The next morning, after once again making our way to the desert, we descended on the event, ready for a full day of gaming, and in Becky's case, geek hunting. Approaching the entry gates, we immediately noticed a lack of an entry line and a reduced level of security from the night before. However, we were still treated to an airport level of metal detection that would be repeated upon my exit a few hours later.
The scene inside the hanger was significantly different in the early morning hours. While gamers were still huddled around the demo stations, the rest of the gamer masses were noticeably absent, which made for a much easier tour of the facility. Upon entry, which was now done through a smaller side entrance rather than through the large hanger doors, we were greeted by a tree with odd photographs nailed to it, surrounded by unused marshmallow cushions. I would find out later that this represented the "Origen" viral marketing website that was used along with the Hex 168 website to promote the launch of the console and the event.
Beyond the tree, the majority of the hanger floor was dedicated to demo stations, most of which were the previously mentioned floor level tables featuring Xbox units and HD LCD monitors. Along the sides were more demo stations attached to various scaffolding-like structures, some featuring large screens which demoed some of the launch and soon to be released games. In two separate areas, there were specialized demo areas that featured the 360's integration with Microsoft's Media Center functionality. Along one wall were several tree-like pods that featured screens and chairs set in a circle where you could watch various DVDs, which were naturally playing on Xbox units as well. In two opposite corners of the hanger were obvious VIP areas for industry folks and contest winners that utilized large geodesic domes and more demo stations with larger screens and what had to be more comfortable chairs. Against the back of the hanger was a large concert seating area that featured a very large screen, which would be used later for most of the demos and other events, and the checkout lines for the masses to purchase their little chunks of history.
With an hour to kill before our time to purchase our consoles, we made our way back to the demo area, where we took up two spots at a table featuring Peter's Jackson's King Kong, the official game from the movie. This would turn out to be one of my favorites from the event, as the game play was well thought out and directly tied to the movie storyline (you get to play either Jack or Kong at various stages) and featured what was an almost seamless transition from the cinematic to the action portions of the game.
When our purchase times came up, we moved back over to the cash registers. After quickly making our way through the queue, filling out forms and grabbing games and accessories, we reached the checkers. Not wanting to lug our bags of goodies around with us all day, we made our way back to the entry gate, stopping briefly to pick up our official Zero Hour hoodies, memory cards, and free three-month subscriptions to Xbox Live, only to encounter the line that we thought we had avoided this morning. Becky, already tired of the lines, went back inside to continue her gaming, and I made my way through the line to drop off our goods. Re-entry into the event by this time had eroded another level to simply the airport scanner check sans the wristband scans we received this morning.
Upon returning to the event, I started my longer haul of gaming, breaking only for nature and some scheduled demo events. First up was "Need for Speed: Most Wanted," which I was pleased to see featured a car I was actually driving at the moment. But I was somewhat disappointed with the actual control of the cars, but then again, I'm not really into the driving sims. When I saw a chair for "Call of Duty 2" open up, I dropped my controller and jumped at the chance to play what was one of the best games of years past. The sequel was everything the original was and more and was just simply a wonder to behold. Little would I imagine years ago when I first played Doom that first-person shooters would ever get to this level of sophistication.
Because my learning curve with games is significantly longer than the hard core gamers around me that day, I surrendered my controller to move over to the large demo area to see a presentation by EA Sports HD on the latest technologies used in their newly arrived sports games, such as "Madden NFL '06, "NBA LIVE '06" and "FIFA Soccer '06: Road to 2006 FIFA World Cup," none of which I tried that day (not into sports gaming either).
And what's the latest technology all about? Fabric and sweat. Those are odd details to feature I agree, but when you're dealing with high definition gaming, details like how a uniform reacts to gravity or the very fact that the players can sweat at all, move to the top of the list. And once again, the transitions from the cinematic to the action portions of the game were incredibly seamless, rather than the usual high detail graphic cut scene type movies that transitioned into lower detailed action that is the norm of the earlier Xbox and all other previous generation gaming units.
And back to the gaming I went, this time trying "Gun" and "Ridge Racer 6." "Gun," a wild west action adventure, is worth a look if you're into that style of game, but not necessarily the same high quality as I had experience with early with "Call of Duty 2."
I again emerged from the demo areas to watch a demo of "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion." My kid brother and I are longtime fans of fantasy role-playing games, so I was particularly interested in how this turned out. From what I could see in the demo, fans of the RPG titles were sure to love this new adventure and the new features for character management and game play included in this release. However, those on hand were mixed during the demo; some disappointed because the release date had been moved and others because the game itself was still in the final stages of development. My hat is off to the presenter from Bethesda Softworks who had to live through the tearing of flesh and gnashing of teeth that day.
Walking away from the presentation area, I realized that I had been inside for far too many hours for my own taste and went to find Becky and leave the compound for a coffee, lunch and email break beyond the glow of the video monitors. While enjoying our break, just for laughs, I checked eBay for Xbox 360 units and was surprised to not only find some for sale the day before the release date, but also Zero Hour extras and even the free sweatshirts and wristbands. This would turn out to be foreshadowing to the eventual flood of consoles that would be flipped on eBay the days leading up to black Friday and beyond.
Becky and I enjoyed some additional outside time and then returned to the event to continue our adventure. Before heading back to the games, we came in just in time to witness the demo of King Kong on the big screen, but as presented by "The Fragdolls," a gamer clan with connections to Ubisoft and Microsoft that travel to the various gaming events such as this and E3.
The crowds were starting to get thick, and while still not as heavy as the opening night, dense enough to make finding a spot at a demo station that much harder. Becky wanted to give "Kameo: Elements of Power" a try and hovered around the demo station until a gentleman gamer gave up his seat, hanging out long enough to demonstrate the finer points of the game. I eventually made my way onto a station featuring another one of my favorite titles from the event, "Condemned: Criminal Origins," a first-person shooter about an FBI agent that eventually has to go rogue to clear his name, that features both fantastic action and CSI like mini-puzzles that advanced game play. What impressed me most with this release was the use of high quality, cinematic lighting, and in some cases, lack of lighting, to really set the mood of this very grown up game. This is definitely on my list to pick up when the holiday rush dies down.
When I was eventually pushed off of that demo station, I made my way back over to the presentation area for what would be the last bit of entertainment I would see close up before the end of the evening… a dance competition. More specifically, a Krumping dance competition that was hosted by a big scary clown with a big rainbow afro. I have to say, entertainment like this at gaming events is kind of like that one track that always ends up on a concept album that doesn't quite fit with the rest of the theme (think "Money" from "Dark Side of the Moon"), but you still end up loving it because it's a great song. The Krumping dancing competition was my "Money" that night; it was fun to watch, but really made little sense given the mood of the rest of the event (and man, could that kid from Best Buy tear up the stage!).
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