Arriving at the hotel Renaissance in Agoura Hills, CA was almost
horrifying. As an Ohioan I've never been exposed to the wild fires of
California. The sky was a yellowish haze because of the smoke that
filled the valley and ash floated from the sky and were blown into
small piles by the wind. Needless to say it was an interesting start to
the THQ Smack Down vs. Raw 2009 preview event. Eventually the fires
died (or the wind shifted I'm not sure) and the smoke cleared.
California is a pretty nice place when it isn't on fire. The hotel was
stylish and very bisiness and the bartender is the kind that will go
out of his way to find out how to make a drink that you request that he
doesn't know how to mix. After a few beers and an Irish car bomb the
drinking continued at the resturant MOZ which was right across the
street. The group of 12 journalists followed the three PR ladies and we
all sat down for a delicous if somewhat intresting dinner. The
conversatoins that took place were of video games and food and
eventually devolved into random Family Guy qoutes and talking about
someone's favorite episode of South Park. It felt like college and the
lunches I would have with my friends. None of the journalists there were
from highly popular sites like IGN or Gamespot. We were just a bunch of
people who were enthusiasts that loved all things video games. My kind
of people. Later after the food it was back to the hotel bar and drinks
with Brian the lead creative director for the game. While many things
discussed were off the record (partly due to the consumption of alchol)
it was obvious that he was a man who passionate about his job and very
passionate about the game he worked on. He even talked about how he
reads all the feedback from the press and the players and took
everything they said to heart. While I haven't been excited about a
wrestling video game in a long time Brian's passion was infectious and
now I can't wait to get my hands on a controller tomorrow. Of course I
also can't wait to get back and play the
Call of Duty World at War
beta but that's another post for another time.