These shows were kind of the centrepiece of the games industry year, and they were an enjoyable couple of days out of the office.
Providing we avoided the corner of the show floor which always, without fail, smelled of sick.
We'd arrange a bunch of appointments with PR people, pick up demos, free t-shirts that we were never going to wear, enjoy early versions of games, chat to developers, and marvel at the scale of some of the booths: one year a full-sized castle had been built in the centre of the hall, replete with its own feudal lords.
Some of the PR representatives we'd enjoy seeing more than others. Stephen Hey from Ocean never failed to be utterly charming. Simon Byron - now one of the hosts of the superb One Life Left radio show - was always appreciated for his honesty regarding which of his games were clearly awful. Steve Starvis from Eidos was pleasant, but always seemed a bit bewildered and unnerved by us.
One year, he made a big deal of asking what we thought of his holdall; apparently, in our ECTS write-up the previous year, we'd referred to him as having "a girl's bag". This time he'd accessorised with a more masculine sack to ensure we didn't do it again.