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Editorials 
My day at Camp EA.
- By Travis
Coats
Below is a recollection of most of my trip to the event known as Camp EA. It's rather long, but some may consider it a good read.
6:20 AM: The Flight
Flying has been like second nature to me my whole life. Thanks to employment within my family I have had extremely low fares with United Airlines since I was born. Now let me tell you that most flights are uneventful, (which is a damn good thing) and this one was no exception. The view on any flight is always one to be cherished, but on this particular flight it was even more so. When we took off it was very cloudy and dark, but once we got above the clouds it was like we were flying over a sea of white. If you have ever seen something like this then you know how beautiful and surreal a sight it can be. If you haven’t, well all I can say is that the sheer scope of it makes you realize exactly how small and inconsequential we really are.
7:40 AM: The Taxi
The taxicab ride was probably the most amusing part of my trip. You see, I had a feeling how my cab ride would play out. I just knew that no matter how many taxicab drivers were in the San Francisco area, I would get the one that couldn’t speak a lick of English. Luckily, I had foreseen this coming and was prepared. I had gone on mapquest.com the night before the trip and downloaded driving directions from the San Francisco airport to the Electronic Arts building. As amazing and amusing it was, this poor cabby couldn’t read the instructions and I had to read them to him. Needless to say, I was nervous that I would never get to my destination, and that I would be stuck in that cab as the fare just kept rising and rising. Still, we managed to get somewhere in the vicinity of where the EA building was located, and to save a headache for both of us, I had him drop me off near a construction site in the area. I suppose I shouldn’t be too hard on the driver, he did drive so ridiculously fast that the fare wasn’t as high as it could have been…
8:20 AM: The Lake
Well, here I was in a construction site in the middle of a huge office complex. With no other option I asked one of the workers where the EA building was located. She simply pointed in the general direction of north and said “That way.” She nearly didn’t even bother to look up. After thanking her I promptly started walking in the direction she indicated… That was my first mistake. After walking for about fifteen minutes I came to a beautiful lake. At this time it was a little past 8:30 and I didn’t need to be at EA until eleven, so I walked next to the lake for a while and watched a group of ducks. After my fascination with the fowl wore off I headed back in the direction I came from, as I was not about to walk around the entire lake. It's not like I didn’t want to mind you, but I did have somewhere to be. A few minutes later I noticed a hotel next to the construction site I started at. Having nothing better to do, I walked into the lobby and asked the lady at the front desk where this mysterious and hard to find EA building was. She pointed at another building right next to the construction site and told me that was it. What an ass I felt like. All of that walking only to come full circle to where I began. Oh well, at least the lake was more than worth it.
9:00 AM: Electronic Arts
After getting lost and feeling like a moron for doing so, I finally made it to the EA building. After sitting in the lobby for about fifteen minutes and watching videos of all the new Playstation 1 and 2 games EA was making (yawn) I met my contact to get inside. Let me just say now that she was one of the most helpful and kind people I have ever met. Anyway, after I was let into the building I was taken to the cafeteria to wait until the event started at eleven. Yes, EA is so big that they have their own cafeteria and there is darn good food in it too. They even have some arcade games in an adjacent room that employees can play. Ironically only one of them was from EA, and most were Sega games. Go figure.
11:00 AM: Camp EA
At last the entire reason for my little journey was at hand. The event was held inside of a gym (yes, they have a gym too) that had various areas setup with the latest games for PC, Playstation, X-Box, and the almighty GameCube. I didn’t spend much time with anything aside from the Cube except for a game called Battlefield 1942 for PC. Honestly, the moment this game becomes available I am all over it. I really was quite impressed with it to say the least. As far as the GameCube games go there wasn’t much new to Madden 2002, and I have updated our preview of it with what little additional information I gathered. SSX: Tricky however was a monster of a game and I am working on a full-blown preview of it to be finished soon.
One thing stood out about the GameCube that I believe had been changed from E3. The top of the analog controller was now soft and rubbery like the C-stick. On the controllers I played at E3 this was not the case. They had the same hard plastic ends like those found on the N64. I really hope this is a final change for the GameCube controller design as it brings massive comfort to the feel of the unit. It is far harder to lose your grip on the stick than it was before and this little addition has made the controller near perfect. Although that darn small B button still isn’t in the right place if you ask me. It is set too low to be even with the rest of the controller buttons. Now, while that was part of Nintendo’s plan I still think it should be moved, or even better yet, changed back to the old kidney shape. Either way, I’ll get used to it.
1:30 PM: Lunch
Don’t worry I’m not going to bother you with details of what I ate. (A cheeseburger and some Doritos.) What I will tell you is that I met Jon Griffith of Nintendojo and Ed Shih of Planet GameCube a little while before we all headed to lunch. Both are very nice guys and seem to love what they are doing. If by some small chance you have never visited either of their sites, I suggest you do so as you are seriously missing out. I also met some people from Tech TV and received a little insight into what it was like to actually make a living at covering video games.
4:00 PM: The Shuttle
This part of the day was kind of odd, and once it was all over I felt doubly bad for what transpired. What happened was this… I was told that a shuttle would take me back to the airport from the front of the EA building around 4 o’clock. I was also to meet a person there that would help me find it. Well a shuttle did arrive at about that time, but when I asked the driver what his destination was he said it was a hotel in downtown San Francisco. Ok, well scratch that idea. About ten minutes later another shuttle arrived but this one was going to the train station. Drat, I was 0 and 2 here. Another five minutes pass and the train station shuttle leaves, while the original one headed to the city stayed. At this point I figured I must have missed the shuttle and I should just call a taxi and head back. So I meander back over to the lobby of the EA building and ask the desk clerk if they can call a taxi for me. They oblige, and I head back outside to wait. Well lo' and behold, at that particular moment my promised contact approaches and asks if I still need that shuttle to the airport. I respond in the affirmative and surprise, surprise he leads me to the very same shuttle that is headed to the city. (Which mind you still hasn't left.) Once aboard another EA employee recognizes me then asks the driver of the shuttle to take me to the airport before heading downtown. That in of itself isn’t so bad but this particular shuttle was full of EA employees that were ready to go back to their hotel after a hard days work. The entire ride there I felt guilty as they were all going so far out of their way just to take me back to the airport. After arriving I thanked them and left as fast as I possibly could before one of them realized what happened and attacked me. I am kidding of course, but it was extremely nice of them to do that and I will always be thankful. Then there was also the matter of the taxi that was called... Oops.
4:50 PM: The San Francisco Airport
In what I consider the single most stupid move I have done in a while, I got corralled and suckered into giving a dollar to one of those people that stand around in airports and ask for contributions to a cause that they probably don’t even give a damn about anyway. This one was particularly crafty, as I was looking lost while I was trying to find my bearings and she called me over to offer help. After she did she promptly asked me for money to save some starving kid somewhere. Sure lady, that’s exactly where my dollar is going. Regardless, after giving her said dollar I promptly got out of her clutches before she took everything I had.
5:00 PM: Airport Security
I'm not entirely sure why every airport I visit does this, but it sure is funny. There is a certain type of bag that every airport security place in the world will want to take aside and check. From what I can gather it is a small duffel bag that has two handles and multiple pockets on the side. Apparently the bag I got from EA fit that description perfectly. What the security personnel do is they ask if this bag is yours, and when you reply yes, they immediately state that it will have to be checked in what they call a “random bag check”. Random my rear end… I have tested this theory of mine multiple times, and every single time it is a duffel bag like I described. I have even had other people take in my bag on the same day and it still gets a “random bag check” each time. Try it; I’m quite positive you will find out exactly what I am talking about.
6:00 PM: The Flight Home
After getting my bag back, I hopped on a plane headed home and managed to get a seat in the back of the airplane. Trust me, a seat in the back is about as bad as they come. Not only are you last on the flight staff’s service list, but the back of an airplane is where turbulence is the most easily felt. The flight home was nice for the most part, but near landing we got tossed around a bit, and being in the back made it quite more unpleasant than it had to be. Anyway, any flight you can walk away from is a good one so I’m not complaining. All was not lost at least. There was a girl sitting a few seats over from me that apparently was headed to see her long distance boyfriend. Because of this every few seconds she would say out loud, “I’m so excited!” Now it was quite amusing the first ten times I heard it, but by the time we landed it had lost its luster. Still, it gave me something to focus on to take my mind away from the turbulence. Looking back I hope her trip went as well as she thought it would.
Well, that sums up Camp EA. I’m not exactly sure why I did this, but if any of you are still paying attention I hope you enjoyed reading about my little escapade as much as I had experiencing it.
Look for that SSX: Tricky preview I mentioned soon.
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QUOTE: |
| "I just knew that no matter how many taxicab drivers were in the San Francisco area, I would get the one that couldn’t speak a lick of English." |
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