E3 parties used to be the stuff of legend until the powers that be decided to make E3 boring to save money a few years back. Well that proved to be disastrous, and the E3 party scene is just starting to come back to life. One group that’s making that happen is the Shifted2u crew. They put on one of the best E3 afterparties of 2012. (You might remember them from the PS Vita Launch Party.)

Art was provided by Jeff of Jefe June Photography, Mr Benja, Josh Lange, Raphael Phillips and Andrew Wilson.

Benja, Keisha of Sugar Gamers, and Godric.

The Sugar Gamers Crew sit beneath the “Symbols of Life: Treasure” by Mr Benja.

This is Jeff. He knows film and was therefore qualified to make sure we weren’t taking any shitty pictures. But he wasn’t too upset with the night since he got to hang out with Sindel and Tanya.

There were hockey fans at the party, because E3 always manages to happen right at the same time that some major sporting event is going on in the Staples Center. This time, there were hockey fans in town to mix with the game enthusiasts. Always an interesting mix as you can tell Shayne of the Shifted2u staff decided to throw a thumbs up while a picture was being taken. This picture actually turned out better than the official one, so we’re keeping it.

And since these parties happen during E3, you’ll find that there are groups of people from companies that attend. They’re usually so wired from the show floor, that it takes a few drinks to get them to relax and forget about the products they’ve been trying to sell. These are the Sphero guys, and they were pretty cool. Next time, more shots.

Torrance Davis of The Bit Bag and STFU and Play with Raph and one of his Lego MegaMan prints. If you didn’t get one, then you didn’t offer Raph a drink.

These ladies were trying to outdo the Mortal Kombat cosplayer in the number of pictures they were taking, but it wasn’t working out. I’ve seen people try to outdo the cosplayers, and it never really works out. They were very photogenic though.

Phoenix Jones? Yep. He got to the front of the line when they were packing the club.

The Hip Hop Gamer came out to party with us. He’s a great guy with a really positive spirit.

The first dance floor was crazy.

The second dance floor wasn’t as crazy, and I was actually able to get a picture of Jeff’s photography.

Musician Andrew David representing

The gaming rooms at the party added quite a bit to the atmosphere. When you were tired of lounging about trying to hit on a cosplayer, you could always grab a drink and run into one of the gaming rooms.

Carlos and Sin are tied into the gaming burlesque scene. We’ll be running into them a while later.

More friendly ladies hanging out at the club.

Game.

The previous shot was posed, this one was not. The people at the party were just out having fun. But if you’re dressed like the Mortal Kombat cast, I suppose you can’t help but have fun.

So it was a good time at the party, and unfortunately, we didn’t get as many pics of the art as we had hoped, but there were eleven large pieces shown throughout the club and we were glad to be a part of the whole experience. We’ll be doing more events with Shifted2u if you keep coming.

Mr Benja.