Back in 2002 I attended the wonderful Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3. It was everything I could have imagined, and more. There was so much going on that I thought I would succumb to sensory overload. Game demos everywhere, lights and neon that made you think you were at Times Square or the Vegas Strip, and people! Oh it was a sea of nerds, and it was beautiful!
I went all 3 days of that convention and my legs were so tired. The trick is to go around to each booth the first day and pillage for goodies. E3 is notorious for giving good swag. I came away with Link and Samus pins for my lanyards, game demos, a huge Sony bag, and a bunch of other stuff.
I was given a job offer from Sega (that couldn’t be accepted for personal reasons… and yeah, that was my dream job btw), and I even got the chance to attend the Sony After Party. There I met Hideo Kojima. For those of you who don’t know who that is, he is the Vice President of Konami and also the creator of Metal Gear Solid. It was such an honor to meet him and I had no idea what to talk about! I did tell him how I laughed at the part in Metal Gear 2 when you can knock on the inside of a locker door where a poster of a bikini girl hangs. When you do that, you hear a “boing!” sound as the fist hits the boob. So funny! Hideo always puts little details like that in every game of his and I think it’s fantastic. I even asked him about the Metal Gear that would be released after that and all he told me was that “there will be a Snake” in it. I can’t tell you how many hours my brain wrestled around with that comment.
What I really found cool was that Kojima-san and his friends all wanted to take pictures with me. I know that a lot of it had to deal with the fact that I am a blonde haired, blue eyed American girl who spoke Japanese but still, it was flattering. Then the icing on the cake happened when Kojima-san asked for my business card. Of course I didn’t have one so I apoligized but he gave me his! There I am, this regular person getting this incredible mans business card! I immediately thanked him for it and told him that one day I hope I get the chance to work with him because it would be an honor and a dream come true. It really would be.
I have yet to call him and it’s been almost 7 years. First off I have no idea what I would say, secondly it would probably be expensive as hell to call Japan. His business card did include his email and I have yet to do that either. I have no idea what to say! Really, what does one say when they are emailing a person such as him?
Lately I’ve thought about it though. Emailing him and saying sorry that it’s taken so long, and to help jog his memory I would attach one of the pictures that was taken but I don’t know. It could be pretty awesome or I could fail…miserably. If I do email him you guys and gals will be the first to know about it!
Here are some of the pictures taken from that Sony After Party, and yeah… my hair was bleached. Oh, you can obviously tell how excited I am by my enormous smile.
From L to R: Some guy who worked on Street Fighter and Suikoden, me, Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame and a Konami employee. Bottom: I have no idea.
From L to R: Hideo Kojima VP of Konami and creator of Metal Gear Solid, me, Takayoshi Sato who is another Konami employee
From L to R: Hideo Kojima, me, Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame and Konami employee
Hope you all enjoyed the pictures even though I look totally different and way beyond excited but if you were there you would probably be that excited too. I did talk with Takayoshi Sato for a few months after E3 and we kept trying to schedule time to get together for lunch but that never happened. And for those of you who are unfamiliar with Akira Yamaoka he did the sound for all of the Silent Hill games, was the main guy behind the 3rd game in the series, and he also worked on the movie adaptation. He was a really nice guy and I have his business card somewhere too.
I would scan them for you guys but I don’t think they would appreciate me giving out their information on the internet like that. Sorry!!
Hopefully I can get into E3 this year. I might make more posts that are tech and video game oriented just because I would want to prove that this blog can qualify for a press pass or something of that nature. Who knows, I might have more pictures this June! Wish me luck!
– She Who Has The Last Word
