Day 0 was a pretty interesting experience. However, it was just the warm up for the actual events of E3. What I experienced Monday did not in any way prepare me for the greatness of yesterday’s goings on.
I woke up yesterday morning, got ready, and set out on another bus adventure to the Los Angeles Convention Center. My first bus ran late and I had to wait for a different connecting bus, but I left early enough to where it wouldn’t put me in any danger of missing my tour of the Konami booth scheduled for 12:00PM.
After a 3 hour journey, I arrived at the convention center. This time I was sure I was in the right place as there was tons of foot traffic coming to and from the venue.
Outside of the LACC, there were shuttles for E3 attendees to go back and forth between their hotel (something I will definitely be getting for next year.) These shuttles were pretty cool because they were decorated in game advertisements for the new Pac-Man and Dark Souls 2.
After passing through the shuttle area, I arrived at the main entrance for the LACC. I ignored the huge line outside and went in, expecting to be able to get into the show room. Unfortunately, a guard told me to get in the line, even though I had a meeting with Konami starting shortly.
So, I went to the back of the line. Eventually, I made some small talk with someone else in the line who had an exhibition only pass. After a bit of talking, he told me that the line was probably only for non-press and non-exhibitors and that I should see if the press badge would get me in instantly.
I headed over to the press area and found an entrance/exit to one of the halls. I asked a different guard about where I would go to enter and apparently press do get in anywhere instantly, so, screw you first security guard. You’re a total buttloaf.
I went into the hall and searched hurriedly for the Konami booth. Unfortunately, I was in the wrong hall. There is a South and a West Hall that the exhibitors occupy and they are not connected. So, I had to rush over to the other hall and try to get to the booth as quickly as possible.
By the time I finally made it, I was nearly 20 minutes late due to the entrance mix up. Thankfully, the employees handling the booth tours were really cool about it and I got set up with two other journalists to do a tour around the booth.
Our tour person told us about the new Metal Gear Solid 5 trailer, the MGS collection bundle, the new Castlevania, a new soccer game, and a few interesting sounding mobile titles. One stars Domo and another one is a mix of an RPG and a slot machine game.
After the tour, we were placed in the line to go into the press demo area to try out Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2.
It took about 20 minutes for the two journalists who were a part of my tour group to get in. I was next in line and hyped to play my first E3 demo, even if it was for a game I wasn’t too excited about.
That E3 demo hype died down when another booth worker approached the worker who was guarding the press area and letting people in. Apparently, there were some guests that needed to use the booth before I did. I was a little mad that some big shots thought they could cut in front of me, a mother lovin’ GameSkinny contributor.
The mad went away as soon as I saw Rocco from Mega64 approach with some of his friends. I’m a pretty big fan of their show, so, naturally, my reaction was to mutter “holy shit” under my breath and try my best to contain my excitement.
A moment or two later, the rest of the main guys from the show appeared. Apparently, they were going to be filming in the booth. I was so stoked that I would get to inhabit a place about 10 minutes after Mega64 filmed there.
The wait went on for what seemed like an eternity. The only thing that helped the wait pass by quickly was the fact that I heard Rocco use the phrase “Coheed my Cambria,” as in “he was going to Coheed my Cambria.”
Eventually they got in. Then I got in after them. Then I played the demo and left to check out the rest of what E3 had to offer.
Check out part 2 of Baby’s First E3 Experience: Day 1.
