After the long 3 hour trip, I met up with Grillo, Snips and Hatperson. Now grillo was a cool guy, but we all expected that from him. Snips in my opinion was a cool guy. Could have sworn he was 19 or 20, but I was way off. Now hatperson... Well that's a different story. He seemed normal until he started talking, and well it turns out he was a little "weird." Enough said. Well, we were almost all set, but we needed one more person. We stood there for about 30 minutes waiting for the last winner to arrive, L3G10N. We went to the other terminal and found out his plane was delayed by 2 hours. So we waited, and waited, then finally out steps this guy with a shaved head, goatee, and earrings. Turns out Legion was the camera man, so anytime we spotted a hot model, we turned to Legion to take the shot. Enough about that. After we had all of the members, we headed to the Wilshire Grand hotel. The hotel was very nice, with 16 floors of rooms. The rooms weren't the biggest, but the hotel itself was a nice place. We relaxed for a few minutes at the hotel then had a little "debriefing" in my room (Pearson's room) about E3 and how the show was going to be. There were 3 rooms reserved. Pearson and I in one, Grillo and Hatperson in the other (poor grillo), and the two alcoholics in the other room.... Also known as Snips and L3G10N.

All of us except pearson headed out for some food, because airline food just doesn't fill you up or even taste somewhat like food. We headed to this fancy Mexican restaurant. Pearson couldn't go because he was off at the Eidos party with Everclear (Lucky SOB). The Restaurant was pretty cool, and that's were we all basically got to know each other at. The only bad thing is that I had to drink Coke instead of the shots that all the older guys got. Anyways, the food was great and the restaurant was a good place. After our meal, we decided to walk back to the hotel. Little did we know that the hotel was farther then we thought. We walked for about 20 minutes, then realized we didn't know where the hell we were going. L3G10N put his detective skills to work, and remembered that the hotel was right next to a huge bank building. Only problem was that there were about 6 different banks we saw while walking. Every time we saw a bank, we went after that direction. So after about 4 different banks we got lost. We asked some guy directions, but all his marbles weren't in the sack, and he had no clue. We walked around for a while longer and after a couple more bank spottings, we asked another guy for directions. This guy actually knew what he was talking about and before long we were back at the hotel. It was a long day, mainly because of jet lag so we went to sleep pretty fast.

DAY 2 - The First Day Of E3

On Day 1 of E3 it started at about 9 AM. We all got the little red badges which got us in an hour early. We had an extra hour so we helped HEAT promote their name. We went with grillo and another worker from HEAT and took the urinal screens and raided the restrooms. The urinal cakes were just normal urinal screens except they were red and had a HEAT symbol on them. Also on each cake was one of two sayings: "LPB - Little Penis Boy" or "BFG - Big Fricken' Gonads". We must have supplied 8 restrooms with the urinal screens. Turns out we missed two restrooms, but HEAT got promoted well. People were actually tempted to take them out and wash them, then take them home. We all were asked to give them out.

Well, distributing the urinal screens didn't take long. After that adventure I headed to HEAT's inside booth. Heat had 10 computers set up to play Quake2 on Heat. The computers were Pentium 3's with T1 connections. Not only were the graphics silky smooth, but the 30-40 ping was awesome. I got hooked on the fast speeds, since I run a 26.4k, and played Q2 on Heat for a long time.

After I got tired of playing Quake2, we were told about the little place behind the sega booth where there was food and drinks free of charge. I chilled out in the eating donuts for awhile then went off to explore. I went exploring at first along with Hatperson (bad idea). He got into the sonic games while I was after the games with the awesome graphics. At first we did a quick run through on the dreamcast, then we went to the Play Station booth. Not only did Hat drag me to the Play Station booth, but I was dragged to the WORST Play Station game ever created. The terrible game was none other then "Um Jammer Lammy", the sequel to Parappa The Rappa. Um Jammer Lammy was set up on a HUGE screen for the whole hall to see it's terrible gameplay and pathetic graphics. Not to mention the basically retarded lyrics in the game. Well, after I dragged Hatperson from that evil game, I thought the torture was over. But NO, Hat went straight to the Pokemon place. I watched him play the Pokemon Arena game, let me tell you... That game plain sucks. After watching that annoying game Hat went to another Pokemon game. This game was a thing where you take pictures of little pikachus and little Pokemon characters, then print the pictures you took on a card as stickers. After I saw this game, I couldn't bear it anymore. I was leaving that booth right there and then, with or without Hat. Unfortunately he did follow, and we went to the PC games. There was this big crowd watching Sting wrestling Big Bam Biggalo (Cant spell it). Since I wasn't a wrestling fan, I didn't care. But I did see Jeremy McGrath (Supercross Champion). I saw the perfect opportunity to lose Hat. I stopped in line for an autograph, while hatperson drifted away with the crowd.... I was free at last! I got McGrath's autograph, then wandered around and tested out some games. I then spotted Jerry Rice signing, so I went in that direction. I talked to Jerry Rice for a few minutes and then got his autograph. I then worked my way around the games until I came to the Eidos booth. I just heard people chanting "Lara... Lara.... Lara..." I knew something was going to happen. Sure enough, Lara Croft came up on the stage with her big.... ummm.. Guns. The person playing Lara was a very good look-alike. Only problem is that the look-alike was kind of bitchy. The lines to get polaroids were huge. Also everyone who went up on stage had to ask Lara a question. Only thing was that there was an announcer who made fun of EVERYONE who asked anything. One guy asked Lara "Can I be your boy-toy?". The announcers response was "Yeah right man, your probably 30 years old and still haven't got laid". Let's just say half of the people who went up there got mad at the announcer, but sitting on the Harley with Lara Croft made up for it. Well, Lara stayed out there for about 20 minutes taking pictures with people (mostly guys, but one lady did go up there... hmmmmm). And after 20 minutes of sitting on a Harley, a girl wearing very short tan shorts would get a big wedgie, right? Well, it happened to Lara, her shorts turned into a bikini bottom as time went on. Which just made the male crowd go even crazier. After 20 minutes (and me next in line) Lara was done for the day. So I didn't get a picture with her.

After that part, it was time for me to goto HEAT's outside booth to check in. That is where I met up with Hatperson once again. As part of our job, we handed out free HEAT t-shirts to people entering E3. That wasn't too bad, because we joined the HEAT babes in passing out the free stuff. The HEAT babes were some of the best models there, and some of the nicest ones. Let me just say, HEAT's outside booth was awesome. To get in the convention through the front door, you had to pass through the HEAT booth. In the HEAT booth was a huge HEAT.NET climbing rock, that awarded prizes to people who climbed it. On the other side of "The Rock" was the "Degree Machine". Ever see those things where your in a tube and money is flying all around you, and you have to catch the bills. Well, HEAT had the same thing, but with degree coupons. What they forgot to inform us, is that the degree coupons had no numbers and could only be redeemed at the booth for a small assortment of prizes. Burnzone took his chance at the degree machine. Without knowing of the non-valid coupons, he stuffed them in his pockets thinking he had just won 700,00 degrees. Just when he walked off, someone told them about the coupons. Either way, he got a free Heat Jacket. As did all of us who went.

Hatperson and I went on passing out HEAT shirts and found out we were low on HEAT shirts. So we headed back inside to get more. On the way inside we accidently bumped into this guy... turns out he was Damon Wayans. I couldn't catch him in time to get an autograph but at least we saw him.

After passing out a few hundred t-shirts, we let the models take back their "fun" job of handing shirts out. Then I headed back to play on HEAT's T1 lines. It was at the inside HEAT booth were I met HEATPrizeMan. HPM is a cool guy from what I saw. Apparently the HEAT babes thought so too, because they were a little "friendly" with him. Just call HPM "The Pimp". But I think HPM is married, so nothing happened. And if so.... that's none of my business. By this time it was near the end of the show and I met BURNZONE and FluffyNuts. The two guys from Arizona who drove to LA for E3. Fluffy was 17 and Burn was 16. The trip wouldn't have been the same without them, it was tons of fun hanging around those guys (You will see in the next day reports). Well, we just chilled out at the HEAT booth until the show ended, then headed out front to the outside HEAT booth.

While at the HEAT booth, 4 girls from Clan PMS (professional Girl Gamers) started talking to us. We got to talking then they came right out and challenged us to a 4 on 4 in Quake 2. Without hesitation we took the offer. We were all a little scared because we weren't a clan or team and Clan PMS was known for beating the Power Rangers, and a well-known clan itself. You will see how that awesome match turned out on tomorrows report.

We went back to the hotel and met with Ralph2. Just like online, ralph is a nice guy. After talking to Ralph for a while we all headed to a chinese restaurant. We got at the restaurant, and it was one of those chinese restaurants where they cook the food right in front of you. Well the chinese lady handed us the menu, and we looked at the steak prices. $128 for a 12 oz. steak wasn't exactly a good price for about 10 people eating, so we headed out of there and went to another restaurant. The next place wasn't much better, only charging $70 for a steak. By now we all were starving so we got irritated and just went to Subway. It turned out that was just fine. Only problem was that I was forced to sit by Hatperson. Again, not the greatest thing to do. Everyone just chatted in Subway for a long time about the Clan PMS game, and improvements to HEAT. After a while we got tired then headed back to the Hotel for some sleep.

Day 3 - Day 2 of E3 '99

We went 2 hours earlier to the show to write our reports and get them off to ember. Hatperson went overboard on his reports. We all thought he was going to publish a book. I myself slacked off on my reports, due to wanting to get to the games and the show. L3G10N and Snips also slacked off, so I wasn't the only one.

Well, on to the show and the next adventure. I wasn't at this event, but as I hear it, L3G10N got very friendly with a model that handed out magizines. I personally saw this model and I remember her as being VERY FINE. L3G10N made friends quick, maybe he can get even farther tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I was off testing the first-person shooters when I ran into Snips, L3G10N , Burn and Fluffy. I went running around E3 with them and we had a few run-ins with MPlayer. Burnzone got the idea to put a Heat sticker on some MPlayer dude's back. He got the sticker on his back, and before L3G10N got his camera out for picture, the MPlayer babe took it off of him. The "MPlayer Pimp" thought it was me, then turned to me and was really pissed. "Don't put heat stickers on my back" He yelled at me. I just laughed at him and walked off. We all waited for a few minutes until the MPlayer Pimp left, and left the MPlayer babe there. So Burn went to put the sticker on the MPlayer girl. This time it worked! The sticker stayed on for about 3 minutes until some guy took it off. That 3 minutes was plenty of time to snap a picture. So we got a picture of the MPlayer girl with a nice sized HEAT sticker on her back.

Well, we went around for a while longer looking for Grillo, since he was "supposed" to be with us. We all knew that certain things at E3 can draw you away so we gave up on looking for Grillo. We headed back to HEAT's outside booth, "The Rock". We got there in hopes of finding Pearson and talking to him, but he was no where to be found. Fluffynuts put his "mack" on the HEAT babe, but it didn't last long. We all went and sat down. Half of us taking a cigarette break. Snips noticed the "Schoolgirl Babes" across the street and found out that the Playboy Centerfold was signing autographs. Naturally we all rushed over there. Too bad the line was too long, because they were giving away free magazines with the centerfold's autograph. We wanted to get in line, but we were pressed on time. We had the scheduled PMS match in 45 minutes, and needed to have a playoff between us 6 to find the best 4 to play. So, we went back to the HEAT booth. We went behind the sega booth to chow down on the free pizza and get some drinks. Hatperson was going psycho over the playoff between us. Every 5 seconds he would add "Hey we need to get the game going. When is PMS going to be here?". We tried to tell him to calm down, but that boy needed to switch to decaf. After we took our time eating the free food, we went out to play the playoff. We got some HEAT guys to kick people off all of the computers for our little playoff. We were all set for the playoff, then Snip's computer went out. We waited, then waited, and waited. Finally Snips got to the room and we launched. Too bad Snip's computer crashed again right when he got in the game, and couldn't get back in. Now, after snips was out, I figured I had 4th place made. To my surprise I didn't play my best. Actually, I didn't even play normal. I let HatPerson beat me out. So the line-up was set. Burnzone, L3G10N, Fluffynuts, and HatPerson was the line-up. Right after we finished the game, we hear about 4 guys chanting "P-M-S, P-M-S" then in comes 4 guys with towels on and their shirts off. They had "PMS" painted on their faces, and a couple guys had the girl's game names painted on their back and stomach. Behind the "Towel-Boys" followed Clan PMS. Complete with the AGN camera crew, and an AGN reporter. When we saw this, we were thinking we we're done for. The camera crew came up to Burnzone and the reporter started interviewing Burnzone. Burnzone naturally lied saying that we were expecting to lose. I, however, had seen them play earlier that day. I knew we would win, but no one seemed to believe me. Clan PMS sure did have alot of conditions. At first we agreed to playing the EDGE (the day before). Once PMS heard us say this, they protested. They asked for a different map, so we suggested "Fragpipe". To my surprise, they accepted. It was bad for us because we had the whole strategy set up for The Edge Map. So quickly me made a whole new strategy in less then 45 seconds. Burnzone, our leader, came up with a few good strats and points to dominate. Just when we thought we had the match set up, PMS requested us to goto their homepage and download their Clan Skin. Well, that wasn't enough to get the match started. PMS had a problem with the settings of the game. They basically wanted to turn on some newbie settings. We tried to argue, but it just wasn't their time of the month so they weren't going to listen. So we agreed. Finally the game got started. PMS came out VERY strong putting instant kills on all of HEAT. This went on for about 1 minute. Up until Burnzone and L3G10N got themselves the railgun. Burnzone and L3G10N were railing people left and right. No matter how far the PMS'ers were, they soon got a rail in them. Teamwork helped us out, and great communication made everyone aware of where to be, and where not to be. L3G10N dominated with almost every weapon. As did Burnzone with the rail and rocket launcher. The PMS tried to work together, but it fell apart. They were caught many times grouped in a small hallway planning an attack. Too bad HEAT broke that little "pow-wow" up killing them all. With HEAT dominating the Railgun skills, and PMS without ANY railgun skills, the HEAT team glided to victory. Not just any victory, but a landslide. The final score was 156-41, HEAT's favor. We silenced those towel-boys, and all of us were stoked for spanking Clan PMS. However, PMS were very nice people, and were very good sports about it. They insisted on getting a group picture with the HEAT players, and a HEAT T-Shirt autographed by all of us.

Well, that ended Day 2 of E3. After we were done with PMS (hmmm), some segasoft challenged us. That was a "no-contest," we almost beat them as bad as we did PMS.

After we were done playing Quake2, we headed back to the Hotel. Since Pearson, Snips, and L3G10N all were going to a party (and gman was dead tired) I had to go eat at someplace with HatPerson. We picked the fancy restaurant called "McDonalds." That was probably the worst dinner night I had there. I would have been better off staying in the room. If you went somewhere with just  you and Hatperson, you would know what I mean. Well, after watching Hat scarf down ALOT of food. We headed back to the Hotel. Luckily it was a VERY short walk back, so I got away from hat pretty quick. And that ends the day.

DAY 4 - The Final Day of E3 Los Angeles 1999

Once again Hatperson was writing a novel while I and the others were making it short and sweet. I decided to write more then one paragraph this time so I did some writing while the tobaccy smokers went for a break. When they came back, I finished my reports then headed to the show with Burnzone, Fluffynuts, Snips, and L3G10N. We left the kid alone to write his book.

Grillo offered us a large sum of degrees to divvy up, if we took a bag and loaded it full of goodies and free stuff for him and his kids. We took the offer and got a big PCgamer bag and went to fill it up. We headed to the Nintendo booth and got a few things to throw in there. In the nintendo booth we noticed this little room. It was dark and we noticed some models inside. Normally we wouldn't have gone inside, but there were models so we had to. Burnzone was the "Model Man". He was the excuse to get pictures of models. L3G10N would go up to models and say "Could you pose with my friend for the picture". Well, we got burnzone to go up on the mini stage and pose with the models. Those were the best models at the whole show, and very friendly... In fact... VERY friendly. There were three of them. One would put her little whip around Burn's neck, the other was kneeling in front, and the third had have her leg up in front of burn while "making" him hold his arm around her. The pose with the models was so good, that we ALL needed pictures. So next L3G10N went up there and got his pic. Then snips, then I. When I went up there the model in front asked "how old are you hun?". The idiot me couldn't think straight with all the models closely compacted, so I said "16". DOH! Actually it turned out alright because then she said "Aww, he's only 16, he's so cute." Well, I got my pic with them. It was pretty dark inside there, so the pictures didn't turn out too great. Just our luck, the lights got brighter.... We figured with better lighting... Let's re-do the pics!!! So we did. L3G10N First, then snips. Then it was my turn. I started walking up there and hear them saying "aww, we like this one." So I got even a BETTER picture with them the second time. When I was walking off the stage, one model hit me in the ass with her whip. Turns out they did that to everyone, so that don't make me feel special. Next in line was Fluffynuts. The models LOVED fluffy. Fluffy got his picture, then was walking off the stage when they hit him with the whip. One girl stopped him and was ALL OVER him. They were all feeling his face and saying "he's so cute" and stuff like that. While in the middle of that they asked fluffy how old he was. Well, Fluff's mind went blank and he told the truth, (idiot) and said he was 17. Their response was "Aw Damn, oh well, your almost legal." Everyone thought Fluff could have got some "lovin" if he would have said he was 18 or 19. After that, we headed back to the HEAT booth. We found Grillo and convinced him to go get a picture with the Nintendo models. It basically gave us another excuse to go back for the view, and to give fluffy a second chance. We got there and there were two models instead of 3. Neither of the models were the same. I guess they got replaced, and gave the other ones a break. Anyways, the new models still put up a great picture with Grillo, and gave Gman the ol' whip in the ass.

From then on we went around collecting stuff for the Grillo bag. After tons of collecting we ended up at the Creative booth. It was there they were having the E3 awards show. We sat down and watched it for awhile until we saw a guy with the nametag that said "Dennis THRESH Fong". Since we were all Quake 2 players we knew of him as being the best Q2 player. We talked to him for about 10 minutes... Well, burnzone talked to him while we listened. We also got a HEAT shirt autographed and put in the "Grillo Bag." Since all of us wanted autographs on HEAT shirt's we made Thresh sign all of our backs. People say Thresh has a big ego and is a jerk, but he seemed cool to me. He gave us his email and hopefully we will get a match set up.

Next, we were summoned to sit in the small section in front of the stage during the E3 Awards Show Televised by AGN Networks. The only way they could get L3G10N and Snips to sit down was to show them where the free beer was. We sat there for about 10 minutes, then the host brought up the two leaders of Clan PMS. Right off the bat, the host asked about the match. Well, the host told everyone of how bad we beat PMS. So they called for the four players who played. Fluffynuts, burnzone, L3G10N, and hatperson went up there while me and snips stayed back in the chairs. As soon as they gave Burnzone the mic, it turned to the "Burn and Fluf Show". Burn started talking about the match as did Fluf. It was just a classic TV show with guests. PMS talked then Fluf and Burn talked then back and forth. That wasn't the end, however. The host decided to ask Fluf about Quake 3. Well, fluf talked about Quake 3 for a awhile. After fluf was done, the host asked burn about Unreal Tournament. That spent another few minutes of the show. Next PMS started talking about quake and different settings. Burn had a few comments on that, so he took the mic yet again. After that was over, we thought we were done. We thought wrong. Burn was thinking straight and took the mic again and did some great advertising for HEAT.NET! Not only did he do some great promoting but even PMS chipped in a few good things. Just when we thought we were done there, Burn took the mic once again. This time he asked if L3G10N had anything to say, putting Legion on the spotlight. Legion just added a line and got out of that. By then, the Burnzone and Fluffynuts show was over and we got out of there. E3 was just about to come to a sad end. From then on we just walked around for the remaining 30 minutes of E3. On the ride back to our hotel, we made plans to goto the fancy restaurant called.. Burgar King. We got back at the hotel and to our rooms. Pearson suggested we goto the Sega party and munch on the food their. So we decided to goto that "party." It was actually only a little tiny room with 4 tables and alot of food. The best part is that it was FREE food. We were crazy for thinking of going to BK instead of sega providing shrimp, buffalo wings, meat balls, free drinks, the whole thing. Well, we finished eating and that ended the day. Pearson left that night and left the room all to me!

Day 4 - Farewell to Los Angeles

Well, the trip officially came to an end. We all met in the Hotel lobby, and checked out. We loaded in a shuttle bus, to goto the airport. The shuttle bus driver was a lunatic like all paid drivers in LA. We almost got in about 3 or 4 recks on the way. We all got to where we wanted so it's fine with me. All of us had different terminals, so one by one we left and said our goodbyes. Legion was the first to go, then me. I was dropped off at my terminal, said my goodbyes, then checked in my baggage. I really got the junk traveling of the bunch. I had to travel American Airlines, while others got Northwest or United. The trip up there wasn't bad, since DFW airport had a new American Airlines terminal, and the plane I flew up there was probably brand new. Going back, however, was bad. I got in the doors of the terminal and knew that it was probably 50 years old. The terminal workers weren't too concerned with people's safety obviously. I put my bag on the belt to get X-Rayed. The only problem is, that the girl that was supposed to be watching the screen, was busy talking to some guy. If I want to get a bomb on a plane, I know where to go now. After I slipped past the tight security, I went searching for a restaurant to get breakfast. I first went to my gate to check in and get my ticket. As I walked farther in the terminal, I knew it was white-trash central.  All the people were trashy, and the terminal itself was dirty, and very old. Besides that, I didn't care. All I wanted was food. I walked up the terminal through the stores. First I came across a shoe store. I didn't want any shoes, so I went on. Next was a sunglass store. I didn't need any glasses either, so I moved on. Next, a bar. Since I wasn't old enough, I didn't go in there. Finally, I came to the last store hoping for a restaurant. What did I find? A candy store. Hmm. I was sure there had to be some food somewhere, so I walked around the terminal. Finally I found some food. Only problem was that it was just a packaged sandwich, or lunchable in a little booth I could take out of the refrigerator. Feeling desperate I just bought a lunchable and a drink. Finally after waiting forever, my plane was boarding. They had to board by rows, so I was lucky enough to be one of the first rows in. I was happy that I was leaving the trash terminal, and on to the plane. The plane, however,  was worse. I bet the plane was flying since the 80's. The plastic on everything, instead of white, was aged and yellow. There was trash on the floor in some places. As if that wasn't enough, the plane even smelled bad. I went to my seat, which was a window one, and put the headphones they provide in my bag. I figured the least they could do is give me something free, since the plane was terrible. I even noticed repair spots on the wing, that had been forgotten and not re-painted. After sitting for a good 10 minutes, someone that was supposed to sit in my row showed up. I thought it was odd that he was wearing a pilot's outfit and wings. I don't know, maybe he got fired and was going back home. Anyway, we both were lucky that no one else for that row showed up, so the middle seat was empty. Giving up both valuable room.

Quite frankly, I was surprised the piece of junk plane made it off the ground. The flight wasn't too bad except for the meal. Now I know airlines aren't known for gourmet foods, but that "lunch" was bad. We had no choice. No choice at all. It was just a "here, take it or leave it" kind of thing. The "meal" consisted of a sandwich, bag of chips, package of salsa, and a piece of chocolate. The sandwich was just a bun, cheese, then a couple slices of turkey. Next, there was a bag of tortilla chips, with a little package of salsa to dip the chips in. After that, was a little tiny packaged piece of chocolate. That was it. To make it worse, they served the lunch tray before the drinks. Anyone who was in the back half of the plane finished their meal before they got a drink. I myself was long done with my lunch before I got a drink.

Well, the flight went on and finally it was time to land. I was surprised yet again when the plane actually held together for the landing. I couldn't wait to get off that plane. Just my luck, we ran into some delays. We were scheduled to goto gate 3. Well, they decided to change that, and say gate 9. We had to go all the way to gate 9. The only problem was, the gate wasn't ready for a plane to park there. So, we had to sit and wait for the crew to get over there, then raise the gate. We were just sitting right in front of the gate waiting all of the crew get the gate ready. After 10 minutes, they got it all fixed up and I got off that plane.

And that's when I arrived back in Dallas, and ended the trip. I plan to try everything I can to go next year, no matter the cost.