After rushing out of our own party at 9pm to catch planes to wherever it is we're from – and subsequently napping for twenty-four straight hours – we're finally ready to share pics from the first evar Joystiq Reader Meetup in Santa Monica, CA (sponsored by Mahalo.com). First, in a word: unmitigatedsuccess. Yes, we know that's two words, but we really wanted that adjective in there. Over 160 of you showed up with two days notice, ready to hang with your fellow 'stiqers, play some Guitar Hero II and Wii Sports, win swag (some good, some ... not so good), and remind everyone at Joystiq why we do what we do (whatever that is). Seriously, we were bowled over (and not in a Wii Sports kinda way).

We'd really like to thank Mahalo (of course) for loaning us their awesome space, helping arrange the entire shindig, and making sure you guys didn't go hungry or thirsty. We'd also like to thank Mojo for providing energy drinks, Activision (hey, Frankie!) for bringing Guitar Hero II and an awesome poster signed by Slash, and Nyko for a ton of swag that wasn't totally disposable -- they gave us real products to give away!

Most of all, we'd like to thank every single person that came. We met readers whose names we'd only read; we met readers who avoid the comments at all costs ("Comment name? Oh no, I don't go in there."); we met readers who are totally famous; we met readers whose work we ourselves read; and we met readers who actually make some of the games that we play. It was, to be sure, a humbling experience. It was also gobs of fun.

Even if you avoid the comments, make an exception to say hi on this post. And if you've got any really good pics, you can get them to us by sending a note here and we'll assemble them all in a gallery. Again, thanks. And let's not wait another three years to do this again, k?