Those of you who read my travelogue about the Community Day I attended might realize the third page looks a little different right now. In the interests of keeping things cool with my contacts there so they don’t get in trouble (as they are very, very cool people) I’ve taken out a few of the jucier bits. I’m not happy about censoring myself, but next time, I’m just going to make it two articles- one with the game stuff, one with the personal stuff. That way I can keep doing these and pass all the goodness and previews on to you.. Below is the full, unedited text of the third part, which already was a pretty condensed version of the night…
 

We got back to the hotel, headed to our rooms to drop off our goodies
and headed back to the hotel bar for some drinks, olives, and some
weird little crackers that were mighty tasty. A little while later our
hosts came by and got us rallied to go to dinner. I forgot the place’s
name already, but that’s probably a good thing, as the owner was very
disrespectful to us. It was a fancy place, and while we weren’t
bothering anyone (and we had an incredible waitress that rolled with
the humor from all of the ridiculous people at this table) they didn’t
seem to like that we all had this money to spend there, and of course,
that we were all in t-shirts and jeans, for the most part.

As for the meal, it was ridiculous. Just check out the menu (if you even can. Damn my blurry pictures!).

I
had a Caesar Salad, Filet Mignon, and the best brownie I’ve ever eaten.
All this and incredible appetizers a whole bunch of double jack and
cokes. You don’t even want to know what the bill looked like.
 

A
few of our dinner guests got a little silly with the alcohol, actually,
as if it was the first time they’d drank it before, but you know peer
pressure and all that. I wasn’t too surprised to see video gamers not
being able to handle their liquor. One of them, while threatening to
drink us and Craig from Burnout Paradise
under the table, got himself in a pretty rough spot, pretty fast. 4
screwdrivers in less than an hour after 3 beers, plus flaming sambuca
and shot of patron… well, let’s just say he was turning colors within
an hour.

It didn’t help that he was being pressured on by a
prick from a certain Xbox 360 Achievement site, a guy who was simply an
ass. But then again, what else would you expect from someone who spends
all his time trying to unlock as many achievements as he can? He was a
middle-aged waste of life, pure and simple, and even though he knew
that the other drunken fellow wasn’t feeling well, he kept egging him
on and handing him drinks and shots. I kept snapping at the guy to
leave him alone, because he’d had more than enough, but he didn’t
listen. Sure, the ultimate responsibility ends with the man drinking
(he was an adult, after all) but this stupid bastard wouldn’t stop
pushing and bullying him, and even made racist jokes to another guy in
our group at one point. When the drunk guy got so sick that he stumbled
outside to sit and recoup I went to go check on him and feed him water.
El douche came out after a while to see what was going on. When I saw
him come walking out I snarled at him “Oh, now you’re feeling sorry?”
and he replied “No, not really.” in a smug way and laughed. Let’s just
say that he’s lucky that I didn’t want to ruin anything for my good
friends at EA.

He’s one of those guys who wears a bluetooth earpiece 24/7, you know, a real class act.

After
cabbing it back to the hotel bar for drinks, most of the guys went
upstairs to crash for their flights home tomorrow, but some wanted a
little more action than looking at the boring, elderly posh people that
lined the hotel.

I was getting along great with the rest of the
guys, who asked me if I wanted to come out with them. They were stunned
when I replied that I’d never been to San Francisco before, and neither
had Jack from AICN. We joined together that night and made a pledge
that we’d get each other back to the hotel room at some point. The
Texan and the New Yorker, we were an unstoppable force… who says the
sites don’t get along? We soon escaped the hotel (purposefully leaving
the ear-piece wearing piece of shit behind) and headed out for
adventures, now that work was done.

Andrew, Ben, Jack and I
ended up meeting with a couple of the Destructoid guys, Jino from EA
and Craig at a very hipster-ish club, the kind of which I hate back
home, and did so even more here. Walking through the streets the other
guys had more things to make fun of me for, because I kept jaywalking
(“This isn’t New York!”) and bitching about how everything closed down
at 2:00 AM.

The place wasn’t that bad, actually, but that’s
mostly because the area around the bar was practically empty. Why’s
that? Well we went to the club in the first place because a certain
person in our group from was a little underage bastard. I’m only
kidding, actually, the kid turned out to be a really cool guy, and
despite being surrounded by poseurs, I had a blast. Besides, how could
you not laugh when you look around and see a scene like this?

I
spent most of the time talking to Craig, who I found out I had a lot in
common with, as far as our upbringing. He didn’t understand what the
hell was going on with all of these kids, and I tried to explain that
these were the people who had come to the big city and were relying on
checks from their parents to get along, that they didn’t really
understand anything about the world. It’s the same in every big city, I
assume, the people that come to it and want to fit in immediately even
though it’s impossible, and not necessary anyway. We really clicked
that night, and it was awesome to find out that the designer of one of
my most favorite recent games is a really friendly, down to earth and
cool guy, who wouldn’t even let me buy him a pint! He kept grabbing my
shoulder and telling me that I had to get into making games. I would in
a heartbeat, man. Trust me.
 
The night had a bunch more fun
twists and turns along the way, but let’s just say it ended up with all
of us sitting on a rooftop, drinking beers and looking out at the
stunning San Franciscan skyline. Ben turned to me at one point and said
how I’m probably not too impressed, being from NY, but he couldn’t be
more wrong. Every city’s got its own look, and with its hills San
Francisco definitely has a unique and beautiful one. A perfect end to a
perfect night, and I got back to my hotel regretting that I wouldn’t
see these guys again for a long time. They’re definitely the kind of
people I’d hang out with on the regular if we lived closer.

 
Getting
to bed, I realized that this was going down as one of the most fun
trips of my life. I’ve met some great people, played some great games,
and had a helluva time.

As I write this on board an airplane
39,000 feet above Illinois, it still all feels like a dream. This time,
I’ve got the whole row to myself instead of sitting crammed in between
two people, which is great, because I’m a little notoriously type-shy. Martian Child is
playing on the glitchy United Airlines TVs, and I’m ignoring it,
because after I finish this I’ve got another Val Lewton classic to
watch.

I’d like to thank Andrew Green and Ben Swanson for
setting this up and being such cool people. Much respect to Craig
Sullivan for schlepping his way over here to show off his game. Also
Ben, thanks for opening your home to me and showing me around the city.
Too cool, bro.  And of course huge respect goes to EA for sponsoring
the event.