[games_access] E for All -- Let the Post Mortem Begin!

[hinn at uiuc.edu]

Hi everyone!

E for All was very successful in the eyes of those of us who were there at the show. No, we weren't the "sexy" booth because we didn't have money for giant flashing songs, etc but that didn't matter and I think worked in our favor at this show.

Yes, it was smaller than the old E3 but what helped us was the number of press attention, other game company attention, and consumer awareness raising that our booth got because, hey, they took a look at our table with controllers that looked like bombs, etc and the second they approached we were there to tell them what on earth they were looking at.

Media that talked to us include such diverse news outlets -- from "stars and stripes" magazine (US military magazine -- they were excited to learn about how our stuff can help soldiers who are coming back terribly hurt learn to help with rehab and get back to psychologically feeling like there are ways to enjoy life and that all the work ahead of them does also come with the things that make life worth wanting to live again) to the satire mag "the onion" (he worried me for a sec but he worked for the more serious "a/v geeks" area).

Many of us had so much trouble getting to LA due to storms in the midwest and others (me) wound up in the ER TWICE during the show -- it seems like i have a nasty pneumonia and i also tested positive for the "superbug" that is going all around the US. I've learned that some of us are just lucky carriers. So no way to know what was actually what but I think it was mainly exhaustion that cause it all to implode.

On that note...if we, as a SIG, are going to have a booth at GDC this year, we need to REALLY think about whether people will be willing to do the shifts to make this work. Since our   schedules were so bad due to flights, we just went with "are you exhausted? i'll take over -- you leave for an hour....leave the building." I doubt any of us can say that this show wasn't pretty damn tiring. I have been schooled in all things expo for major shows -- contracts with five vendors, five unions, etc...whew.

And all of us there have a legit post traumatic stress case against rockband (blackhole sun...black hole sun...blackholesun....)

More later and I'm sure others will add their comments too as we go. I think it was a really cool thing to give it a shot and I think we did well. Thanks everyone for helping us get equipment ect before the show and thanks to everyone who helped with booth shift duty!!!

Funny story before I close...namco? they were two booths down. 30 minutes before show close today, they came over -- seems that they have a lot of one button games so I told them about what 1 button meant in our world and they were like "wow, VERY cool." then...they saw our pac-man ghosts....they laughed and said that they liked them and said that they wouldn't turn us in but did say that we should talk to their legal before the next time -- and that they'd help see if namco can loan out the ghost intellectual property as a contribution to the cause.

Hehe...always dealing with some kind of legal stuff but at least these guys were cool. one was the dev on the popeye one button game.

Now...I must go to sleeppppppp...

zzzzzzz

Michelle
.......................................
these are mediocre times and people are 
losing hope. it's hard for many people 
to believe that there are extraordinary 
things inside themselves, as well as 
others. i hope you can keep an open 
mind.
 -- "unbreakable"
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