Download This!

Here are my photos from the big ol' GameTap-sponsored Download Festival '05 in San Francisco. Best moments of the day include:

- A teenage kid digging on Freeway
- Performance by the Lovemakers (imagine the Human League, sans shirts)
- The Gamer With No Name who came in and quietly beat Gunstar Heroes without uttering a word
- Two boys that appeared to be about ten years old in line for free condoms
- My friend Greg kicking ass at Pac-Man
- The Dome, man! The Dome!

Seriously, GameTap spent a lot of money and effort on what we have been cheerfully calling "the igloo" -- a giant Dome with numerous game stations and a huge 3D projection of the GT interface on the ceiling. Plus, tons of gameplay footage, screenshots and mind-boggling animations. Can you get into a 3D version of the Air-Sea Battle plane zooming 360-degrees around your skull? I can! The pictures I took, which are grainy and blurry, don't really do the Dome justice...but the light levels were really low inside and you could probably only get quality footage with a professional camera.

Too bad that the Doves, a band I really like, were not received with much enthusaism from the crowd. Hence, British crankiness ensued.

All in all, a successful and -- most importantly -- fun event!