I am still in a bit of shock. I get to strike something off my bucket list that’s been there since I was in middle school. I’m going to E3.
E3’s an event I’ve dreamed about and pondered on for years. Since I was in the 8th grade, reading magazines about games and seeing pictures of this massive trade show, something only the “elite of the elite” get to see. Games journalism had been something I envied; being able to play video games for a living and share thoughts and feelings about those games was a pipe dream to me. E3 was a Mecca, an ultimate end-goal that would never be reached, since I was just a normal guy and had no clout or pull in the industry.
Through high school, my desire to attend E3 only intensified. Fueled by G4 and their incessant yearly coverage of the event, my desire to attend and see the announcements of brand-new games and IPs and get my hands on these titles months or sometimes more than a year before anyone else, and to share my impressions with the world was a strong pull into my deepening love of video games.
The desire to attend E3 cooled off with events like E4All in 2007 and the perceived canceling of the entire event (which ended up being a restructuring of the event in 2007/2008). I thought E3 was dead. In 2009, it came back, but it still wasn’t as big of a deal to me.
Fast-forward to 2015 when I started making the ICT Podcast with Jorge, and we found ourselves looking at E3 seriously again. With no major outlets (TV-wise) covering E3, it fell to “smaller” outlets to cover it. We took it upon ourselves to share out thoughts and predictions, and reactions after the fact. My love for E3 and excitement over the event blossomed again.
Four years later, I had reached 20,000 followers on the ICT Mixer channel. A milestone I thought impossible (and still sort of do) had been reached. Perhaps it was time to make this dream come true. Even though Sony had pulled out of this one, Microsoft and Nintendo were poised to make huge waves, and it promises to be one of the biggest yet for both platforms. I put in my application for a media badge.
Lo and behold, I receive confirmation that I have a badge waiting for me in June at the convention center. I’m absolutely floored. “This can’t be happening,” I thought. “I’m not big enough to be invite to E3 of all things!” Turns out I am big enough. And it turns out I’m going. I quickly set plans into motion – I reserved an AirBnB with some friends, and just the other day ordered plane tickets to LAX.
I’m still totally floored. I know for a fact that I’m excited — I get to spend time with my buddy SwordofPoke who’s from London, and my stream friends BVR and Sploom in our AirBnB. I get to meet and rub elbows with some of the best the game industry has to offer. I get to strike an event off my list that I’ve been desiring to achieve since I was a kid. And it’s all thanks to you.
A live streamer, podcaster, and game lover hailing from the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Regardless of the game, Tim thoroughly enjoys what each game can bring to the table, whether it be visuals, audio, writing, or a combination of the three. He wants nothing more than to have a positive impact on gaming in some manner.
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