Author's note: I want to do journal entry style posts, because this for me was an experience more than anything else. I don't wish to talk about who "won" E3. This was my first E3, and I want to share my experience with you.
I have returned! I have returned from the most amazing journey that I have ever taken in my life, and I am absolutely elated to be able to tell the tale of my adventure to Los Angeles California to experience E3. This is absolutely amazing, because I have been wanting to go to E3 ever since I found out about it many years ago. E3 stands for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, where tons of video game developers show up to show off. I have been wanting to go because I just love video games. However, this time, because I have matured, and am looking for ways to move ahead in life and in my field, I wanted to go to in order to meet some of my heroes of Internet fame, and respected members of the Gaming Journalism community. Though, that didn't mean that I wouldn't play any up and coming vidja games. Not at all! In fact, my week of E3 started my earlier than I thought that it would as Sunday was the day of the Nintendo World Championships!
The Nintendo World Championships were kind of a big deal, as they haven't been held in twenty-five years. For Nintendo to bring them back was a pretty cool thing. However, as there were no reservations, and no tickets to be purchased, folks had to show up early as wrist bands were being handed out on a first come-first serve basis. I myself, showed up at three o'clock in the morning in order to meet some fellow Nintendo fans and reserve a decent spot in line. There were many games of Super Smash Brothers played that day. I was surprised to find only a small handful of Nintendo fans there when I arrived so early in the morning. I honestly was expecting more, though the small number of them was compensated by the fact that they had been there since 8 PM the night before. I love Nintendo, and I was very excited to see the Nintendo World Championships, but let's be reasonable about it. Suffice it to say, these people were Nintendo fans. They were bundle up in Mario blankets and wearing Splatoon squid hats. I was right there with them, as I pulled my 3DS from my pocket and sat down, patiently awaiting the time they would be handing out the wrist bands for the attendees. The Nintendo officials weren't going to hand out any wrist bands until 9:30 that morning. Like I said: a lot of Super Smash Bros.
As time went on, more and more people started to show up, and the line grew larger. Nothing much happened until Nintendo had a live announcement to make on their Twitch channel. Everyone pulled out their phones to watch the event, including myself. We all huddle around the person with the nearest smartphone who had the stream active on their phone. The announcement wasn't for anything new or unexpected, as that information had been leaked already by data miners. It was rather unfortunate that happened, especially to a company like Nintendo, but the hype still remained. Even though everyone knew what was coming, we were all still excited. It was incredible to hear shouts from different groups reacting at different times because of delays in the streaming of their phones. It was quite the phenomenon, to be honest, because even I jumped on the hype train. I honestly didn't care much, but being surrounded by people who were genuinely excited and were jumping and yelling at every major and minor announcement got me just as excited. That kind of energy was infectious and it felt good.
The time finally came when we could be moved from across the street to next to the building where the event was being held, and the wrist bands would be handed out. Me and my new friend, whom I had only met the night before were excitedly awaiting our wrist bands. When we finally got them, we were met with a huge surprise: the first fifty (50) people in line were going to E3 for free. I had already registered to go, but this meant that I could bring someone with me. I called everyone that I could think of to tell them the news. I finally decided on giving it to my friend and podcast co-host. Unfortunately, he was out of town and couldn't register right away; meanwhile my phone was dying and didn't have the capacity to go through an entire registration process. Suffice it to say, we were both rather disappointed that he couldn't come along. That being said, the events that would transpire the rest of the week would more than make up for the few small setbacks that did happen.
Before the Nintendo World Championships actually began, members of the press who had deemed it news worthy showed up to the event. The folks who had shown up at 8 pm the night before had been moved to the special seating area, while me and my friend decided to take their place at the front. Therefore, the members of the press saw me and my friend at the front of the line, and decided to interview me. (I'd post some of the videos if I could find them, or remember who exactly it was who had interviewed me.) So, for that day, I was the face of the Nintendo fan-base, who had bravely shown up at 3 am to reserve his spot in line and see the Nintendo World Championships. I was interviewed by a Nintendo publication from Brazil, a local area publication, Destructoid.com, and some weird television show from Canada with an overactive host. Keep in mind, the championships hadn't even begun yet.
When the championships did begin, it was absolutely amazing to get into the air conditioned building and make my way towards the theater where the event would take place. It felt like I was going to see the greatest rock show in the history of the world. There were so many people that were already seated, and everybody was so excited to be there. There were talks of what games would be played, and who would be the victor. Everybody could finally relax when they found their seats, and could enjoy not being in the hot Los Angeles sun. The lights fell into place and fixated themselves on the stage as Kevin Pereira walked on stage, looking rather sharp in a well cut suit (how do people handle the heat wearing so many layers?). The players and commentators were introduced and the show began.
The show was a blast, and it felt like everyone was there to just enjoy video games. It was a silly concept, in hindsight, but none of us cared. We were there as a community of fans. People who enjoyed video games, specifically Nintendo ones. We all cheered and sighed mournfully when somebody on stage took a hit. We were in awe at the display of good sportsmanship that was shown, and we heckled Reggie Fils-Aime as he absolutely failed at Super Smash Bros. This was certainly a celebration of games, and the community they create. Then, the man himself came on stage to present the winner with the trophy for becoming the new Nintendo World Champion.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Star Fox, walked on stage to present the trophy. Soon the base of the stage was flooded by fans, and I was among them. Miyamoto walked along the edge of the stage and was shaking hands with those he could reach. I was in reach, too, but I didn't shake his hand. I was able to touch his hand though, and I'm okay with that. Arin Hanson, of the Game Grumps was also there, and I got to thank him for making Game Grumps and making me smile. I would get to meet him later on during the actual event of E3, but there's more of that to come later.
Well, that was day one of E3, and it wasn't even about E3. Join me next time when I write about E3: Day Zero where I talk about all of the conferences that I got to see. Thanks for stopping by!
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