The Video Game Blog Post

Today we had a video game designer speak to a group of CreComms about designing games. He was a developer for a small, independent firm, but had some positive things to say about big production games as well.

At the start of the presentation, he mentioned how part of his job included attending trade shows and spending allot of time with the game developer community. He mentioned one such trade show, which took place in Austin, Texas last year.

I was actually at that trade show, but for different reasons. I was actually working as the trade show coordinator and account manager for OMT at the time, and the NAB radio show was taking place at the convention center at the exact same time as the video game show.

When I first landed in Austin, the cab driver took me to my hotel, passing through a really poor part of town to get there. My hotel was really close to the convention center (something I like to do so I can walk to the show each day), so I ordered a Heinekken from room service and walked to the convention center. The actual show started on a Wednesday, but I had to fly in on Monday in order to receive our shipments, setup the booth and graphics, and setup the computer network for the demo computers we'd be using at the show.

When I got to the convention center I was absolutely blown away at what I saw. No, it wasn't the video gamer's exhibits (although, they were super cool and laid back). What blew me away was the number of refugees who had to leave the coastal city of Houston because of the hurricane, ahhh, Ike I think it was. Over the course of the week that I was there, I spoke to a ton of people whose houses had been ruined, and jobs that had been lost as a result of the damage. It was pretty epic.

Anyway, at the convention... during the two days of setup, I spent a bit of time hanging out at the video game show. My access badge for the NAB radio show looked similar enough to the ones being used for the video game show, so nobody questioned me. And, it meant that I could take in the cuisine and free booze that was being given away by the companies that were exhibiting at the show.

The radio show ended up being ok. It was one of the rare shows where mostly everything went well, and so I got to spend a good chunk of time by the pool at the hotel. I really miss alot of the people I use to see at the trade shows. When you do alot of shows, you end up seeing alot of the same people, time and time again. And those people become your "road buddies". Throughout the year, you occassionaly speak with them over the phone, or email, about business, but over the years, they kind of become your solace on the road, because it sucks being away from your home, friends and family.

Overall, I would love to go back to Austin. It's like a little blue city, inside of a red state. Their art scene is stellar, actually quite comparable to Winnipeg's scene. There's live bands playing all the time.

Here are some pictures from that trip (I smashed my head on the last day of the trade show, which explains the photo of myself in my hotel room bathroom).