PAX Day 2:
I met up with Egan and a few of his buddies around noon on Saturday. We met up at Spike's Junkyard Dogs. I was the odd ball for the conversation about Starcraft 2. It did intrigue me how everyone was discussing sick "plays", clutch wins, epic maneuvers and using brilliant strategies. The moments gamers share with each other, are just like talking about scoring the winning touchdown in the big game. Primarily being a PS3 console gamer I am missing out on a lot of inter-connectivity with other players. I do party up with some friends for PSN games, but it lacks something when no one wants to use a microphone.
We all finished our food then headed down to Hynes. The foot traffic was flowing a lot faster on Saturday. Egan and I split from his buddies and headed to the Exhibition hall. We checked out the nVidia 3D booth again. They were showing a demo for a game that has a crazy looking character sitting on a rocket sled that is shot down a set of train tracks. This 3D demonstration did not do much for me. Upon explosion pieces of debris would fly through the air. I did not feel the sensation of the 3D adding much to the experience. The game was entertaining and graphically it was pretty good, but the 3D effect was lost.
After a lap around the nVidia area we stood and stared at the Crackdown 2 area for a few minutes. Out journey then took us to the back corner of the room to a small booth showing the game Joe Danger. We spent the better part of 45 minutes there. After taking off from there we checked out some more of the booths and decided it was time for more food.
Pizza was acquired and a panel we wanted to attend was about 90 minutes away. So we checked out the line which was non-existent at that time, and went back to the console free play room. Time for more NBA Jam! I went 2-1 before our time was up. We went over and got inline for the “Fail now!” panel. I was under the impression it was about how games that have failed changed the industry in some way, and happy accidents. My assumption was way off. The discussion was less of a discussion and more of a lecture featuring graphs, and charts. The same graphs and the same charts were drawn over and over again. I started falling asleep at one point. Egan was interested because it was more focused at development and marketing. Ask him what it was about, I was snoozing,
A Podcasting (f)or PR panel was starting half way through the “Fail Now” discussion. Our priority for the weekend was to check out the Podcasting panel so we ducked out to try to get in. It apparently was the priority for a whole line of other PAX attendees as the line was already closed. We failed then and with nowhere to go; we went back to the exhibit hall and roamed around.
Finally, I was able to get in on Monday Night Combat for the final demo of the day. The game is a bit of a cluster fuck. (Note: MS Office auto corrected “clusterfuck to cluster fuck”) If I had more time to play and familiarize my self with controls and classes I would have more to say. All I took away from my experience was "Shit,its hard to kill other players, but I am getting killed every 20 seconds". By this time we were hungry and eager to go outside. We checked out Daisy Buchanan’s for 45 seconds. Enough to get inside, not move, and then leave. We found the dudes from the Rumble Pack and shot the shit with them for a while in some coffee shop that was playing Dragon Force. It was a surreal moment out side of the convention itself. We heard about “Decent Pizza’s decent pizza” with “Through the Fire and the Flames” cranking in some posh Newbury St. coffee shop. Egan and I then hit up Bukowski's for a beer and some food. PAX lanyards and badges were everywhere all weekend. It was cool to roam around the area and know everyone else was doing the something. I did not run into any one all weekend who was abrasive, angry, impolite, inconsiderate or rude. It was refreshing to have that, especially in the Back Bay. Even Egan and I didn’t act like douche bags.
Nothing was on our agenda for the rest of the night. We did another session of NBA Jam. I had another 2-1 session. Our time ran up half way through game four before I was able to come back and whoop Egan. We then set up camp on the third floor in the hall for a while debating on what to do. Egan played some Torch Light on his net book and I got through a couple levels in Metal Gear Ac!d on PSP. We called it a night around 11. I had prizes to give away all day, but didn't give out anything. No one told me they worked for Dick Jones and no one got their choice of Secret Service or Ratatouille for PS2. I still have both to give away. The next person to join our Facebook Fan Page and leave a comment gets either game.
PAX Day 3
Sunday morning we met up early and headed over to the last day of PAX East 2010. We did a lap around the exhibition hall. We got in a relatively quick moving line for Crackdown 2. I have mixed feeling about my experience in the demo. I guess Egan did alright playing in the team death match mode. I did not. I could not find any enemies. I spent time running around, flying, standing, and looking in all directions. I would find an enemy player and head in that direction. When I would arrive I would be looking for some one who was no longer there, or I would be met with a rocket to the face.
Nothing else remained we felt compelled to wait in line to play. We opted to go get pizza. Upon our return to the convention center we went to check out if a line was forming for the “Everything you wanted to know about video game journalism but were too afraid to ask” panel. We were a little too early, there was a huge line forming for the live X-play show happening in the same theater prior to the panel Egan and I were planning on going to. We had time to kill, and had our final NBA JAM session. I closed out PAX weekend with a 3 win sweep. We got in line fairly early for the “Everything …” panel. I killed 45 minutes inline by playing Chalkboard Stunts on my Ipod touch. It is a very basic game. The player is able to create a race track on a chalkboard. Ramps, loops, speed boosts and blocks are all at your fingertips to help create an obstacle course to reach the goal. The game has fun physics and allows for maps to be saved and shared. The App Store has a free version to play, with some limited features and PRO version for $1.99 which has added features like different vehicles and track construction tools. I recommend the free version to check out. The $1.99 game is up to you.
There was enough room remaining in the conference room by the time we got in for us to have a choice of some premium seats. The whole discussion was interesting some good questions were asked during the Q&A portion. They were also taking questions via twitter, DS chat, and email. One of the panelists, video game journalist, Kyle Orland answered the questions Egan and I submitted over our twitter account a day or two later which was very cool. That summed up the general PAX experience for me. Everyone was cool, friendly, and totally enjoyed talking video games in all aspects.
We left the whole weekend behind us around three or so in the afternoon. I had a blast. I enjoyed the time away from work primarily, but was pleased spending time in a gaming bubble. Everyone was playing something, discussing something, wearing something, or watching something related to games of all sorts with out any reserve, any guilt or feeling the need to apologize for just wanting to play a game. PAX East was an excellent weekend, and I feel like I didn’t truly make the most of it. It was hard to prioritize schedules. Standing in line to play a demo versus standing in line for a discussion was a game itself. Some panel discussions were staggered and again you had to prioritize staying for the whole session, or duck out early and gamble not making it in time to get into a second panel. You would essentially be missing two full panel discussions if you failed to make the cut off. The location was an excellent choice outside of the convention center. Easy access to public transportation, great food options in the area, plenty of places to meet up and hang out and retail. The Hynes Convention Center on the inside was a bit cramped, especially when lines were forming. The heavy rumor is that PAX East is returning to Boston in 2011 and 2012 to a larger, newer convention center in South Boston. The location for the larger convention center sacrifices places to go and accessible public transportation in the immediate area of the convention for a much larger space able to accommodate the massive crowds. Either way, expect to see me at PAX East in Boston next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment