…is this image from the convention program. It made a bunch of us in the press area laugh for a few obvious reasons those of you who go to conventions know all too well. Anyway, the con organizers need a few tips on how to treat us media folk a bit better. Herding us like sheep along with the regular attendees is a bit lousy. Other trade shows and events I’ve attended allow press onto the show floor earlier so we could make appointments and not need to deal with packs of swag-grabbing elbow throwers. Perhaps the organizers can look at those old DigitalLife shows where press and VIP’s were treated with a bit more respect (and hell, MUCH better computer access that wasn’t slower than dial-up. On a 28k modem.)

Anyway, day one was a bit nuts. Saw the Max Payne “Hands-Off” demo a(superb) and Grand Theft Auto III on the iPad (excellent). Checked out Rayman Origins at Ubisoft (funny and old-school challenging), Dragon’s Dogma (rough, but enjoyable), Asura’s Wrath (amazingly funny over the top with great classical music), and a bunch of other stuff. Orcs Must Die! is pretty cool, by the way, as is the upcoming space combat game from a bunch of ex-Rare employees I’ll be writing a lot more about shortly. Tomorrow (well, later today), I get to tour Activision’s booth (I’ll get a funny pic of me with a Prototype 2 helicopter prop), play a bit of Zelda: Skyward Sword (even though I’ll most likely have to wait an hour or more, grrr) and check out stuff I bypassed because Thursday was too short (3 hours FLIES by before you know it). Anyway, off to sleep for me (again). It’s going to be a looooong day later…