Hey... my chances of making it to E3 just multiplied by about 10 billion, bringing them up to about 25%. If I can even manage to get one, I'm gonna be paying a buttload for my ticket (if my money source comes through, I'll be buying my ticket on the 15th heh), but I know there's no way I'm going to be able to get a hotel room. I know a bunch of you are going (come on CGM guys - I basically work with ya!), and I was wondering if I'd be able to shack up with one of you. I'd naturally pay my share, reducing the cost for everyone... that is, if I manage to get down there. Lemme know.

All us CGM guys are already double-bunking in hotel rooms that our Corporate Lords and Masters at thelgobe.com are buying. And most of them will be there, too, and wouldn't think kindly of us letting writers shack up with us. =)

Maybe you can sleep in one of the trailers at the GOD lot!

Why the hell not? I'll make funny Canada-related jokes, and I'll drink you all under the table... and then I'll sleep under the table. Come on! It's not like you're paying for my flight or anything heh. I'll even pay like 60 bucks a night... to sleep on the floor!

There are still $56 rooms at the Hollywood Super 8. It's 7 miles down the 101 freeway, and not near as seedy as it sounds.

-Andrew

But will they be there on the 15th? heh... that's when I'd be making my reservations...

For anyone going to E3...

The Motel 6 Hollywood Blvd was GREAT last year. It's $53 a night for any type of room they've got. The neat thing about it is that you're a 2-minute walk off the strip, and all the LA stuff is right there within walking distance.

Added bonus - Don't spend a DIME on taxis!! If you walk about 4 blocks down to Vine, there's a subway terminal there that drops off directly in front of the convention center. I only needed a taxi 3 times my whole stay... to/from LAX, and once following Tom's jeep to some bar. That was it. It was the el'cheapo trip, for sure.

I just reserved my room minutes ago, and they've still got plenty... so get on it. There's also an asskickin burrito shop around the corner.

That's the thing, though - I'd love to make the res, but I don't even know if I'll be going... and I won't know until around the 15th heh. Then I catch the next flight to LAX and pay a billion dollars for it.

You can cancel reservations with no penalty as long as you give 24 hours notice from what I have seen.

Yeah, and then some other poor soul who found out he could go at the last minute can get the room that you cancelled. Or, you'll go and have a room. Worst case scenario, you're out a few bucks for cancelling at the last minute. Wouldn't the peace of mind be worth the risk?

Someone say hi to Wolfgang Walk at Blue Byte if he's there. He's not speaking to me anymore (or refuses my ICQ messages I guess), so if mentioning "Geo" makes him curl up into a fetal position screaming, I'll know he's ticked off at me for not caring for Battle Isle 4. :)

I read on PlanetXBox (tho the news is from GameSpyDaily) that Red Storm claims the info on their upcoming squaddie action game Ghost Recon is mostly wrong and/or out-of-date and that they'll probably be displaying an updated version of the game at the show. I'd be really eager to hear about it. I guess UbiSoft is publishing it. There's a PC version planned later, I think.

Scott Kurtz of PVP fame is going to E3 courtesy of Gamespy and is apparently going to do some "courtroom sketch artist type" drawings from the show. So that might be someone to watch for at the show. Or maybe you can get him to sketch you or something. :)

Besides scott and a few people from the big three magazines...is anyone going to this years E3? Seems like the press ocverage is going to be pretty limp this year...

Most of the writers I know are going. I guess Games Domain isn't sending the UK crew so people like Tim Chown probably aren't going. There may be smaller press attendance this year, but even if a couple of hundred fewer journalists go, there will still be 50,000 people there. I doubt it will be noticeable.

The big thing, obviously, will be websites not sending as many people. A lot of people running sites will just go on their own dime anyway, I bet.

I bet more non-industry people will attend this year. I think people have started to notice that, though it's supposed to be an "industry" show, anyone who wants to fork over like $200 or whatever for a pass can register and attend if they're over 18.

>A lot of people running sites will just go on their own dime anyway, I bet.

Yeah, I'm going on my own dime (and always have), although this may be the last year I do so. In spite of the "great" console stuff upcoming, I have no real interest in console gaming, and it'll likely dominate the show even more than last year. Fewer PC gaming companies hosting parties, fewer writers, and yet there's so much advance coverage of games these days (as opposed to 5 years ago), that it's less interesting to get advance looks.

This is the year to go. You guys are lucky as hell to be there. Don't even come back here and say "it wasn't that big a deal". You're going to E3 in the year of THREE console launches. Xbox, Gamecube and Gameboy Advance. That's big news. You're going to get first looks at a lot of exciting stuff. Especially the Nintendo games should be high on your list when you're not "working" and covering PC games. If I was going, I'd be all over. There's just a ton of stuff to find out about that's only going to be seen there.

Throw in Sega as a brand new 3rd party publisher, EA having to find a way to still look like the number one third party in light of that, some cool keynotes, and a likely huge barrage of Playstation 2 garbage and you really have the makings of the biggest E3 on record.

When I went to Atlanta in 1997, it was between console launches and it showed. Sony had the market by the balls already, Nintendo was still figuring out how to leverage N64 and Sega was all but ready to move away from Saturn. The PC games were all in formative stages and no one was really showing anything groundbreaking either. But flash forward to 1998 and you've got some of the best releases in recent history at E3 in fully playable form. Half-Life and Railroad Tycoon II were among them.

I'll admit that E3 is tiring as hell. I was exhausted after one day. But for Heaven's sake, go and enjoy it. A three day celebration of gaming is something a lot of people would love to have just one minute of. I really wish I could meet you all there.

--Dave

Yeah, and the advance looks aren't exactly based on much hands-on time, either. It's not like previewing a game where you get a playable build.

I like seeing the new games that haven't been announced yet, though. That's my favorite part.

"I'll admit that E3 is tiring as hell. I was exhausted after one day. But for Heaven's sake, go and enjoy it."

Oh, I love it. Some writers complain about going, but I love being there, seeing the games, talking to people, etc. It doesn't bore me in the least.

I am curious about the consoles, but I probably won't do much more than walk through and look at the games they have up and running. I just don't like console games as much.

I'm with Dave. I'd be going if I had the money. Some of us don't have the luxury of having our trips paid for, Mark... *evil glare*
But seriously, while the console stuff is going to be a tad overbearing, I want to see all the new PC games. Even though Bioware is like... 5 minutes away from here, I'd still love to go see NWN, and maybe Greg and his boys with throw in a sneak peek at the Star Wars game... The DNF movie should be pretty cool... ugh, there's too much cool stuff. Damn you people! heh

Interplay doesn't have their stuff out in the open, as I recall. They tend to have an area where you need to get your hand stamped to get in. You could go to E3 and not see NWN maybe.

I've got an appointment with Bioware to see it. Last year they had this little office area in the ghetto, Kentia Hall. They could only squeeze about 5 people in at a time.

About someone paying for me to go, what can I say? I'm so l33t, whatever that means. :)

Well, I HAD an appointment with Bioware to see it, but had to cancel it. I'm l33ter than thou.

See, I know what l33t means, or... actually I should just say I can figure it out.

L EE T
Elite
Only the ees are backwards and actually a three makes a poor e. But I just can't decipher 1337

Is it also "Elite", but written backwards and sort of upside down?
Wouldn't it be cooler to just go the distance and write it in Klingon?


-Andrew

---

Quote:

Oh, I love it. Some writers complain about going, but I love being there, seeing the games, talking to people, etc. It doesn't bore me in the least.

---

"I prefer the GDC for talking to people"

Yeah, I can see that. I like to meet my editors and talk to other freelancers as well as talk to game people. E3's our GDC, if you know what I mean. It's a press event.

"Well, I HAD an appointment with Bioware to see it, but had to cancel it. I'm l33ter than thou."

1'm so 1337, ThaT i d0n't 3v3n n33d an aPpO1ntm3nt. I m3r3|y show up, Ray or greG s33z mE, & 1t'z alL gravy fRom tHAt p0int on. muahahahAHaHAhaha.

-sc00t wh0 n33ds t0 dr1nk m0r3 d3c@f

heh... you're not the only one who's still awake :(
I've spent the last while setting up Discus on my own site: GamersClick.com... heh, man this program is a pain.

"heh, man this program is a pain."

But it's free! It actually loads messages pretty quickly too.

>You're going to E3 in the year of THREE console launches.

With the exception of the Xbox appointment I made, I think I'm going to have like 45 minutes to see all the console stuff.

I'm curious to see the Xbox games that are gonna end up on the PC, and what the PC games ending up on Xbox look like. Not that there aren't plenty of PC-console tie-ins with other consoles, but for some reason our readers seem genuinely more interested in the Xbox. Either they don't believe that it's actually a console, or the PC heritage of the parts ties it in more, or something.

I think a lot of people think Xbox is a PC. They aren't really looking at it as a console in the purest sense of the word. Whether that works to Microsoft's advantage or not is hard to tell.

I think you can tell a lot about what the perception is by the comments and questions on the box itself. For example, the USB compatibility questions, the mouse and keyboard not being a standard feature bugging people, no remote in the box for DVD, etc. etc. People seem to want it to be a set top box but Microsoft can't convince them that isn't what it is. I'm curious if you agree with that assessment, Jason?

I don't think it's helping that every second day some company confirms that their previously PC dedicated game is now coming to both Xbox and the PC. It's really making the system seem more and more like the "Portbox" every day. I mean... Morrowind was just announced! That looked like an epic PC RPG and now it's Xbox bound too?! Bethesda can barely get one version of a game out the door and now they want to get it on consoles too?

BTW, any chance of us getting a "VIDEO GAMES MAGAZINE" as a complement to CGM? You've got one writer ready to go right here! ;)

--Dave

Yeah, Mark me be R33t, but I'm a

[]D [] []^#92;/[] []D

Yeah, Mark me be R33t, but I'm a

[]D [] []\/[] []D

Huh?

Axurom is a Pimp. I think that is what he is trying to tell us.

I tried to be a pimp once but the clothes just didn't work for me.

Yeah, okay, I can get pimp out of that, now that I know what I'm looking for.

Man, I'm so uncool.

Michael?
Why would you think not being able to read "Aszurom's Pimp" message makes YOU the uncool one?
Just a thought.

-Andrew

I dunno.

I guess it's just that whole '1337' perception - if you can read this, then you're cool!

I've never understood that crap.

Maybe it's not so "in" anymore. How the heck would I know.

Just think about the people it is "in" with. How cool are they? See, I'm a geek too.

I like Tolkien, D&D, Sci-Fi, games, etc., but I've spent a lot of my life downplaying it. I'll learn programming - because I can make money at it. But I'd never, ever, flaunt Hax0r speak or Klingon language skills.

People like that, god love 'em, always make me cringe and think about the friends of mine who would walk up to me WHILE I WAS CHARMING SOME SWEET YOUNG LADY. And they'd blithely start quoting Trek, Python or, worse, starting talking about my D&D campaign.

Oh, the shame of it all.

(No offense to the people who have used Hax0r speech here)

-Andrew

Heh, reminds of Erik in the "Chasing Amy" edition of Shoot Club.

"Oh, it just one of those things those guys play...I don't know a lot about it."

Yeah, I'm kinda like that too, Bub. Fortunately, I'm married now, so I don't have to worry about all that anymore. My wife knows that I'm addicted to games.

Lest I be confused with someone familiar with HaXor speak. I had to look at Azurom's post several times before I figured it out.

Really. I did.

Unfortunately, there's no edit previous post function that I could find... or I'd have fixed the first one.

Geeking is like many other things... ratio of being a geek to being a poser is inversely proportional to the amount of time someone spends bragging about as opposed to actually displaying their abilities on something productive.

It's also the same ratio involed in getting laid versus how much pr0n you look at.

That being said, I reached the conclusion today that fat people are fat because they wear big pants. Big pants cause people to gain weight, as illustrated by the fact that fat people always have on big pants.

I blame it on laziness and a steady influx of free video games.