AyaJJ's blog

The scene. An unnamed but popular mall in Anytown USA

It’s countdown to the PS3 launch. The atmosphere is pretty festive. Grandparents in lounge chairs want to be the “greatest grandparents in the world” and camped out three days earlier just to have a good chance at one of the systems. Gamers take days off work, some with no pay, just to have a shot. GBAs, DVD players, radios and iPods are scattered among the gathering crowd. Even with Sony’s history of first-generation console glitchiness, and the top news story about the PS3s not being backwards compatible (temporarily), people are still optimistic, As the time gets closer, things start to change. And when the doors open, it’s a madhouse, People get honked off. Grandma gets trampled. Gamers get disappointed, and angry. And leave in ambulances.

I'm not sure if I should be insulted: being a laid back feminist, I'm pretty easy going about things, but I received an email about how I should enter to compete for... wait for it...

Miss Video Game.

It's Halloween in Paragon and in the Rogue Isles too and the feature of the month is Trick or Treat. Players can knock on doors in level appropriate areas and hope for either a treat (an in-game buff or a temporary power) or a trick (an ambush of witches, werewolves, ghosts). Giant Pumpkin guys and other Ugly guys that defy description will run rampant through the streets, creating hate and discontent, and heroes will band together to minimize the carnage. And for the next two weeks, regular, faithful players get to see something unusual: a plethora of level 50s wandering and waiting to team up to trick or treat. I myself will be camping out on Triumph with all my folks, not because I want a temporary power, not for xp, but for one reason alone.

I remember my first Comic-Con International in 1989. There were comics, a few movies; there were even TV show promos. But can't seem to remember what kind of video game presence there was. I mean, I'm sure it was there, probably a little booth along the edge with two TVs going, each connected to a NES or something, with some not-so-memorable game playing. I can't remember for sure, but I'm sure someone was there.

This past CCI, I couldn't walk five feet without stumbling across some sort of gaming thing, whether it was peripherals, new games in development, direct downloads, or even little plushie guys. On one side of the hall was "gamer-land," starting with the Nintendo DS set up from E3 (nice to see them get some serious use out of that) which had a constant supply of fans oozing into the aisles. Sony wouldn't be outdone, so they took up a good portion of the rug with their PS2 and PSP stuff. Square was there, with half of their E3 booth showing the upcoming FF titles and assorted change, along with pimping the associated merchandise. There were other companies there as well, such as NC Soft and Blizzard, but you get the picture.