Jordan and his team of video game enthusiasts looked for all the world like a band of solicitors for a local charity. That, or the fan club for an indie rock group. Each wore a black t-shirt sporting the ad-hoc No-Name Games channel logo. Each carried at least one mobile device. The rest of their accessories were optional. There were sunglasses, strange hats, plush toys attached to shoulders and masks of not-so-famous film characters. Then there were the bags. Lots of bags. Conventions required some kind of convenient way to get the loot home.
"I can't believe they're doing this. They must be at least ten years away from a beta," Jordan said as he struggled with the tangle of GamesWest Wi-Fi login screens and payment options. "I also can't believe this place is going to charge us money for Internet access!"
"It's worth it, man," Robb Doncem replied, hefting his backpack full of unfoldable media gear. "Forty megabits up and down. It's a remote broadcasting dream. We'll make back what we spend in 30 minutes, especially if the interview with your new girlfriend you were promised materializes."
"Jordan has a girlfriend now?" Amy Davies teased. She was outfitted in what everyone else in the group called her "anime armor." The hat, hockey jersey, yoga pants, legwarmers, high-top athletic shoes, belt and wristbands all sported high-quality custom airbrushed scenes from the most popular anime films and television series over the last fifteen years. Only her glasses were plain. She looked like a walking commercial for the Cartoon Channel. "How come I haven't heard that story yet?"
"Oh, she's more than that," Robb replied. "She is the princess of corporate-land. Hotter than the asphalt in the Tropicana parking lot with a voice you have to hear to believe. She told Mister Energy Drink over there if he made it to GamesWest she'd give him fifteen minutes and a press pack. I took that as a definite romantic advance, but this guy wants to be a gentleman for some reason." Robb powered along about three steps behind the group, turning sideways to get between the cars.
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"ooOOOoooh!" Amy wouldn't quit. "So THAT's why we spent all this money!" Jordan's other two companions were Dave Houser and Marc Darnell. One was wearing an enormous set of headphones blasting cinematic film scores and wouldn't have heard a four-prop cargo plane fly over at an altitude of 100 feet. The other was texting and only avoided traffic and obstacles by watching which direction his companions' shadows moved.
It was a predictably sunny day in springtime California. As most residents knew, the weather hadn't changed significantly since L.A. had hosted the Olympics, and being this close to the ocean made even pristine sunny days look better. A battalion of seagulls had taken up a forward position in the main parking lot, where they were able to devour ice cream, discarded candy, fries and chips like ravenous winged hyenas. With six major fast food chains located at the nearby luxury mall, the never-ending human wave of people munching on something while crossing the parking lot was the stuff of legend. Some of the seagulls had become quite adept at catching tossed fries right out of the air, much to the delight of the children throwing them.
To say the parking lots around the Jet Center were crowded would have invited dirty looks. GamesWest was the premier industry convention for all flavors of games from mobile devices to consoles to the board variety. There was even a toy, publishing and apparel mini-convention that had organically sprung up from within the rows and columns of game exhibits.
GamesWest was the only west coast convention that welcomed both the general public and the media, and with more than 2400 developers and 90 publishers on hand, it was the place to be if you were either announcing a new title or ready to buy one. According to the most recent breathless game media predictions, more than 450,000 people were expected to attend over the four day schedule. The majority were presumably on-hand to try and get a glimpse of the center-ring event. Rumors flew and changed with the breeze.