Star Wars Galaxies: E3 Day One

Phoenix and I arrived in Los Angeles yesterday, and it didn't take long for certain facts to sink in.

First, Los Angeles is big ... big like a small country. That fact was hammered home on the ride from the airport. It took nearly an hour-and-a-half to reach our Hollywood hotel, and my cab driver assured me that traffic was light at that time of the day (around 1:30 p.m. Pacific time). Phoenix had an even worse ride, since he arrived at 4:30 and his cab driver chose to travel on the freeway.

This morning, we attended a brief presentation from the president of the Interactive Digital Software Association, then tried to get some free breakfast at the media hospitality room, but were denied (it seems that the E3 media relations crew has no idea just how much it takes to feed gamers or just how much we like free food).

After that, we raced over to the South Hall, expecting to meet with [b]Ophelea[/b], Warcry's advertising guru and the site manager for AC Warcry, who invited us to attend a private screening of Horizons, the new MMORPG from Artifact Entertainment. This also didn't go as planned. The meeting was scheduled for 9:30, but the event staff had been told to keep everyone out until 10. A little exploration and a few Jedi mind tricks allowed Phoenix and I to bypass the weak-minded blazer-wearing goons and manage to make the meeting spot on time.

Barely, that is. The LA Convention Center is huge. Think of two malls, situated next to each other with connecting walkways. Now add more floors.

Of course, when we got there, we were alone with the exhibitors and miles and miles of unmanned game consoles. Phoenix tok a few quick turns on Final Fantasy XI at Square's booth, I took a turn at I-Ninja at the Namco booth, watched someone else pay SoulCalibur (all the spots were filled by exhibitors ... It must be a good game) then we wandered down to see Doom 3.

Along the way, we became the first media to raid the Sony Online Entertainment booth, where we discovered that Star Wars Galaxies wasn't on the menu. Wed have to wait until our scheduled appointment on Friday. However, they did have Everquest Online Adventures (bleh) and Everquest II (pretty, but I had no real desire to stick around and see how it played. The movie was still pretty choppy).

Phoenix visited the Entertainment Software Ratings Board booth and was presented with a keychain declaring him "Rated M for Mature." I got "E for Everybody." Go figure.

By that time, the floor was starting to fill up. The doors had opened and a great mass of humanity (and I do mean mass ... there are some really big people wandering around here) had begun to spil over into our peaceful morning.

In under an hour, the entire flor we had staked out was full, so we decided to try our luck at finding LucasArts. We found their booth, but it was closed to everyone except distributors and buyers. Our mind tricks weren't enough this time ... Holocron must be a mighty Jedi indeed.

With the lunch hour drawing near, we made our way back to the West Hall just in time to get invited to a screening of Mega Man NT, a new cartoon that will premiere Saturday on Kids WB.(Think Digimon but with Mega Man and friends instead of digital monsters. Phoenix got to shake the blue man's hand, but I was too busy with the free stir fry they gave us for lunch. The highlight of the show was getting to meet Mega Man's creator, Keiji Inafune, who said, through an interpreter, that he was very excited about the new Mega Man cartoon's American premiere.

After lunch, we headed back to floor, looking for interview opportunities and more booth babes before heading up to the media room, where we planned to take possession of our own computer and camp it like a griefer on a phat lewt drop.

On our way across the show floor, we split a pair of vs. matches on Ultimate Muscle at the Bandai compound. The game looked a little cartoonish and played like a cross between Tekken, Street Fighter and WWF Raw, but it was surprisingly fun.

Then we came across the Dreamcatcher booth. I had an advantage over Phoenix here. I'd seen Dreamcatcher's new FPS, Painkiller, the night before at the eFocus party. We both got a chance to spend some time blowing things up, and might go back again. It was that fun.

Once we reached the media room, I grabbed a computer and sent Phoenix out looking for interviews. My e-mail inbox was full, so I had plenty to do. Phoenix returned about an hour later with more swag and even more photos, but the interviews were not happening. Apparently, some of the devs had pulled quick fades after the morning rush and others were already busy with scheduled appointments.

I left Phoenix to download his pics and went in search of my own interviews. It wasn't long before I noticed a crowd at the Namco booth and, upon investigation, found Spawn creator Todd McFarlane signing posters and promoting a new game based on his comic title. Word is, McFarlane also designed some of the characters in SoulCalibur II (I still didn't get a chance to play it).

McFarlane's press agent offered me a shot at an interview after the crowd cleared out. That time is fast approaching. I just hope I can keep up ... McFarlane looks like he walks fast, and my feet hurt.

That's all for now, but we'll bring you more info tomorrow, when we go in search of other Star Wars games, including Knights of the Old Republic and Jedi Academy.