Acid for Blood

PAX 2008 Pics

I didn't take nearly as many pictures this year as last year because I was working at the convention, but here is the photoset anyway.

The Bethesda booth to promote Fallout 3 was very impressive. They brought in an old 1950s trailer, put a white picket fence on one side, and plonked a 1950s style nuclear family on the inside of the fence.

The inside of the trailer was a lounge furnished in the 1950s style, complete with TV where I guess you could either watch the demo of the game or play it.

The SingStar presence was at the back of Sony's booth. There was a stage where you could try out the game to win copies for the PS3.

At the ArenaNet party, some fans created a big furry statue of a charr.

Two Guild Wars cosplayers at the party were dressed as a Monk and Gwen:

A Cursory Look at Aion

First on my hit list of things to see at PAX was easy enough to accomplish. The game was being demo-ed at the shared ArenaNet/NCsoft booth. I got a chance to briefly play Aion: The Tower of Eternity to help test it before the NCsoft booth opened. It's a very other-worldly, very beautiful game. I think the art style is fabulous, though many of the female characters' costumes leave something to be desired (like more clothing, for instance). Flight is fun. I didn't have much time to try out aerial combat, but what I did experience piqued my interest. The ground combat was familiar MMORPG-style combat. I'll continue to keep an eye on Aion. Oh snap!

I'm fairly sure I won't be able to see anything tomorrow, but let's cross our fingers.

It's Off to PAX I Go

Last year, I went to my first Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) as a regular videogame fan -- nay, a Super Fan. This year is different. I am working for a videogame developer and instead of attending PAX to have carefree fun as a fan, I'm attending to work and have a different kind of fun. The kind of fun you have when you're in the trenches, so to speak, working long hours and being in presentation mode all the time. I've worked at fandom conventions (several with 20 000+ attendees) in a variety of capacities, from guest and public relations to coordinating gofers, for 10 years as a volunteer convention staffer. Little did I know that I would have a hand in planning events on the exhibitor side as part of my day job.

I doubt I will be able to attend any of the panels that I'm interested in, which is a little disappointing. My schedule during the day is just too full. I don't even know if I'll be able to see the OneUps play again like I did last year, what with all the interesting parties going on at night. Possibly, possibly, if I have some free time, I could perhaps wander outside of my company's booth to check out other cool stuff in the exhibit hall. If I have time for that, I really want to check out:

• Aion: The Tower of Eternity -- Not because the company that owns my company is developing and publishing this game. I've been keeping tabs on Aion since February 2007, and I'm really excited about seeing demos.
• Rock Band 2 -- I'm not interested in playing it at PAX, because it will be too loud to focus, and I know the queues will be too long and I won't have time for that shit. I mainly want to see the new drum kit in action.
• The Sony booth in general, but SingStar specifically -- Yes, I already own SingStar. I just got the PlayStation Underground newsletter, and it says that there's going to be a stage there where you can play, and (I hope) win some prizes. If there are prizes involved for SingStar, I may try to win on Easy mode. I'm also interested in how Sony presents SingStar to the hardcore gaming crowd that will be in attendance. I honestly don't know how big SingStar is amongst the traditional gamer demographic. I do know that the SingStar official forums are full of obsessive fans who are willing to ride out any possible impacts on their credit records and get new credit cards just to find a way to purchase songs from the European SingStore. Seriously, Sony, get your act together. It looks like these people will do almost anything to give their money to you.
• Dragon Age -- Looks vaguely interesting.

I've been so busy with work that I honestly don't know what else is going on at PAX in the exhibit hall.

I also have mad parties to consider attending, seriously.

There's an informal, unofficial NCsoft community gathering on Friday night, which was organised by a City of Heroes player. I'm definitely going to this party as I want to meet up with some of the NCsoft community types. The Turbine party is also happening on Friday night, and I am vaguely interested in that one. I do have an active Lord of the Rings Online account, after all. At some point I'll get around to having an active character. There's a hotel party being hosted by gamerDNA, too, but I think I may skip that.

The ArenaNet is party on Saturday night, and my attendance is required (because I'm planning it). The White Wolf/CCP is on Saturday night as well, but I don't know if I'm going. I'm really interested in the World of Darkness MMORPG, but I doubt I'd actually be seeing or learning anything at the party. Honestly, after I heard about what kind of party CCP threw at the Game Developers Conference in 2008, I'm less inclined to attend this one at PAX because I don't think it'll be my cup of tea.

Since I live in the area, I'm not staying in Seattle during the con. I'll be commuting to and from home. The commute kind of puts a damper on late night party plans and generally staying out late and attending the con, unless I decide to throw my sleep schedule out the door. I have a 20 or 25 minute drive ahead of myself, rather than a short walk to a nearby hotel, before I can turn in for the night.

I'm really looking forward to meeting up with my friends from my former company, Xfire. Most of them are going to be working -- representing in full force, covering the show, and doing Live Chat events. The others are just there for fun. Note to self: Artaxs has challenged me to a Puzzle Quest duel, bring DS!

This weekend, I will be spending my days working PAX and my nights balancing social events (or possibly attending the con?) with conserving my energy for the next day.

GDC 2008: Two Sessions Highlighted

There were a couple of sessions that I really enjoyed at the Game Developers Conference this year.

The first was "Game Studies Download 3.0". The Game Studies Download first appeared at GDC 2006, which was the first GDC I attended. I'm quite interested in the various fields of game studies, having dabbled in it (read: dissertation research) during my Master's degree. Bogost, Consalvo, and McGonigal delivered a fast-paced, information-rich and very interesting presentation. One of the interesting bits of research they highlighted were findings that showed that breaking immersion can actually make games more engaging. An example of this that I thought of is in Metal Gear Solid, when you're fighting Psycho Mantis and he tells you he can read your past. The game reads your memory card and if you have certain Konami games, Psycho Mantis comments on it. I personally found this bit of the game really entertaining, and though it does break the fourth wall, it was memorable and cool. If you're interested in the rest of the research top ten, check the link above.

The other session I especially enjoyed was "The BioWare Live Team: Building Community Through Technology". French gave an overview of the development of the Live Team and what technical decisions they made to support their fan community. I gleaned a lot of great insights from it, particularly since I don't work at a company that makes games. It was interesting to hear the rational behind decisions as well as what went right and wrong in the Live Team's work with Neverwinter Nights.

The rest of GDC was pretty good, though I'm not as wide-eyed and excitable as I was at GDC 2006. Could it be that I've become a jaded games industry professional? I definitely was not as keen on collecting swag as I was two years ago. In fact, I don't even know why I bothered to get the few free pens and assorted nonsense that I did come away with. Why the fuck do I need a yellow rubber duckie stamped with a company logo? I don't know, but it's a rubber duckie and I didn't have one until now!

Twittering From GDC 2008

I don't have the energy to write proper blog posts during the Game Developers Conference, but I have been using Twitter to post micro updates about my experience and observations of the event and what's happening around me at GDC. If you have a Twitter account, feel free to follow.

I'm using the TwitterSync Facebook application to feed my Twitter tweets to my Facebook status as well. I don't know whether I'll keep using TwitterSync/Twitter to update my Facebook status beyond the GDC, though. If people have an opinion about that, let me know via a comment.

[Read]

CA-ing @ GDC 2008

I was one of 350 people chosen to be a Conference Associate at the Game Developers Conference next month (18 - 22 February) in San Francisco. I did not attend the GDC in 2007 because I was busy moving across the country, however I was a CA at GDC 2006.

The CA army will be wearing fluorescent pink shirts this year. I believe they chose pink for the CA shirts to match the GDC 2008 colour scheme. It will be interesting to see how the CAs, the majority of whom are young males, deal with it. I suspect that many will loudly and frequently proclaim that they are so secure in their masculinity, they can wear pink without feeling threatened.

If you're going to the GDC, perhaps I'll see you there. I'll definitely be attending (or working at) several panels, so you may find me in the audience or helping with room logistics.

I'm planning on attending a few parties/social gatherings in the evenings that week. Right now I have Wednesday and Thursday tentatively booked. I am, of course, interested in hearing where the good parties are, so feel free to let me know (or get me in).

E for All and VGL

I have returned from the trip down south to attend E for All 2007 on Saturday and Sunday. I also attended the Video Games Live concert on the Friday.

Video Games Live is a concert of videogame music performed by an orchestra and a choir. I enjoyed Video Games Live. At times I thought that the montages of video game scenes played during the orchestral performances distracted from the music, but at other times I thought the images complemented the music. I thought that the audience participation games were unnecessary and to me they were unwelcome interruptions in the muscial performances. To a certain extent, I also thought that the on-stage introductions before certain pieces of music were unnecessary. I would have preferred it if they distributed programme books with the set list or found less intrusive ways of telling the audience the games which the music belonged to. As a whole, the performances did not flow well together because of all the interruptions. Highlights: Video Game Pianist playing ten themes from the Final Fantasy games, performances of music from Metal Gear Solid, Sonic the Hedgehog, World of Warcraft, a triumverate of Konami creators (creators for Castlevania, Silent Hill, and the music director for DDR) coming on stage, and composers coming on stage to introduce their music.

The attendees really enjoyed E for All. The industry types were unimpressed with E for All. The bottom line is that E for All is for consumers, not for industry. I heard a bit of whining from the industry professionals who missed the excess that was E3. I do agree that the new E3, which was held a few months ago, needs some re-working, but I disagree that the old E3 was the best format. Certainly, a central location should have been the way to go, but the ridiculous amount of money thrown into building the most flashy and loud booth, with the least-dressed and most attractive models hawking products, at the old E3 distracted from the heart of the event -- the games. I think they should combine new E3 and E for All into one four-day event, with the first two days being for industry-only, and third and fourth days opening it up to the public (or maybe even just the last day).

[Video Games Live Photoset]

[E for All Photoset]

E for All 2007

My employer is dispatching me to the E for All Expo in Los Angeles from 20th - 21st October. If you're at the con, feel free to stop by the booth.

I will be arriving on 19th October in time to attend the Video Games Live concert, though I won't actually be working on the 19th.

I'm not sure if I'll be blogging on this blog since I've decided not to bring my laptop.

I will take pictures of anything interesting and put them up later. My fingers are tightly crossed in the hopes I'll see people in embarrassing and/or questionable cosplay outfits.

PAX: My Conversations with ArenaNet Staff

On the Sunday of PAX I had great conversations with some of the people that are involved with one of my favourite games. It was nice to be able to speak to the people involved in Guild Wars develpment to let them know how much I enjoy the game and appreciate their work. The party did not afford as much quiet face time with the development team as I expected, the venue being a loud arcade/bar. So I decided to sped some time at the Guild Wars booth to not only check out the Guild Wars: Eye of the North preview event, most of which I missed due to being at PAX, but also to speak to the ArenaNet people.

PAX 2007 Pics

Compiled into two photosets for your viewing pleasure: ArenaNet/Guild Wars related and everything else.

I didn't feel a great need to take pictures of most of the things in the Exhibit Hall. They were fairly unimpressive, and to be honest most of the stuff there was of small interest to me. Big Daddy statue? Yawn. Just look at pictures of the little action figure and imagine a 6-foot tall version. White sofas at Microsoft's booth? Boring. I suppose I could have taken pictures of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, but you can find higher quality screen shots elsewhere.

Cosplay costumes at PAX made a poor showing in terms of numbers of people in costume. There were about four interesting costumes, maybe six or seven if you include a couple of exhibitors. Compared to anime convention cosplayers, videogaming convention cosplayers are total newbs.