Hands on
PAX was crowded. This was a problem for some games.
Left 4 Dead had two banks of four systems. I heard that people from the aisles were sitting down at them, essentially cutting the line. I'm not blaming them. It could have been an honest mistake. But the fact that I stood in line for an hour and a half and we rocked through the demo level in what felt like seven minutes did not leave me happy. The game itself was solid. We'll enjoy it at our LAN parties.
Little Big Planet had one station when I was there. 58,500 PAX attendees and one Little Big Planet Station. Yeah. Sony has faith in this game being a system seller. And I have a bridge you might want to buy.
The guy running it was giving thirty minute demos. Then when I got my turn a competent woman started running it. Man, @%*& that first guy (and the Escapist writer who came back for multiple demos). I waited two hours and ten minutes for a ten minute demo.
And to top it all off, my fears about Little Big Planet were very much on target. It's fun to goof around with four people causing trouble. But I don't think the game will be strong enough to pull off single player. The jump button only seemed to work half the time, and the physics were exactly the kind of floaty imprecision I've come to expect from physics based platformers (except for N, which is really awesome except for the fact that there's nothing to do but jump and dodge, so I get bored).
On the plus side, you'll never have to hear me talk about the game again unless it starts doing phenomenal sales.
So, I've already described nearly four hours worth of expo hall time and have only seen two games. Eventually, I got around to seeing games with less demand and more stations.
I'm afraid for the new Destroy All Humans. It was a little choppy, which is weird because Mercenaries 2 which is from the same studio and is already out, looked and felt really nice. I'll be looking for a good price on Mercs 2 when the PC version hits.
Simply because it had no line, I took a test drive of Yakuza 2. I have never heard anyone say that Yakuza is like the Shenmue game SEGA never talks about. But that's what it felt like to me, as I wandered down Japanese streets, reading snippets of random conversations, wandering in and out of stores; fighting off a band of street punks. I'll be very interested to read some reviews when it hits the PS2. The rich feel of the environment also reminded me of Bully. That is a good thing.
I also got hands on with some older games.
Ratchet and Clank for the PS2 was my favorite franchise. On the PS3, I was less impressed. The install process and load times were slow, the frame rate was a little hitchy, and the graphics were nowhere near the Pixar quality that had been touted by various outlets. The pace of the game also felt sluggish. I kept wondering when something awesome would happen, but all the moments that were intended to be awesome felt scripted and dull. I'll probably still enjoy the game someday, but one of my major reasons for even considering a PS3 just went poof.
Earth Defense Force 2017 is now ordered. It will be sitting in wait for the glorious day when there is a cheap, reliable 360 to play it on. Or possibly a backwards compatible Xbox 720. :P While I'm sure Destroy All Humans 2 on the original Xbox will remain the sci-fi blasting game of choice, I will still force my weekly co-op partner to partake in the joy that is EDF. (Hi partner!)
Eyes on
Red Faction: Guerrilla didn't look like the greatest game (The demo was just deathmatch, and the feedback upon shooting someone seemed lacking.), but watching a guy break through a concrete wall with a sledgehammer then leap through the hole and ragdoll a guy with a follow up swing was cool.
Mirror's Edge looked like every other online video I've seen of it. I still don't feel I've seen enough to know if there's a game there, or if it's just another Assassin's Creed (probably not enough variety to keep it interesting).
BioWare's Sonic the Hedgehog RPG for the Nintendo DS looked solid. I thought the combat system mostly looked like Paper Mario except instead of using timed button presses to get extra damage and defend yourself, it used stylus taps and rolls like in Elite Beat Agents. It will almost certainly be the best Sonic game since forever.
StarCraft 2 looked like StarCraft.
Legendary looked Average.
Three days later, nothing else is coming to mind as worth writing about. I'm sure if the public at large actually read this they'd all be screaming about games I overlooked, but the truth is the convention floor was packed and noisy and full of lines. I didn't really want to be there much.
Epic Fail
There was no Wii Motion Plus at the show. Wii Music, the symbol of everything that was wrong with Nintendo at E3, had multiple stations, of course.
I didn't even know Dead Space was playable. I would have like to have at least seen it.
Showing posts with label PAX 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PAX 2008. Show all posts
04 September, 2008
01 September, 2008
PAX 2008: The People
PAX is dead. Long live PAX.
For me personally, PAX actually wasn't as fun as last year. It was still very good, but last year was more valuable to me because I'd forgotten how good spending time with gamers was. And even though I went in expecting a lot from my fellow gamers this year, the people of PAX did not disappoint.
The Gamers
Astayonix and Electric Turtle's Pre-PAX dinner was an event I was happy to attend (and help clean up after). I wish Chris Taylor had speechified less so that he, the BioWare folks, and the Valve folks could have all held court separately.
Atlus Parker did a fine job of running the Harry Potter themed "Triwizard Drinking Tournament". Drunk nerds high fiving passersby, chanting, and singing are generally quite fun. I might have had more fun at the Shorty's and IRC gatherings, but I was glad to help wrangle the wizards.
Breakfast with Mr. T and B:L (These are forum handles, obviously) was also very pleasant, and I regretted being unable to catch up with Mr. T for console freeplay later in the show. I did get to play EDF 2017 (a co-op third person shooter with a fifties kind of vibe and lots of buildings to knock down) with Gerard from Cambridge, England who I had never seen before and will likely never see again. He was nice.
HotSake was very friendly and invited me to play Mechaton (LEGO wargaming) with him, redhalo, PeasantDave, and a couple other guys I don't remember. He also coordinated some epic win by surprising Felicia Day with a letter from Bad Horse (from Dr. Horrible). She was apparently so tickled she asked them to autograph the letter for her. I reiterate: epic win.
These are only the gamers from day zero (Pre PAX) and day one. And I even skipped some people. (Hey Anngaricus. :)
Piles of random PAX pics. (WARNING: Some alcohol abuse depicted.)
The Press
Walking in on the first day, I got to walk next to Shawn Elliot from 1UP. I asked if he was going to the 1UP panel. No. The Dawn of War panel. Maybe. Then I was going to tell him I was interested to see Left 4 Dead, but realized he'd already played it on PC, so what did he care? In the end, I was kind of sorry for the press at PAX. It's a party for us. But they're expected to write articles to justify their plane fare. Yikes.
Since Ryan O'Donnell was injured and unable to attend PAX, David Ellis was kind enough to pass on my Blaster Master buttons to him. Yay David Ellis!
The Industry Folk
I didn't have much interaction with the industry folk at the show. A guy at the Sony booth was saying how they didn't have Little Big Planet bags at the moment. I was waiting in the Little Big Planet line next to a huge pile of the bags, so I grabbed a dozen and took them over. The guy saying that was gone, but apparently some other Sony people who saw me do it told him about it, and he sought me out in the line to give me a Resistance 2 shirt. That's pretty classy.
On the way home I got to sit next to an artist for the Command and Conquer series. He told me that the delays for Tiberium were the normal "it's not done yet" delays. Good job EA for not releasing an unfun game. Here's hoping the extra time and money the company is putting in can make the difference.
I also got to sit next to a PR rep for a pile of different MMOs. I don't much care for MMOs. And he confirmed that for someone into action games like myself, there really aren't any MMOs out there. That guy travels like crazy: China, Korea, the US; Europe. He talked about how trying to move Chinese MMOs to the US and vice versa isn't working at all. He talked about how Chinese culture makes free to play much more viable there. (I couldn't quite hear his explanation, though. It had something to do with how they view heroism.) Anyway, I probably should have taken notes. He knows a lot.
All in all, there were tons of awesome people to meet and talk to at PAX. Now, on to the lesser elements of the show.
For me personally, PAX actually wasn't as fun as last year. It was still very good, but last year was more valuable to me because I'd forgotten how good spending time with gamers was. And even though I went in expecting a lot from my fellow gamers this year, the people of PAX did not disappoint.
The Gamers
Astayonix and Electric Turtle's Pre-PAX dinner was an event I was happy to attend (and help clean up after). I wish Chris Taylor had speechified less so that he, the BioWare folks, and the Valve folks could have all held court separately.
Atlus Parker did a fine job of running the Harry Potter themed "Triwizard Drinking Tournament". Drunk nerds high fiving passersby, chanting, and singing are generally quite fun. I might have had more fun at the Shorty's and IRC gatherings, but I was glad to help wrangle the wizards.
Breakfast with Mr. T and B:L (These are forum handles, obviously) was also very pleasant, and I regretted being unable to catch up with Mr. T for console freeplay later in the show. I did get to play EDF 2017 (a co-op third person shooter with a fifties kind of vibe and lots of buildings to knock down) with Gerard from Cambridge, England who I had never seen before and will likely never see again. He was nice.
HotSake was very friendly and invited me to play Mechaton (LEGO wargaming) with him, redhalo, PeasantDave, and a couple other guys I don't remember. He also coordinated some epic win by surprising Felicia Day with a letter from Bad Horse (from Dr. Horrible). She was apparently so tickled she asked them to autograph the letter for her. I reiterate: epic win.
These are only the gamers from day zero (Pre PAX) and day one. And I even skipped some people. (Hey Anngaricus. :)
Piles of random PAX pics. (WARNING: Some alcohol abuse depicted.)
The Press
Walking in on the first day, I got to walk next to Shawn Elliot from 1UP. I asked if he was going to the 1UP panel. No. The Dawn of War panel. Maybe. Then I was going to tell him I was interested to see Left 4 Dead, but realized he'd already played it on PC, so what did he care? In the end, I was kind of sorry for the press at PAX. It's a party for us. But they're expected to write articles to justify their plane fare. Yikes.
Since Ryan O'Donnell was injured and unable to attend PAX, David Ellis was kind enough to pass on my Blaster Master buttons to him. Yay David Ellis!
The Industry Folk
I didn't have much interaction with the industry folk at the show. A guy at the Sony booth was saying how they didn't have Little Big Planet bags at the moment. I was waiting in the Little Big Planet line next to a huge pile of the bags, so I grabbed a dozen and took them over. The guy saying that was gone, but apparently some other Sony people who saw me do it told him about it, and he sought me out in the line to give me a Resistance 2 shirt. That's pretty classy.
On the way home I got to sit next to an artist for the Command and Conquer series. He told me that the delays for Tiberium were the normal "it's not done yet" delays. Good job EA for not releasing an unfun game. Here's hoping the extra time and money the company is putting in can make the difference.
I also got to sit next to a PR rep for a pile of different MMOs. I don't much care for MMOs. And he confirmed that for someone into action games like myself, there really aren't any MMOs out there. That guy travels like crazy: China, Korea, the US; Europe. He talked about how trying to move Chinese MMOs to the US and vice versa isn't working at all. He talked about how Chinese culture makes free to play much more viable there. (I couldn't quite hear his explanation, though. It had something to do with how they view heroism.) Anyway, I probably should have taken notes. He knows a lot.
All in all, there were tons of awesome people to meet and talk to at PAX. Now, on to the lesser elements of the show.
27 August, 2008
PAX 2008: Prep 3
Life. Life. Life. INT PAX. PAX. PAX. PAX.
PAX is all elbows.
(That's an interrupt programming joke that's light on details because I never programmed interrupts.)
Sacramento Area Pre-PAX Luncheon
Yesterday, I had lunch with some fellow PAX forum folk.
CaptainTapole was fun to talk to, is also playing TWEWY, also likes Final Fantasy 9 more than most people, has a cute frog backpack, and gave me a super rare button. How awesome is she?
Answer: So Awesome
VThornheart won the BioWare minion contest to be able to attend PAX. And he encouraged them to attend the dinner, which they are (and which I suck for not thanking him for in person). And he also organized the lunch (which I also suck for not thanking him for).
millislim is a focused personality, gamer, and cosplayer. If you're entering the PA game cosplay contest, "watch your freakin' back, Squeaky." She's bringin' it.
Just having lunch with these folks completely affirmed why PAX is so important to me. Talking to excited gamers is pretty much the best thing ever. That kind of enthusiasm is hard to find in humans after elementary school. And that kind of enthusiasm combined with strong intellect and complete goofiness... well, that's why I'm sunburned from standing out in a parking lot for an hour. I just couldn't tear myself away. It's also why I'm happy to shell out to go to PAX.
Packing
Imma chargin' my batteries for my camera. I feel a little silly about that. I barely used the thing last year, and didn't take any pics worth posting. I think everything else is packed.
3 homemade video game shirts
Nintendo DS
- Mario Kart
- Jam Sessons (with 1/8" -> RCA cable for audio out)
- The World Ends With You
124 Blaster Master themed button exchange buttons
boring stuff
The Air Security Shuffle
The main trick to packing is that since I'm flying and pack really light (one carry-on), I have to do some extra work to make things flow smoothly. Going through the security checkpoint means:
- put shoes in basket
- empty pockets into dish
- put bag of liquid stuff (toothpaste, shampoo, etc.) in basket
- put bag of tech stuff (camera, DS, etc.) in basket
- go through metal detector
- collect everything
- repack everything
And that's the optimal process. They may want to look through my electronics, or decide the umbrella in my backpack looks dangerous. Flying back from PAX last year, they took a money clip I'd been given by a friend for being best man at his wedding because it had a tiny utility knife in it. Flying to PAX, it was fine. :P
So why fly?
Flying is super quick, doesn't require stops for meals and rest, and is cheaper than any other form of travel I've looked at. The plane is $300, round trip. The train (which would take 20 hours each way and probably require me to buy insanely overpriced food) costs $350. Driving would take twelve hours each way, which I would have to split up, requiring an extra night in a hotel each way ($120). It would also require me to find and pay for parking in Seattle ($125), buy some food and gas ($200) and put over 1500 miles on my car ($459 if we assume .30 a mile). Unless I've overlooked some major difference, flying destroys.
New PAX Details
The schedule page already had the exhibit hall map and overall schedule. Now it also has the specific descriptions of the panels (what they're really about, who's running them). It's time to flip through and see if there were any boring sounding panels that will actually be interesting.
So far, most of them sound like the title said. There are a bunch of "break into the industry" panels. No thanks. There are a bunch of "issue" panels. Maybe if I didn't read so much about gaming already. I may hit up a movie or concert, but for the most part, I want to game and enjoy the company of gamers. Now I just need to finish prep, collapse, and rest so I can be lucid enough to enjoy it.
PAX is all elbows.
(That's an interrupt programming joke that's light on details because I never programmed interrupts.)
Sacramento Area Pre-PAX Luncheon
Yesterday, I had lunch with some fellow PAX forum folk.
CaptainTapole was fun to talk to, is also playing TWEWY, also likes Final Fantasy 9 more than most people, has a cute frog backpack, and gave me a super rare button. How awesome is she?
Answer: So Awesome
VThornheart won the BioWare minion contest to be able to attend PAX. And he encouraged them to attend the dinner, which they are (and which I suck for not thanking him for in person). And he also organized the lunch (which I also suck for not thanking him for).
millislim is a focused personality, gamer, and cosplayer. If you're entering the PA game cosplay contest, "watch your freakin' back, Squeaky." She's bringin' it.
Just having lunch with these folks completely affirmed why PAX is so important to me. Talking to excited gamers is pretty much the best thing ever. That kind of enthusiasm is hard to find in humans after elementary school. And that kind of enthusiasm combined with strong intellect and complete goofiness... well, that's why I'm sunburned from standing out in a parking lot for an hour. I just couldn't tear myself away. It's also why I'm happy to shell out to go to PAX.
Packing
Imma chargin' my batteries for my camera. I feel a little silly about that. I barely used the thing last year, and didn't take any pics worth posting. I think everything else is packed.
3 homemade video game shirts
Nintendo DS
- Mario Kart
- Jam Sessons (with 1/8" -> RCA cable for audio out)
- The World Ends With You
124 Blaster Master themed button exchange buttons
boring stuff
The Air Security Shuffle
The main trick to packing is that since I'm flying and pack really light (one carry-on), I have to do some extra work to make things flow smoothly. Going through the security checkpoint means:
- put shoes in basket
- empty pockets into dish
- put bag of liquid stuff (toothpaste, shampoo, etc.) in basket
- put bag of tech stuff (camera, DS, etc.) in basket
- go through metal detector
- collect everything
- repack everything
And that's the optimal process. They may want to look through my electronics, or decide the umbrella in my backpack looks dangerous. Flying back from PAX last year, they took a money clip I'd been given by a friend for being best man at his wedding because it had a tiny utility knife in it. Flying to PAX, it was fine. :P
So why fly?
Flying is super quick, doesn't require stops for meals and rest, and is cheaper than any other form of travel I've looked at. The plane is $300, round trip. The train (which would take 20 hours each way and probably require me to buy insanely overpriced food) costs $350. Driving would take twelve hours each way, which I would have to split up, requiring an extra night in a hotel each way ($120). It would also require me to find and pay for parking in Seattle ($125), buy some food and gas ($200) and put over 1500 miles on my car ($459 if we assume .30 a mile). Unless I've overlooked some major difference, flying destroys.
New PAX Details
The schedule page already had the exhibit hall map and overall schedule. Now it also has the specific descriptions of the panels (what they're really about, who's running them). It's time to flip through and see if there were any boring sounding panels that will actually be interesting.
So far, most of them sound like the title said. There are a bunch of "break into the industry" panels. No thanks. There are a bunch of "issue" panels. Maybe if I didn't read so much about gaming already. I may hit up a movie or concert, but for the most part, I want to game and enjoy the company of gamers. Now I just need to finish prep, collapse, and rest so I can be lucid enough to enjoy it.
10 August, 2008
PAX 2008: Prep 2 (Long)
Okay, it's a little hard to keep up. I'm overloaded and it's still over three weeks away. Perhaps being on the forums this much wasn't the best idea. :P
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.
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.
04 August, 2008
PAX 2008: Prep
The Penny Arcade Expo is coming, and I'm getting ready. Mostly I've been using GIMP to work on art projects.
Last year I made what I hoped would be a conversation piece, a shirt with lots of gaming stuff to talk about on it.
It failed. A couple people I was talking to already would ask about it. But there was way too much interesting stuff at PAX for anyone to be bored enough to start checking out t-shirts. Plus there was no focal point. If I want to meet people via a shirt, the design must focus on exactly one element of quintessential awesome that will make the kind of people I want to talk to run up for high fives.
I'm actually not sure if I want to make a t-shirt at all this year. I mean, it would be fun, but would it really serve a purpose? After all, this year it's all about the buttons.
- PA (Penny Arcade) forum icon (Jason from Blaster Master)
- Van Gogh (cause I kinda look like him with my hair short)
- as a mandelbrot fractal
- PA Adventures character
These are the options I'm currently considering. I've generated (or stolen and reformatted in the case of the game art) more images, but many were for t-shirts I will probably never make. One idea was to do a shirt for Bully, one of my favorite games I've played since PAX 07. I don't remember exactly when I thought of this shirt, but I think it may have been as the words were coming out of Russell's mouth. It was just perfect.
Classic.
And I also noticed that the picture with me and Van Gogh looked a little bit like the loading screen from a fighting game, so I decided to take that a step further.
Here's a closer view (and you can click through for a super detailed view) of the main event.
I'm working on shirts (even if I'll probably never make them). I'm working on buttons. I'm active on the forums. And I've even been modifying a song by PAX favorite Jonathan Coulton for play on my virtual guitar (Jam Sessions on the DS). PAX is dominating my gaming life. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Last year I made what I hoped would be a conversation piece, a shirt with lots of gaming stuff to talk about on it.
It failed. A couple people I was talking to already would ask about it. But there was way too much interesting stuff at PAX for anyone to be bored enough to start checking out t-shirts. Plus there was no focal point. If I want to meet people via a shirt, the design must focus on exactly one element of quintessential awesome that will make the kind of people I want to talk to run up for high fives.
I'm actually not sure if I want to make a t-shirt at all this year. I mean, it would be fun, but would it really serve a purpose? After all, this year it's all about the buttons.
- PA (Penny Arcade) forum icon (Jason from Blaster Master)
- Van Gogh (cause I kinda look like him with my hair short)
- as a mandelbrot fractal
- PA Adventures character
These are the options I'm currently considering. I've generated (or stolen and reformatted in the case of the game art) more images, but many were for t-shirts I will probably never make. One idea was to do a shirt for Bully, one of my favorite games I've played since PAX 07. I don't remember exactly when I thought of this shirt, but I think it may have been as the words were coming out of Russell's mouth. It was just perfect.
Classic.
And I also noticed that the picture with me and Van Gogh looked a little bit like the loading screen from a fighting game, so I decided to take that a step further.
Here's a closer view (and you can click through for a super detailed view) of the main event.
I'm working on shirts (even if I'll probably never make them). I'm working on buttons. I'm active on the forums. And I've even been modifying a song by PAX favorite Jonathan Coulton for play on my virtual guitar (Jam Sessions on the DS). PAX is dominating my gaming life. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
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