Dragon Games

Now that I've got your attention let me explain. For reasons I will only go into if asked in person, I lost my Comic Con badge before we could get in on Sunday. So my friend and I are calling up anyone we know to see if we could snag a badge someone was not using. While still trying to figure that mess out we saw someone we had seen inside the con selling his badge cause he was going home early. The guy was part of this group of "Rock Me Sexy Jesus's" that where there to promote the new movie Hamlet II. So in short, if it was not for jesus, I would have not gotten back into the con on Sunday.


Now for a quick preview of the things to come in my final review and collection of 400+ pictures taken:




The last image is part of some the the heavy cryptic advertising that was going on during the con. That particular one was for http://www.D-9.com, which at the moment I am not exactly sure what it is for, but it is also related to this site http://www.multinationalunited.com/.

Another one involved a booth with some odd video's being shown, and people around the con randomly shouting out "I AM NOT A NUMBER" and handing out all sorts of stuff directing you to http://www.seekthesix.com. They even went as far as to have a plane doing some sky writing. The website is even more cryptic, but my friend and I have manged to figure out. However, I'm not telling what it is so that gives you something to figure out.

With that, San Diego Comic Con International 2008 is officially over. As soon as I'm done recovering, I'll write some more about it and start posting some more pics. Till then I leave you with this:

So yesterday I got to see the Robot Chicken crew; a Mystery Science Theater 3000 reunion; a screening of the new season of Eureka and Stargate Atlantis; and some Sick & Twisted cartoons. I promise to write more and post pics when I get back.

Today we just hit the signing booths. I've got some surprises for a few of you. Next we're heading down to the sea of craziness that is the dealer and exhibition hall. Pictures do not do it justice for how big this place is. Not to mention all the big name companies and the booths they have set up.

With this being my first time at Comic Con, it was only destined that I would make a few mistakes. So I present to you the few things I've learned so far.

1. If you plan to drive into Comic Con, get there very early!! Parking within a 5 mile radius fills up fast.

2. Calling the dealers room a Zoo is an understatement.... It is more like a sea of people that flows in every direction but the one you want to go

3. If you want to get anywhere fast, do not cosplay or go with someone who is cosplaying. As you will stop and/or be stopped every 5 minutes.

4. Lining up one hour before a big event is still not long enough. In fact two hours is still not enough. If you want to see a famous person/show get to the room several shows before and expect to sit for hours.

So far I've missed all of the panels I wanted to see due to one of the above reasons. Right now I am sitting through an X-Box panel in hopes to catch the Venture Brothers panel that is next.

Pics and more to come later

Before I start, if you've never heard of Video Games Live, then I suggest you check out the site. http://www.videogameslive.com/ Basically what they are is a group that goes around and preforms Symphonic Video Game Music Live. Yup you heard me right, Video Game Music.

Right about now if your a gamer, your probably thinking "Wow thats awesome, I want to see that" and if your not, you're probably wondering why anyone would want to see such a thing. If your thinking the second part, then you'd probably be pretty surprised to learn that most Video Games DO have symphonic music that is not just a bunch of blips and beeps. In fact most of the music that was preformed tonight was written for and originally recorded by a full orchestra's.

When I walked in, I was told that no camera's were allowed in at all. And there was a table where they were storing camera's from other people.

But as you can see, apparently they weren't really enforcing it very well because I walked in with my camera, in a camera pouch, attached to my belt.

The concert started with a little medley of classic video games, which was started with a Pong intro that was rather amusing to see the sound fx done with instruments. After a little intro of people they got right into the good stuff. When they played the Metal Gear Solid music they had a little stage show with an armed guard wondering the stage, and a cardboard box moving around behind him. Then they got into something I wish I could have a video of.

That would be a steller performance of the Metroid music. Followed by some scores from Civilization IV, which were backed up by a choir as well. Truly a sight to see.

Next came a competition. They invited a guy to come up on stage and attempt to beat the first level of Space Invaders on stage in under two minutes. However there was one little twist.

If you notice the guy on stage at the bottom left, the back of his shirt is the Space Invaders ship. HE was the ship on stage, and had to run back and forth on stage to move the ship across the stage. *laughs* it was rather amusing to watch and unfortunately he did not win. But did come very close with only one column of alien ships left.

After that there was a performance of the Tron music. Followed by my personal favorite.


Intermission!!

At the conclusion of the break they trumped up a performance of Kingdom Heats by showing clips Disney characters in the movies rather then game footage. Then another favorite of mine that I know at least one of my friends would have loved to see, several scores from World of Warcraft!!! Having the CD's of this music myself, I very much enjoyed the live versions. Creating a somewhat Blizzard theme, they followed the World of Warcraft scores with a score from an game that has not been released yet.


Next was a nice Super Mario medley that was immediately followed by something I would never have believed to be true if I did not see it myself in person. Those of you that are gamers might have heard about this and/or came across the youtube video of this. But they brought out on stage a guy who could not only play the original Super Mario music really fast on the piano, but he did it blindfolded!!! At one point his fingers were moving so fast across the piano that you would swear it was not even possible.


Competition time again!! This time it was Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. They brought up a guy to play a song on hard with the objective to score 200,000 points to win a brand new laptop!! Not only did the guy win the laptop but he did it on expert too!! I think they should have gave him something extra for that.

Not having really played these games myself, I was a bit surprised to watch them go into the music from Halo. But the music was definitely worthy and they ended the scores with the Halo girl coming out on stage, and a full Master Chief costumed guy coming on stage to wave a flag.


They wrapped up the concert with a chilling performance of One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII. Which some of you should remember as the final Sephiroth battle music. The Final scores were from the classic Castlevania

In the end I took over 120 pictures and left the concert hoping to see it again sometime. This is definitely something I would recommend any gamer to try and attend. You can check out their tour dates here http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=dates

In my last post I mentioned that at the airport I could see dark sky in the distance. Well, after I landed here in California, I found out that an hour after my plane left, some very nasty storms moved into the area and delayed/canceled almost all flights out of BWI for several hours. Lucky me I guess since my flight and connection in AZ were both on time.

Moving on, this was my first time flying First Class. Yeah me!! I willingly paid the extra cost because this would be the third time I've flown from coast to coast. And I've learned something from those last two flights. That sitting 4-5 hrs in those cramped coach seats is about as much fun as wrestling two heavy weight sumo's at the same time. And being as tall as I am, those seats are extremely lacking the the leg room I need.

So there I am, getting on the plane and taking my seat up front in the first class section. Woohoo!!! Right away am ecstatic about the comfy seat with the extra leg room. Plus I found out that the seats even have these flaps by your head you can pull out to lean your head against. Which make getting that quick nap even more comfy and easier. Even the fold out seat tray was larger and better then coach.

Beyond the comfy seats, I was aware that the alcohol is free in first class. I took advantage of that since they served Bailys Irish Cream... mmmmm! However, when they come around to get your drink order, they also bring a tray of free snacks too. Double score! One other thing I did not expect, but should have known, is that the food options were much different as well. Instead of the usual boxed lunch sandwich or snack box, I dinned on a nice cooked salmon and rice served with half a lemon, Romain lettuce salad with cherry tomatoes and almonds, and a roll with butter. All on real plates and real silverware, even with a small mini salt and pepper shaker. Not only did it look good, but it all tasted VERY good too!!

Needless to say, I really, REALLY enjoyed my flights over, and I look forward to my flights back home. Now I also mentioned photos in my last post. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble pulling the pics off my phone at the moment. But I do promise to have pics in my next post which will cover the Video Games Live concert I am attending tonight!