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Today will go down in history as one of my most memorable birthdays. My
wife had made T-shirt for me for the event. It's a black T-shirt with
the words "got pwnd?" in the back. I am so lucky to be spoiled by her.
She
took me to IGN Live, a gaming convention in Anaheim. The anticipation
had been building for days now, and as we neared the building, we could
already spot nerds of all sizes spilling onto the street. It's a sight
to behold. I've always felt a special kinship to those who take gaming
as seriously as I do.
As soon as we entered the building, I
spotted Lara Croft in her sexy little outfit. When we made our way
inside the convention hall, more video game characters came to live.
The costume contest really inspired these people to go all out to show
off just how hard-core they are.
The attedants was an eclectic
bunch. The front of the convention hall was dominated by skateboarders
with their skating games. They even had an arena to let them let loose
on their boards. There were numerous stations for F.E.A.R. fans to test
their hands at deathmatches. Being a faithful Half-Life fan, I headed
straight to the back of the room, where the Counter-Strike tournament
was taking place.
Playing CS:S over the internet was one thing,
but watching teams playing against each other was an entirely different
experience. These seasoned fighters coordinated with each other with
complex strategy that's simply unheard of over an anonymous network of
strangers. It's like watching a professional live jazz band, with each
member contributing to the team effort with virtuosity. It almost
brought tear to my eyes.
As the competition whittled down the
teams, I became attached to one particular team. They're called "One
Eyed Zombler" or something strange like that. I had a chance to briefly
chat with them, and I found out some of the members were from
Sacramento, some from Arizona, and some from Southern California. They
have played with each other as a team over the internet, but never met
in person before. It's quite astonishing that they have such rapport
with each other without ever meeting.
They were good, and their
skills earned them a place to the final game. After a few rounds of
DUST2, they tied the game with the other team. The final rounds were
played on TRAIN. One of the team members had a stuffed cow on top of
his monitor. I found out that it's a gift from his girlfriend, who is
in Switzerland at the moment. Whenever he scored a kill, he would kiss
it. At the beginning of each round, he would rub it for good luck. It's
quite endearing.
As the combat wore on, the excitement mounted.
The air turned electric with battle cries and dull booms of exploding
grenades. Ultimately, they were eliminated from the final after an
intense fight. They got their second place prizes, but it's not the
same. There's no glory for the second best, and it's hard to watch
their disappointment wash over their faces.
The coordinators
handed out free stuff throughout the tournament, but I was intially
hesitant to be aggressive at getting them. After watching the intense
battle on screen, I was kicking and screaming with the best of them. My
enthusiasm eventually won me a free Logitech headset with microphone.
My wife also scored me a T-shirt. She later told me that she literally
ripped the shirt from another person's hands. I was touched.
However,
my wife was outraged by the outcome of the costume contest. Out of all
the contestants, only one of them was male. The rest are mostly
skimpily dresed girls flashing their assets. Some had impressively made
outfit, but for some reason, the guy who dressed up as Link won. My
wife thought for all sacrifice those girls made in exposing their body,
they are much more deserving for the honor. I tend to agree. But I
think the nerds ultimately sympathized with one of their own.
I
also spotted the famed FragDolls at the Halo 2 booth. They kicked some
serious ass with the other teams. Now I have a newfound repect for
them. They deserve to be taken seriously, and they are not just eye
candies for the gaming nerds.
After the convention, we went out
for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I couldn't have asked for a better
day to celebrate my birthday.
You can check out some pictures I took at my blog:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/youngmd
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge
