Saturday, October 3, 2009

My Bioware Trip; Or, How I Learned to Hate Embargos

As Bill noted, I was off this week getting a couple of days, hands-on, with Dragon Age. I got back into town last last night, but unfortunately, due to the embargos (yeah, it’s such a big game there’s more than just one!) the most I can really say is, whoa. (That’s said in my best Ted –of Bill and Ted- voice.) Keep in mind that is said as someone who is most definitely not a fan of the marketing of the game over the past six months or so.

Some things I learned that don’t directly involve the game:

  • If you have to change planes at some point on your return trip, do not allow yourself to get booked with a 45 minute cushion between flights. My plane, on which I was in the very last row of seats, was 30 minutes late to land and my gate closed before I could get there. Fortunately, I got on standby for a flight just an hour later.
  • Always have your coat with you (everywhere you go) when visiting Edmonton in the fall. It doesn’t matter if you don’t think you’re going outside because you never know when someone is going to pull a hotel fire alarm in the middle of a demo and you’ll have to go wait outside for 30-minutes. Yikes.
  • You can get a novelty bottle of beer through customs, but you do have to check it.
  • Edmonton has as quality an Irish pub (O’Byrnes Pub) as I’ve ever been in. Seriously, that place is frigg’n great.
  • Also, game journalists can drink. (But then I knew that already.)
  • Also, also, it’s a damn good thing I remembered to bring some Tylenol. ‘Cause damn.
  • With regards to the game, again, whoa. Hopefully it’s not pushing it to say that Baldur’s Gate fans can rest easy.