The Con Approaches…
(Tristan’s note: This is the first of a special series of articles written by our special correspondent Zaid Tabani as he reports from the San Diego Comic Con ’08. Look for Zaid’s stories all weekend.)
Three hours. I’ve been in this line for 3 hours, a backpack carrying my laptop, some water, a couple snacks, and a badge around my neck. It’s about damn time. The line starts to move, and I finally breath a sigh of
relief. About damn time…
This is the second Comic Con I’ve attended, and the first one I’ve had to cover for TSSZ. The last year helped solidify the conventions place at the center of pop entertainment, so much so that many 3rd party game companies have began setting up shop at the con, hoping to attract the customers E3 shut out, ever since 2005.
Most of the booths sport straightforward demos for upcoming games, previously untouched by the public. EA showed off titles like Saints Row 2, while Bandai Namco showed off projects like Soul Calibur IV, and Naruto Ninja Storm.
The most impressive booth however, stood smack dab in the middle of the game section. Capcom had the show pegged, with a boxing ring full of SFIV machines, all lined for a go. Producer Yoshinoro Ono traveled around the booth, making sure the gamers he surrounded himself with, enjoyed his product.
“I hope everyone is enjoying the game” he told me. “The line is certainly long enough!”
Scattered away from the other game oriented booths stood LucasArts. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had the booth fairly crowded. The game certainly attracted a fanbase outside of just the mainstay of Star Wars gamers, as was evidenced by the nearly 30 minute wait time before the next person was
handed a controller.
As I walked around, I couldn’t help but notice something we had all missed at E3… excitement. The hype this crowd was pushing, and energy in the convention centre was THICK. And this is only Day 1. We haven’t even started yet…
This was originally written for TSSZ News by Zaid Tabani.
