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this is the *2006* awards.. eq's been out since 1999, wtf?

the two people who won are "lifetime awards" it says nothing about the game titles being "lifetime awards" as well.. shouldn't this year's awards be for, i dunno, NEW games?

oh, wait... run by / sponsored by / enshrined at a division of sony.. that explains everhack's "win".

http://www.metreon.com/

It didn't work for Gateway because Gateway was more like a "CompUSA" (a store I loathe) and Apple is more like a high-end boutique. I realize that both models have their place and can be effective, but Gateway's essentially selling commodity goods while Apple sells a whole "lifestyle." Visiting an Apple store is an experience in itself and has drawing power. Nike stores are similar in this way (at least the major one here in San Francisco).

We also have a major Sony presence here The Metreon and its own Sony Styles store (although as a poster above points out, it's not exactly perfect). and I think Sony will do it a lot more like Apple based on what I have seen (high end fixtures and architecture, high-drama).

This is a smart move for a brand like Sony--they need to recapture the caché they once had more of.

It didn't work for Gateway because Gateway was more like a "CompUSA" (a store I loathe) and Apple is more like a high-end boutique. I realize that both models have their place and can be effective, but Gateway's essentially selling commodity goods while Apple sells a whole "lifestyle." Visiting an Apple store is an experience in itself and has drawing power. Nike stores are similar in this way (at least the major one here in San Francisco).

We also have a major Sony presence here The Metreon and its own Sony Styles store (although as a poster above points out, it's not exactly perfect). and I think Sony will do it a lot more like Apple based on what I have seen (high end fixtures and architecture, high-drama).

This is a smart move for a brand like Sony--they need to recapture the caché they once had more of.

There's a Sony themed entertainment complex / retail outlet: Metreon that's been in San Francisco for at least 5 years and seems to be doing pretty well ...

aside from the typical california perks (weather, diversity, rad food, etc) this is where you can see lots of companies that make cool shit and museums that show cool shit. there are several hostels in the area, and public transportation is decent, although renting a car for a day or two might be advisable if you're trekking out to business park country. a quick google search turns up a decent article on geeky destinations around the valley, worth checking out for the list at the end. there are some guide sites out there tha cover lots of this stuff: let the big g be your friend.

you could do the super mega geeky thing, of course, and get pictures of yourself in front of company signs around they valley - we're riddled with them from san jose to san mateo. give corporate people a holler via email far enough ahead of time and you might even score a tour or the location of a museum. email SGI and ask if tours/demos are available for the Reality Center. visit fry's electronics for a geek-mecca epiphany (i suggest the cavenous san jose location); but beware, traveler, for to ask for help of a sales associate at fry's is to ask satan to take a little piece of your soul. this is also the time of your journey where you'll be asking "i wonder how much money i have, and how much it would cost to ship some hardware home..."

san francisco is beautiful and cool and yadda yadda; check out the museums, the parks and the nightlife. the exploratorium is big and WAY FREAKIN' COOL. make sure to get a good afternoon for just that and the nice area around it. check out the SFMOMA and the whole area around there - right across the street is the geeky-cool Sony Metreon with a sony store that has pretty much everything they carry in north america, plus big expensive video games and theaters. san francisco is also the terminal for many green tortoise bus tours that take you to beautiful parks around the west coast (quickly cementing your preference for it, trust me). they also have a hostel and buses that take you to seattle, portland and los angeles.

other things to do in california... rent a car and drive the coast on hwy 1 - if you can, from san francisco to los angeles! it is quite solidly some of the most beautiful coastline in the world, from smooth white beaches in the south to how-the-hell-did-they-wrap-a-road-around-that sharp rocks in the north. skip disneyland in southern california and go to six flags or universal studios. do all the usual touristy stuff, and check out venice beach, i'm sure you'll run into some crazy aussies there, plus there's a hostel nearby. visit a national park (do this on green tortoise, probably). get clam chowder at the jenner inn in jenner, ca. avoid the central valley (the "midwest" of the united states pretty much starts 60 miles inland california).

also, you'll be sorely disappointed to find that 99% of the country thinks that fosters is what all aussies drink. some well stocked british or hipster pubs might have VB, as well as the occasional aussie pub. bring your own marmite/vegemite/donteverconfuseitfornutellamite, because you australians are just freaky. no one knows what a "cone" is, we call them "bowls." if you're a crazy eastern aussie, like all the others i've met, people will probably love you and buy you drinks and tell you about the great fosters commercials you've been missing. the chicks (guys?) will dig you. if you're from the west... i don't know.

good luck!

This is absolutely true. Have you gone into Best Buy, Circuit City, or other consumer electronics stores? The Sony marketing department has made sure that Spider-Man film loops are prominantly displayed on all Sony TV's, especially the high-end flat plasma displays. Its even worse at the Sony Metreon. All the Sony computers had Spider-Man themes, all the TV's were showing Spider-Man film loops, Spider-Man "the making of", etc., etc.

When I think of Spider-Man, I now think of $10,000 Sony Plasma displays, not Marvel Comics. Given this, I can certainly understand why Marvel is pissed off.

I think IMAX is really cool, but things not designed to play on an IMAX screen don't necessarily translate well. The IMAX screen over at Navy Pier in Chicago does showings of various non-imax movies during weekends at midnight. So, some friends of mine and I went to see the Matrix there.

First "regular" movie I saw on an IMAX was Hannibal when they were showing it on the IMAX at the Metreon in San Francisco (durring Hannibal's opening week). I was kinda surprised when the ticket ripping guy told us to go to the IMAX theater, and kinda wondered how it would work on the gigundo screen. Worked out pretty well IMHO. It didn't appear grainy or anything. The only problem was that since we got there late and had to sit near the front, it was difficult to focus on the whole screen. Also I noticed that they did only filled about 3/4ths of the screen. Still, when I went to see it again on a regular screen (what can I say, I liked Hannibal) it just didn't compare. I'm surprised that places with IMAXes don't show regular run movies more often.

Consume:

www.metreon.com/dining/index.html

I played a bowling game in Boston once that used a bowling ball sized trackball to run a ball through a bizarre 3D bowling lane.

The Metreon in San Francisco has an Arcade hall that has this game. You basically control how a bowling ball rolls through the streets of San Francisco, trying to miss cable-cars etc.

Anyway, the preview was very nicely done. Starts off showing a ring floating, spinning, et cetera, with the narrator saying the "one ring to..." poem. It had a different tone than I would have imagined, but it was nicely done. Additionally, they did some effects as the ring came to rest in a hand (whose, I don't know). It's hard to describe, but it looks like the magical powers of the Ring will be conveyed quite well.

They went on to show some epic scenes of the band wandering along. There wasn't much of Gandalf, but there was a quick shot of him slamming down his staff with some resulting lightning flashies. I recognized Legolas, Gimli, and the hobbits, plus a short narration by someone I presumed to be the Lady Galadriel, who seemed to be portrayed quite well (beautiful, poised, etc).

There were a few quick scenes with the Nazgul, as well as one breathtaking shot of a tremendously large army (of Orcs) swooping over the plains. To be quite honest, the preview itself was rather disappointing, but as the story itself is already known, it didn't matter so much. I'm looking forward to the movie(s) a lot; this did a great job of whetting my appetite.

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