My final day at E3 was more of the same formula as the day before, to be fully revealed and detailed in my up-coming interview/impressions articles. The lone difference between Thursday and Wednesday was what took up my time in between interviews. Where the 3rd was mostly me hopping around the convention center playing my own personal game of Electronics Entertainment Expo Snap, the 4th was devoted almost entirely to ass-kissing time. And luckily for myself, and all the staff at Elder-Geek LLC, I am an expert ass-kisser.
Forged in the professional relationships made during the years with my independent film company, and from a lifetime of being ambitious, born into upper-middle class, and white, the ability to fake enthusiasm and compliment through gritted teeth always seemed to come naturally. Take that character trait as you will.
In terms of E3, any excuse I could find to slap my business card down with a smile, a handshake, and a compliment, was used to the fullest. So frequent were the stops to the game company’s press relations desks that I got tired of a speech I made up on the fly. I’m amazing that way.
But, as much as I wish to round out these pieces with a dramatic climax, the day and the trip at large just sort of petered out on a casual flow of activity; nothing to complain about, just no ground-breaking note to exit the stage with. I celebrated my victory over the stress and lack of sleep this convention brought with a lunch purchase at the convention, despite my knowledge of its incredulous price mark-up and bland taste. It was the action that counted anyway.
I suppose a light-hearted method of closing would my checking out of the hotel. Whereas I entered this modest looking building with the wear and tear that came from an un-worked body, further bruised and battered by nickel-and-dime pricing and horrid cab fare, I left that same building without a whisper of difficulty. The check out was a mere couple seconds of typing on the receptionist’s part, the packing was quick, and my cab driver was competent and cordial. I arrived at the convention center with a comparatively cheap tab on the meter and brightened demeanor.
As I sit on the L.A. Union Station to Oceanside metro-link bus that’ll take me home, I search for a way to end my musings on our industry’s most important and beloved press ceremony. It’s difficult to find and declare a victor amongst the conferences, as none broke the mold beyond a couple reveals and presentations. Even determining an individual IP to take home the “best of” award requires mostly personal taste.
I end then with a simple observation. While walking between halls or booths to my next destination, the plethora of different accents I heard often took my attention more than the cacophony of game music and trailer soundtracks. You had the expected American and British dialects, but beyond that there were multiple over-heard conversations in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and what I assumed was Norwegian or Swedish. The fact that we had all of these different cultures all hungering for a single purpose or pleasure, without them killing each other, is a testament to an industry that has the power to unify beyond any media before it, and for this realization alone, an hour after my last interview I already long to return to E3.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gavin Greene.