After some free time in San Francisco, it was time to do what we came here for: show Greed Corp to the American press. The weather was pretty rough and we were expecting some heavy traffic, so we got up early to make sure we would make it to Berkeley in time. Fortunately, the bad weather warnings caused the roads to be pretty clear and the rain and wind weren’t that bad after all. That meant that we arrived in Berkeley way too early, but that gave us the opportunity to get a real breakfast. At the hotel we were only able to quickly get some coffee, which we drank in the car. Breakfast was a bit heftier than the typical Dutch morning meal, but it was good and supplied us with enough energy for most of the day.

This Monday, it was Martin Luther King Day, which meant that most press offices were closed. That’s why we spent this day visiting online editors and bloggers at their own home. This felt a bit weird, but it created an informal and personal atmosphere. First up was Contra Costa, where we showed up almost completely soaked because of the increasing rain. As this was our first presentation since the UK press tour last year, we had to get back into it a bit. We relied on the trusted structure used earlier, meaning we would start with a studio introduction and then the Mistbound world trailer before we would jump into the game. Our audience of one seemed very much interested and asked some questions to get more details.

The US PR representative traveling with us also made some nice contributions to our story, based on his experience with the game. To show the press what the future of Mistbound is going to be, we ended the presentations with an early build of the next game taking place within the world we created. It’s a top-down action shooter, of which we will of course reveal more in due time. Everybody responded very well to it, as they did to Greed Corp. Marco spotted a copy of Mass Effect 2 on our host’s table, so we spent a couple of minutes talking about his opinion on the game before we left for the next appointment at Game Revolution. It took some time to find their office, but once there the paper on the door set the mood right away.

Fortunately we were not treated as solicitors and both people present at the time took place in front of the big television for our presentation. Again, both seemed to like both Greed Corp and the next project, once again confirming that we had a good game on our hands and more to come. After that, we left for Destructoid. Most of our appointments were located in Berkeley, a university area just east of downtown San Francisco, on the other side of the Bay Bridge. So it was just a short drive to the next press appointment. We met Ben at his place and upon arrival he asked us whether we wanted to show the game on the living room’s 22” screen or on his brand new 40” television. He didn’t want to share his new purchase with his roommates and put it in his own room, which is perfectly understandable.

Ben was also very much into the game and particularly liked how we were operating as a studio, with multiple downloadable games taking place within the Mistbound universe. He told us he would have the article up quickly, maybe even the same evening, so we were very much looking forward to that. Ben also gave us the name of a good place to get lunch. Whenever in Berkeley, do not be put off by the name Bongo Burger or its appearance! They actually have some of the best burgers you can get. After this quite fulfilling meal, we went over to Chris P. from GotGame. First we rang the doorbell at the wrong house, but with a quick phone call we were able to locate him and show him our games. He was really into Greed Corp and already started thinking about possible strategies within the game. I can imagine him doing quite well when he gets to play the game against others.

Last but not least: the guys from Giant Bomb. We left the student city of Berkeley for the marina town of Sausalito, where once again we had trouble finding our contacts. They were certainly not at the address we had, nor its underground parking lot, but after a quick call we found out they were just down the road. We met Brad, Ryan and Vinny in their cool basement office and sat down on the demo couch to record a quick Greed Corp match, with me explaining the game and them asking questions. Because that changed the way we presented the game and I couldn’t pause the game during recording, I started out a little nervous, but that all went away after starting a match and finding out the Giant Bomb guys liked it a lot. It was the perfect way to end the day. We were all pretty tired, but very pleased with the results and the positive response we got from everyone. More on the next day in San Francisco soon!