Our very own Snowcone humbly notified me about the EA Game Life Mall Tour that was kicking off this passed weekend which started in my current hometown Houston, Texas. I was kind of excited because I have never actually been to a gaming event before. As Saturday rolled around I got myself out of bed and made it to the mall. I expected the place to be filled with people just crowding around and killing each other to play the demos, fortunately it was not that bad. The demos were set up with 2 islands of TV?s. One island had 6 TV?s on each side and the other had 3 clusters of 4 TV?s. All TV?s were 27″ and every one had a console hooked up and a different game to be played. In the front of the main island were two massive Alienware computers set up for the demo of Rainbow Six Raven Shield. The bad part about that was that the systems kept crashing.

The demos being presented were as followed: The most anticipated Def Jam Vendetta, Rocky, Smugglers Run: WARZONE, Zone of The Enders, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Tiger Woods Golf PGA Tour 2003, Ghost Recon, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, The Sims, Rayman 3 Hoodlum Havoc, Splinter Cell…and many more. I had the opportunity to play most of these games for about 20 to 30 minutes a piece or until I finished the demo. As you can see, some of these games have already been out for other consoles. This tour enabled viewers to experience the game on consoles it had not previously been released on. I spent most of my time playing Rocky and Def Jam Vendetta, which let me tell you, were the best games at the tour. If it wasn?t for the damn computers crashing then Rainbow Six Raven Shield would’ve won the award. The tour reps were so busy playing, they really did not answer anyone?s questions or comments which I thought sucked. The tour reps also did not have much to give away either. Delta Force: Black Hawk Down and Nightfire on PC were among the only demos being given away including some stickers and posters as well. If you are in any of the cities that the tour will be held at I suggest stopping by and checking it out. The EA Game Life Mall Tour Takes will continue on through the month of March and will hit ten cities in seven states. For info on the tour stops check out the EA website.

Scheduled Tour Dates:

March 1: Houston, TX – Willowbrook Mall
March 2: New Orleans, LA – The Esplanade
March 8: Miami, FL – Aventura Mall
March 9: Jacksonville, FL – Regency Square Mall
March 11: Panama City, FL – Sun Spree Resort – Spring Break
March 15: Baltimore, MD – White Marsh Mall
March 16: Washington DC – Tysons Corner
March 21: Philadelphia, PA – The Gallery at Market East
March 22: New York, NY – Roosevelt Field
March 23: Boston, MA – Natick Mall
March 29: Los Angeles, CA – Glendale Galleria
March 30: San Francisco, CA – The Hillsdale Shopping Center