Conventions were rare in my part of the world. Every year an anime one was held at a college in the city but there were none about video games. That was all set to change when they announced one would be held in my hometown.
It wasn't at all crowded like the videos I've seen of the ones in Los Angeles. It was more like a furniture store. Very spacious, not many people, plenty of comfy places to sit and yet all the big video game publishers were here. I'm not sure what drove them to my neck of the woods, but I was glad they were here.
I navigated safely past the less interesting booths of the bigger companies and found booths of many other smaller companies tucked away. I was surprised and delighted to see a guy whose writing I had been reading for years was actually there in person! I recognised him by his sunglasses. He wasn't reporting on the games here because he was actually showcasing one of his own games. I decided to introduce myself to him and tell him I was a big fan, but when I went to shake his hand he put a controller in it instead. In the blink of an eye I was playing his own latest game.
It was about trucks and it was pretty amazing. I expected to be babbling to this guy on being a fan of his work but instead he was babbling stuff about his game to me as I was playing. It was surreal.
"You guys are naturals" he said to me and someone else. I looked over to the other player and she looked at me. The moment we saw each other there was a spark. I don't know what it was exactly but the world just stopped for a moment until the game got going again.
We played until the afternoon ran out and we were the only ones left in that warehouse. It was dark outside. The guy kept his sunglasses on though. He thanked us so much for playing his game before telling us he had to board a plane to the next stop on the game's promotional tour. I guess he still goes globetrotting.
As for the girl who played the game with me all afternoon, we decided to go get pizza and hang out together.
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