Of all the messages I sent to Spencer at the PlayStation Experience, one of them stood out. While I was at the Bloodbourne panel on December 6, I turned to see the people around me and how full the Palazzo Ballroom was. That’s when I saw it—a man behind me was on a 3DS. I immediately told Spencer, “Somebody’s playing Pokemon during this panel.” I then elaborated that it was either Alpha Sapphire or Omega Ruby.
Before I left for Vegas, I’d said I wanted to do a critical article going over the StreetPass situation at a Sony event. I figured it would be good for a laugh, and joked about perhaps getting swarmed for daring to use a 3DS in view of a legion of PlayStation fanatics. I was going to be dutiful about it, too. I had a note on my iPhone where I was going to keep a running tab of all the StreetPasses acquired on certain days, and planned to check my 3DS every hour.
In practice, it wasn’t so simple. The second I lined up on the first day of the event, I knew things weren’t going to be so organized. While waiting for registration to open, I accumulated over 30 StreetPass hits. That was in the span of under 30 minutes. By the time I had gotten situated in the Sands Expo hall for the keynote, there had been another 20. Checking every hour wasn’t going to be enough.
The jokes about using the 3DS at PSX proved quickly unfounded, too. I noticed two people also using the handheld while waiting for their Sony Swag Bags. Others would sit in the lounge area to check their StreetPasses as well. It was honestly reassuring. You hear about console wars online and figure lines will be drawn. It’s a Sony event, the Vita will be king. Certainly, it was. I saw many people using them. Still, I didn’t expect the 3DS to have the presence it did. I mean, I lost count of StreetPasses after the 100 mark!
I suppose one could say it shows a shift in mentality of people who game. Platform doesn’t matter, if the good games are there, and people can fervently love multiple consoles at once.
