The clink of coins rang without end in front of Capcom's X-Men vs. Street Fighter cabinets.
The drawing power of Marvel heroes had been perfectly proven on their home turf in North America.
That arcade atmosphere of working the joystick, pulling off moves, and crowds gathering to jeer and cheer had been moved wholesale onto the show floor.
David and Paul carried camera bags on their backs, struggling to make their way through the crowd.
"These people are going to pack the venue until it bursts." Paul shielded the lens at his chest and dodged an excited fat man sprinting past. "The media day on day one was heaven by comparison."
"Let's go check the South Wing." David pointed into the distance. "I want to know what changed over there after yesterday's report went out."
The two squeezed out of the central hall and arrived at the small and mid-sized developer area in the South Wing.
The scene there surprised them a little.
The corner that had still seemed somewhat deserted yesterday was livelier today than the main stage.
Only now, the people gathered around those crude folding tables were no longer investors in suits and leather shoes, but large numbers of geeks and programmers in plaid shirts with backpacks slung over their shoulders.
In front of the booth of the mathematics department dropout making a business simulation game, several network engineers who had rushed over from Silicon Valley were gathered.
They were in the middle of a heated discussion about optimizing the inflation-rate algorithm in the economic model.
Another booth, for a text adventure game, had been occupied by several people who called themselves down-and-out Hollywood screenwriters.
They were trying to convince the young developer to revise the script's narrative structure so it better matched the rhythm of a