IBM Computer, Laptops and Servers

The Great Debate # 15: Post E3 2004

Laptop Battery GCA's very own E3 2004 team were in line for the thrill of their lives, as soon as they realized that E3 had begun. Beginning with the ever-satisfying Zelda trailer at the Nintendo Press Conference, the trip was certainly fulfilling enough for any gamer to take in.

According to the indictment, Jones would steal various IBM and Penguin computer servers from Verisign's warehouse in Virginia and sell them to Johnson. Johnson would then sell the servers to several individuals, who would sometimes place them for sale on eBay. As a result of this scheme, the indictment alleges that Jones and Johnson caused Verisign to lose more than $120, 000 worth of computer equipment. In the indictment, Jones and Johnson are charged in three counts with causing the interstate transportation of stolen property, namely IBM 330 and 335 servers, in violation of 18 U.S.C.

Thinkpad Now that E3 2004 is all said and done, we've rounded up our final picks for:

• Best Booth Babes:
  
• Best Overall Booth:
  
• Best E3 2004 Event:
  
• Best Swag Freebie:
  
• Longest Line Award:
  
• Biggest Surprise:
  
• Moment Of The Week:
  
• Worst in Show:
  
• Best in Show:

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Microsoft Responses include the entire E3 2004 team (Pictured L to R - Back: Stephen Smith, Vinny Del Vechhio, Sean O'Neill, Eric Topf, Scott Lippman, Robert Miller, Steven Kupisch, Rob Sanz, Ray Almeda, Seth Walker - Front: Shawn Smith, Ken Cauley):

• Ken Cauley - Director/President (Pictured)
  
• Sean O'Neill - Co Owner/PR (Pictured Left)
  
• Ray Almeda - News Team Leader (Pictured)
  
• Seth Walker - Nintendo DS Team Leader (Pictured Top Left)
  
• Rob Sanz - Editorials Team Leader (Pictured)
  
• Vinny Del Vecchio - Media Editor/GCA Hitman (Video - 38 MB)
  
• Robert Miller - Media Director (Pictured)
  
• Steven Kupisch - Editorials Editor (Pictured)
  
• Eric Topf - News Editor
  
• Scott Lippman - News Editor (Pictured)
  
• Stephen Smith - GBA Editor (Pictured)
  
• Shawn Smith - Reviews/Previews Editor (Pictured)

laptop computers is driving strong sales for notebook computers, according to the latest quarterly sales figures from the research firm IDC, which reported a 37% computer sales for the second quarter, compared with a year earlier. In the U.S., laptop sales grew 17.7%, while sales of desktop computers and servers fell 4%. The New York Times ( 10), CNET ( 10)

Laptop Computers And the E3 2004 Home Team:

• Phillip Levin - GCN/Reviews/Previews Team Leader (Pictured)
  
• Miguel Yanez - GBA Team Leader/Mailman
  
• Matt Saunderson - News Editor
  
• Casey Ayers - Editorials Editor (Pictured)
  
• Matt Green - GCN Reviews/Previews Editor
  
• Matt Hadick - GCN Previews/Reviews Editor (Pictured)

2004 IBM, the world largest computer company, has announced that it will take on 15, 000 new employees in 2004, 30% of them in the US. 06, according to Gartner, a research and advisory firm, after several lean years. Sony Vaio notebooks

Laptop Computer Please note that all responses are unedited and are posted as is. Bold as they might be, please don't track us down because of our response. That being said, I present to you the Final GCA E3 2004 Roundtable!

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Ken Cauley:

Desktop Computer Most Innovative:
Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat

Notebooks Best Game Of E3 2004:
Resident Evil 4

Lenovo Best Booth Babes:
What makes a booth babe? It is based upon physical appeal alone, or should the factor of how well they do their job be considered. Ive seen some amazingly beautiful women strut their stuff, but give the impression that they didnt want to be their.

Hard Drive I dont care how good looking you are, you are being paid to flirt with me.... so flirt you will!

Travelstar With all seriousness, I didnt spend very much time this year babe-hunting. I found a couple sweethearts, but most of my time was spent with the ladies in the well hidden Nintendo DS booth. They, well, err, that is a story for the message boards. Let me know if you want to hear it.

Gateway Best Overall Booth:
The big three all had very impressive booths this year. Microsoft followed Nintendos steps this year by making a closed off booth with an entrance and exit. Sonys booth was wide open, but it didnt matter as much as the only other booth of comparable size in the same hall was Nintendos booth. Microsofts booth appeared to be the busiest through out E3, but that could very well be due to the fact that both Nintendo and Sonys booth were twice as large, allowing for more space per person. Id have to honestly say that it was a tie across all three of the big boys. If I wasnt there as a member of the press, and had the time to participate in all the activities and what not, I would then probably vote for Sony and Nintendo as the best, with Microsofts booth closely behind.

Laptop Parts It is hard to compare smaller third party companies to the big three. With that in mind, some companies had some really awesome attractions set up. Boxing rings, dance stages, modeling women, etc, were just some of the eye candy that added to the E3 experience.

Software Best E3 2004 Event:
I missed out on many of the events that took place during the actual conference. Outside of the convention center, I had a blast at parties and pre-shows. Yahoooo.

Hard Drives Best Swag Freebie:
I didnt collect any swag this year. The best things I got were those that were shoved into my hands. The Nintendo DS shirt was probably the best thing I got.

Electronics Longest Line Award:
Nintendo DS! There was also an extremely long line to meet the legendary Stan Lee.

Canon Biggest Surprise:
Nintendo DS! Nintendo DS blew me away. I was not expecting half the options that were announced, among other things. The graphics capabilities are also excellent. Both PSP and Nintendo DS take a huge step forward from GBA, skipping a few generations.

Desktop Pc Moment Of The Week:
In no particular order: 1.) Azalea (sigh) 2.) Playboy Mansion and 3.) Meeting GCA crew

• 1.) Nintendo booth girl turned good friend! Much love goes out to Azalea, we hung almost daily after the show and really got to know each other. Look for Azalea in past movies and a star role hitting the big screen in the coming months!

• 2.) The Playboy Mansion party was a blast. What happens in the Grotto stays in the Grotto. But if you really want to know details, ask me in the forums and Ill spill the beans.

• 3.) The GCA guys are amazing. We are all incredibly different, yet amazingly the same. We got along great and had a blast together. I was unsure at first of possible problems and/or feuds due to 20+ guys living together for a week, but the end result was better than words can explain.

Desktop Computers It is a yearly tradition to mess with Seth while he sleeps (well see if any of it can make it into the DVD). I would also say that 4/5 guys got a little too intoxicated Ill leave it at that. I couldnt ask for a better crew, so many great memories, it was worth every penny. It is very clear that all of us on the GCA staff are growing into a family more than anything else. I hope next year even more guys can make it. A toast to all! I love you guys!

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Matt Saunderson:

Think Pad Best of Show:

Repair The Nintendo Dual Screen. The DS kicked *** AND took names. Names like "N-Gage" and "PSP." Names like "Sony" and "Nokia." The Dual Screen shows Nintendo is in the game still. The most power, the most innovation, and to top that off, the best games. Nintendo has the key to success.

Data Recovery Worst of Show:

Cisco Lizzie McGuire? Disney has the potential to contribute to good games (like Kingdom Hearts), and Lizzie McGuire could be fun if they had quality play... but they don't.

Keyboard How Nintendo Stacked Up:

Monitor They kicked *** and took names. The Dual Screen has a huge advantage over the PSP in price tag, innovation, and, of course, number of duals (screens, wireless, etc). Plus, the GameCube isn't out of it yet, nor is the Game Boy Advance.

Desktop Biggest Suprise:

Infosys Realistic/Mature Zelda. That was a major suprise during the Nintendo press event. Miyamoto sword and shield was great too. In order to grow, Link cannot stand tall... and neither can Miyamoto. He shows that Nintendo is moving forward, and that Nintendo listens to the gamers.

Refurbished Laptops Best Celebrity:

Wipro Reggie! Reginald Fils-Aime has made himself a celebrity to gamers with his great charisma at Nintendo's press event. J. Allard and Peter Moore don't even come close. They thought tatoos and free martinis would impress their audience, but Reggie's charisma; his kick ***/take names attitude blows Microsoft away.

Lap Top Worst Moment:

Refurbished GameCube Advanced being down for 6+ hours, and Xbox Advanced down for even longer. Not only did we have to wait forever to post the breaking news on Tuesday, but we could not get media up on the site or upload the video we had. In fact, we had video uploading issues until Thursday. We are glad to know that so many gamers relied on us and turned to us for E3 news, media, and more, however.

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Shawn Smith:

Memory Best Booth Babes:

Intel By far it would be the ones showing off the e3 insider DVD. We even got them to do a promo for us! I think I watched that part alone 10 times.

As400 Best Overall Booth:

Averatec To be quite honest, I liked UbiSoft's booth the best. They had a dark, mysterious look going with a huge trailer screen in the center. Plus, some very hot booth babes, good games, and the PA guys!

Hardware Best E3 2004 Event: (autograph session, press conferences, etc.)

Dual Xeon How can anyone say anything other than the Nintendo Press Conference? It was just amazing all around. Nothing could ever match the goosebumps I got as the Zelda trailer began playing.

Storage Best Swag Freebie:

Seagate I really like the Nintendo bag I got from the press conference. It's big and useful, and not gaudy. I can use it now as my laptop bag, and everything fits perfectly.

Computer Sales Longest Line Award (All booths):

Computer Hardware Holy cow, the DS line was huge! On Day 2, that was the first thing I went to and the back of the line would have had me waiting for 2 hours. Thank goodness for media badges, however!

Printers Biggest Surprise:

Technology The biggest surprise for me was actually seeing the Phantom exists! We've all heard the rumors, and the reports, and nobody actually expected it to be there, but it was. What wasn't I surprised about? It sucks.

Mainframe Moment Of The Week (hotel, parties etc):

Samsung Best moment for me was the first dinner we all had together before the Nintendo press conference. We all got to meet each other and discuss Nintendo in a rather large roundtable (although it was square) while getting to know each other.

Computer Repair Worst in Show:

Used Computers This is tough, because I really didn't see anything I didn't like. Then again, I didn't see everything. The worst thing I did see however would probably be the Phantom. It's a George Foreman grill, with a monthly payment. Ew.

Network Best in Show:

Digital Cameras Either Donkey Konga or Resident Evil 4. Resident Evil 4 for the absolutely stunning visuals and stunningly creepy gameplay, and Donkey Konga for the sheer surprise of just how fun it was.

Desktops Final comments:

Cognos E3 was one of the best things I've ever done, and I'll be there next year too, for sure.

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Miguel Yanez:

Hosting Biggest Surprise:

Netfinity Definitely The Legend of Zelda. I mean, anyone who didn't get goose bumps from the amazing trailer is seriously made out of stone. I absolutely loved it, and I'm pretty sure everyone out there did too.

Internet Worst in Show:

Cheap Computer I'm gonna have to say Square-Enix's showing. They are always one of the companies who show of pretty amazing stuff, but this year they were pretty dull.

Digital Camera Best in Show:

Printer If we're talking about announcements, then -- again -- I will say The Legend of Zelda simply because it blew up everyone's minds, even the people that knew about it -- which is pretty impressive. If we're talking about games, I'm choose Paper Mario 2, Metroid Prime 2 and Resident Evil 4 as the highlights, and that's only on the Nintendo front. If we talk competitors, I'm gonna have to say that Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Conker: Live and Reloaded were my favorites.

Xseries How did Nintendo perform this year? If you read our last "Great Debate" Roundtable, you will see that -- although many of the staffers thought that Nintendo had the guns to win E3 -- a lot of skepticism surrounded all their expectations. Well guess what? Nintendo delivered, and they did it in a big way. Zelda was just icing on the cake to an already impressive showing, and their library of to-be published games, was probably the biggest in the show. The Nintendo DS also was a testament of Nintendo's innovative stance, which was pretty impressive as well.

Maxtor Simply put, Nintendos press conference and E3 showing made the fans and the industry regained confidence in Nintendo as a serious competitor in the entertainment industry, and that itself was a pretty difficult task to do.

Data Storage Nintendo was never lost, but I guess that saying "Nintendo is back" could never be truer.

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Sean O'Neill:

Hitachi Best Booth Babes:

Rational For me it's gotta be some of the PR Reps I talked to. While the rest of these luck stiffs were off playing games getting pictures, yours truly was in meeting after meeting working on exclusives for the site. The upside to all this was some of the classy women I came across in the PR departments.

Websphere Best Overall Booth:

Battery I feel this is a mix up between MS and Nintendo. MS had a great showing, lots of life and a slew of titles. Nintendo had an inviting set up with great displays and some amazing booth babes.

It Support Best E3 2004 Event:

Western Digital The after parties... not gonna say any more then that ;oP

Music Best Swag Freebie:

Networks Nintendo DS shirt. I wore mine today when I got back to San Francisco. A guy offered me 40 bucks and a free shirt from Macy's if I took it off my back and sold it to him.... that should say enough.

Toner Longest Line Award:

Cheap Laptops The DS Hands-On time or the line to get into Half Life. Both blew me away... I mean they are both great but come on 3 hours at one point...

Wholesale Biggest Surprise:

Brother The new look Nintendo: Reallistic Zelda, an answer to the fans prayers. The Nintendo DS, the DS truly showed a change of pace at Nintendo... Wifi.. voice based games... touch screen - you sure we are covering the same company? And Reggie, I mean was this the same Nintendo?

Netvista Moment Of The Week:

Camera Wow, this is a tuffy. I gotta say the last night with the staff. When I talk to these guys, it's mostly on the computer... but now I feel like they are family. I bonded with a group of gamers that come from all walks of life, who have many points of view and in the end we all got along like we were long time best friends... and you know what that's really what we are around here at GCA...

Networking Oh yeah and the hazing of Seth.... again :oD

Sharp Worst in Show:

Cheap Getting sick - lol to those who were there you know - lol.

Windows Best in Show:

Monitors Zelda, DS, DK drum games, PSP, Conker, Mech As. 2, Jade empire, RE4, VJoe 2, POP 2, KOTOR2, Republic Com., Destroy All Humans, Full Spec Warrior... ok I'll stop but I have to say I have at least 50 more... yes every company was that strong this year.

Linux Anything else you can think of/final comments:

Computer Support To the staff who was at E3 with me, you have given me memories I will never forget. You are all an amazing group of people who made each day better then the next and that plane flight home left me somewhat sad as most of these poor saps - well I won't see them for another year. After meeting them all, that's as far too long to have to wait. Zelda, DS, Booth babes, PSP, MS line up... none of these are even close to causing me true joy as our staff at GCA. You are Gods among men and I can't wait to see you all next year.

Used Laptops To the home crew, if it wasn't for you all, we wouldn't have been able to have the amazing time we did. You went days without sleep, skipped work, school or even neglected your families, lol and you did it all to deliver the best E3 coverage on ANY Nintendo site ANYWHERE... Thank you all so very much now go sit by the mail slot and reep the rewards! Oh before I forget, start saving for your trips to come next year.

Cameras To the Readers:

Scanners You killed us lol. Let me put it this way. We got a call after getting the site back up from our host saying that over the last six years of running a hosting company that has major business on their servers they have never seen a site get as many hits as we did in one day. In fact that was the most they have ever seen for a week too. That says a lot. If it wasn't for you all, we wouldnt be here. Keep telling others about us as we are starting to get more and more doors opening due to our amazing amount of viewers. Starting next month, I plan on challenging all those other sites that claim to have the most amount of hits for their nintendo sections. We have the stats to back that claim up and you're going to see that showcased much more here. So keep coming back, tell 10 friends to tell 10 friends. Reap the rewards of GCA. Thanks again.

Panasonic To all the PR reps:

Workstation Mark at Nintendo - YOU ARE THE MAN! You made sure we got what was needed and you put up with a lot of my crap. I am writing the pope as we speak to see if you can be christened a saint yet as you deserve it. To others like Tom Stratton, Ted, John, Nat, Melody, Kjell, Denny.... and the hundered others I have longed nagged over the last 3 years thanks for all your help and I hope you keep throwin us a bone.

Iseries Lastly my Mom and Dad, if it wasn't for you I wouldnt have been able to go. You are always there for me. I love you both so much.

Backup Much love to you all. Thanks again!

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Seth Walker:

Information Technology Best Booth Babes:

Routers Nintendo had the best looking booth babes, but as for attitude goes, they were *****es, especially the Pokemon girls! (Ask Ray Almeda about this one)

180gxp Best Overall Booth:

Notebook Battery I would say Nintendo had the best overall booth, not because I'm a fan boy, but I checked out Sony and Microsoft as well. While Microsoft had Conker & Kameo, Halo 2 wasn't playable on the show floor and only to certain media was it playable. But Nintendo had RE4, Nintendo DS, Paper Mario 2, tons of GBA titles, Star Fox, the legendary Donkey Konga, and most importantly real-time footage of the new Zelda.

Security Best E3 2004 Event:

Lotus The best E3 2004 event was the pre-E3 party where Ryan, Steve, Tom and I all met Carlos and drank with him all night. Carlos = best bartender ever.

Virus Best Swag Freebie:

Thinkpad T42 No comment.

Thinkpad 600 Longest Line Award:

Thinkpad 600e The longest line was the Nintendo DS with waits of 2 hours +. Thank god for Media Pass!

Thinkpad 570 Biggest Surprise:

Thinkpad 600x Biggest surprise was of course the Legend of Zelda and the new Phantasy Star Universe.

Thinkpad 390x Moment Of The Week:

Thinkpad A31 The hotel party was really cool the last day of the show...I'm surprised I even lived.

Thinkpad X20 Worst in Show:

Bios Update PSP. Horrible battery life, really huge, ugly design, and very uncomfortable to hold.

Laptops Best in Show:

Toshiba Phantasy Star Universe.

Laptop Battery Anything else you can think of/final comments:

Thinkpad Ken is very immature. Editor's Note: Wait till the AMN DVD!

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