I spent some time learning some geek songs in Jam Sessions. Technically I learned a Jonathan Coulton song, but it would be sacrilege to sing it at a convention where he's performing. I also learned The Role Play Tournament and the end credits song from You Have To Burn The Rope. Basically, I tried to think, "what song would it be totally awesome if I heard someone singing it" and learn that. I think I'm done though. There are too many other projects to work on.
My buttons are ordered. I'm a little concerned that they're not exactly what I wanted, but they're Blaster Master buttons, so it's only a question of how awesome they'll be. I'm playing through the game again, also, so if anyone wants to talk about it, I'll be current.
I keep going back and forth about making a shirt. My Bully shirt would be one of the greatest things ever, but who would care besides me? A Blaster Master montage shirt could be super rad if I put in the time to come up with an awesome design, but again, maybe me and three other people would enjoy it. It's still tempting though. They call to me. "We are awesome. Make us real!"
But I've got so much planning to do now. The schedule of events was just posted. It's tentative, but that didn't stop me from cranking out a spreadsheet with everything I must attend on it. Some of the panels had names that didn't grab my attention, but when the fuller schedule comes out and gives more specifics on what they're about and who's doing them, I may have to make some hard choices.
As it stands now, I'll have three and a half hours on day one to hit the exhibition hall (where all the game makers are showing off their new / unreleased games). Then I'll have two and a half hours more on Sunday. Have you seen the exhibition hall?
Look!
See how there's kind of a left wing, right wing, and a tall middle part? That right wing wasn't there last year. That's how much bigger the exhibition is this year. It was freaking huge last year. I kept thinking I must have missed something important. And I probably did. This year I'll be very much sticking to the rule of hitting up nothing but playable demos. If I can't take the controls, I don't want to know. This means I'll be skipping demos of Dragon Age, Prince of Persia, Far Cry 2, and Spore, among others. But I'm not at PAX to watch demos from PR folks, or even from developers.
I go to PAX to play games with gamers, listen (and maybe speak) to people I respect in the enthusiast press, and touch the future of gaming. That's my mission statement.
There's a panel entitled "Make The World Notice Your Gaming Blog". I looked at the words, like a monkey looks at a piece of modern art and thought, "At some level, I should probably care about that." But seriously, $&@^ that. That's when Gabe and Tycho (the Penny Arcade guys) sign autographs. I have no interest in getting said autographs, but I get to wait in line for a half hour to stand before them and say "Here are a couple of my favorite things you did this year." It's pretty meaningless, I know. They can't do much but nod politely. But that doesn't make it any less important.
I basically already know what I'll blather meaninglessly about: Tycho's completely surreal experience at the Westgate Bar and Gabe's art in the mega ultra epic Paint The Line 2. Mega ultra epic is the genre of the piece, just in case my phrasing wasn't clear. It is the only ultra mega epic known to exist. There may never be another.
And Gabe and Tycho aren't the only ones I want to see. Cheapy D of Cheap Ass Gamer will be there. He has specifically requested to be adored and worshipped in front of his wife and parents who will be there with him. Who doesn't want to make a nice guy like Cheapy feel like a king?
Many of the 1UP folks will be there. Ryan O'Donnell mentioned his love for Blaster Master on the last 1UP show, so I'll be happy to present him with his choice of buttons. They'll be having two meet ups, one for all fans, and one for older fans (at a bar, presumably).
Folks from Evil Avatar Radio are planning a meet up as well. You may remember my last blog post, where I wanted to hear someone actually talk about how different Diablo 3 is from it's prequels. One of them actually sent me a nice email saying I did have a point, and they always appreciate suggestions for improving the show. That's some dedication, right there. They should be fun to hang out with.
There are probably more enthusiast press folks I'm missing. And there are dozens of Penny Arcade forum folks I'll be interested to meet (or see again).
But man, I still need to cover that exhibition floor. I mean, if I go to PAX and don't have anything to write about besides how awesome it was to hang out and play games, I'm going to feel like a failure. I need to get organized.
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