Greetings from (smoggy) L.A.!

[Yeldarb]

Hey everybody.

Greetings on behalf of the entire GamerNode staff from Los Angeles. We are in SoCal, 12-strong, for E3 - as most of you probably already know.

You may notice a few changes to the site in the next few days - nothing to worry about, of course. As promised, we will deliver the GamerNode redesign before E3 exhibits start on Wednesday. Look for changes across the board, from the main page all the way to the forums. Bear with us as we work out the kinks in the system. Trust me, any downtime will be well worth the wait.

As you can probably guess, this is an exciting time for all the GamerNode staff. It's our first E3 as a company, and some of us are meeting here in LA for the very first time. Regardless of what is going on with the new site, know that new look or old, GamerNode will deliver the exciting, above-par news you all crave.

As a special service for you forum junkies, we will suppliment our coverage on the main site with some behind-the-GN-curtain stories here. I'm inviting the staff here in LA to post in this thread any stories that may delight or entertain you that reveal what really goes on behind the scenes here at GamerNode.

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Today was the first day that the entire staff got together as a group. Some of us have met outside of the company, some have previous professional contacts, but a several of us met for the first time today in Los Angeles.

All of you should give props to Iain, our lead techie at GN, because since we've been confined, his Canadian heritage has been the butt of many, many jokes. He takes it all in stride, though a few of the ribs Frank handed him must have hurt, somewhere in his cold Canadian heart.

Props are also due to the pizza place we invaded in downtown LA. Imagine being one of the three pizza tossers in a restaurant, and seeing twelve hungry game journalists enter the restaraunt and start ordering pizzas like nobody's business. For the record, five pies in all were consumed.

Alright, time to hand this thread off to the other staffers. Feel free to comment on what we write here, or pose any questions you may have about how freakin' awesome E3 looks.

[PaperCube]

I'm loving the new look, and I'm glad to hear that you guys are doing good.

Keep us informed, will you? :)

Tell Mitch I said hey!

Well heck, tell EVERYBODY that I said hey!

I can't wait to hear all about the good news from Nintendo's press conference tomorrow.

Keep up the great work, fellas!

[John Clabo]

I'm loving the new look, and I'm glad to hear that you guys are doing good.

Keep us informed, will you? :)

Tell Mitch I said hey!

Well heck, tell EVERYBODY that I said hey!

I can't wait to hear all about the good news from Nintendo's press conference tomorrow.

Keep up the great work, fellas!



Thanks for the kind words! Mitch says hey.

[potter]

So, how's the weather there in LA? :)

[Yeldarb]

The weather is pretty hazy, actually. Probably the most overcast day I've ever gone through in SoCal.

[PaperCube]

See anybody famous yet?

Well, video game famous, lol.

What is the general consensus about Sony's PlayStation 3 controller?

I texted Mitch a while ago, telling him about it, 'cause I didn't know if you guys had any way of knowing, yet.

[Yeldarb]

Nobody famous yet.

Without giving away anything we'll promote in a feature this week, we've got mixed reactions to the PS3 controller.

The fact that it's lighter than the PS2 controller is a sticking point with me personally, but I think that everybody paying attention to the coverage right now is excited about some of the interface footage we've seen.

We'll have more on the controller when (if) we get our hands on it later this week.

[PaperCube]

I was just curious mostly about how you all feel about the whole "6 way tilt" functionality that they've incoporated into it.

Also, how most people are calling it a ripoff on the Wiimote.

Any comments or predictions on that?

[John Clabo]

Personally I do believe its a rip off of the wii controller....but as Bradley said, we'll know more this week.

[PaperCube]

I look forward to hearing your impressions!

But, I better head to bed.

It's nearly 2:00 AM where I am, so I need some sleep.

Again, keep up the great work, and I can't wait to hear what you've got to show us tomorrow!

Good night everyone, and I hope you're having a great trip!

I wish I were there with you! >_<

'Night, fellas.

[Jacob Grabinski]

Outstanding guys.. I will keep it running smoothly at the homefront!

Enjoy e3. :)

[Natoksane]

You guys enjoy E3! I look forward to hearing about it so keep this page updated!

I am still in extreme envy... :(

[Chris S]

E3 is great and I hope you all take lots of pictures and get some audio or video feeds as well.

I am most interested to see what the new PC Games of E3 holds, I have already heard about the upcoming BF 2142, and the new trailer looks awsome.

Anywho, good luck and good hunting @ E3. Bring much back to your fans. :)

[OWNAGE TIME]

I will keep forums running here. Have fun guys.

~Ownage

[Chris Reinhart]

Kind of wish I was there right now. Hey John, I'll send you a pic of me, print it out, cut it up, and attach it to the front of your shirt. I know it may look creepy at first, but at least there's always a part of me walking around E3. lmao. Oh, and you might have to attach little plastic arms so I can play the demos. :rl:

[potter]

Kind of wish I was there right now. Hey John, I'll send you a pic of me, print it out, cut it up, and attach it to the front of your shirt. I know it may look creepy at first, but at least there's always a part of me walking around E3. lmao. Oh, and you might have to attach little plastic arms so I can play the demos. :rl:

You're turning me on.

[Alan]

I am definitely having some issues. I am on the forum and the navi bar on the left doesn't work, just keeps sending me a blank page. I scroll over a button and it says something like this: http://www.gamernode.com/forums/xbox/index.html whoever does the coding needs to get rid of the forums part of address. Just thought I would let you know.

Edit: I guess this was done on purpose since the main site isn't ready yet, oops.

[Chris Reinhart]

yes sir, you have answered your own question.

[Yeldarb]

yes sir, you have answered your own question.

And in the e3 thread, I might add...

After a long night of Office Space, a lot of us are just waking up. Due to, I'm sure, a slip of logic, one of the UK-based coders (who is in Italy right now - go figure) called John at 4 am. I was happily asleep in the other room, so I'm telling the story secondhand. Anyway, apparently Steve (who funtions as our liason to many, many game companies, along with Chris R.) was less than cordial on the telephone.

Today will consist of annexing another restaurant for breakfast, and then we'll all head to the E3 media room and get our official badge-holders. Tonight's a major pre-e3 conference for some of us, and others will continue to work on getting the new site out.

Thanks again to everybody for the support and kind wishes. More to come soon.

[samureye]

I was taken a bit off guard seeing that I was kinda the only one working on news for the site yesterday, doing a scant single story (though it's a good read :P). Best of luck, guys. I hope to be with you all in 2008, hopefully. I guess I'll work on non-E3 news, sigh.

[Yeldarb]

I pointed out before that Iain was getting a lot of crap thrown his way. Just to point it out that he deserves it:

Before leaving the hotel to pick up our badge holders at the Convention Center (a good 15-minute drive), We asked all around if everybody had what they needed (a photo ID and the badge that was mailed to them pre-E3). Everybody responded in the affirmative.

After I got us lost downtown - it was Google's fault, I swear! - we arrived at the convention center and sped off towards the media room. Only when we get to the door, where the guard demands photo ID, does Iain mention that he left his badge at the hotel.

For the rest of the day, it is open season on Iain.

Steve was not immune, either. This morning at breakfast, he got the pitchers of coffee and maple syrup mixed up and poured a nice steaming stream of java on his flapjacks. In the distance, Mrs. Butterworth screamed betrayal.

I'm in my room now, trying to write a blog for the site launch (*cough*TONIGHT*cough*) and looking over floor plans of the event tomorrow. It's going to be a busy, busy week.

[samureye]

I <3 Bradley.

[Natoksane]

Still wish I was there!!!

[samureye]

I'm anxious and want to pee, I need to submit my stories for the past 2 days!

Oh, nix the wanting to pee part, can I have a mop? Sorry about your shoes, Bradley.

[PaperCube]

How did you guys like the Nintendo press conference?

Pretty swiit, huh?

[samureye]

Nintendo knows what they're about. I personally think they can come out on top this round.

[OWNAGE TIME]

LIVE VIDEO FEED PLEASE!

~Ownage

[PaperCube]

Nintendo knows what they're about. I personally think they can come out on top this round.

Agreed. :rockon: