E For All Expo 2008 - Day 3 - SUNDAY RECAP

The day opened with a marching band (with cheerleaders and a flag-spinny group… oh, you know what I mean) welcoming us to the show just before the doors opened (yesterday it was the L33t Str33t Boys band). Rather than leading us through the doors, the organizers rightfully decided that it would be best for the band to get out of the way when the doors opened, as it dramatically decreased the possibility of people holding brass instruments being trampled. I planned my day carefully, hoping to score SOMEthing from one of the many drawings throughout the exhibition hall. I grabbed a t-shirt here, a free energy drink sample there. Unfortunately, my skills are nowhere close to what many of the kids half my age have acquired as a result of years of practice, so I didn’t bother trying to place in the Unreal Tournament III competition (I killed myself almost as much as others killed me) or even attempt to become a Guitar Hero. I made a few final attempts at trying to score high on the Samsung Mobile INNOV8 Asphalt 4 racing game, but I couldn’t get close to the champs. Of course, it’s a game (and a phone) that’s not available in the US, so I’m thinking those that scored high were from out of town… way out of town.

To sum up the event, here a few notable moments and items from the show:

CREATIVITY OVER CARNAGE - I spent some time at the IndieCade (it’s something like independent music, except it’s games and maybe 85% less emo), scoping out the latest offerings from independent developers and while you will likely never find a Gears of War 2 among them (which looks awesome, by the way), what you do find is an endless supply of creativity and ingenuity that seems to have gone away since shooting everything in sight became the default criteria for a hit mainstream game. Most of the items were simple but innovative puzzlers, low on the high definition graphics spectrum, but each looked like a work of moving art, especially Machinarium, Bumper Stars, and the Misadventures of HP Winterbottom. I’m sure most of these were made to be downloadable to your Xbox 360 or Wii, but here’s hoping that some are just available for PC gamers too. I’ll take a clever, funny, and puzzling side-scroller over a mega blast fest any day! Like I like mah wimmen… speaking of which…

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS - Sure, booth babes are expected at events like this. You won’t hear single ol’ me complaining about the existence of pretty girls in exotic outfits standing around in a convention hall, but more than ever this year, I discovered a good number of truly geeky girls at the show, not just barely-interested bodies for hire. There are more than a few legitimate Geeky Gamer Girls out there playing hardcore right alongside the big boys and often kicking their butts. It no longer seems like a marketing gimmick as it used to be (hey fanboys, play with some hot girls we trained to play with you so you become interested in our games). These girls are more than holding their own, but they also have a good marketing team behind them (or act as spokespeople for sponsors as the PMS Clan did for Sharp this week). The PMS Clan (PMS=Pandora’s Mighty Soldiers) are clever, sexy and always ready for a challenge. Best of all, they’re real gamers. And they demand respect. It’s clear they’re not speaking from a script when they talk about gaming. They know and love gaming and it shows. And the fact that I was on the verge of begging their co-founder to shave my head for a 32 inch Sharp Aquos flat screen tv does not diminish that fact in any way (by the way Amber, if you’re reading this, I’d still be happy to drive to the Sharp LA offices if you want to give me one to do a “product review” on… just sayin’…*ahem*). And just a few steps away from their booth was GEN, the Girls Entertainment Network, whose humble little booth was filled with friendly, lovely young ladies, all of whom had not an ounce of pretention or an “ewww, nerds” attitude about them (if they did, they expertly hid it). You could walk by their booth anytime to chat about games, join a game of Rock Band, or win some cool, ultra-geeky prizes (thanks for the Naruto DVD set and WoW hat, girls!). With girls like these, I hope that more and more girls will feel comfortable in this obviously male-dominated medium without having to act or feel like objects or sideline spectators. Anything that lets girls feel more comfortable with being all kinds geeky is alright with me. (hey, they even posted one of my pictures on their site)

MOST FUN BOOTH AWARD - While the PMS Clan and GEN girls always led the charge when it came to revving up the crowds and creating a fun atmosphere, I have to give this kudo to the Fusion-IO guys and gals, who stuck a rampaging, bucking mechanical hard drive at the center of their booth and put American Gladiator’s Wolf in charge of it. Wolf was there to meet his fans and tease more than a few of them who fell off the giant hard drive a little too easily. I think there’s something in my system that finds people falling off things onto their heads immensely funny. Pretty much anything that involves people having to sign a waiver first is a recipe for good times. Beyond hyping a product that I’m dying to get my hands on some day, these guys knew how to show the crowd a fun time. Of course, handing out money for howling like a… well, like Wolf… wasn’t a bad idea either. It’s when the little kids got involved that it became adorable (it sounded like a wounded puppy competition). So between howling children and all of the t-shirts and bodies flying everywhere, the Fusion-IO gang always drew a crowd that enjoyed themselves and quite possibly knew what their product was by the end of the day… (it’s a super fast solid state hard drive called the IOXTREME)

SLIGHTEST DISAPPOINTMENT - Steve Wiebe didn’t break his own record on Donkey Kong. Not a big deal as he set the bar pretty damn high for himself. I just kept visiting him at the machine at various times throughout the weekend and each time he seemed to be so close, yet so far. This is certainly nothing against his incredible skills as a gamer. He is a gaming god! (give me Donkey Kong over most console games any day) I just hoped that I’d get to witness it because I’m really, really selfish that way.

BRIGHTEST FUTURE - (3 way tie) First, the guys at Dude Thing Creations and Premium Drum Covers are tapping into a niche market that isn’t so niche anymore. Dude Thing Creations makes custom guitar stands for Rock Band and Guitar Hero and Premium Drum Covers does… does something… hmmm, oh yeah, THEY MAKE PREMIUM DRUM COVERS for Rock Band and soon, Guitar Hero World Tour! Why would you need guitar stands or possibly even a cabinet for your drum kit? Well, it’s better than leaving everything on or under the coffee table or leaning up against the tv, isn’t it? (don’t make me bring your mother in here to make you clean up!) And when it comes to covering your drums… for us apartment dwellers, it’s a necessity, especially when the neighbors are sick of hearing the incessant tapping through the floor (doesn’t matter if you’re wearing headphones). The drum heads allow for varying levels of silencing/padding and they’ve been known to kill some of that obnoxious bleed-over between some of the heads (no more hitting green when you were really hitting blue… really hard). The 3rd tied product is, appropriately, the 3rd Space Vest, which lets you feel the hits you take in the game, front and back, putting you further into the game. And with their announcement that the vest now works with World of Warcraft, WoW fiends can now experience every bludeon, every arrow, ever spell first hand. It will make you second guess going on a raid unprepared. Considering that WoW is pretty much the kind of game that takes over one’s life once they start playing it, what’s one more step further into that world with the 3rd Space vest?

BIGGEST GAME OF E FOR ALL 2008 - A casual observer might say Guitar Hero World Tour (with it’s big stage battle of the bands) and they wouldn’t be completely wrong. Taking up the most space on the floor and promoted by mega-retailer Target, you couldn’t miss seeing the constantly busy consoles churning out the rock hits as warbled by nearly everyone at the show (except me, who is not very music-gaming inclined without a few beers in me). But the real star that started every early morning stampede was the preview of the Xbox 360 sequel to the hit 3rd person shooter Gears of War (aptly titled Gears of War 2). Back in a dark corner, lit only by the blood red glow of lights arcing over each set of consoles, was a stunningly intense, bloody, and finely detailed shooter that’s just due to blow away any expectations fans may have once it hit shelves later this year. Again, it’s one I wasn’t able to play due to the many hardcore gamers that stood waiting to play it in “Horde mode” over and over throughout the weekend. I wasn’t going to get in their way and I would have just embarrassed myself. Those guys took that game seriously. I would have spent 10 minutes trying to toggle the dual sticks in a position to shoot something other than a wall or myself (as I said yesterday, I’m a solo gamer… social gamers would get frustrated with my slow ability to adapt to new gaming environments… I prefer to try it first on my own…) That said, the big noise was certainly made by Guitar Hero World Tour, but in a dark corner filled with gunfire and the gurgled dying screams of hideous flame-thrower wielding creatures, Gears of War 2 dominated the show in its own special way.

STUFF I WISH I COULD HAVE GOT MY HANDS ON - I will ignore the fact that you think my first answer would have been the gamer girls mentioned earlier. Moving right along… I have never bought a complete computer from any retailer since 1994. And when I did buy that fully assembled rig, it was a custom job from an independent seller I found in a phone book (remember those?). Since then, I’ve been cobbling together new machines piece-by-piece, component-by-component whenever I could afford it and when it desperately needed it. I would have thrown the decent but woefully outdated computer I’m using right now to write this in a heartbeat if I could have gotten my hands on any completely constructed Dell machine at the Intel booth using the new i7 processor. They were all so pretty and shiny and fast and sexy. *gush* Of course, if I was going to keep cobbling my machines together, I would have loved to grab all of the stuff displayed at the Fatal1ty booth. Video cards, sound cards, memory, mice, keyboards, and who knows what else? He’s even got his own motherboards now! I would figure that something that the most famous pro gamer in the world would use would be good enough for me and my paltry attempts at kicking virtual ass. Hmmm… I really should start up that product review section of PopCultureGeek.Com I’ve been unofficially working on…

MOST SURREAL MOMENT - I continue to be stunned at the skill exhibited by so many gamers, young and old, on a wide variety of game styles (I wish I was playing all the games I’ve abandoned recently due to being too “busy” and writing insanely long posts like this). When I saw the awards ceremony that capped off the event this afternoon and realized that dozens of young people would be heading to Germany to represent the USA in the World Cyber Games, I realized that this has gone far beyond being a fun hobby for so many people. I should’t be surprised, as I am a geek, but it’s something to see these people play in person, to experience the atmosphere of crowds cheering on people sitting quietly in chairs as they stare at a screen. It’s just odd… but still really, really cool. Maybe if I had spent more time sitting on my ass or bothered to learn how to play a plastic instrument replica, I would be holding up a giant $15,000 check and going to Germany. I just don’t think there’s a way to quantify someone’s skill at playing the Legend of Zelda in any amount of time that wouldn’t end up being obnoxiously long and tedious (hya! hurrrrha! thwack! thwack!).

In the end, I walked out of the show with more than a few goodies for me and some friends, including at least a half dozen different t-shirts and one of those free-standing Iron Man movie poster displays that peppered the Samsung booth/lounge. I had a great time playing all of the new and classic games as well as watching others play them so expertly. I also loved meeting lots of new people who are passionate about gaming (and being in business with gamers, of course). It was a GREAT time had by all and I’m looking forward to next year. As for those of you few people who have actually read this far, keep your eyes open for a video or two that I’m working on over the next few days that will hopefully capture the fun and madness that took place over the last 3 days, including a good many bucking hard drive tumbles and more than a few guitar heroes strutting their stuff.

All of our E For All 2008 pictures are up on Flickr…