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Editor's note: Shoe and I had just arrived to record the next episode of The Mobcast with Shadow Complex's Donald Mustard and 1UP's David Ellis when we learned about this story — from the game's PR person, Donald's wife, Laura! Not only did Carlos get a Shadow Complex code, he also got a second code. And he's giving it away to the Bitmob community. Read on to find out how! -Jason
Tuesday night was crazy. I got to meet people who I admire in the industry: longtime game journalists Geoff Keighley and N'Gai Croal, Universal producer Pete Wanat, and Chair Entertainment creative director and lead designer Donald Mustard (Shadow Complex) and his wife, Laura. Before doing so, though, I had to drive out to Los Angeles — an hour or so away from my humble home in Rialto, CA.
My brother, J-Rock, and I rolled out to meet Keighley and friends as soon as he threw up the bat signal for a free Shadow Complex code.
Some thought it was unfair to actually have to meet the guy for a prized ticket because Geoff had been giving out game codes on his Twitter feed.
Translation: Putting shoes, panks (yes, that's a "k"), and grabbing keys right now. But before I tied my shoelaces — bunny-ears style — I asked:
Reservation confirmed.
And the race was on. I had to refuel the gas tank. Shhh! Just say we're closer than we really are.
J-Rock and I were going so fast that by the time that we sent the Highway 210 update, we were well on our way to the connecting Interstate 605. That's 15 miles past Glendora.
Ummm…not really?
We got off on the wrong exit! J-Rock asked a hardcore-looking cholo where Melrose was.
"It's down three streets that way, ey."
We burned rubber.
Time was ticking. The bat signal was fading. My Hyundai Elantra's speedometer quickly raised from the speed limit to a modest 60 mph on the streets of Melrose.
Our only cheerleader hoped that we made it:
And made it! We arrived to a round of applause from the industry crowd that greeted us.
Back home after an overjoyed, completely safe and legal drive….
I had to beat the traffic and make a 90-minute drive in 45 minutes, but guess what? Geoff gave me an extra Shadow Complex code to give away to a friend — they didn't have to do that!
Luckily for you guys, my closest friends are PS3 owners (yeah, I know, boo!), so I plan to give it out to a random Bitmob reader. Leave a comment below and/or on my own personal site. I'll probably keep the giveaway going until Friday night at 9 p.m. PST — and e-mail the winner with the code to get the game in time for the weekend.
Thanks goes out to my brother for making the drive a bit more safe than it would've otherwise been by replying to Geoff on my cellphone (directly linked to Twitter updates through Skynet) along the way.
And, of course, thanks also go out to Geoff, N'Gai, Pete (who gave me an apropos The Fast and the Furious Trilogy Blu-ray pack upon my arrival), Donald, and Laura for patiently waiting for me after they'd been kicked out of Comme Ca
[UPDATE: A winner appears! Ryan Schuster won the code. Thanks for reading and all the great comments everyone.]