Summary:
Not a single game was lost at the Razer booth except by trito to fox and daler, both top Q3 players. The three hectic days at E3 were tiring, overwhelming and fun. We all met a lot of interesting people and although we didn’t really get to see many exhibits, being there was a great experience and a real eye opener to the industry. I managed to be able to play two of the worlds top UT2004 players and Fatal1ty which was great as I love the challenge and do aspire to one day become that good too. I think we would all definitely do it all over again if given the chance.


Day 0 (May 17): Our first look at E3! At first we had to be at the convention centre by 10 – 11am, but there were some delays with the PCs and we didn’t have to be there until 2. Itching to leave the hotel, we drove to Venice Beach. It was extremely beautiful there. I wish I could post pics but my piece of shit camera had already run out of memory. We ate lunch in the sun (the weather was awesome!) and hurried back to the convention centre, which took a lot longer than we thought, especially since none of us were familiar with the area.

We got to the booth ready to install the games. Man UT is a pain in the ass to install when you don’t have the DVD version. I left my gitzZz signed copy of UT at the booth so whoever took it, thanks for finally giving me the excuse to buy a DVD copy of UT! Anyway, once UT and Q3 were installed, that was the end of our short “first” look at E3. Tomorrow would be totally different, with all the exhibitions set up and being open to all, and we’d have a real taste of what the next days had in store for us.

Day 1 (May 18):
As expected, the first day was going to be tough, as we only had five of our members at the Razer booth. Ms. X, Keyla, Rocket Queen, trito and myself (sWeeTfLoW) were there the entire day, not really having a chance to look around as we had to attend to the booth. Various people came up to the booth but didn’t really know what it was all about. Constantly having to explain that we were actual gamers and actually played games and participated in tournaments was a little tiring. E3 closed at six but that is not where our day ended.

That evening we luckily had invites to the gamespot party. We showed up around 8:30 pm and the bouncers weren’t letting many people in. Lucky for us, we didn’t have that problem ;). Going from the Airport Park View hotel in the ghetto (Inglewood) to an exclusive party in downtown LA was a very funny feeling. We did have to turn in early however, as tomorrow was another hectic day at E3 and RocketQueen and I had to be up early to pick up Missy from the airport.

Day 2 (May 19):
Today was a little more eventful than yesterday. Last night after the party, MiLf (Liliana) showed up at the hotel and we played a little prank. The prank involved the giant hello kitty piñata from Tijuana. Yes, it is on video. Also, at 7:30 am we had to pick up Missy (Jamie) from LAX. RocketQueen (Sara) and I went, leaving Ms. X, MiLf, trito and Keyla to work the booth while we were gone. The way the traffic was that morning, we would’ve never made it to E3 on time anyway.


Today we decided it would be a good gimmick to bring the hello kitty piñata to the booth. It worked wonders. Loads of people were snapping shots of the kitty.

Upon arrival at E3, it was straight to the booth. However at 11am I went to the gamespot booth to challenge eVeNfLoW*dx, as I had the chance to win a $2,500 voucher for a PC. The score was 3 – 0 (to eVeNfLoW) on a 3 minute map. On the way back, Alana and I thought it would be fun for me to challenge Fatal1ty, as his game at his booth was in fact UT2004. Luckily, I was able to sign up but I had to be back at his booth by 3:00pm for a 3:30 game. Good thing I did come before 3:30 as I got to witness fnatic|lauke beat Fatal1ty 11 – 1! The match was excellent. Granted, the map was dm-compressed (a UT2003 map) and double damage was on, and it was only 4 minutes but it was a great game to watch. Naturally, most of the crowd was cheering when Fatal1ty got his single frag on lauke, but there was also a few lauke fans cheering him on! Lucky (skill in this case) lauke’s prize was a large $2,500 cheque.

I was up next. This was totally nerve-racking for me, as I am definitely not used to a lot of attention when playing games and well, Fatal1ty always draws a crowd, especially if someone is beating him, or if someone like lauke is playing him. Before the match I shamelessly asked Fatal1ty if he would be so kind as to wear the “catwoman/batman” glasses that had become quite infamous at this point. He declined, and the MC woman thought I was trying to blind him? WTF? Obviously she didn’t see the humour nor the style behind the glasses. Oh well, it was worth a try. My match vs Fatal1ty didn’t go as well as lauke’s. The scores were pretty much reversed, 11 - -1! That wasn’t surprising, but what I was surprised about was the amount of media and crowds that were there! I guess being a female really does count, as I know there certainly wasn’t that many people watching when Fatal1ty beat some “unknown” player two matches prior to mine.

I wasn’t done after Fatal1ty, I had to play lauke over at the gamespot booth soon after. That wasn’t bad. I have fun playing top players, I would love to train with them all the time. I wasn’t nervous like I was nervous playing Fatal1ty. I guess the media and crowds is definitely not something I am used to. Of course, lauke beat me, the score being 7 – 0 on dm-Rankin. After the lauke match, I had to play someone else for 3rd place. I won, the score being 2 – 1, my prize being a steering wheel! Score, I’ve always wanted one of those! Later though, I found it was for Playstation 2, damn! Once again, lauke was the winner again, taking home a voucher for a $2,500 PC.



And while all this was happening, Missy and LiLi were filming a DVD! I can’t wait to see it  Its going to be released in the UK and as far as I know, its about gaming and the future of gaming, although it was more console based.

That night it was the Razer dinner. I had a delicious steak in a restaurant on Sunset Blvd. It felt good to have some *real* food, which I hadn’t had pretty much since the beginning of this journey.

Day 3 (May 20): Everyone had mixed feelings about today. Happy because it was the last day of standing on crazy high heels, but also sadness as it was the last day of the expo, no one really had a chance to go exploring, and the last day meant that the trip was going to be over soon!

We had a photo shoot today. It was funny because as soon as we started posing and someone was taking pictures and looking interested, a sudden swarm of cameras would appear! I guess you seem important if one person is taking pictures of you, haha. After that, Ms. X, Missy and I met up with stirge, whom we were meant to meet up with last night but our schedules just didn’t match up. We went and checked out the gamespot booth once more and to my surprise infinite was there! However he did not win the $2,500 PC voucher that gamespot were giving away that day.

After that, we had to make another attempt for Fatal1ty to wear the infamous glasses. This time, after a littler persuasion, he relented and a photograph was taken for the collection.

Just before the 4pm closing of E3, we managed to finally get a look at the Nvidia booth and had a few more team shots taken.

That pretty much concludes the E3 expo, I will finish the E3 section here, although it isn’t where the trip concluded. We went to disneyland and california adventure park the next two days, there are pics here.

Read about our pre e3 adventures here!