The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 7

Expo ’90 at Tsurumi Ryokuchi, Osaka Japan was a turning point in the world of entertainment. Namco was able to evolve the amusement park experience with what they called “Hyper Entertainment.” This was the hybrid attraction that was part arcade game, part amusement ride, and part themed environment. The fantasy RPG Tower of Druaga in the previous blog was one of their arcade hits-turned-hyper entertainment attraction, and the other was the science fiction shooter Galaxian³. When astronaut Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon in 1969 he said “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Namco took the “giant” part literally when designing this attraction. I had already sung the praises for this game previously on the blog, and I would no doubt talk about it again in the future.

If you had no idea what I was talking about, the Galaxian³: Project Dragoon attraction was the largest video game in history. It was a polygonal interactive shooter on a gigantic moving platform that supported 28 people at the same time. Shigeki Toyama was in charge of concept planning, system design, mechanical design, graphic design, logo design, decorative design, etc. He had a singular focus; revenge on the 1985 Tsukuba Expo committee for not giving Namco a proper Pavilion. Revenge for not being prepared to have Namco show their best work five years prior. He literally challenged his team to make audiences feel like they were the heroes of Star Wars. They were already fans of the Star Tours attraction in Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland. They still wanted to make something far superior. His goal was to get the nation talking about how fantastic Namco’s showing was in the ’90 Expo in Osaka. Since I was still praising it 35 years later I would argue that it was mission accomplished.

I don’t think you understand how epic this experience was to Generation-X in Japan. Up until that point the evolution of space simulator cabinets had been slow but steady. Although the space shooter video game genre started in the ‘70s, the use of deluxe cabinets to immerse the players started in 1981. Sega/Gremlin released Space Tactics, the deluxe sit down cabinet was very much a Space Invaders-meets-simulator. Instead of a joystick the player sat behind a gunners yoke, with an illuminated display. It was one of the early space shooters that reinforced the idea of fully realized simulators. They followed up in 1983 with Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator. It was a vector graphics space combat simulator. It had the same synthesized voice from Space Fury. The game was poorly received, especially when compared to Star Wars by Atari which came out that same year. Sega would elevate the cabinets by adding motion to them starting with After Burner in 1987. The full timeline, and importance of these gradually bigger, and bigger cabinets was discussed previously on my blog.

Namco, and Sega had been going back-and-forth in the racing, and space genres for decades. Everything from game design, to gameplay were hotly contested by fans of the studios. Sega’s motion cabinets could be seen as superior to anything Namco had ever released. While Namco lead the shift to polygons for the industry, Sega managed to get a lot more attention for their efforts. I would argue that Galaxian³ was created in part because it would be all but impossible for Sega, or any other studio to top. How confident was I of that statement? My friend asked if the Mario Kart attraction at the Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios could be considered a bigger video game. While it took a bigger footprint I would argue that it wasn't a bigger game. The Mario Kart attraction had six groups of four riders each for the Mario, Luigi, Daisy, Peach, Toad, and Yoshi teams. That's 24 concurrent players on the same game, still four shy of Namco’s record.

Mr. Toyama joined Namco as an industrial designer in the early '80s. He said that he knew nothing about video games. That part was true, but his love of out of home entertainment ran in the family. His grandfather Tokio designed the “Flying Coaster” at Futakotamagawa Garden in Setagaya, Tokyo. Here’s a bit of trivia for you, the flying coaster appeared briefly in the 1971 film Godzilla vs Hedorah. While the movie was in theaters before I was born, I remembered seeing it in reruns. When I was a little kid the local drive in theaters would feature a Godzilla movie marathon during the summer. It was a cheap way for our parents to keep my brothers and I entertained. We would stuff our faces with hot dogs, and popcorn while watching the rubber suit battles. I was terrified of the smog monster because it melted people with its toxic spray. But I digress…

As a kid Mr. Toyama would practice his illustrating skills by drawing the various attractions in Futakotamagawa Garden. He would end up working at the park before graduating from college. This history would help him plan arcade cabinets for Namco, and later on the largest attraction of his career. The location of the park would become very important for Namco’s history, but we would get to that in a future blog. Mr. Toyama’s team, included fellow designers Hideyuki Kikuchi, Wataru Yanagawa, Tatsuya Ishikawa, Takashi Yano, and Katsunori Mizuno. Yasunori Tashiro as the producer, Koichi Tashiro who was in charge of parts, and assembly, Hajime Nakatani directing, with planning from Hiroyuki Takejima. Kimimasa Matsuura, Norimasa Matsuura, and Jinto Saito handled programming duties. The mechanical structure, and external negotiations were handled by Akira Osugi and Takashi Sano, the electrical design was handled by Masataka Yamada. Fumio Ishikawa was in charge of overall operations, including production, installation, and removal. The team had quite an adventure putting together the enormous Galaxian³ machine.

Osaka was a massively busy city on the island of Honshu off the coast of mainland Japan, it was known for turbulent changes in weather, this was especially true during the construction of the “Flower Expo.” Namco arrived in February, and the expo started on April 1. Remember that the company had to get both of their untested Hyper Entertainment attractions up, and running in that window. While they did the majority of the work at Namco, taking everything apart, and putting it back together on site was a different battle. They wanted the best graphics, and simulator experience they could get . This meant that they ended up literally debugging, and programming the gigantic hydraulic cabinet with entirely new software, and hardware on site. The team actually had a small office hidden off to the side of the platform where they could troubleshoot any problems during the expo. They were 99% certain that they would not be able to get it ready for opening day. In order to accomplish the impossible Namco added a couple new faces. Mr. Satoru Yano, who designed the motion unit, and Mr. Katsunori Mizuno, who designed the visual, and hydraulic data joined late into the project.

The team worked around the clock in the chilly winter weather. Mr. Toyama placed a sleeping bag under the hydraulics of the attraction, he called it “Hotel Galaxian.” The staff said they survived the freezing winter rainstorms thanks to consuming a massive amount of hokaron (hand, and body warmers). Several of them called it the "Cursed Galaxy" as team members kept getting seriously ill. Mr. Nakatani contracted acute hepatitis, Mr. Takahoku was run over by a motorcycle while riding his bicycle, breaking his arm in the process. The team didn't slow down because Masaya Nakamura, the president of Namco would be visiting on opening day. The final touches, the facade, hallways, airlocks, lights, bulkheads, and other decorations were done within a set budget. Mr. Toyama was not happy with the initial look, he felt it looked sparse, and even cheap. He spent his own money adding additional details, pipes, lighting, painting, and weathering the sets. Sleeping on the floor, and detailing everything down to the very last second when guests arrived. Their biggest compliment came from visitors who assumed they had spent millions on the attraction instead of a fraction of that. According to them it rose to the standard of the Star Tours by Disney Imagineering.

The group in Osaka teased the Namco sound team as having the easiest part of the job. Shinji Hosoe aka Megaten, Ayako Sasou, and a few others were indeed the luckiest during the entire ordeal. Megaten was the main composer, and musician. He was most famous for scoring Ridge Racer, and a number of Namco’s biggest hits. He even worked on Street Fighter EX, which was one of my favorite SF soundtracks. For Galaxian³ he was tasked to come up with five original pieces that were cinematic, and a response to John Williams’ Star Wars music. It was no small task. Especially since he started at the end of February, as the attraction was being put together. The genius composer shocked his coworkers. He cranked out his five pieces in five days. He would write the songs in the morning, and arrange them in the afternoon. The team said great, from that point on he should compose everything that R&D threw at him.

The guests that played the “Active Simulator” absolutely loved it. Best of all the staff loved the employee uniforms that ride operators were given. They said they looked very cool, up until they had to clean up the seats whenever a guest vomited. Namco conducted surveys of the visitors “most people said it was amazing and they were impressed, but 2 out of every 1,000 people said, "I don't want to do it again!" This reaction was mainly from people that got motion sickness from the rocking action. The platform would rise, and fall up to six feet. This happened dozens of times over the course of eight minutes. The guests were warned about the movement during the pre-show video that played in the queue. Of course some people still thought that stuffing themselves with carnival food, and then riding a motion ride was a good idea. 

Between the classic carnival attractions they built, many of them still operating decades later, as well as The Tower of Druaga, and Galaxian³ Namco had proven they were the best entertainment company at Expo ’90. This forced all of the other studios, especially Sega, to step up their game. There was little else Namco could do except dismantle the attractions after September 30th, 1990 when the expo had reached its conclusion. The thing was that the company, and its employees had poured so much of themselves into the attractions that they didn’t want to see it all end. That was with the exception of the sales department, who asked them to never again to spend so much building a one-off attraction. The team scaled down Galaxian³ to a 16-person screen for dedicated locations. They even offered a 6-person Galaxian³: Project Dragoon cabinet for arcades that wanted to advertise the “World's Largest Video Game.” Their revolutionary engine would even get two expansions, The Rising of Gourb, and the Attack of the Zolgear.

Variations of Galaxian³ lived on after Expo '90, and however the Tower of Druaga would have been lost to history if it wasn’t for a bold idea. President Masaya Nakamura believed in the power of play. His company flourished because they created games at a time when society (and corporate culture) said it was a waste of time. What if his teams could combine everything they had learned over their 35 years in business? What if play was the critical to the next evolutionary step of themed entertainment? They might end up creating something wonderful. We will explore the roots of this revolutionary idea in the next blog. Were you a fan of the Namco space shooters? Had you ever heard of them before today? I’d like to hear about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 6

In the previous blog I talked about The Tower of Druaga, one of the two games that Namco had turned into an attraction at the Expo ’90 in Osaka Japan. The company felt that the Expo ’85 organizers in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Japan did a disservice to the company. They decided to go all-out and create an entirely new type of attraction for the “Magical Cross” amusement area in Osaka. It would be something completely different from the roller coaster, carousel, or Ferris wheel at the park. In fact the company considered what they were building to be something different from what was available in amusement parks, or even theme parks. They called their attractions “Hyper Entertainment.” Unlike most amusement rides where the audience were passive the Namco attractions promised to put the rider in the role of the hero. They would be challenged in different ways every time they rode.

Akatsuki Kogei was in charge of planning and directing the Tower of Druaga. He had to find the key elements of the three games of the Babylonian Castle Saga. At the time those were the Tower of Druaga, The Return of Ishtar, and The Quest of Ki. The other eight titles in the series hadn’t come out yet. What were the elements that went into the game? What did audiences remember about the experience, and what highlights could be turned into tangible scenes for an attraction? It was clear who the heroes, and main villain would be, but what about the various enemy types introduced in the games? How would 2D sprites look in a 3D environment?

Despite being a video game Namco made sure that when audiences thought of the Tower of Druaga they imagined it as a physical location. They wanted audiences to think that the story happened in a real place, and time. This came through in the original poster for the game. Rather than create a fantastic rendering Namco artist Yuichiro Shinozaki combined physical models, with paintings of the cast. It was presented in a western comic book format, going so far as to feature word balloons in English. This was rare for Japanese game flyers. It explained how to play the game, and even how to approach some of the different enemy types. This advertisement highlighted the western influence of the game. The use of painted miniatures owed a lot to classic tabletop systems such as Dungeons & Dragons by TSR, but also Warhammer Fantasy Battle by Games Workshop. Namco would eventually release novels, and role-playing supplements, as well as a board game based on the Tower of Druaga in Japan. They also released board games for Pac-Man, Xevious, and their other hits. For many kids in Japan this was their first introduction to traditional tabletop RPGs. Aurora Models even released a series of miniatures to celebrate 40 years of Druaga.

Mr. Kogei knew that the sets, animatronics, and location had to have an ancient western feel, and not a Japanese look. Mr. Shinozaki worked on the concept art for the various scenes in the attraction. Making sure that it felt as authentic as possible to the original game. The team had to figure out how to pace the experience, and put the audience in the role of Gilgamesh, the hero. The arcade hit was known for being difficult. It was credited for establishing “notebook carrying” games. In Japan the most dedicated players would map everything they found in notebooks, including layouts of the various floors in the game. Mind you this was before the home version was released. These notebooks predated game guides published by the studios, or game magazines.

The goal for Mr. Kogei, and his team was create an attraction that was “the first role-playing game ride with multiple scenarios and multiple endings.” Up to 4 players at a time would ride in armored carts, as they made their way through the tower. Players used a light gun, which was shaped like Gil’s sword against against all sorts of monsters, and demons. The actual length of the attraction, and score was determined by which targets you hit, and when you hit them, rather than just blasting everything. Audiences had to listen to their opponents carefully, as well as watch for clues during the ride. You could earn “treasure,” or rather clues on each opponents weaknesses as you progressed through the various rooms. Regular scores earned a Bronze ending, and the ride went right to the exit. If you paid attention to hints, the ride went a bit further and featured a battle with a dragon. Players that managed to defeat the dragon earned a Silver ending, and then the ride was over. If you defeated the dragon, and then Druaga then you got the Gold ending. This meant that you would reach, and rescue Kai before exiting the ride.

Those that played through the attraction would say how fun it was, but also that it was indeed difficult. Namco certainly understood that the people that were raised on arcade experiences were getting older, and looking forward to the evolution of the format. The Tower of Druaga not only predicted, but also predated the Disney attractions such as Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin by 8 years, Toy Story Midway Mania by 16 years, and Web Slingers A Spider-Man Adventure by 31 years. Can you imagine how much fun Pirates of the Caribbean would be if you could shoot back at the various scenes in the attraction, earn a longer ride, and perhaps a treasure at the end?

Namco partnered up with coaster manufacturer Togo for the ride system. Togo had been in business longer than Namco, and had a great reputation in Japan for their roller coasters. Their joint venture was called N&T, and was designed to create the next generation of amusement attractions, and amusement parks. With the Tower of Druaga pulling guests 4000 years into the past, the next featured attraction from Namco would send them centuries into the future. We will look at this attraction in the next blog. If you were a fan of the Babylonian Castle Series then I’d like to read about it in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

The horse jumped over the moon, the story of Namco, part 5

Namco had a fun showing at the Expo '85; officially called Kokusai Kagaku Gijutsu Hakurankai, "The International Science Technology Exposition”. It was a world's fair held in Tsukuba, Ibaraki. The “DaVinci of Namco” Mr. Shigeki Toyama, and many other employees at Namco felt underprepared, and even snubbed by the Expo committee. As one the top creators of entertainment robots they were asked to present at the expo, but not get their own dedicated Pavilion. They might have felt pigeonholed as the people that made cute robot mice. That was a bit disrespectful as Namco was by that time the top producers of amusement rides, electromechanical, robotics, and video game attractions in Japan. I mean, did they even ask if Pac-Man could appear at the Expo? The company had five years to plan their revenge, while at the same time dropping hit, after hit, in the arcades.

Expo '90 “Kokusai Hana to Midori no Hakurankai” or The International Garden and Greenery Exposition. Sometimes referred to as the “Flower Expo” was organized as a part of the International Expositions Convention. It was the first large-scale international gardening exposition in Asia. It focused on the theme of the "Harmonious Coexistence of Nature and Mankind." The exposition was held in Tsurumi Ryokuchi, Osaka for 183 days, from April 1 to September 30, 1990. The convention included participation from 83 countries, 55 international organizations, and attracted over 23 million visitors.

Namco built a number of classic carnival-type games for the midway, many of which were updated version of their arcade hits. But more important, they featured two attractions in what was called the “Magical Cross” amusement area. This area of the expo also had the more traditional carousel, roller coaster, and Ferris wheel that visitors were used to seeing. The two attractions built by Namco were radical new ideas. Galaxian³, which I had already written about extensively was at this Expo. The other was The Tower of Druaga, also called the “Tower of the Dark Ride.”

The Tower of Druaga was an arcade classic from 1984. It might be the most under-appreciated title in the USA. This was possibly because it was a western style RPG, which wasn’t anything major in the US, but was revolutionary in Japan. The Tower of Druaga was the first Namco game to have an ending instead of looping or going to a kill screen. The music was composed by the amazing Junko Ozawa. This was the first title in the Babylonian Castle Saga. The series was created by Masanobu Endō, who had previously created the sci-fi classics Xevious, and Grobda. It was important in the role-playing genre because its characters and setting were inspired from Sumerian and Babylonian mythology, such as The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Tower of Babel. Arguably the two oldest origin myths in pre-history. Very few traditional paper-and-pencil role playing games, tabletop games, and video games were set in that era.

The Druaga series featured the golden armored Prince Gilgamesh, nicknamed Gil, and the maiden Ki (sometimes written Kai), in their efforts to protect the mythical Blue Crystal Rod, a gift of light from the Goddess Ishtar. They were trying to seal away Lord Druaga, a four-armed demon who had escaped his ancient prison. He was trying to get the rod to enslave the human race. The Tower of Druaga would spawn a total of nine sequels, including the Return of Ishtar (1986), the Quest of Ki (1988), the Blue Crystal Rod aka the Destiny of Gilgamesh (1994), and the Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon (2004). The last spin-off was the Labyrinth of Druaga (2011). All of this was alongside a manga, soundtrack albums, board game, role play supplements, and two anime series by Gonzo K.K. Later entries in the series would be developed by Endo's personal game company, Game Studio.

The Tower of Druaga was a breath of fresh air when it hit the arcades. Maze games, space shooters, and racing games were the most popular genres of the era. Suddenly there was an adventure game that had you going through levels of progressive difficulty, fighting all sorts of fantastic monsters. Even though you were going through a labyrinth, it wasn’t a maze game like Pac-Man. The stages were pretty big, and the screen scrolled left, and right. There were also secrets to discover; treasure, armor, weapons, and magic while crawling through the labyrinths. These things were not always en route to the next staircase. Meaning that it was possible to play through multiple times, and discover new things each time on the 60 floors in the game. This type of adventure predated the Atari hit Gauntlet by a year, Blizzard’s Diablo by 13 years, and the Binding of Isaac by 27 years.

The Tower of Druaga was not only popular with the arcade visitors, it ended up inspiring rival studios in Japan. Namco ended up planting the seeds that would guide the creation of Dragon Quest (1986), The Legend of Zelda (1986), Ys (1987), and Hydlide (1984). Dragon Quest co-creator Koichi Nakamura had also cited the series as a key inspiration for him. Japanese fans of the Druaga series defended its place in the pantheon of arcade classics, however the international reaction was mixed. They argued that it was extremely difficult, and had a steep learning curve. Despite its historical significance I would agree that just because a game was first it didn’t mean it was the best in the genre. For example Taito started a revolution with Space Invaders in 1978, but Namco’s Galaxian later that same year, and Sega/Gremlin's Space Tactics in 1981 were superior in every regard. As for the role-playing games I mentioned above, especially Dragon Quest, and The Legend of Zelda, both had strong critical, and commercial success. This was because they took elements from The Tower of Druaga, and improved upon them in different ways.

No matter where audiences felt about the importance of The Tower of Druaga everyone could agree that Junko Ozawa’s musical score was brilliant. Several games in the Babylonian Castle Saga would be ported over to both digital storefronts, and various Namco video game collections over the years. The question was how would Namco turn an adventure RPG into an attraction at the Expo '90? We will look at this in the next blog. I hope to see you back for that. Did you ever play The Tower of Druaga, or any of the other games in the Babylonian Castle Saga? Let me know in the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Wonder Eggs, and Egg Empire research collected from: Wonder Eggs Guide Map, Namco Graffiti magazine, the book “All About Namco II", NOURS magazine, The Namco Museum, Namco Wiki, Ge-Yume Area 51 Shigeki Toyama Collection, mcSister magazine, first person attraction details from Yoshiki. Event details from Hole in the Socks

Why I Shouldn't Blog E3 For 1UP! - A 1UP classic from April 07, 2005

There are a lot of qualified people going for the coveted spot of 1UP E3 blogger, but there are several reasons why I feel I'm the most qualified for the spot. I define myself as a gamer. Hardcore, true-blue, never give up, that all applies to me. From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep all I think about is breaking into the game industry. For the past few years this is all that I obsess about. The only thing that keeps me going after many letters of rejection are those 3 days in May.

You can ask my family and you can ask my friends. I live and breath for only three days of the year. My birthday, Christmas, New Years and Superbowl combined don't mean as much to me as the E3. Sounds crazy? I can only say that after having touched the face-of-God known as the E3. Nothing else compares. But let me take you back a few years, way back to 1999.

Well even before 99 really. Back when my brothers and friends first found out about the E3 we were in high school. The E3 had moved from LA to Atlanta following on the heels of the new ATL Convention Center and the Olympics. My friend Robert and I were trying to convince our parents to let us fly out to Altlanta, stay at his sister's house and forge passes to get into the expo. Our parents thought we had completely lost our minds. Just how much did videogames really mean to us? People talk the talk but my friend and I walk the walk. We had budgeted ourselves for the expo and had even talked to a travel agent about tickets. We would do and try anything to get into the expo even if it meant running away... but our parents kept us on lock-down until we finished high school.

A few years later my friend Robert and I were newly-enrolled college students. The E3 was returning to Los Angeles. Being a lifer since the pinball machine was replaced with Asteroids (I can actually remember a time when pinball machines still took about 60% of the arcades). I knew that we had no excuse to miss out on the E3 happening in our back yard.

We concocted a plan, an impossible dream that you can't get away with today. We were going to get into the E3 with false credentials... We got hold of some applications, went to the local Kinkos and made up some phony business cards.

Since the E3 is supposed to be "industry only" we figured to put on our best suits and look the part. Although we later found out that it's casual, people treat you a lot better when you look like a professional.

This part may come as a shocker but in 1999, the tickets for the E3 (exhibits only) were $50. Moreover you got one guest pass for every ticket purchased. My two brothers bought tickets so they joined Robert and I and we invited four more friends. In 2000 ticket prices went up to $150 and no guest passes were given out to ticket purchases. Prices for E3 tix has steadily increased and security has become more stringent in the past few years.

We set out to the LA Convention Center with our friends, cameras and skateboards in tow. You'll find out about the skateboards later. We parked a few blocks away, walked to the CC, waited in the registration line and picked up our badges. On the way we ran into some publicity seekers.

The next few hours and days were filled with many sights and sounds, and easily could be more than enough to overwhelm even the most jaded gamer or industry veteran. Just typing about the E3 in 1999 makes my heart pound.

The first thing you notice is the deafening sound coming from all of the booths. The sound levels have been cut back but Electronic Arts always seems to ignore that policy. The displays themselves are glorious. I mean, Walt Disney would even take a step back in amazment at the sheer scale of some of the bigger booths. Giant robots, military vehicles, skateboard halfpipes... you simply cannot brace yourself for what you can expect to see.

We split into groups and all went our separate ways. Robert and I were checking out the skateboarding games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was being debuted and almost the entire Neversoft staff and Tony Hawk himself was out there promoting the game. Now you know why I brought skateboards.

The sad part was that most of the attendees (even Robert) had no idea who Tony was or what the game was about. So many people passed on the title... Little did they know that a few months later Tony would land his first 900 at the X-Games and the momentum would carry over to the game where it would become an instant hit and bring skateboarding to the mainstream...

Fortunately for me I was a skateboarder, knew them by sight and could approach them at the expo and seek autographs. The first person I saw after Tony was Colin McKay, I was turning a corner when I saw him sitting down behind a ramp and just chilling before a demo. I asked "You're Colin McKay?" And he turned, nodded and looked at me funny.

I was wearing a tux after all and looked like just another businessman at the expo. I looked over his shoulder "And you're Bucky Lasek, and you're Rune Glifburg, and you're Bob Burnquist! Holy shi... can I have some autographs?!?!?!?!"

The skaters were more than happy to oblige as I was the only person in a sea of suits that knew who they were and was down with skateboarding. Many an attendee just stared as I pulled out skateboard after skateboard and poster after poster from my backpack. Not a one knew why I was getting autographs or even who the riders were. (Today you can't go to the expo without seeing one or two skateboards being carried by autograph hounds)

When the demo started the arm candy on many power players would whistle and yell "go higher!" as if the skaters were trick ponies sent to amuse them. I walked away wondering if any of the people would ever remember who they saw that day.

 
We went on to convention hall after convention hall picking up swag and playing games. Sony had impressed us with the scale of their display, they were put between Sega and Nintendo in the North Hall. Promoting Gran Turismo 2 Sony put real race cars on the walls of their booth.

Not to be outdone, Nintendo featured the full-scale Anakin Skywalker racing pod from Star Wars Episode I just above their name. It was so low overhead that you could look inside the pod and touch it... Now that's money!

We walked and walked and walked until we were exhausted. Our legs gave out shortly before the expo had ended and very few of us had the strength to return the following days. Having carried around 30lbs. of skateboards had left me the most drained but also the most determined to return the following two days. My legs cramped so bad that night that I awoke vomiting from the pain. But the following day I put on my suit and went back to war.

The expo meant so much to me that I had to share my experiences with my friends and family that couldn't make it. So I gave up all my swag and carefully documented the experience in pictures and video for them so they wouldn't feel left out. To this day I still give away all of my swag and make videos and now DVD's for my family and friends. I know that I could cover the magic of the expo better than any blogger or journalist only because I have been there and each and every day I think about videogames even more than food or sex!

In 2000 I offered the webmaster of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Online FAQ (later renamed PlanetTonyHawk.com) full coverage of the THPS2 title. He accepted and I began writing for the site on that day. Given our dedication to the series we've dropped more exclusives online thanks to the E3 and all of the skateboarders I had first contacted in 99.

I was also the webmaster of the Hydro Thunder Fanpage and had scored an exclusive interview with Team Hydro regarding the arcade sequel.

The industry knew the arcade scene was coming to an end, at least in the US, so Hydro Thunder 2 never came to fruition and the team left Midway to found Swinging Ape Studios and release the critically acclaimed Metal Arms - Glitch in the System.

 
Although Midway seemed to have the budget to finish the lackluster Mortal Kombat 4, Off Road Thunder and Arctic Thunder (which G4TV claims as the most interactive arcade game) they spurned the arcade community by not following through on HT2. I still have the only two screenshots know to exist on the remade HT2 boats straight from Team Hydro.

2000 was also a turning point in the industry. Booths weren't as lavish as the industry entered a slight recession that followed through to the E3 for the next few years. I still have yet to see displays grander and more over the top than in 1999. Ticket prices to the expo had gone up and this time only Robert and myself went. We made the most of it and still look back with fond memories.

In 2001 Robert and I no longer qualified as members of the industry since we were full-time college students. But after having seen so much I would not let myself be denied. A friend at Crave scored me a guest pass and then let onto something that would turn out to be very true these past two years.

Although the E3 is an industry only event, guest passed used to be given out to developers by the box load. Many a kid under-18 managed to get in and more than a few guest passes ended up on eBay. So from 2001 on guest passes would be restricted. My contact at Crave had to sign off for me and I had to vow now to share the pass with anybody. He did this favor for me again in 2002.

In 2003 Crave had cut backs and my friend was laid-off. I was still determined to go to the expo and I asked Neversoft if they could do me a huge favor. Since I had now been covering the expo for PlanetTonyHawk.com for the past few years, plus had submitted volumes of ideas for the series (many of which made their way into the games), if they could score me a guest pass. They obliged and made it into the expo by the skin of my teeth.

The webmaster of PTH Trevor "Slateman" Esposito flew in from New York on his own dime and was given a guest pass from GameSpy. GameSpy offers one pass for each hosted site but does not offer to pick up the tab for flying or rooming during the convention. From that day on Slate and I have covered the expo as a team. I even made tee shirts to celebrate the expo given to Slate, myself, some of the people at Neversoft and Tony Hawk himself.

Where else but at the expo can you get the chance to meet and talk with the president of a small publisher and then share that information with a fan site dedicated to the game rather than some big magazine site? For example I got a chance to talk to the president of Torus games about Carmageddon 3 since Torus had aquired the rights from Stainless. There were many fans around the world wondering what the quality of the game would be like coming from a different publisher. This small news and many others would be overlooked by many magazines going to the convention only to cover the biggest game releases.

Last year was the straw that broke the camels back. Organizers of the Expo had taken so much criticism for allowing non-industry types in that guest passes were only given out by royal decree. Even Neversoft was not given any passes last year.

Having exhausted all of my contacts I called in the favor of all favors. I asked Tony Hawk if he could ask Activision for a guest pass on my behalf. They looked and looked and when they got back to Tony even they were flabbergasted, there is one guest pass among one of the biggest publishers in the world and they passed it on to me. Has the security policy become so bold as to deny anyone that even inquires about guest passes let they be a multi-billion dollar publisher or a small developer?

Since that time Tony has "lost" my e-mail address and Neversoft is under a strict no outside contact policy. I asked well in advance this year to see if there was any possible way I could get into the expo. The prognosis was grim. Neversoft had been denied guest passes again and even Activision was not an option. The word is that guest passes were requested from an Activision-sponsored talent for the family of a boy battling leukemia... that selfless request sparked friction from the industry and E3 organizers. It is still not determined if the boy can go. Can you believe that? It is one thing to do the right thing, but given that the industry is money-driven let's put it another way, "You can't buy that kind of PR for granting the wish of a kid that's had to battle uphill just for the right to live"...argh!!!

So it looks that for the first time in my miracle six-year run I too will be denied the glory. I had requested the time off from work already. I had even ordered new tee's for Slateman, Tony and the guys at Neversoft. I was budgeting myself for MiniDV film and a pair of comfortable shoes for the expo. I was looking forward to producing another video for my brothers and my cousins and my friends, but the closer we get to the E3 the more I realize it may not happen. On the second week of May I may be forced to settle for sitting in front of the TV playing games knowing full-well that not more than 15 minutes away my Christmas/ Birthday/ SuperBowl/ NewYears has been taken from me.

I am reduced to begging for passes from 1UP, whose editors I may have already spurned. I am reduced to competing against far more talented wordsmiths. I am forced to admit that a person that has never been should get the chance to go more than a fat skater that's been so many times.
Damned if I didn't want to give it one more go around.

Or maybe I want to go to the E3 so I can see her again. The super-cute British Activision employee that made a pass at me in 2000, and in my ignorance did not notice so I have been kicking myself every day since.

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