Gamescom is over and it was awesome. I know it's a little late to post the meta summary, but I've also been a bit sick with Con Crud this past week in addition to the regular recovery, so I've just been really tired (hand sanitizer, for the love of all that's holy, use it!). So let's look at a summary.
We have: 1,000+ photos, several blog posts, sore feet, Con Crud, and a partridge in a pear tree
Okay, so I'm lying about the partridge. But! I had a great time there. It was exhausting and busy and crazy, but it was totally worth it! All in all, I've written 4 diary posts (and one half post) detailing my impressions and experiences, in addition to a Playstation Vita review. This week, I'm hoping to finish the full WildStar and Guild Wars 2 reviews.
Though you guys won't see the majority of the photos, as some didn't come out well or just aren't that interesting for other people, there are pics in each blog and in some of them, links to full galleries you can peruse!
Swag: To give and to get
SE was awesome enough to speedily mail me Gaming.SE t-shirts to give out, as well as stickers with Gaming and SE's logos. I gave out 10 of the 12 t-shirts and managed to hand out all of the stickers that they sent.
In regards to the other 2 t-shirts, I was also able to pick up some swag for Gaming.SE, which includes 2 Gaming.SE t-shirts signed by Blizzard execs and designers Tom Chilton, Josh Mosqueira, Jonny Ebbert, and Jay Wilson! I will be mailing those back to SE this week, along with some other random swag we received from various booths. What's going to happen with it? We'll see...
Big pimping: Speaking with actual members of the industry about GamingSE
I spoke to a couple members of ArenaNet, the developers of Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2, and they seemed rather interested in the site and the services it could offer. I even gave out a Gaming.SE sticker and t-shirt to Braeden Shosa, the Lead Content Programmer on Guild Wars 2. I also spoke at length with Ben and Kim Kirsch, two other designers on the team, about the site and Kim thought that the idea of a site which actually had y'know, standards (unlike GameFAQs), and provided service was a great idea.
I also did an interview with the Matt Mocarski, the Art Director for NCSoft's upcoming MMO, WildStar Online, told him a bit about our site, and received his business card as well as his producer's. The content of the interview will be coming in the WildStar post. I can't do a verbatim Q&A post, as I didn't have any recording equipment, but I still was able to get some good information on the game as well as tell him about Gaming.
NCSoft's dev staff was the most approachable, just roaming the floor among the crowd, actively engaging in conversation or taking questions from players, so that's why I was able to speak with them the most. This is in contrast to the Blizzard execs, for example, who were only available for scheduled signing sessions and there wasn't a chance to do any Q&A with them unless you were an official Gamescom rep. I didn't have a press pass, so I wasn't privy to any of the exclusive areas or Q&A sessions, but I think that without that, I was still able to get and give some decent information and do it in a professional manner.
In summary
Well, I'd like to think that this was a success, though hopefully someone with more cred on SE than I have can confirm that for me. I was able to produce some (what I hope is) decent content for the blog, do some (again, hopefully good) advertising for the site, give out lots of Gaming.SE swag, as well as bring some back for you guys. Let me know what you thought of the blog posts either here or (preferably) on comments on the blog. :)
Thanks again to SE for sponsoring me for this! It was a great experience! Remember to check out the blog posts if you haven't yet if you want to see how it was! :D
