Day 2 Run Down

Day 2 started off VERY strong with my friend and me both getting Exhibitor badges. For those of you unaware of these events, the exhibitor badges basically let you go anywhere and can at times can get you ahead of line. This also aided in us getting in before the show opened up. As we expected the show floor was infinitely better without the standard crowd to wade through. It also made getting pics of things much easier…assuming I didn’t suck at getting pics. OH well shit happens and you move on. Early entry also got us first in “line” for playable Little Big Planet. HOLY SHIT!!! This game looks mind blowing and from what I got to play is stupid fun. I am beyond excited for this game cannot wait for it to come out.

We bummed around the PAX 10 booth area a bit (I hope to really spend some time there today playing all the games in there) then decided to get some breakfast. Breakfast took much longer than I was expecting but I will have to admit they were some damn good pancakes. By the time breakfast was done we split up a bit and my friend and I hit up the Make A Strip panel line to try and distribute some more downloadable demos of Lock’s Quest (we actually do a fair amount of this throughout the show and it’s how we got the Exhibitor’s Badges….and by “we” I mean more Steve and I help where I can). Using one of our contacts, we got in and scored excellent seats for the Make A Strip panel which was not only just as entertaining as the Q&A but was also incredibly interesting to watch a strip go through the motions of creation.

The Make A Strip led right into the Fallout 3 demo. A full hour of the beginning of the game!!! This game looks amazing and the depth of detail that has gone in to it is extremely impressive. Yet another game I whole heartedly look forward to getting and playing through, probably multiple times. I would have to say the best part of the demo was the demonstration of the Psychotic Prankster achievement. Any of you who plan to get this game must check it out. (Sorry no pics from this demo but the Enforcers were confiscating people’s devices who were trying to get pics/video against the Bethesda’s wishes)

After the Fallout 3 demo we pimped Lock’s Quest some more in some other lines then I ended up sitting in line for a VERY long time to get Gabe and Tycho autographs. Very long wait but very worth it. The other highlight of that line wait was entertaining everyone else in line around me with GoW on my PSP kicking my ass hardcore. In my defense I am playing through on God Mode, so eff you all!!!

We met back up and killed a bit of time before grabbing some carpet space at the PAX 10 panel. It was basically an hour of Q&A with a bunch of successful indie game developers. Very insightful and inspiring to many. The panel was made up of a wide array of indie devs spanning from the successful college project to the guys who quite their job throwing caution to the wind, balls to the walls make or break. Best answer of the night goes out to Ryan from Grubby Games. When asked how to best keep your motivation up when working solo on a project and running into difficult hurdles through your dev process… “Have you lost all your money? Try losing all your money.”

Once the PAX 10 panel was finished, we completed our night with a lengthy dinner with a bunch of the PAX 10 guys from various projects. Our party ended up large enough we needed to split up. It was great to talk to these guys and hear their opinions and insights to the industry as insiders. By the time we finally headed out we were all rather beat but it was a good end to a good day. The only regret was we didn’t have any gas left in the tank to catch the late night show of the Mini Bosses which I hear is a good show. Maybe next time.

Day 2 Pics

After getting home and finally going through some of the pics I got before the show opened and during the Make A Strip panel, I realized two things... A) My camera apparently blows and B) There were more unusable pictures that I had hoped for. For the ones that didn’t come out very well I’ll try to get more of them when we get there early today. Here is what seemed to come out OK.

Dungeon Runners receives best tag line so far.

Day 2 Make A Strip Pics

These show the general progression of the strip as Gabe illustrated it.



New insult for everyone to use. This was drawn as they feared verbalizing it in front of their wifes.



A quick sketch by Gabe for a fan request from the audience.





Another quick sketch depicting their uncanny physical resemblance to other duo characters.




















They said the strip should be published Monday probably with a few modifications.

Day 2 General Pics

A Fruit Fucker from On The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.



One of the models at the Fallout 3 booth.



The Left 4 Dead press only booth.



Some good stills of Starcraft 2 from the Blizzard booth

The Make A Strip panel

Just finished the Make A Strip panel and got a good number of pictures of the strip in progeress (I believe the final strip will be posted Monday night). With any luck some of those pics are usable.

Early entry plan worked well and should have some good pics from around the show floor.

Oh yea, got a good chunk of playable Little Big Planet.....AMAZING!!!!

Time for Fallout 3 panel.

Exhibitor Pass Scored!!!

Ummmm nuff said....

Highlights of Day 1

- After the show opened we basically just got assaulted on the exhibit hall floor by a sea of people but got a good idea of what to revisit later and spend more time with.

- Got back in line for the key note given by Ken Levine (big guy at 2K Boston) and the Penny Arcade Q&A panel to immediately follow. I enjoyed Ken’s speech and it opened the flood gates of nostalgia for a good 99% of the people in attendance (I’m sure there may have been a few booth babes in there going “WTF I don’t get it I’m so hot”). The Q&A panel was everything that I was told to expect, a solid hour of laughter. My hat really goes off to those guys for their on the fly humor and being able to turn some of the most horribly awkward questions/life tales into something entertaining for the rest of us. I definitely hope to catch the second Q&A panel on Sunday morning. (I tried to get some pics of these two events but due to bad seating and not very favorable lighting nothing really came out usable)

- Regrouped with the rest of our crew and made dinner plans. Ended up hitting the Tap House Grill with a group of guys from Grubby Games who have an entry in PAX 10. After dinner we hit a bar where some 1UP people were gathering. One of the reasons I enjoy these trips so much is being able to get a glimpse inside the gaming industry where most gamers don’t. Both dinner and the bar were perfect opportunities for this.

Seems like not a lot but keep in mind Day 1 is a short day (opens at 2 instead of 10) and there was an ass-ton of line waiting. Hope to cut as much of the line waiting out for the rest of the show.

So Slight Change Of Plans....

If anyone is actually following this, you may have noticed the lack of posts/pictures for day 1 of the show. As I feared the cell and WiFi reception is sketchy at best around the convention center. I will have to fall back to trying to upload pictures in bulk after each day’s events.

"So where are all the pretty pictures from yesterdays exciting adventure?"

Well to be honest once we finally got into the exhibit hall it was much like a mad house (trust me I know, see the title). EXTREMELY crowded and very tough to move around let alone get any sort of half decent pictures. To try and combat this, the geniuses we are, are going to try and leverage our “contacts” to get into the show floor a bit early before general opening today. With any luck we will get an hour or so of crowdless time in today and tomorrow.

“WTF!?!?!”

Yes I know it’s not going exactly as planned but hey we just roll with the punches and punch back….wait, that’s against the rules. Scratch the punching and move straight to the stabbing.

The Game

The Game has just been lost by thousands at the Penny Arcade Q&A

Lines, Lines and yet moar Lines

Finally got in and hit the insanity of the main exhibit hall. Now I'm back in line for the keynote given by Ken Levine. I deffinately saw some things that I'm going back for later to get good shots of to post.

Welcome To PAX

The line for reg

Optimus Rhyme

So after the fun filled exciting flight out Tuesday night after work (9 hours on the plane next to a 6 year old....). I had a enjoyable day of just about nothingness. Those of you who do know me know I do love my nothingness.

Last night though I was treated to the final salute from Optimus Rhyme as they took stage for the last time as a group at High Dive, a local Seattle bar. I will admit I was skeptical going in as this was my first exposure to nerd-rap but I ended up pleasantly surprised. I know this isn't exactly the music for everyone but I enjoyed the experience. It was a good time over all and the other artist really added to the night as well. Thumbs up go out to Beefy, The Goondocks, MC Frontalot and Optimus Rhyme (There was another guy in there somewhere but sorry dude just wasn't feeling the Pirate song).

Even though Optimus Rhyme is now a thing of the past, check them out at their site at optimusrhyme.com. Who knows maybe if we are lucky we'll get a Rodimus Rhyme one day....

P.S. To the insane chick trying to dance (I think). You either have zero clue to what you are doing or just have epilepsy, either way get help.

Welcome

I started this blog to help provide some insight into my experience at PAX 2008 for those less fortunate than I. I plan to post as much as I can from the show floor granted I get good enough WiFi or cell reception. I will also try to get other pics from regular, non-Blackberry, cameras of some of the bigger points of interest and try to get them posted in bulk at night or the day after. Comments are welcome and if you want some more detailed information on something at PAX just let me know and I’ll do what I can to track it down.

Rules/Things to Know:
1. I am not a writer. I am not a photographer. I am a guy who enjoys the game industry and got fortunate enough to attend PAX. What you see is what you get. I will try to inject a little humor here and there (if it’s funny in my head, good chance it will end up here) to keep it a little more entertaining beyond “this is this, and I was here”. If my brand of humor isn’t to your liking, eff you.
2. I AM NOT A WRITER!!! There WILL be spelling/grammar mistakes, expect them often. If you have a problem with that I have a dictionary that I’m not using, please feel free to shove that up your ass.
3. This is my first time blogging so bear with me as I work though some of the kinks to this process. Constructive criticism is welcome but being a tool may or may not get you letter bomb’d (I’m looking at you Willy)
4. I reserve the right to enforce Calvin Ball rules. This is my eff’n blog and I’ll do what I want with it when I want to.

Basically Ill try to keep this entertaining and amusing for you guys. Hope you enjoy.