by Danreb Victorio
Casual or not, it’s cool seeing all the video game marketing.
Despite what it looks like, SmashPad isn’t at the event in official capacity, and we haven’t been since 2010. With E3 open to the public, we have three people in the area attending the event as well as other events in the surrounding area, and this feature is all about telling you what it’s like from “the public’s” perspective.
E3 is finally upon us… well, sort of. While the event doesn’t begin until Tuesday, people have been arriving as early as yesterday since EA kicked things off with EA Play.
Since we didn’t get an invitation, I obviously didn’t attend their press conference, but I stood in line hoping to get into their EA Play event which was scheduled to start letting people in at 4:00 p.m.
My friends and I got there as early as 3:00, and we ended up standing in line around the block for an hour before deciding to just ditch it.
Why did we give up? First of all, the whole thing felt ridiculously unorganized. The line wrapped around the block and was filled with all kinds of people, and you couldn’t tell whether they were a gamer or actually there for the Nas concert (which undoubtedly affected the length of the line.
Of course, getting in is one thing. Actually playing a game is another, because that’s an entirely new line to stand in.
Given that the featured games were Madden, NBA Live, FIFA, and Battlefront II, there wasn’t much of a reason to motivate me to stay in line.
Since the first day of EA Play was a fail, I checked out IGN’s Community Party, and it wasn’t too bad.
As any casual person would, I decided to leave and figure out something to do with my friends, and we decided to check out IGN’s Community Meetup, which was actually pretty awesome. The event was sponsored by Hot Pockets, so there was a Hot Pocket to take a picture of and all the Hot Pockets you could get, just as long as you were down to stand in line for an hour to grab one–and yes, I was stupid enough to do that. To my credit, I ended up getting an extra drink ticket from another person in line, so as long as you aren’t being totally antisocial at a party, there’s a good time to be had.
Shortly after that, the group went to Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles and had a good time before calling it a night as I decided to fire up the EA Press Conference before heading to bed.
This plate of giblets from Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles ended up being the highlight of the evening.
At the end of the day, nothing was really all that incredible, but keep in mind — E3 hasn’t even officially started yet, so if you’re wondering about whether or not you should head to Los Angeles this early… No, you don’t have to.