Gaming Diary - E3 2017 is Distracting

It hit me last night that I hadn’t written my Gaming Diary for the week. What in the world have I been doing? I’ve been way too distracted by E3.

I’m not there this year, which is weird. I wasn’t there in 2013, but that was only because I was 8 months pregnant. This is the first time since 2010 that I’m not going because I’m not affiliated with any press outlet. I have to say, it’s rather relaxing watching all the press conferences from the comforts of home. Been working on one monitor while the pressers stream on the other. My cell battery is lasting quite a bit longer too, as I’m not battling anyone for Wi-Fi or cell tower bandwidth. Then there’s fact I’m eating and sleeping far better than I would be if I was there.

I do miss seeing my friends, and I miss meeting up with my strategy guide contacts and talking the state of guides. That’s part of what is weird. The other part that’s weird is watching the press conferences and seeing where I normally sit. It’s like watching people sit at a bar or a restaurant at your table. That’s my table. I sit there. But now I’m not; I’m on the outside, looking in.

But I am able to do something from home I couldn’t do while at the show—watch gaming tournaments. Nintendo is hosting three invitationals this week, and I’m having a blast watching them. I never had time to stand around outside the Nintendo booth to watch these matches. E3 is always about running from one appointment to the next, usually in different halls, shoving $7 pizza down your throat on the way, and trying to find time to write about what you’ve seen. This E3 I’m watching gaming tournaments. It’s a toss-up which is better.

I’m also able to play Odin Sphere Leifthrasir whenever I want (a/k/a after I get my work done). At E3, the work is never done. The only free gaming time I have at the show is checking my StreetPasses. I’m still loving every minute with OSL. When I realized I can watch any of the unlocked cut-scenes from any chapter, I’ve spent an hour just rewatching the cut-scenes in chronological (not chapter) order. The story is so great, I’ll probably reread/rewatch these cut-scenes multiple times. I’m such a sucker for fantastical lore and love stories.

Then maybe I’ll be ready for the crazy open world game waiting for me in my backlog. Did you see how many were presented at E3? It’s all zombies and open world this year.

From the press conferences alone, here are the games I’m looking forward to the most from the show: