certron (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} certron) wrote,@ 2004-11-06 16:15:00 |
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Bummer bees
Well, I'm a bit late with this post (since I had to go to sleep Thursday night and wake up and go work on Friday) but I figure I'd share with you all my experience at the New York training event for ilovebees.com...
I now feel a little stupid for getting my friend involved in it, but, here's how it went. I left to get on the 6:38 train, then transferred twice to get to the 33rd street stop (total time, about an hour) and then walked another 15 minutes to the theatre. If you look at the top window, I think there are all the people they let in because they were waiting since 3pm...
After waiting in the rain for about 20 minutes, they made a line for the people who had sent an email and were put on the list. I gave my name, got my numbered ticket, a lanyard and plastic badge, and a DVD. Here's what I looked like, and here's what my friend looked like. Everyone was pretty excited at this point, waiting to get into the theatre to see what the whole event will turn out to be...
We eventually were led into the theatre, sat down in order of our ticket numbers, and found out that the place was already about half filled up. There were 4 Xboxes set up in front, playing 1 on 1 and 1 Xbox in the back, also 1 on 1, but hooked into the digital projector and Xbox Live with the other 3 cities. Overall, a pretty cool setup, even if it took a good 10 minutes for all the teams and voices to get working properly. The MC thanked everyone for showing up, and playing the game, and then everyone got really quiet as they played the last clip of the storyline. It turns out that it is the artifact or Melissa or something else that ends up bringing the Covenant to Earth in 2552, but I was still a little confused by the end of it. Oh well, that's what the DVD is for! In the middle of the clip, something had triggered a windows system noise which was kinda funny at the time...
Anyway, much gaming ensued, just not for most of the theatre. There was a little bit of video taken when we were all standing outside, and then some more inside the theatre, as well as a large number of photos. As the night wore on, while it was fun to watch others play, it got really disappointing as it became clear that we wouldn't get any time on the machines... I mean, really, 4 Xboxes for a whole theatre in 3 hours? They knew how big the theatre was, and how long the event was, and yet didn't plan on having enough machines there. They didn't even link the 4 machines together, so each one was just 1 on 1. The whole thing was funded by Microsoft / Bungie, and they couldn't have sprung for any more swag? T-shirts, pins, posters, controllers, headsets, Xbox Live subscriptions, postcards... none of that. It turns out that the 3 other sites had raffles for free stuff, and the one in Austin even got to have beer (because of the theatre they were in). While, yes, I understand it was a free event, would it have killed them to have another 4 Xboxes? Give away more stuff? Bah. Maybe I'm just a cranky bastard and shouldn't complain. Hell, I can think of lots of cool stuff to give away. How about Halo figures? A resin-cast helmet? A CD of the music? Grr... More free stuff!
There was one guy who really should have gotten a prize or at least some recognition, but the event seemed so understaffed that no one likely would have noticed. Here he is, with his cool shirt and the cool back of the shirt.
I ended up getting back home around 3:00am, as did my friend (who had an exam the next day), and I went to bed and tried to get some sleep in before work. If the travel and wait times weren't quite as long, maybe I wouldn't feel as bad about it as I do, but seriously, would it have killed them to add another 4 consoles?
That is all. Great game, great idea, poor final execution.
Well, I'm a bit late with this post (since I had to go to sleep Thursday night and wake up and go work on Friday) but I figure I'd share with you all my experience at the New York training event for ilovebees.com...
I now feel a little stupid for getting my friend involved in it, but, here's how it went. I left to get on the 6:38 train, then transferred twice to get to the 33rd street stop (total time, about an hour) and then walked another 15 minutes to the theatre. If you look at the top window, I think there are all the people they let in because they were waiting since 3pm...
After waiting in the rain for about 20 minutes, they made a line for the people who had sent an email and were put on the list. I gave my name, got my numbered ticket, a lanyard and plastic badge, and a DVD. Here's what I looked like, and here's what my friend looked like. Everyone was pretty excited at this point, waiting to get into the theatre to see what the whole event will turn out to be...
We eventually were led into the theatre, sat down in order of our ticket numbers, and found out that the place was already about half filled up. There were 4 Xboxes set up in front, playing 1 on 1 and 1 Xbox in the back, also 1 on 1, but hooked into the digital projector and Xbox Live with the other 3 cities. Overall, a pretty cool setup, even if it took a good 10 minutes for all the teams and voices to get working properly. The MC thanked everyone for showing up, and playing the game, and then everyone got really quiet as they played the last clip of the storyline. It turns out that it is the artifact or Melissa or something else that ends up bringing the Covenant to Earth in 2552, but I was still a little confused by the end of it. Oh well, that's what the DVD is for! In the middle of the clip, something had triggered a windows system noise which was kinda funny at the time...
Anyway, much gaming ensued, just not for most of the theatre. There was a little bit of video taken when we were all standing outside, and then some more inside the theatre, as well as a large number of photos. As the night wore on, while it was fun to watch others play, it got really disappointing as it became clear that we wouldn't get any time on the machines... I mean, really, 4 Xboxes for a whole theatre in 3 hours? They knew how big the theatre was, and how long the event was, and yet didn't plan on having enough machines there. They didn't even link the 4 machines together, so each one was just 1 on 1. The whole thing was funded by Microsoft / Bungie, and they couldn't have sprung for any more swag? T-shirts, pins, posters, controllers, headsets, Xbox Live subscriptions, postcards... none of that. It turns out that the 3 other sites had raffles for free stuff, and the one in Austin even got to have beer (because of the theatre they were in). While, yes, I understand it was a free event, would it have killed them to have another 4 Xboxes? Give away more stuff? Bah. Maybe I'm just a cranky bastard and shouldn't complain. Hell, I can think of lots of cool stuff to give away. How about Halo figures? A resin-cast helmet? A CD of the music? Grr... More free stuff!
There was one guy who really should have gotten a prize or at least some recognition, but the event seemed so understaffed that no one likely would have noticed. Here he is, with his cool shirt and the cool back of the shirt.
I ended up getting back home around 3:00am, as did my friend (who had an exam the next day), and I went to bed and tried to get some sleep in before work. If the travel and wait times weren't quite as long, maybe I wouldn't feel as bad about it as I do, but seriously, would it have killed them to add another 4 consoles?
That is all. Great game, great idea, poor final execution.
