Co-Optimus Goes to E3 2012 – What’s in the Bag?

The bags are packed, the plane tickets are booked, and the maid is fluffing our hotel pillows.  Co-Optimus is on their way to E3 in Los Angeles California, bringing you the latest and greatest co-op gaming coverage over the next week at the show.  but what exactly does it take to cover an event like this?  some folks might think E3 is a 4 day party of playing games, but the reality of it is quite a bit different.

Let's see what each of our four Co-Optimus Editors have in their bag to help cover and survive the show.

Mike Katsufrakis: 

When I travel to conventions, I usually try to pack as light as possible, but since our E3 trip will involve a lot of content creation, so I need to bring extra goodies. Here’s the full rundown:

  • iPhone – Though I doubt I’ll actually be making any phone calls (thanks, AT&T), the quick access to a pretty decent camera should prove useful.
  • iPad – Because… I’m going to read some comics on the plane, and Evernote is a pretty useful tool for translating my handwriting and syncing to my other devices.
  • Macbook Pro – If I’m gonna be cranking out impression pieces, I’m sure as hell not going to be doing it with my phone or iPad. it also serves as my trusty podcast capture/editing station in a pinch, and if we need to perform emergency site maintenance, it has my development environment!
  • External Hard Drive – I keep lots of site assets and other goodies on this thing, and you never know when I’ll need to bust out a copy of the Golden Fitty Award.
  • Notebooks Tactical Pen – Pocket-sized notebooks are great for, well, taking notes, and my pen substitutes as a stabbing weapon for fending off crazed fanboys and/or Gamestop employees who snuck in.
  • Clif Bars – They’re a decent meal substitute when you don’t have time to seek real food.
  • 3DS (Ocarina of Time Edition) – I crave a critical mass of Streetpass, and E3/PAX are the only places to make it happen.

Nick Puleo:

This E3 I'm changing things up.  No more shoulder messenger bag, no more MacBook.  It's like a whole new start.  Needless to say, you need to lug a lot of shit to these things.

Andrew Gaskill:

I'm keeping it old school. It's a Co-Optimus pen and a half-full pocket notepad. E3 2012 = covered.

Apparently my gear isn't good enough. Fine, be that way. I'm going to bring THIS:

I'm driving to LA so I have little more space than my fellow event goers. I just kind of threw this stuff together. I'm not heading to E3 until Tuesday, so items may be substituted without notice. especially when I get panicked calls from the fellas, since apparently no one is bringing clothes.

  • I'll be bringing two replica Lancers (Mk 1 and Mk 2), mainly to help illustrate my argument that the ape-men of Gears of War should be dual-wielding these things in the next game. If I can dual-wield two plastic guns then the 300lbs of muscle that is the Cole Train should have no problems with the real things.
  • next is my trusty laptop. It's an HP something-or-other. I don't know. it let's me edit pics and video and runs Diablo 3. 
  • IPod Touch for the ride and possible backup camera.
  • Canon Elph for quality portable pics
  • Olympus audio recorder for when I have to take notes but I'm distracted by the cacophony of the showroom floor.
  • Droid 2, which will be replaced by something shiny and expensive in the next two days, because, why not?
  • Cases which will adorn my belt for all of two seconds before I chunk everything in a swag bag.
  • BigAss Power Strip, since no one wanted to carry one on a plane. Wimps.
  • Gerber Gator Machete have you seen the news lately? The cannibal apocalypse is coming, people.
  • Not pictured Clothes, a toothbrush, you know, travel stuff.

Since I actually reside in California, this is all I'm comfortable publicly documenting. There will be more. seriously, LA is like mad Max times in the bad sections.

Locke Vincent:

I'll be packing some video heat this trip so I will be including some more technical equipment than I usually have around. I wasn't allowed to bring my Luchador masks across the border so I had to resort to more conventional things.

Did I mention there are four of us in one hotel room with all this crap?

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