threevue

Just getting back from the Joystiq reader meet-up in Santa Monica tonight, a place where a good time (and free swag) was had by all. The event was hosted by Mahalo.com and held in their spacious offices, achingly close to the beach (how does any work get done?). All of the guys from the ‘Stiq were there along with the likes of Cheapy D from Cheap Ass Gamer and my new Rock Band-mate, Lawrence Young from All Games Interactive.

As you can see from the pics, this gathering was a bit bigger than the Kotaku roundup from last Thursday. The Threevue Street Team and I arrived late (as usual) to the event by about an hour: I was the 151st person to show up. There were at least 250 fans in the place by the time we left at half past 9. So yeah, bunches of folks made the trip out.

As we walked past the surrounding industrial buildings to arrive at Mahalo HQ, we passed a group of Joystiq staffers taking the air outside of the hot, hot event floor. There was an open main room layout with smaller ancillary chambers surrounding, where Rock Band, COD4 and Super Smash Bros could be played after signing up on the roster. I played the obligatory “Say It Ain’t So” sesh and then made for the bar of free sodas and intermittently delivered pizzas.

I know shaky pics…sorry.

Justin McElroy came walking passed and I took the opportunity to say hello and give him one of the shirts we had made up. I introduced myself as Tyler from Threevue and he immediately recognized where I was from. That felt pretty good, folks, let me tell you. I told him that we at the site had some of our own swag to shill, and laid the shirt on him. He really liked it and took it back to the staff area, and then came back to chat some. The guy was real open and friendly, not unlike Brian Crescente or any of the other guys I got to talk to.  Here’s where I get a little sugary, because he asked about how the site came about and we talked for five or ten minutes about starting Threevue and how Russ, Mark and I knew each other. It felt strange, yet supremely awesome to be telling an editor from Joystiq about the founding of Threevue. McElroy brought up a past incident that I had hoped would stay forgotten. He complimented the site and we got a few pics with Halo Fan, Eric Dobson. Pure Win.

He hung out until he was pulled away to grab some fresh air with another staffer. When I asked for a picture he replied, “Yeah, man. Of course. What pose are we going for? Is it kid-friendly?” The result… Not so much.

[Editor's Note: He smelled like the breath of God blown across a blooming field of Sakura.]

Chris Grant, Ludwig Keitzmann, Ross Miller and more Joystiq folks along with a few folks from XB3F got the giveaway started and all in attendance got their hands on something good, even yours truly. Sadly, the Professor Layton top hat was scooped up before I could get my hands on it.

Shucks!