24 Photos

-The other campers called it 'Little Britain'.

-Martin Leung plays Super Mario Bros blindfolded

- In a very deja vu moment, Tommy says he likes my t-shirt akin to Shannon Lee 4 months earlier at the martial arts convention.

-gaming

-My new Crucifix.

-At the Fallout 3 queue.

-My first day companion and mentor 'Michelle', shows me that you have to dance for food at Leipzig.

-I had to come up with a whole new word for the 360 stage show girls. Hot Bombs. They were there everyday, could handle themselves on guitar hero and were really passionate.

- That World Trade Center game, which admitedly I did play.

-The obligatory Dreamcast photo.

-Arrrrggghhhhhhhhh. I posted something about spongebob before on a previous Leipzig post, so this seemed really necessary at the time...

- Photo caption competition.

-Bumping into Chobot then taking the tram with her was the beginning to an awesome day where I would meet some fantastic people.

- Roberto and Oust are perfect examples of awesome German people. They let me charge my camera at the help desk-informally. I later told Oust that 'I love her' in German.

- Me and Max, the cool dude I waited with at the Mirror's Edge line.

- The end to an amazing day, with an amazing night. Me and some Gamespot peeps.

-What the other tourists were taking a photo of.

-Seriously, do not have a license. I just showed them my provisional.

- View from my tent.

- The spot where my tent lay.

-Thank god Jessica Chobot didn't pull this face.

-The 'Bon Jovi clan', left to right-Me (UK), Philip(GER), Danny(IRL) and Patrick(AUS). Philip had recently joined the German military so he could earn money to attend the 'Games Academy' and become a games developer.

-Me sleeping at the Berlin airport.

-Game Over

338 Words

On my third day at the games convention I happened across two Muslims that were praying in the main hall. They were on their knees, bowing as part of their noon prayer. It was a real photo moment, but out of respect I carried on through the hall.

It was the image it set that I was interested in. Gamers on a pilgrimage.

A pilgrimage can be defined as a long journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a persons beliefs and faiths. And that's exactly what Leipzig or any other large games convention is. Its what the legendary E3 used to be like. Its our Mecca.

My journey was a great one. I went on my own, I camped, I travelled a lot, played a lot, met people I admire and made new friends. It was one of the best holidays I have ever been on. And the best thing to happen to me this year.

Those four days in the largest games convention in the world, were memerable.

I'm going to miss alot about Leipzig; The most approachable people on earth, Left 4 Dead, strangely named German sausages, the intoxicating but nice fruity perfume all German girls wear, being gob smacked at all the people I met from games sites, making friends with the nicest gamers in the world- that like me are trying to find their way into the industry, white beer, free travel, free zero cola, blue eyes, LittleBigPlanet, the earthy smell of camping, my union jack flag waving gently to the summer afternoon breeze, the view of the sun rising from my tent, using my German phrase book to make people smile, hearing the other campers shout 'Helga' in the middle of the night, Euro's, not working, the smoking culture, sweaty controllers, surviving on free sweets and pretending I was games journalist.

My video games Disney World trip has come to an end. Until another year, this pilgrim has to go back to daily worship.

Until then.

Written to whilst listening to Goo Goo Dolls- Let Love In (album).

And alot of videos

I recorded an account of my entire pilgrimage myself with just my digital photo camera. I'm in the middle of uploading the entire journey onto Google video, so please check back for further content. The videos are unedited and fairly un pro, imagine Blair Witch with video games, so do expect some dodgy angles and poor sound.

The videos are based on my journey and experience rather then games footage, so if your looking for that it is probably better to check out Gamespot, IGN or CitizenGame's footage.

Here is the first video of many, the intro to my adventure, filmed on the third day:

The Gamers Pilgrimage-Intro

Expect a video later today with me and DannyODwyer on Guitar Hero. Also Citizen Game has a podcast on Danny's last day at the show hanging with me, be sure to check it out as wellas an upcoming post on my blog with a photo of my signed DS.

The Bon Jovi clan on Guitar Hero world tour

Leipzig pics coming soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I have a pretty good reason why I did'nt post last night. Its because I was dinning with some of Gamespot's finest. And yes you read right on the same day, I also met Jessica Chobot and Fran from IGN.

I think yesterday has to be one of the greatest holiday days, ever. It definately made the trip worthwhile for me.

First thing is first- I was on my way to the city center from the games convention after my batteries died on my camera. I was quite annoyed to be leaving the show half day, but then as I crossed the street towards the trainstation, a pretty brunette caught my eye on my right.

I checked her out. Thought she was hot. Kept walking for like a second. And then stopped, turned around and shouted out "Jessica!."

On probably the top of my list of people I would have realistically liked to see at the GC, Chobot stopped and I said hi. She was in a rush to the show and had to catch the tram, so I offered to ride with her so that she could sign my DS; previously signed a couple of nights before by Tommy Tellrico and Dave Perry. (not to rub it in)

We jumped on she signed my ds, we had a nice little chat and then had a pic taken. I jumped off early so I could continue my chore to find a german adapter, with a pretty big smile on my face.

Jessica had not only turned my trip around, but had started what would be a somewhat fate driven awesome day.

Oh and even though I lost two hours of the GC, I later learned that the show would be closing later that day, so I didnt actually lose any hours.

And not long after returning, I bumped into Jessica again at the main entrence hall, this time with the one and only Fran, whom also signed my DS.

Later that day at the end of the show I had needed to go to the city center again to find the visa cash machine in order to take out some much needed euro's after spending on the adapter and a new sd card for my camera. I was walking around, weary of the time and feeling hungry. I was looking around for someone to ask, after a few hesitations due to a few drunks, I asked the most normal looking person in a ten meter radius.

Mid sentence, I stopped and said "Hey do you work for Gamespot?", and the next thing I know there are a whole troop of international Gamespot journalists dev team in front of me. Some names you may recognise; Guy Cocker(UK), Luke(UK) and Shaun(US) and Takka(US).

After Luke introduces himself and me to Guy, I awkwardly ask if I can join them for drinks. We end up going to a restaurant, and I spend the next couple of hours just amazed at being in the presence, and try to crack the odd joke here and there in an effort to be one of the Gamespot guys.

It was a great night, it was quite surreal to see them talking candidly and chilling out, but in a very cool way. If I did'nt think about it, it felt just like as if I were coming back from working at the GC and were now chilling with my fellow games journalists.

Thanks to all you guys for letting me take an awesome group photo. And special thanks to Luke and Guy for making me feel ridiculasly welcome.

So yeah my camera rocks, I keep thinking maybe its like a gaurdian angel like in Transformers, with bumble bee and the main kid. Any minute now Megan Fox is going to ride past me in a scooter.

Their were other random things that happend that day, like this guy that I met at the Mirror's Edge line, 'Max', whom is thus far the nicest person I have met. And even the people at the 'information' desk are awesome, they let me charge my camera that day at their desk and again today at this very moment. I have taken photos of these guys also.

I'm not sure exactly when I can post photos of all this stuff, but am working on it. Oh yeah and since day one I have been recording video also. I have around an hour of fairly decent 'blair witch' type footage.

So day 2 was basically a complete turn around from day one.

Thanks to all the amazing people I met yesterday, mentioned or not. You made my trip worthwhile.

Before I go, just want to make an apologie for any spelling or grammer mistakes, I am writing this as fast as possible so that I can get on with the rest of the day.

And also I shall write tomorrow about the gamesI have played in detail including Mirror's Edge, which was amazing.

Peace.

Right now I am typing this message from an internet cafe in Leipzig city center, on a fairly comfortable leather chair writing with a keybord where the 'Z & Y' s are mixed up.

So far so good. I am enjoying the trip overall although the journey here has caused me some serious sleep deprivity and a poor back ache. So much so, that I would actually say that I only half enjoyed Day one at the GC.

The camping itself is actually pretty cool, I find it really comfortable and I have already come to recognise my tent as 'home'. The ptiching was easy thanks to the modern miracle of the pop up tent. Although when I was hammering down the stakes that hold the guylines a few of them bent which left me fairly annoyed, and quite frankly pissed. But at least my tent can hold, which is the main thing.

Day zero which was Wednesdaz was preety cool. Mostly thanks to me completely running into 'Video Games Live' by chance. And not only did I attend it on my own, it rocked and I managed to steal an expensive seating position for my cheap ticket price. I use the term 'cheap' losely. The cheapest tickets; which I got, came at 29 euros. Which even though its a one night special, is just too expensive for the cheapest seats.

Then again, My complaint should be used losely, as I did manage to get Tommy Tellerico and Dave Perry to sing my DS.

Today started off well, and the first hour or so at the convention was great, but my back pains started to kick in and I feel extremely tired from only 2 nights sleep before my flight. I actually slept well in the tent and managed to regain a few of those hours, but I still need a few more tonight. BTW the reason I got back pains is because I had my huge rucksack on the wrong way, and it did some fair damage. At least it feels that way.

So tonight I'll catch up on some sleep, not carry a backpack to the GC tomorrow, drink lots of coffee, stick to one hall and have more fun. I still have three more days to have fun like crazy.

Today I played the majority of ps3 games, which include; littleBigPlanet, Killzone 2 and Resistance 2. My favourite was by far LittleBigPlanet. Its easy to play, quite tense and just alot of fun. Its probably has the unfair advantage over the other games for being an easy pick up and play game, but none the less it wins.

Killzone 2 unfortunately played out like any other fps game. Theres just nothing special about it. Even the graphics arn't that eye catching.

Resistance 2 was good fun. I played the part where all those zombies are charging at you, it was pretty intense.

Other games I played include; Silent Hill homecoming, Motorstorm 2 and a few other I can't remember right now. I also watched alot of shows and stuff, like they have these shows by developers and general people within the games industry. Whether it be a game they are selling or giving advice on how to get into the industry they were pretty cool. Fallout 3 had a great secret demo screening which was all set up in Fallout themes, kind of like the line up areas in Universal studios rides. The demo it self was basically the same one shown at E3, but it was pretty cool to see it being played in person.

Cool freebieslist so far includes a Fallout water bottle which reads 'purified water', a F3 t-shirt, some cool glowy necklace which seems to run on the power of awesome, a few games magazines, and random chain straps. Alot of random chain straps. Germany hearts chain straps.

So it was a half decent day. Even more so thanks to my new friend fellow camper; 'Michelle'. Whom not only showed my around the show floor but helped me with my German translations.

Ok thats it for now I'm off back to the campsite for my dinner a few games of Mario Kart DS multi player and some much needed sleep.

I should hopefully be writing a blog each day on my Leipzig journeys and I'll try to make the future entries more video games related, .

P.S. German people are the nicest people in the world and German girls are crazy hot.