GamesCom 2013 - Wednesday (Trade Visitor- and Press-Day)

I was kinda tired and my feet still hurt, but I didn't want to miss this year's GamesCom, especially if I was able to enter without buying any ticket |'D

So we arrived at Cologne at around 12:30 and decided to enter at Congress Center Ost (East Entrance), so I would be able to avoid the crowd entering at GamesCom's main entrance (South). Even though it looked rather full in the entrance hall as well, I think it was a good choice to go there. Of course I had to wait for my companions, since they only had "normal" Trade-Visitor tickets, and were only allowed to enter when GDC was officially closed. Anyway, it worked pretty fast! ^^

First, we entered Hall 10, which was rather boring, actually. We just wanted to get some ribbons which would allow us to enter 18+ booths, but the queue was SO long, so we decided to go on without wearing a ribbon. And to be honest, I'm quite happy I didn't try to get one either, since we totally didn't need them, haha! ^^; 

So we left to Hall 9.1 , where there was the Square-Enix booth! It's so flashy!  (๑•ᴗ•๑)♡ Square-Enix had lots of games with them this time - "Kingdom Hearts", "Final Fantasy X" (and X-2), "Lightning Returns", "Murdered", "Thief" and of course "Final Fantasy 14 - A Realm Reborn".  We even gave it a try to play "Lightning Returns" - but I got to say that unfortunately, that's a game I'm not looking forward to. I don't like the main character, to be honest, even if I like her design... but she looks and appears "soul-less" in my opinion. She's not one of those characters you directly fall in love with. She's just... boring? I don't know. And also the new battle system is rather weird for me. I don't like "half-agile" battle mechanics, to be honest. But it's just like that. The player got to change Lightning's outfits several times within a battle, and by doing so her 'class' changes automatically (e.g. "warrior", "magican" and so on). The artists did a very great job on this game anyway, especially on the monsters. Kudos to you, guys.

Some more impressions from the booth <3 

Well, after checking out the Final Fantasy-part of SE, we decided to attend a presentation for the game "Thief", which actually is just a remake... anyway it looked so cool, and I'm totally looking forward to this game! Especially because I already thought that the old Thief-games were totally great! Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any photos during that presentation, BUT I totally felt it's the same team workin' on this title which also was responsible for "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" (and, oh you can't imagine how I loved this game!). 

Right after the presentation finished, we headed back to the back side of the booth, where there was another presentation... a presentation about "Final Fantasy 14 - A Realm Reborn" by Naoki Yoshida !! ❤　He introduced some innovations and even fought against one of the bosses, allying with some random attendees :'D He obviously had fun! Unfortunately, he already left the stage quite early again, but I was able to ask for an autograph and additionally I could have a little chat with him in Japanese! He was visibly surprised about that, though ( *´艸｀) ). 

After that, we didn't attend lots of presentations or tests, since most of the queues were already too long (so I don't wanna know what it'll look like on Saturday .... _ _'! ). Anyway I met lots of press people who also did recognize me with a huge smile :) Thank you so much, you made my day! ww And I also met Mohamed and Vicenzo :) (I hope you guys will have a save trip! ).

Later on that day, we were invited to have some drinks at the business area, where we stayed until GC closed :'D I was able to take some "Monster Energy"-drinks with me for free, and well, since I totally love "Monster Ripper", I didn't need to think twice! (￣∀￣)

Nevertheless, we saw a lot. Too much, maybe, to put it into words without hurting my fingers, haha :') But since I want to end this entry with picutres... here we go! ^o^

 

(The Last of Us)

(Assassin's Creed IV - Black Flag)

(World of Warcraft)

(World of Warcraft)

("Rain")

(the "Flying Steps" at the PS4-booth)

 

(Castlevania 2)

GDC Europe 2013 - My rough diary (Tuesday)

Like I promised before, here's "Part 2" of my GDC Europe 2013 experience! :)

Tuesday, 20th of August

Well, as I said in my previous entry, I got up at 5:00 a.m. again, since I had to attend to our team meeting at 8 o'clock. Victoria (who was our 'boss' this year) told us that lots of people went up to talk to her about us the day before. When she stated that, everyone got a little nervous, since everyone was expecting some bad news and black marks, or even reproaches... but luckily, those people obviously really just wanted to give some kudos to us?! Well, at least Victoria said that they just wanted to talk to her about that the team was so helpful and friendly, and that she should carry those compliments.
Even though this was rather a weird thing, of course everyone was totally happy about those news! I mean, how awesome's that? ヽ(；▽；)ノ 

Anyway, when I had some freetime right after the meeting, I met up with Caro to have a walk to Cologne city center, where we had some breakfast together (or at least I had breakfast, Caro decided she wasn't hungry, so she just ordered a drink ^^; )☆　

Unfortunately, time passed quite fast and so we headed back to Deutz to be in time for my shift. On Tuesday, it was "Google Day" :') The "Rheinsaal" was totally dedicated to Google's presentations,  which means that any attendee was able to visit those presentations during the whole day. Actually, I think most of their presentations sounded quite interesting (for example "Acquiring the Most Valuable Users for Your Game" by Joel Berger, or "Measuring and Optimizing Games using Google Mobile App Analytics" by Kristoffer Oloffson)). Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend to any of them, because of my shifts :'( 

By the way, I met someone quite interesting! His name is Johannes Vuorinen (Frogmind) and he's one of those who're responsible for "BADLANDS". I want to be honest, I usually don't play any games on mobile device, but I totally fell in love with this game because of its design and that's the reason why I actually thought I'd should give it a try (It totally reminded me of "Limbo", by the way !) So it was so amazing to meet one of those who're involved!!  Whatever - he just stopped, while he was actually passing, to talk to us for a while. He's just such a nice guy :) I know he won't ever read this for sure, but I just want to say "thanks!" for the nice chat anyway ヽ(●´∀｀●)ﾉ  

(Screenshot "BADLANDS" by Frogmind)

By the way, after that, some more people also started talking to us while they were passing - but most of them were some of the Media-guys. Anyway we had so much fun on Tuesday, because everyone already knew us since the day before, and were obviously surprised and kinda happy to see us again :) So even if they were in a hurry, they left some nice and/or funny comments.

Well, that's it for Tuesday, actually. Nevertheless I want to express some gratitude to my co-workers, like Mckenzie (again :') ), Vicenzo, Caro, Jackson, Mareike, Christian and "Jane" :') Especially because some of you cared about us so much, and supplied us with RedBull, coffee and pastries, when we weren't able to leave (๑´ڡ`๑)

Even if there was another party at the evening, I decided not to go - just because my feet were killin' me already, and I had some sleep to get... |D

GDC Europe 2013 - My rough diary :') (Sunday/Monday)

Yush!  I'm back home from GDC Europe, finished all my shifts and I'm happy to be able to announce that GDC Europe was a huge success! :)

As I promised, I want to write about my experiences at GDC Europe 2013 and GamesCom 2013 in the following entries, about the people I met (and which I want to point out, because they also made my time even more special than it was anyway), and about the Crytek party and about a special session that dealt with Crytek's way of designing and crafting the environment in "Crysis (1-3)".

Sunday, 18th of August:My first shift already started on Sunday, where we actually just did some preparation works for GDC. We received some general information about the conference and got a briefing about our tasks. As for me, I got my shifts at the Press Conference Center, which was only opened for V.I.P., Media and their interview partners (for example exhibitors, speakers etc.). 

Anyway we also stuffed the "GDC Bags", which should contain several goodies, pamphlets and information regarding the convention and the exhibitors. Even though it was said we'd be probably working until 4 p.m., we already finished at 2 p.m. (because my team was just awesome and we had some great ideas how to optimize the working process ;) ). So, well, yeah - that's it for sunday, actually. I had to get up quite early, but I was allowed to leave quite early as well, so it was fine for me ^^
By the way - this year's GDC T-shirts were YELLOW (ﾉд-｡)

Monday, 19th of August:

 My shift started quite early (since we had team meetings right before GDC's doors openend), what was the reason for me to get up at already 5 a.m. When we finished our meeting and the first attendees entered the congress, I had some freetime which I spent visiting some sessions. I want to write about one of them in a seperate entry.  (o´罒`o) Additionally, I was able to have a sneak into the booths at the expo-floor (and I had some lunch in between ^^; ). I decided to upload some photos, so please have a look if you're interested :') ☆　

(One of the session rooms: Rheinsaal West)

You can see the booth of "Oculus VR*" on the picture right above - their latest invention are some kind of goggles creating some kind of "*Virtual Reality". If you wear it, you can bend your head in every direction, even up and down, and you'll see some artificial environments in 3D (for example a wide landscape and even the roof of a skyscraper - it was kinda creepy, because you could actually 'watch down'. Amazing! ).

So, well - I was totally lucky I had my shift with a girl from the US. Her name's Mckenzie, and I totally enjoyed to work with her, because even if we had to work like until 7 p.m. and I was tired and my feet hurt a lot, it wasn't boring at all! :) But nevertheless we both felt so released when we finished our duty, haha |D


Monday, 19th of August - Crytek Party

Even though everyone was totally exhaused, and especially I decided to go home actually, we decided to jump at the chance of visiting the quite popular Crytek Party at Rheintreppen. This party is GDC-exclusive and you aren't allowed to enter if you don't have a "VIP"- or "All Access"-badge. We were allowed, because we surely had "All Access", since we NEEDED to have them to do our work poperly :'D
It was quite cool to see all those developers, speakers, CEOs and so on, and to drink some beer (or water, or coke, or wine, or whatever you wanted, actually ^^) with them as well (which was free, by the way. Everything was sponsored by Crytek, even the snacks!).  We even were treated receiving some sparkling wine reception (›´ω`‹ )

Well, actually I thought like I should only stay for about one hour, just to say "hi" to everyone, enjoy some talks and  try to arrive at home as fast as possible to get some sleep, because I needed to get up at 5:00 a.m. AGAIN on Tuesday. Anyway, I ended up staying for 3 1/2 hours in total, so that I arrived at home only at 2:00 (!!!) a.m. and achieved to sleep at maybe 3. That was not what I planned, but I totally enjoyed my stay though, and in the end, I managed to work properly on Tuesday as well, so I don't think that it was too bad ;)

I want to stop - let's call it - "Part 1" here, because there's muuuch more to go :') 

Just received my schedule for GDCE!

Yey, so it's been a while again. Anyway I just wanted to share my excitement with you. As I mentioned before, I'm happy to be part of GDCE (Game Developers Conference Europe) in Cologne again ☆

This time will be totally different for me, since I'm not going to be a runner, but got a quite more...well, for me, a job which will cause lots of nightmares until GDC, I think 囧rz

It's decided I'm gonna be a Press Room Assistant, which means I'll participate at the press conferences and meet lots of important people working in the game industry. And, how you probably can imagine, I'm totally nervous. 

Nevertheless, my shifts are rather horrible. I got to attend to our team meetings at around 8:00 a.m., while my sessions only start at 01:00 p.m. (･･;) It means that I'll obviously need to get up at around 5:00 a.m. ... Holy! 

And my shift just ends at 7 p.m. - adding my travel time, I think I'll be able to take off my shoes etc. at around 9:30 p.m. or something. I already plan to abuse our locker room as a dormitory (*ﾉ∀｀*)ゞｴﾍﾍ

Let's see whether I'm able to make it. 

At least we're gettin' free lunch! ☆ (and to be honest, I really think that GDC's lunch is awesome!! :D). 

Are you interested in GDC-content, by the way? If so, I want to try gathering some information to share them with you :)  (I think I will write about my time there anyway, but you can kinda co-determine to what extent I'll do so ( *｀ω´) )

By the way, is anyone planning to go to GamesCom this year? Are there any games you're curious about? 

I'd be totally interested in your opinions! ☆

Tasty Cologne-Day! ヽ( ´￢`)ノ

What a day! I really want to say that I totally enoyed this day, even though some things didn't work out as they actually should... actually, we had some date with a guitar guy, but he just told us he wouldn't come when we almost arrived at Cologne... the most bad thing about this issue was that I cancelled a date with a vocalist for this appointment _ _!   

Before I left, of course I drank some coffee (out of my popular "COFFEE" cup |D and, yep, my desktop looks quite messy, haha ... ^^; ). 

When we arrived at the station, I decided to buy some new cigarettes at the local tobacco shop, where they offered me a free cigarette of Benson & Hedges' new cigarettes as a sample. We headed off to the cities then, checking out Claire's and Forever18 whether there'd be some nice stuff for Raya. When Raya was inside of Claire's, I decided to try the cigarette. It wasn't bad, actually, but I prefer smoking menthol cigarettes instead still  \(//∇//)\ 

Even though I didn't think about buying something for myself, I found and bought a nice thing (at least for me, haha!): Some new sunglasses! (I really LOVE sunglasses, by the way... |D). As a surprise, they were totally cheap!! I bought them at Forever18 for only 2,00€ !!!

On our way back to the station, where we wanted to meet Sofi later, we stopped by and went into the big and popular Cologne Cathedral for some time. Isn't it just beautiful...? Of course we took some photos, because it's been such a long time since both of us got into that cathedral... it's just so impressive and big! If you're planning to visit Germany, please consider visiting the Cologne Cathedral was well. It'll be totally worth it.

When we met Sofi, we directly went off to eat something (anyway I was the only one who really ATE something... I feel to be a glutton ゜(´□｀｡)°゜ ). The girls just had some tiny side dish, while I enjoyed eating Himitsu Udon (= with chicken) at BentoBox, which is NO Japanese restaurant, but rather a Japanese inspired "trendy" and a little lofty style fastfood outlet. So please consider this if you are intending to go out to eat there... you shouldn't expect the food to taste "Japanese" either. If you don't, you'll probably have a nice "Japanese inspired" meal anyway :)

As a dessert, we decided to buy some drinks at Starbucks. As for me, I bought "Java Chip Chocolate Frappuchino" (without lactose, due to my lactose intolerance ヽ(´Д`；) ).  It's not like I can't drink any milk, but I really need to be careful about how much I drink (one little glass of milk is okay for one day, just one gulp more might be too much for me ._.! ). Nevertheless I ordered whipped cream, even though I personally didn't eat it [I won't peach on the culprit!].

After some time of "just sitting and talking", we checked the time and were kind of surprised how fast the time already passed by. That's why we decided to start going back to the main station slowly, checking some stores and buying some ice cream (for me it was melon and lemon ☆　I really felt like getting something fruity after such a big shock of chocolate ... ^^; ). 

 

It was the first time when we met Sofi after she came back from her holidays - and, WOW guess what!! She brought so many things for me ฅ(๑*д*๑)ฅ!!  Unfortunately, it's all about food.... (well, I say "unfortunately" because I really know that I'll just eat too much of it, because all those things are f*cking delicious!!! )

(Do you know any of these foods? They're from Greece! ☆　I think Greek food is one of the best foods all over the world (*˘︶˘*).｡.:*♡ )

With those impressions of food (and being hungry AGAIN because of talking about it =A=;; Geez, I'm gonna fatten up a lot, I think T___T;!! WHY GOD WHY!? ), I wanna leave you for now with this... let's say "messed up" photo from tonight. (I already brushed out all of my hairspray and I really look weird in this pic,  but I think that the sunglasses kinda save the situation, lol .. ^^; (at least they try to do so! Friendly glasses, aren't they? |D ).