“The Adventures of SarahTheRebel” A Diary of E3

Hello ROGers!

My E3 started off with a bang at Polygon on the Verge from Snapdragon by Qualcomm. Whew it was a mouthful. I had a great time, mostly because the drinks came with flashing cubes. I’m a simple girl. They also had huge screens with indie games going on, a DJ and great people! Oh and the brownies were awesome.

The next day, I was fortunate enough to attend the Sony Press Conference.

After waiting in line for a few hours, we were finally ushered into the press conference. If you have never attended E3 before, one tip is to scour the web for any opportunities or contests to win E3 passes or access to press conferences. Sony offered 200 random people the opportunity to access the press conference in just this way.

Once inside, there were food trucks galore! Trucks included Fishlips sushi, Tato Tots, Mac Cheezy’s and more. All food and drink  were free, so I stuffed myself with eggrolls, sushi and tater tots. I didn’t actually drink, because I did want to mingle. That’s another tip: if you can’t still be a wonderful social butterfly while drinking then resist the evil temptation that is an open-bar.

It was around this time that I realized I was sunburned, as was my dear friend Brit, whom I met in line. Despite my glowing skin I still really liked that the first part of the  event was outdoors. What I disliked about it was the lack of organization. My companion had to use the restroom and had to hold it for over and hour because they would not let her in until she went through a strange and unexplained process. Many times throughout the event, I and my fellow 200 Sony fans were confused about what was going on and what we were supposed to do. On the other hand, Sony proved to be quite generous, hooking us all up with a sweet E3 deal, throwing out t-shirts, and giving everyone a year’s access to PlayStation Plus.

As the outside event ended, we all ran to get our seats inside the huge auditorium. With all the glowing lights and shadowy figures it made for an impressive sight, and I began to feel the adrenaline pumping. When the show actually started, I was not dissapointed. The sound engineer(s) and the light engineer(s) were amazing. Each sword thrust through a skull or face slam into a table had the crack and boom of a realistic event. I felt a tinge of dread watching Beyond, disgust and shock watching The Last of Us and pure fangirl joy watching the Assassins roll in sea storm.

A few of my favorite moments:

• Learning that PlayStation Allstars Battle Royale would basically include the Vita as a seperate controller. This is a great idea… why has no one else thought of the Vita U?
• The newest assassin is both the first female assassin as well as, if my eyes could be trusted, a beautiful black woman!! I was so excited I almost cried. I drew about seven hearts in my notebook.
• The other big game announcement also included a female protagonist (Beyond) so it is interesting to see that female main characters are gaining in popularity.
• The idea of an interactive book. I am a total bookworm and became quite dreamy-eyed when the announcer mentioned the possibilities of exploring the universe or walking with dinosaurs.
• The realistic ocean combat of the next Assassin’s Creed.
• The announcement that LBP2 DLC featuring cross console-controller DLC.
• The announcement that PlayStation Plus was going to get a power up.
• My new line friend seriously threatening his friend’s life if he did not come and take his picture with Hideo Kojima.
• The screens and presentation was perfect. I was energized and excited almost the entire time!

Things that were not quite my favorite:

• Why would someone want the assassins to fight on the high seas? Just seems like a strange mix.
• The book sounded amazing, but the demonstration left me a little dissapointed. However, I’m sure JK Rowling fans will disagree!
• My sunburn.
• Kratos is now Assassin’s Drake?
• Why was there a ladder in that hotel? And who sets people on fire in front of a pre-teen?

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Interesting Trends:

Overall I now want to buy the upcoming Vita/Assassins Creed: Liberation bundle pack, renew my PlayStation Plus subscription and I am eagerly awaiting the availability of Cool Boarders 2 on PSN.

I also need to take a moment to shout-out the folks at Sony. This is my second industry event with them at a large conference and I must say they know how to treat their fans. I was just as impressed with the way we were treated and I would recommend their conference to anyone.

Also, unless I was seriously trippin’, I saw Ono and Harada and managed to speak some gibberish to them.

Back to the expo! I shall have more updates as the adventures pour in.