Ten Ton Hammer | Leipzig

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Welcome to the second consecutive day without your beloved Boomjack! Fear not, he lives still - winging his way around the world on important business, he will not stop until Ten Ton Hammer is upon every gamer's lips as the ultimate location for all your MMOG needs...

Or, he's just on a short business trip post-Leipzig and will return shortly. Either way, he'll be back later this week! Until then, you're stuck with me - Phil "Ralphedelominius" Comeau, the Ten Ton Hammer resident Jack of All Trades, Master of None. For those that work best with imagery, think of me as having a portion of John's wit and charm but none of his common sense.

The Leipzig Game Convention was nothing short of phenomenal. All the energy and excitement that used to live in Los Angeles at E3 was present here, and I'm surprised by how much I really missed that. Unlike E3, the Leipzig show actually allows the everyday gamer to guy a pass and rub shoulders with game developers - heresy? I don't think so. The crowds were amazingly well-behaved; dare I say, better behaved than the supposed 'industry only' crowds that the old E3 attracted? It would be interesting to see if the same formula can't work in North America - after all, PAX runs like that and they seem to be doing OK. The setup at Leipzig was extremely well-planned and executed - four of five halls were open to the public, while the fifth was reserved for trade people and press. Most of our interviews and demos took place in the segregated hall, where noise was minimal and you weren't fighting the crowds to get into the booth. Out in the other halls, the public did their thing much like we all did at the old E3. GENIUS!

I could venture to say that the Leipzig show is the spiritual heir to the old E3. Replace the schnitzel and sausage with overcooked hotdogs and pretzels, and you'd swear you were at the LA Convention Center. I'm definitely going to be arm wrestling the other staffers to fight my way onto next year's team, that's for sure.

The show might be over, but we have plenty of content left to spew forth! Stay tuned in the next couple of days for the final articles as we wrap up the loose ends from our trip overseas.

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