PAX Prime 2011 Highlights

Section: 

Cool things are happening all around, and as things come my way I'll be posting them here:

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Sunday, 4:30pm

A few final notes...

  • Omegathon Final and Closing Ceremony: Starts at 5:30 PM in the Main Theater, and echoed to Wolfman Theater.
  • Kirby Mass Attack: Very pink, very cute, and you can collect and control up to 10 Kirbies.
  • Extra Credits: James Portnow announced today they're going to be moving to PA TV in the near future.

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Sunday, 1 pm

Random Act of Awesome!

Dancing Zombie with his posse of backup dancers (in their pimp shoes) performed "I Will Survive" for the crowd outside at the crepe shop. See images at right.

They're groovin' along all over PAX. Find them and dance along to get a pair of lighted sunglasses!

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Sunday, 11 am

  • Gabe and Tycho Signing: If you want something signed, head for the Queue Room. They'll be there from 11:30am to 2:30pm.
  • More Indie Goodness: MMORPG's abound, but Novus Aeterno takes it out into the strategic space. Rule your empire and protect it from other players. The closed Beta starts after PAX; sign up at the site if you're interested.
  • More Halo Fest Pics: Make a guess as to how many blocks are in this MegaBlock Guilty Spark and get a MegaBlock Master Chief figure.
  • Cosplayers in the wild: (see pics to the right)

      - Altair
      - Buzz Lightyear
      - Master Chief over in Halo Fest

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Saturday, 8pm

We have pics, so it happened:

  • Skyrim: I couldn't get anywhere near the booth for all the people, but the picture says it all. (This comment makes a lot more sense now that I got the picture up. ;) )
  • Halo Fest: All things Halo in one place. The diorama used for the Halo3 ads is onsite, and is something else to see in person.
  • Bioshock Infinite: Songbird and Elizabeth are looking really good.
  • Steve Jackson's Brain: Steve Jackson likes brains, and he found a new and novel way to entice people to use hand sanitizer. (it's soaking in it ;) )

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Saturday, 4:30pm

And they're back, with more cool stuff for you:

  • Containment!: The guys from Bootsnake Games came by to show me their work. Take a tile-based puzzler, and infest it with zombies! It looks gorgeous. Coming out on the iPad in late October, following on PC and Mac.
  • Skyrim: I couldn't get anywhere near the booth for all the people, but the picture says it all.
  • Halo Fest: All things Halo in one place. The diorama used for the Halo3 ads is onsite, and is something else to see in person. I want a Grunt plushie in the worst way.

Time for a food run and then we'll be back at it. Big image update in the works. You might need to be a bit patient, though. Connectivity of all sorts is stomped on a scale that cannot be described without charts and an easel. ;)

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Saturday, 2pm

My evil minions came back with some tales:

  • Orcs Must Die!: This looks interesting. Your stern, lantern-jawed type is trying to defend 20 fortresses from a relentless tide of orcs. Lay your traps and lay waste to your enemies. Coming in October for XBLA and Steam.
  • Free Cookies!: And they are delicious! See Good Old Games at booth 882 in the 4th floor Expo Hall for warm chocolate chip and white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies and old-school game goodness.
  • A Collectable Dice Game: I cannot know this exists. My budget is already going straight to R'leyh. IronDie at their booth in the 6th floor Expo Hall.

Pictures are starting to come in. Watch this space for more! They're headed for Halo Fest.

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Saturday, Noon

It's the big day, and things are in full swing! I sent my evil minions off to get me some Expo Hall pictures, but I've found a few cool things to share from where I'm at:

  • Just when you think there's nothing new for your dice-bag: I found a set of GameScience Precision Gaming Dice. Not only does it have the standard 7 dice, it adds a d3, d5, d14, d16, and d24. No more finagling for important calculations like days of the week or hours in the day. Check for your set at Games and Gizmos in 214.
  • CONSARS: Not the real stuff; the convention game. If you're interested in being a carrier, go to the Handheld Lounge over by 2A, to read the rules and get your germ stickers.
  • Minecraft: You're probably tired of me talking about it, but the Minecraft booth in the 6th Floor Expo Hall has some very cool information about the upcoming updates. Head on up there and take a look.

And a huge thank you to the Redshirts, who came and gave me redshirt-wearing gingerbread cookies. Awesome!

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Friday, 7pm

Expo is closed, but here's a few things to look for tomorrow:

  • Mindless, Incredibly Violent Fun: Suda51, the mind that brought us No More Heroes is back at it with Lollipop Chainsaw. A cheerleader is fighting hordes of zombies in her high school. The demo looks interesting, but very very bloody.
  • Halo Fest: If you have an invitation, the big party is in about half an hour.
  • Concert: If you want to go to the concerts, they start at 8pm. You might want to head out and join the lines at the Paramount. Video Game Orchestra, MC Frontalot, Metroid metal, and the Minibosses are hitting the stage tonight.

Swag Report:

  • Speaking of Lollipop Chainsaw, they're giving out a cool themed foam chainsaw and a fairly tasty sucker.
  • I found a Lineage II whoopie cushion. I don't know how to get it, but it is the current champion in the "Oddest Cool Swag EVAR" competition, and if anyone can explain the connection between it and the game to me, I'd deeply appreciate it. I am confused.
  • If you want to purchase it, there's a soundtrack CD w/for Bastion available for $15 at the WB Booth. It comes with an awesome poster. They also have an awesome bandana available for free.

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Friday, 1pm

  • An Episode 3 without Emo-Vader: Penny Arcade's On the Rainslick Precipice of Darkness is going to have an Episode 3. Zeboyd Games is giving us another old school 16-bit adventure.
  • For all you Munchkin maniacs: Dominic Knight brought me a cool bit of news. Axe Cop is a webcomic written by a 5 year old, and drawn by his big brother. This sounds like a job for Steve Jackson Games! They're releasing Munchkin Axe Cop today. They've got a limited number for sale at the Steve Jackson games room right next to their play area.

And apparently we're playing Bananagrams for the sole purpose of finding a word I don't know how to spell. Anyone know how to spell "loogie"? as in "Mt. Iwannahawkaloogie"?

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IronDice Classes Sheet
Skyrim Dragon Display
Halo 3 Diarama
Bioshock Ultimate: Songbird and Elizabeth
Steve Jackson and his "brain"
MegaBlock Guilty Spark
Altair Cosplay
Buzz Lightyear Cosplay
Master Chief over in Halo Fest
Pimp Groovin'
The Posse struttin' their stuff
In your pimp shoes...
The Ghostbusters ain't afraid of no zombies....

Comments

Just got in to the Wil Wheaton panel coming up. Haven't had a chance to sync up with any Goodjers yet. Having fun so far, but definitely lots of standing in lines. Gonna hit the convention floor next, I think.

I'm not sure what to think of the Episode 3 news. I really liked Episodes 1 and 2 as they were, and last I heard the big reason they stopped doing it was because Gabe was sick of concept art where he got no immediate feedback. To that I say "whaa whaa", you made a commitment, got everyone excited and now you deal.

I'll probably dig this continuation, but it's still a bit disappointing.

Ranger Rick wrote:

Just got in to the Wil Wheaton panel coming up. Haven't had a chance to sync up with any Goodjers yet. Having fun so far, but definitely lots of standing in lines. Gonna hit the convention floor next, I think.

My sister and her boyfriend got to say hi to him yesterday

I am jealous of you all. Maybe next year.

The ultimate booth babes, apparently presented by GOG.com:

IMAGE(http://www.malor.com/gamerswithjobs/goodoldgrandmas.jpg)

Malor wrote:

The ultimate booth babes, apparently presented by GOG.com:

IMAGE(http://www.malor.com/gamerswithjobs/goodoldgrandmas.jpg)

Considering that booth babes usually give you nothing or crappy swag, I'll take what these ladies are offering.

Edit: Looking forward to some proper Minecraft footage. The stuff coming out so far is rather amateur.

Novus Aeterno. Noted. Thanks!

Since seeing those images of Irondie I've checked it out a bit. It looks pretty cool but good grief it's expensive. $40 for 9 random dice, $16 for 3 random dice and it's the sort of collectible game that will probably have you wanting to continuously collect new ones to try out different combinations and possibilities.

If that's not an incredibly inflated price, they should push the metal dice into limited edition territory and move into a cheaper material so the rest of us can play.

Great to see you folks last weekend. My personal highlight of the week was being given a wad of pipe-cleaners while in line for the Omega-thon and allying with two clever Brits to fashion them into a functional D20 mounted on a hat. Pictures coming soon!

My highlight, meeting Ken Levine and showing him the game of Arkham Horror that the GWJ crew was playing on Sunday. Squee.

Dax wrote:

Great to see you folks last weekend. My personal highlight of the week was being given a wad of pipe-cleaners while in line for the Omega-thon and allying with two clever Brits to fashion them into a functional D20 mounted on a hat. Pictures coming soon!

Hah! Saw that in line. Very impressive.