Ami's Blog from Vancouver: Day 1

Sega and Relic showed extreme generosity when they invited a handful of community members to be their guests at Relic studios in Vancouver from June 20th to the 23rd. The event was scrambled together amidst most of the team being in Los Angeles for E3 and the final preparations for launching Company of Heroes 2 this coming Tuesday - somehow all of the last minute travel plans were pushed through, and I found myself at Tegel airport in Berlin, yesterday morning.

Bobby 'Lynx' Miller emailed a booklet to the participants humorously titled, "Community Influencer Summit." The list of lucky SOBs included Yoink, Sepha, Tommy, Helping Hans, Complexity, Imperial Dane, Rogers, Pounder, Bridger, GeneralMistake, Krebs and perhaps a few more guys that I've yet to meet. The last minute nature of the arrangements left many worthy soldiers out in the cold, due to passport issues and budget. We flew and drove to Vancouver from Europe and North America on Thursday.

My flight was smooth. As I waited to pick up my bag at carousel 24 at YVR, I heard an announcement that Air Canada flight from Los Angeles would be arriving on carousel 25. I smiled in anticipation of being re-united with my good friend and co-caster, Yoink, after it had been 2 years since that notorious SNF cast from his office, and errr, bathroom. I waited for him right behind passport control, watching him walk towards me and look me straight in the eyes for about 5 seconds before he realized who I was: "Aren't you that guy that shout casts video games?" We laughed and went to meet his wife, Amee, who flew up on her own just to hang out with a dozen RTS nerds.

"The Canada Line" took us from YVR to Yaletown, where we found our accommodations in the Opus Hotel, right in the heart of downtown Vancouver. As soon as I walked through the glass doors, I saw sitting in the small lobby quite a cast of characters: Sepha, Complexity, Helping Hans, Tommy, Rogers and Imperial Dane. I had never met any of these guys before in person! It's a bizarre experience to say the least, when you shake hands for the first time with somebody you have never met, but already know. Ok let's not be modest, it was big man hugs all around. Yoink and I checked in and were given complimentary flutes of champagne. Oh yes, this will be a good time indeed.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, I hurried back to the lobby to chill out with the posse of coh2 ballers. I had collaborated so many times with these blokes, it was just great to finally meet them in real life, so to speak. Personally I think it's weird to say it that way, because my "virtual" life has become equally important and fulfilling, so there's really no true boundary between the two. The jokes and stories flew around the table ceaselessly.

We found a nearby bar called "The Distillery" where we set up camp at a long tall table to watch game 7 of the NBA Finals. Sepha and the rest of the English contingent entertained us with noobish quips like, "that one missed the little ring, was that a 'brick'?" It was like they had never seen a basketball game before, not recognizing LeBron James from Adam. Yoink somehow smooth-talked the management into letting Tommy stay with the group, slipping some cash to the guy like a gangster and quickly ordering a round of micro-brewed beer from the tap for all present. We were joined later by Pounder (who had recovered from the drive) and Bridger (whose flight had just arrived from Connecticut). Yoink rushed over to chat up half of the duo that started it all for CoH shout casters with Tales of Heroes. Rogers often referred to those first couple years as the "Golden Days" of the franchise.

The gang returned to the Hotel Bar, where we were soon joined by the man of the hour, Lynx. It was Whiskeys and Vodka Martinis, on me. Lynx was proud to tell of how he got this event to happen, after wanting it to happen for ages. The idea was something along the lines of, "just get these guys in a room together, and make the magic happen." We will do our best, my friends, we will do our best.

I turned in early by West Coast standards as 10pm local time was 7am for me and I had been awake already for 24 hours. But hey, now I'm up at dawn, writing to you from a complimentary iPad. In an hour the crew will reconvene for breakfast, and then we'll spend all day meeting the devs at the Relic Entertainment studios and immersing ourselves in Company of Heroes 2, single-player, Theatre of War, multiplayer and all.

I'll find time to continue this blog over the next few days. I feel privileged to be here, and a bit guilty as well. A part of me wishes the moolah that was spent to bring me here was put into prize money for a tournament instead. I'll do whatever I can to see that we are able to organize some big events for this game. I hope you enjoy this blog and at least get to experience this event vicariously. Sharing it with you is the least I can do!