The Grind

It is a known fact that in MMOs you have to grind it out to get the best loot; the same holds true for real life too. And today proved to be one such day. The past two days Tan and I had been running from pillar to post, or booth to booth as the case was this time in the hope that we ought to finish seeing everything that was there to see. In the process we ended up tired sooner than expected, especially since we had only had 4 hours sleep the night before.

Friday was a blur but Saturday was just focussed hard work and I believe that we were rewarded handsomely on both the days. We ended up seeing gameplay demos for Brink, Borderlands, Mafia 2, Modern Warfare 2 which haven’t been showcased anywhere before ! I guess we are in a pretty exclusive club too given that we were asked to keep our mouths shut and weren’t allowed to take any pictures of video captures. Furthering our cause for exclusivity was the fact that we got to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2! I must admit that BF: BC is a very cool game. It has retained all the BF elements and has laid more emphasis on squad play, however I doubt if a playable demo will be made available soon. We were made to wait in the queue for about 2 hours just to get our hands on it. I wonder how long the general public will have to wait to get their hands on a completed demo !

No one beats Infinity Ward when it comes to cinematic effects in game and that was affirmed by them erecting a set like a movie hall with surround sound, a big screen and ascending seat levels. It was simply jaw-dropping, so much so that we couldn’t get our jaws in place on our own at the end of the show. The level we saw was called Cliffhanger, and it literally came to that at the end ! Simply amazing… With a youthful exuberance and impatience we approached the lady, who had played out the demo (yes, it was a girl who played it so brilliantly!), to ask certain questions but we were shocked to have met with “sorry we aren’t taking any questions at this time”. No answers to our questions, no goodies and a stone cold reply had us trotting off grudgingly but with an awe and deference reserved only for the very best in the business. It was, however, the best moment of the whole event as far as we were concerned.

Another attraction was the Ubisoft stand, who were showcasing Assassin’s Creed 2, Red Steel 2, RUSE and the new Splinter Cell along with the game version of the upcoming Avatar by James Cameron. Apparently Avatar has been touted by few as a ‘revolution’ in the movie industry ! That remains to be seen as well as whether the game lives up to expectation. Besides, no game adaptations of movies have been successful critically, barring a few. Needless to say I am not expecting much here.

As our priorities changed according to the size of the queues at different booths, we were left with very select options. Waking up early and attacking at the crack of dawn certainly wasn’t, so it was back to grinding it out with others. Waiting for endless hours doesn’t go down well with us lazybones, especially when one has to stand all the time. I don’t know why we do it, perhaps the reward at the end of it is what we crave for and the longer the wait, the sweeter is the reward.

As the day came close to an end, we bumped into a chap with a video camera, his friend and a girl who had a few laminated sheets in her hand. We asked them who they were and found out that they were from a German website and had been filming responses from various gamers at the convention. They then asked us if we were from UK and then asked if we’d like to appear in a shoot for their site. God forbid but does Joey every say ‘no’ to food? The next thing we knew was that Tan and I were flanking the girl and reading out something in German from one of the sheets. I doubt if it was anything rude but I am sure their viewers will have a jolly hearty laugh when they hear us speak ☺ We were told that the video will go live in about two weeks and they gave us the website’s address, man were we chuffed ! Finally we get to be appreciated for what we do best (of course I am not referring to our linguistic skills here) and that too on a foreign website! Well, if it was being posted on a Somalian or Nepalese site I wouldn’t have cared, after all they are foreign too ! Besides, gaming knows no regional boundaries, only skill based ones. That is why new players get called n00bs; or newbies (if someone wants to be civil to them).

We then decided to have some food after the day’s events and thought of having Chinese. We went to an area called Heumarkt, which is a bit like old town area of Cologne, and were mildly amused to see a bunch of guys with Rockstar stickers on them playing a guitar and singing with another bunch that were seated in a very long horse cart. The driver was so bored that very soon, he too became horse-faced. Anyways, after scouting a bit of the area for a decent Chinese restaurant, we came across one called Canton. Tan, his hunger taken complete control over him, blurted out, “lets attack the Chinese!” I am sure he was referring to the food rather than the people. I bet he wouldn’t dare say something like that in Chinatown !

After a hearty meal it was a tram ride back to the hotel to enjoy some ice cream, although it turned out to be a thick shake by the time we opened the tubs. I guess, there are certain things that we cannot enjoy as they are meant to be at the end of the day. At such times one wonders whether the grind is actually worth it.