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E3, journalist

SAN FRANCISCO — While covering the online-only E3 2021, video game journalist Shaun Carlson has reportedly missed the excitement of copying press releases on location.

“Covering E3 remotely is boring. You just paste the release from the developer, change up the wording, click the ‘publish’ button, then do it all over again. But when you’re there in person, sometimes they give you paper materials instead, and you get to use the photocopier,” said Carlson, who has covered the event from home this year. “It’s so thrilling.”

Besides the exhilaration of dealing with physical documents, Carlson also preferred the high-pressure environment in the press room at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

“I want to be like those hard-knuckled reporters from the old days. Taking risks, hunting down scoops, getting my hands dirty in the field. E3 is normally my chance to do that,” said Carlson, a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism. “Like, one time I missed an Ubisoft event, and I had to think on my feet and borrow the handout from a friend. Ran it through the Xerox—didn’t even hesitate. Heart still races when I think about it.”

Carlson has tried to recreate the experience of field reporting at home this year, but the results have been disappointing.

“First thing I did was print out the PDFs and put them in this binder. That was pretty dope, but it only took, like, 10 minutes. Wish I had taken my time with it,” he said, paging slowly through the event schedule again. “Maybe I’ll print a second copy of everything, just to be safe.”

Roberts was last seen preparing for the Xbox press conference by turning off all the lights in his room and swinging a green flashlight around for no reason.

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