonetta would need 103 more people to be the 46th.

More people have played Fable II Pub Games (4932) than Monday Night Combat, Rock Band 3, or Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Call of Duty 2 (10939) is the most played Xbox 360 launch title, just barely beating out Perfect Dark Zero (10296) and Project Gotham Racing 3 (9392).

There are 1565 people unable to hide the fact that they played DOA Xtreme 2 (myself included). Attaining ONE achievement in that game earns you a B ranking though.

Yeah. I played it. Don't look at me like that.
Yeah. I played it. Don't look at me like that.
33 Comments

Your Top 10 from E3 2010: A Look Back

An E3 2010 Retrospective

E3 2011 is a month away. I know. Sounds crazy. But I thought that it might be interesting to take a look back at the games we were most anticipating as of eleven months ago. Are you happy with your list? Are there a few games that you didn't end up buying for some reason? Are there a couple you were hyped up about and felt disappointed once you got your hands on it? What games caught you by surprise later on that didn't make your list?

So feel free to reply by inserting your own list from last year's E3. Just click the "Insert" button, and then "My Lists" to import the list you likely made for the quest last year. You may be surprised by what you picked.

Marino's Most Anticipated Games from E3 2010

1. Mortal Kombat
Well, this one held up pretty well. I ended up spending about $200 on it since I got both the Kollector's Edition and the Tournament Edition (fight stick). I sold one of the copies of the game to a friend to make part of the money back. The fight stick is amazingly accurate. I feel pretty good about this being my #1.
2. Nintendo 3DS
My #1 held up but #2 just fell off the radar completely. I know I kinda cheated by putting hardware in the list, but oh well. I was excited at first, but my enthusiasm waned as the year went on. You may have seen my 3DS rant on my blog. I really want to like it, but I still see no reason (games) to buy this thing. I'm sure I'll get one at some point though.
3. Rock Band 3
General consensus is that the rhythm genre is dead, but I still love Rock Band. It's sad that more people didn't buy this game. If you need any proof on how potentially awesome this game can be, just check out this video I shot.

  
  
4. Fable III
I love Fable. I really do. But this game...I don't know. I didn't hate it as much as some of the GB guys did. I didn't really have a problem with the way the game was presented after becoming king aside from how they deal with the passage of days randomly. I didn't get burned by the forced ending, but after it was all over and I looked back on the game, it was pretty disappointing. Just way too many weird (bad) design choices after having an almost perfect game in Fable II.
5. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
So, obviously this isn't out yet. Still looking forward to it, albeit cautiously. I'm sure it'll be good, but part of me just wants to be done with the Wii for good. As a fan of Zelda from the very beginning, I can't deny a new Zelda game is permanently going to be high on my list of anticipated titles.
6. Portal 2
Just finished it a few days ago. Pretty amazing. Not gonna spoil it. It's place on the list is definitely justified.
7. inFamous 2
Still looking forward to this. Infamous was my favorite PS3 game until Uncharted 2 came along. I got to play it last year at PAX Prime, and from the video GB just put up, it's still looking good.
8. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Wow, this should've been higher on the list for sure. I think at the time of E3 we still didn't really know what all was going to be included with the game aside from multiplayer. Even at PAX they were only showing multiplayer. But that single player campaign was great.
9. Kid Icarus: Uprising
The original Kid Icarus was one of the first games I remember playing on my NES when I was about six years old. I still remember my neighbor coming over and showing me the ICARUS FIGHTS MEDUSA ANGELS password and it blew my fucking mind. I can understand why I put this so high (due to nostalgia), but looking back now, it didn't deserve to be on here.
10. Twisted Metal
Still looking forward to this, though probably more cautiously than I had been a year ago. I'm just not sure this type of game works today. The nuclear bomb thing in multiplayer looks kinda cool, but even that is gonna get old pretty quick if it's just that and deathmatch. Probably shouldn't have been in my top 10 in retrospect.


There's a few games that snuck up on me after not really paying much attention to them at E3. Those would be Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Civilization V, and NBA 2K11. Despite not including them on my most anticipated list, I spent a sizable amount of time playing each of those three games.

Anyway, I'm interested to see other people's lists. So, jump on in and post your list.
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Marino's PAX Guide to PAX

Are you going to the Penny Arcade Expo? Probably not. Then why are you reading this? But if you are going to PAX, then this is my guide to help you have the best time possible. I've been to the last five Penny Arcade Expos (2008, 2009, East '10, Prime '10, East '11) and I also went to ten consecutive E3's (1997-2006). So, I know a little bit about how to survive a gaming convention. Whether you've been to PAX previously or not, hopefully I can give you some tips into making the most of three days that will fly right by you if you don't have a plan.

No Caption Provided

Shower. Every Day. Please.

First things first. Do your fellow gamers a favor and don't smell like you live in a latrine and ran a marathon to get to the show this morning. Failing to complete this task is a violation of Wheaton's Law.
PAX Prime 2010
PAX Prime 2010

Respect the Enforcers

The Enforcers are a legion of volunteers (often wearing utilikilts) that keep PAX running like a well oiled machine. For PAX Prime, they will be the folks in blue shirts patrolling the expo hall and stationed at every possible venue. These people give up six hours or more of their day at PAX to help you have the best time you possibly can. Respect them. Appreciate them. Buy them cookies.
Blue Shirts & Kilts
Blue Shirts & Kilts

Use the Hand Sanitizer

As someone who flew home from PAX 09 on a plane that had confirmed cases of H1N1, I cannot stress this enough. Whether or not people follow tip #1 above, people are dirty. There are typically hand sanitizer dispensers all over the place. Use them. Especially after you've played some demos.
PAX 09 Exhibit Hall
PAX 09 Exhibit Hall

Plan Ahead

The schedule is available right now. You will get a swag bag on arrival with a program, but you should start planning your route today. The expo hall should be your default location. It's open from 10 AM to 6 PM. But, like I said in the concert section, PAX is not all about the expo hall. Skim through the list of panels that are available and pick out a few that you'd like to see. But stay flexible. Invariably something will come up and cancel your plans. Don't stress out about it. You're probably not going to be able to do everything you want to do. So, try to stick to your plan, but have fun above all else.
Poor Planning
Poor Planning

Go to at Least One Night of Concerts

PAX is so much more than just an expo hall. And besides, the expo hall closes at 6 PM anyway. Make an effort to go to the concerts Friday or Saturday night. Considering Giant Bomb's panel is Friday night, I would assume anyone reading this would prefer not to skip that in favor of MC Frontalot and Metroid Metal. But the concerts due go quite late, so you may want to stop by the main theatre after Giant Bomb just to catch part of it. Personally, I generally go on Saturday night. At my first PAX, I knew of Jonathan Coulton vaguely. All I knew was that he wrote "Still Alive." But after his show, I became a fan instantly. I can say the same for Freezepop's performance that year too.

This year at PAX Prime we have the some new additions to the line-up and one returning after a few years off. If you go Saturday night, you'll have round 4 of the Omegathon tournament, which is typically a Rock Band-related game. Then you'll get The Video Game Orchestra doing renditions of classic game soundtracks. Next you'll have PAX rookies, Supercommuter. Next you'll get the comedy music stylings of Paul & Storm including a 15-minute song about pirates that you'll never forget. And to close out the night you'll see Jonathan Coulton performing not only "Still Alive" and "Code Monkey," but other songs about monkeys,robots, and giant squids. This will probably go til around 1AM or later.
PAX 08 Jonathan Coulton
PAX 08 Jonathan Coulton

Go to the Omegathon Final Round

I cannot recommend this enough. Sure, you'll have to say goodbye to the expo hall before it actually closes, but by the end of the third day you probably have already seen everything in there that you truly want to see. The Omegathon Finals is an experience you cannot get anywhere else. Have you seen The Wizard? You know the final scene where three people battle by playing Super Mario Bros. 3 in front of thousands of people? It's like that. Except it's real, and you're there. Previous years have featured games such as Pong, Tetris, Contra, Excitebike Vs., Combat, and even games like Skeeball and a stuffed animal crane game. This is the perfect closing ceremony for PAX, and you should most definitely be a part of it.
PAX East '10 Omegathon
PAX East '10 Omegathon

Be Prepared to Wait

Depending on what you decided to see and do, you could end up doing a lot of waiting in line. I waited over an hour to see Dragon Age II. I also waited over an hour to playSkate 3 and win a real skateboard deck. On some panels (i.e. Giant Bomb, Mega64, G4/X-Play, and anything related to Penny Arcade), you'll want to show up at least an hour early to get a good seat. So, bring a DS or PSP. This should be a no brainer, but it has to be said. Not only will you be able to entertain yourself as you wait, but there is no better place in the world to share your personal skill in drawing dicks in Pictochat. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I once used Pictochat to solicit people to come play Hot Shots Golf on PSP... and it worked! Where else would you ever be able to do that?
PAX East '10 Queue Room
PAX East '10 Queue Room

Bring a Backpack

If you show up completely empty-handed in the morning, you'll hate yourself by 2 PM. Don't count on picking up a bag from a booth at the expo hall. Even if there are any, they're cumbersome. Just bring a trusty backpack or messenger bag to throw all your junk in. Your shoulders may hate you by Sunday afternoon, but it's really your best option.
PAX Prime 2010 SWAG
PAX Prime 2010 SWAG

Don't Let SWAG Run Your Life

Look. Swag is cool. I know. It's near irrestistable. But don't let it rule your experience. You'll get free stuff. But don't spend 45 minutes standing around the APB booth for a chance at a flying free t-shirt. You know what I mean?
PAX East '10 Skate Deck
PAX East '10 Skate Deck

Pack Light and Carry a Big Bag

Hey, you're probably going to have to pay $25-35 to check a bag on the airplane, so get your money's worth. Even if you're luggage consists of three t-shirts and three pairs of socks and underwear, bring a big suitcase. You're going to want the extra space for not just the free swag you pick up, but also for the merch that you buy. At PAX 2009, I bought a 'Splosion Man statue from Twisted Pixel and was able to fit it in my checked bag even in it's big styrofoam box. Also, if you have one, put a cardboard tube in your suitcase. Not to impersonate the Cardboard Tube Samurai, but so that you can transport posters home without completely wrecking them. And one last tip from a veteran of these trips, throw an empty trash bag in with your clothes. You can put your dirty clothes in the bag at the hotel, and that keeps your cool swag quarantined from your sweaty, disgusting laundry.
Statue #85 of 150
Statue #85 of 150

Prepare for Sleep Deprivation

You can sleep on Monday. Seriously. There's stuff going on at PAX officially or unofficially for 24 hours a day. If you can get four or five hours a night, you're doing great. You have a limited amount time at PAX, so make the most of it. We're also going to be losing an hour Saturday night / Sunday morning due to Daylight Saving Time.
PAX 2008 Night Life
PAX 2008 Night Life

Money

Most places will accept debit/credit cards now, but you may want to carry at least a little cash just in case. If you think you need to get some cash, visit a local ATM as early in the day as possible. Nothing's worse than an empty ATM when you simply must have a t-shirt with bacon high-fiving a shotgun shell.
PAX 2010 Bought Stuff
PAX 2010 Bought Stuff

Remember to Hydrate and Eat

Seriously, it's easy to forget. But I'm willing to bet that most of us here aren't normally walking and/or standing for 10 hours a day. And, if you're like me, you're going to want to squeeze every moment of time you have out of PAX, so stopping for 30 minutes or more to eat seems like a waste of time. Do yourself a favor and at least throw some Clif Bars in your bag or something. You can eat while you wait in line for something.
Sumo Lounge
Sumo Lounge

Don't Be a Dick

Be yourself. Be open to talking to and meeting people. Hang out in the handheld lounge for a bit. Go play some GoldenEye in the console freeplay area or something. Just try to take in as much as you can. Very rarely will be around so many other people that are so much like you.
Wheaton's Law
Wheaton's Law

Videos and Other Stuff to Help to Prepare You

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