Gamescom
Got back from Gamescom last night.
Was insanely tired, recovering now.
Arriving on monday for GDC Europe then having some press conferences the days after(after the Sony one I had a short chat with Kaz Hirai) I attended the ussual stuff at GDC, had interviews, meetings and play sessions at Gamescom and generally behaved as I do at events like this.
Got some good stuff from all that like telling the Brink producer I fear for his titles release timing( late April after a lot of heavy hitters have released within the same genre), hearing the producer of Mortal kombat praise Virtua Fighter during his Mortal Kombat presentation and countless others.
A few things stood out though, three of which I will share here, others I will keep for my articles.
The first one happened on monday when me and my cameraman Geert were trying to get to the Crytek party following GDC.
We decided to find an alternative way trough the building and its parkings(trough areas not normally traversed on foot) and lo and behold Brandon Sheffield from Game developers Magazine was trying to do the same thing.
Sadly everywhere we went seemed to be fenced of with 9 foot high metal security bars, finding no way to get out I decided to climb over them and Brandon decided to do the same, landing on the other side was painfull from that hight on a hard surface.
Cameraman Geert however saw an unlocked gate just a few feet away and casually walked trough it.
After that we crossed some railroad tracks as well at a place where it was most illegal.
Thursday was the BIG one.
Street fighter producer ohno`s incredible stage performance.
Coming on stage dressed as Chun Li he and later on Tekken producer Harada provided for an hour long show filled with quality comedy.
I dont know if its online in its entirety at the moment but if it is please do yourself a service and watch the event from start to finish instead of split up like it is on 1up(I saw Sam Kennedy filming there and while not as zombified as he was on monday he didnt look too good the times I bumped into him during GDCE and Gamescom).
And then on Friday I crossed the street when the lights were red only to be confronted by a woman in a green police uniform who started to chew me out like a stern school teacher would in German, after telling her I didnt understand German(not entirely true) she continued in german while pointing to the people who didnt cross the street and to the traffic lights and started saying(still in German) that I and Geert each had a 5€ fine payable at the spot.
I wanted to hand her a fiver but cash was unaceptable and yeah sure enough she produced a portable payment terminal, i inserted my card put in my number. Had to sign the first paper that stated the fine for her and she gave me a receipt with her signature on it.
Still beats out the 500$ jaywalking ticket I got in LA back in 2k(which I never had to pay BTW because the cop wrote down the wrong address on the citation so I was never warned after a judge spoke out the fine amount. I know it was that much because I could check it online)
Was insanely tired, recovering now.
Arriving on monday for GDC Europe then having some press conferences the days after(after the Sony one I had a short chat with Kaz Hirai) I attended the ussual stuff at GDC, had interviews, meetings and play sessions at Gamescom and generally behaved as I do at events like this.
Got some good stuff from all that like telling the Brink producer I fear for his titles release timing( late April after a lot of heavy hitters have released within the same genre), hearing the producer of Mortal kombat praise Virtua Fighter during his Mortal Kombat presentation and countless others.
A few things stood out though, three of which I will share here, others I will keep for my articles.
The first one happened on monday when me and my cameraman Geert were trying to get to the Crytek party following GDC.
We decided to find an alternative way trough the building and its parkings(trough areas not normally traversed on foot) and lo and behold Brandon Sheffield from Game developers Magazine was trying to do the same thing.
Sadly everywhere we went seemed to be fenced of with 9 foot high metal security bars, finding no way to get out I decided to climb over them and Brandon decided to do the same, landing on the other side was painfull from that hight on a hard surface.
Cameraman Geert however saw an unlocked gate just a few feet away and casually walked trough it.
After that we crossed some railroad tracks as well at a place where it was most illegal.
Thursday was the BIG one.
Street fighter producer ohno`s incredible stage performance.
Coming on stage dressed as Chun Li he and later on Tekken producer Harada provided for an hour long show filled with quality comedy.
I dont know if its online in its entirety at the moment but if it is please do yourself a service and watch the event from start to finish instead of split up like it is on 1up(I saw Sam Kennedy filming there and while not as zombified as he was on monday he didnt look too good the times I bumped into him during GDCE and Gamescom).
And then on Friday I crossed the street when the lights were red only to be confronted by a woman in a green police uniform who started to chew me out like a stern school teacher would in German, after telling her I didnt understand German(not entirely true) she continued in german while pointing to the people who didnt cross the street and to the traffic lights and started saying(still in German) that I and Geert each had a 5€ fine payable at the spot.
I wanted to hand her a fiver but cash was unaceptable and yeah sure enough she produced a portable payment terminal, i inserted my card put in my number. Had to sign the first paper that stated the fine for her and she gave me a receipt with her signature on it.
Still beats out the 500$ jaywalking ticket I got in LA back in 2k(which I never had to pay BTW because the cop wrote down the wrong address on the citation so I was never warned after a judge spoke out the fine amount. I know it was that much because I could check it online)