The press work area on the second floor of the Los Angeles E3 convention center was filled with the continuous clatter of keyboards.
The air was mixed with the smells of coffee, cheap printer paper, and sweat.
Paul stuffed half a cold hot dog into his mouth, grease smearing his chin.
"The piece on Carmack's general-purpose engine has been sent out." He mumbled indistinctly, casually tossing the mustard-smeared napkin into the wastebasket. "The editor-in-chief was yelling like crazy over the phone. He said if tomorrow's page doesn't have news of id Software and Sega joining forces, I can go write appliance manuals."
David hit Enter, sending the last section of the document back to the editorial office through the modem.
He glanced at the wall clock. One-thirty in the afternoon.
"Newspapers with enough manpower still have interns running to the corner for hot pizza at this hour." David closed his laptop. "For a two-man front-line team like ours, grabbing hot dogs already counts as a win."
The morning had been packed with an extremely dense amount of information.
From Capcom's arcade boards, to Sega's million polygons, then to the undercurrents swirling around Enix, and finally the UE general-purpose engine Carmack had thrown out, pushing the entire show to its climax.
Every media outlet was racing to get out quick reports.
Whoever made print first would be able to cut off the biggest slice of this traffic feast.
Many reporters had not even eaten lunch.
The sandwiches in the few vending machines in the corner of the news center had already been swept clean.
"Let's go. The second half is starting." David picked up his recorder.
Paul let out a wail, stood up from his chair, and rubbed his aching lower back. "Which giant is it this afternoon? Nintendo or Sony?"