I was down in San Diego for the past several days, covering the San Diego Comic-Con 2007 from the movie side for Cinematical, and I couldn't help stumbling through the massive video game booths that continue to grow in size every year. At one point, long ago in the distant past, this convention used to be about comic books, but now it seems to be about anything related to pop culture.
You've got a movie presence from the major studios (seriously, is Good Luck Chuck a geek or comic-book fan's movie?), tons of TV network presence (Heroes and Battlestar Galactica fit in nicely here), and an entire ancillary market of everything from fantasy swords and armor, to fairy costumes, to an outfit called Utilikilts selling kilts with cargo pockets, for those who like to go commando ... and carry a lot of stuff around at the same time.
Then of course, there's the video games. Check out what I was able to see on my tour through the obstacle course and lesson in patience that is the "show floor" from the San Diego Comic-Con. Plus, would this post be complete without a gallery? Look below and bathe in the wonderment.
First of all, the video game booths were all fairly massive. If you're John Doe with a comic book that you're trying to pimp out at Comic-Con, you don't want to be next to one of these things, because you'll get drowned out by the bleeps and bloops, and also stampeded as fans rush to get their free Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney -- Justice For All poster (yes, I nabbed one). Schwag rules not only at E3, but at Comic-Con as well. You could give away blank popsicle sticks and you'd be mobbed.
Anyhow, all of the booths were showing off the same things they had at E3 (and earlier), and vying for the attention of the glassy-eyed floor goers.
- Capcom had the most creative booth with a boxing ring towering over everything, which is where they staged some head to head battles.
- Square Enix was there with a ton of merchandise at Comic-Con floor prices, and they were selling out by the end of the Con. They got points for having a massive Al from Full Metal Alchemist in their booth. Check out the Squeenix merchandise in the video tour below.
- Konami drew a lot of attention with their upcoming games, and there's nothing quite like seeing a guy dressed up like a Klingon playing DDR.
- Blizzard was in full effect as well, with a massive presence at both their own booth, and the Upper Deck booth, showing off the World of Warcraft: TCG. I skipped most of that, however, since we'll be at BlizzCon this weekend, with better stuff to show for it. They had the video of StarCraft II playing, but no hands-on with the game.
- WizKids had gaming tables out, and were showing off the new HaloClix game. They were selling the massive battle-damaged Scarab for $250 a pop. It's huge, and if you're a Halo fan, and have somewhere to feature this sucker, you're going to want one. We'll have some more HaloClix news soon,
