PAXEast 2013 Gamers with Jobs Panel

PAXEast 2013 On The Go

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Sunday, 7pm

PAXEast 2013 is over.

Every year they come up with something surprising for the final round of the Omegathon, and this year was no different. The game chosen was Spaceteam, an iPad/iPhone game. Each player is helping to control a ship as it hurtles through space, frantically following commands on their own console and repeating orders to others to complete them on theirs. Work together to try to keep your ship running, as the dangers of each sector take their toll.

However, technical issues with the game itself has resulted in Mike and Jerry declaring a tie, and in the end all four finalists will be headed for Gamescom in Germany.

If you've missed anything, head over to Twitch TV's channel and you can watch anything that happened in the Main Theater, and selected other events.

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Sunday 3pm

The panel went great! Watch our usual podcasting space for the audio, and thanks to Jeff Green and Justin McElroy for joining us. Padreic's little girl is extremely cute and extremely amenable to being held by strange old ladies in loud shirts.

One reason I do this article every PAX is that the media has a very specific focus on the newest, latest and greatest when they cover PAX. That's their job. But there is so much more going on out of their cynosure.

- The Into the Pixel traveling art exhibition is a curated collection of videogame concept art, sponsored by the Entertainment Software Association and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. It displays large format concept and production art from a wide selection of videogames, showcasing the art in games. It's down by the escalator between Classic Console Freeplay and Console Freeplay. (Note: there are high resolution versions of the pieces in the collection that put my crappy cell phone camera in the shade available to view at the link.)

- PAX has lots of ways the attendees can show off their skills. Right next to that art display you find the Dance Stage, where people line up to strut their Dance Revolution moves. Directly opposite it on the far side of the food court is the Rockband Freeplay Stage. It's one thing to play these games in your living room, it's even more fun to go for it in front of everyone.

- And it's not just playing other people's music. Come on down and make your own at the Jamspace and the ChipTune stages down between Naga and Arachnid theaters.

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Sunday, 10am

- If you're onsite, head down to Arachnid Theatre at 12:30 pm to see Gamers With Jobs - Why We Game. The Seans, Rabbit, and Demiurge will be joined by Jeff Green and Justin McElroy to discuss what keeps the gaming fire alive.

- The end of an era is coming. Harmonix announced last night that they will be shipping the last weekly update for Rock Band on April 2nd. Fittingly, the last song will be Don McLean's "American Pie".

- Last night we found one of Dr. Exoskeleton's letters. It's a convention game of fiendishly hard trivia. My team is working hard to complete it, but some of these clues are bending my brain. We'll do our best, and look forward to the next challenge. Thanks again for another great game, Dr.

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Saturday, 9pm

Today got swamped in a whirl of fun, but here are a couple tidbits of information I came across:

- For all of us who reveled in Firaxis' revival of the Xcom franchise with XCOM: Enemy Unknown, I have good news. 2K China is working to port the game, as is, to iOS. This just might actually push me to upgrading to a newer iPad. More details already up on Polygon.

- Octodad surprised me with it's deft application of that strange and wonderful premise. A sequel called Octodad: Dadliest Catch got greenlit on Steam, and will be coming out soon for PC/Mac/Linux.

- At 9:30pm, join the creators of Cards Against Humanity in Wyvern Theatre to pitch your own card ideas. The best will be included in the game, the worst will be "mercilessly ridiculed."

- This just in! Firaxis announces that they're including the XCOM soldiers as a new type of elite paratrooper in Civilization V, as part of their upcoming expansion Brave New World. They already had me at "Civ", but that's yet another thing to look forward to.

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Friday, 10pm

- Battleblock Theater, a new game from The Behemoth (developers of Castle Crashers), is finally coming out. It hits XBLA in two weeks, and it looks like it has their signature multiplayer platforming with a hint of capture the flag. I've added this one to my list, for sure. If you're onsite, head on over to the Behemoth booth (512) to check out the cartoony mayhem.

- Friday night concerts are underway with Video Game Orchestra, Those Who Fight, and The Protomen.

- When they say that PAX is for all kinds of gamers, they're not kidding. Gameshow Night: Jeopardy! is running right now in Naga Theater. Contestants will be taken out of the crowd to show off their gaming knowledge, in the form of a question.

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Friday, 6pm

While a thousand words may or may not be an accurate description of a given picture's worth, I can safely say this one takes more than that to explain. It's awesomeness is undeniable, though.

I hope you're all having fun at the GWJ Slap and Tickle, being held at the Tamo Bar in the bottom of the Seaport.

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Friday, 11:30am

- Blizzard has announced they are heading into the collectable card game space in a big way. Take a look at Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. I won't echo every site out there, but you can start here.

- Capcom just announced a remaster of the classic NES Ducktales game. That's why everyone you know on Twitter just started talking about their memories of the show. I'll keep an eye out and see if I can get a release date.

- The Stinky FootBoard may seem a little silly, but when you get your hands (or feet) on it a whole lot of possibilities come to mind. The marketing is focused on using it to enhance World of Warcraft but any game could benefit from it's wealth of additional control options. And not just games - while trying it out I accidentally mapped it to the inventory management form I was working on and found it a useful addition for data entry. It also opens a huge door for accessibility. They showed it here first, and it will hit Kickstarter sometimes next week.

- In GWJ-related news, Rabbit, the Seans, Cory, Pyroman, JP, and a host of the usual suspects are playing of Monochelli's custom Dune board down in Tabletop. I expect hijinks will ensue.

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Friday, 9am

Here we go again, folks. The infamous line has started, despite the inclement weather (I took that shot at 7am!). There's all sorts of new news to come, but we're kicking off the PAXEast 2013 On The Go with some old school:

- Classic Console Freeplay is bringing back the original Steel Battalion! They will be running 12 stations (a 4 vs 4 setup, and 4 single-player freeplay stations). Head on down to room 150 and talk to the staff for all the details.

- Capy Fine Racing GP is a real throwback. The creators, Capybara Games and Double Fine, are distributing it here on 3.5 inch floppy disks! It will also be included in 200 retail versions of their collaborative Steam collection. And there's yet another twist guaranteed to bring some smiles to the DRM-weary masses: People who do actually get their hands on a copy are encouraged to share.

Line to get in the line, 7am Friday at PAXEast 2013
Cory "Demiurge" Banks, strutting his Dune-themed stuff
Battleblock Theater screenshot
XCOM: Enemy Unknown on iOS
Dr. Exoskeleton's invitation letter
Into The Pixel art show
Dance Revolution Freeplay stage

Comments

<---- still annoyed that they didn't announce when tickets would be available beforehand. So I was checking availability approximately every 4-8 weeks starting just after PAXE 2012 completed, and 3-day passes went from not-on-sale to sold out from one page view to the next.

Excited to read the updates, mom!

Keep the updates coming!

Ducktales! Wooo Hoo!

More pics of Cory in ... metal cod pieces!

That picture makes me feel funny in my no no place...

You've seen it. You can't un-see it.

Thanks to Momgamer and the Enforcers for accommodating us during the panel. I just wish you had more time to hang out in Tabletop, but that might just be me being selfish. We took some pictures and video that I'll post in the PAX East 2013 thread tomorrow. It's amazing but each PAX is better than the last and this one was no exception. Can't wait for next year!

ARG IT'S ALREADY OVER??

Seriously - I had such a f'n blast. So great to meet all those Goodjers in meatspace! Thanks again Momgamer and all the other [E]nforcers for all the hard work.

McIrishJihad wrote:

Thanks again Momgamer and all the other [E]nforcers for all the hard work.

I didn't get a chance to say hi to momgamer this year! There was a huge crowd near the front of the GWJ panel and it looked near impossible to get through it.

Much <3 for the Enforcers. I don't know what sort of secret elixers they keep in vats behind the scenes, but I'm continually amazed at how energetic every single one of them are right until the end of the show.

shoptroll wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

Thanks again Momgamer and all the other [E]nforcers for all the hard work.

I didn't get a chance to say hi to momgamer this year! There was a huge crowd near the front of the GWJ panel and it looked near impossible to get through it.

Much <3 for the Enforcers. I don't know what sort of secret elixers they keep in vats behind the scenes, but I'm continually amazed at how energetic every single one of them are right until the end of the show.

This. Enforcers are pretty much universally wonderful at what they do.

I've got a few photos up that I took on my cellphone, but Alexis and I took a lot more with her camera, and those'll go up tonight or tomorrow.

Tanglebones wrote:
shoptroll wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

Thanks again Momgamer and all the other [E]nforcers for all the hard work.

I didn't get a chance to say hi to momgamer this year! There was a huge crowd near the front of the GWJ panel and it looked near impossible to get through it.

Much <3 for the Enforcers. I don't know what sort of secret elixers they keep in vats behind the scenes, but I'm continually amazed at how energetic every single one of them are right until the end of the show.

This. Enforcers are pretty much universally wonderful at what they do.

Yes, they were all really nice, approachable, and helpful whenever I had a question.

As much as I now feel like a broken record, it was great to see the Goodjers tabletop coalition once again!

The idea of joining the enforcers entices me more each year. If I could find a place to stay for free, like a friends house, I can't think of a reason why I wouldn't join them.