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Breach Impressions

At PAX, I had an opportunity to play Breach, by Atomic Games, and I was not impressed, to be honest. Breach is a first person shooter, based in a modern warfare setting. There are five classes which you can choose from, but only three were playable at PAX, the Rifleman, the Gunner and Recon. The Rifleman was similar to a sniper, but was more mobile and wasn't crippled in closer combat. The Gunner is your standard heavy weapon class, with a machine gun and grenade launcher. The Recon class is almost like a scout, with a little more weaponry. I was able to play all three classes, and wasn't overly impressed by any of them.

I am not sure Breach offers anything more than Counter Strike: Source or the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series. The developers at PAX were saying that the entire world was destructible, they said to the point where you could remove a single brick and use it as a whole for sniping, I didn't see it. I attempted to shoot at walls, and nothing happened, I fired grenade and there was little or no destruction. There was one wooden structure that was able to be destroyed, but it seemed to be the only thing. There was an archway where the other team would tend to hide, I attempted to drop it down on them, and nothing happened. I am not sure if it wasn't working, I was doing it wrong, or it just can't happen, but either way, it does not speak well for the game, since this was their big selling point.

The game is set to cost fifteen dollars, which is not bad at all, but I feel like they are making sure that everyone knows the game is fifteen dollars, they had a fairly prominent sign at PAX. I feel like they were trying to distract from a incomplete or sub par game by making sure that everyone knew it was much cheaper than similar games. If I was looking for a cheap game, I would still go with Counter Strike: Source over Breach, minus the "destructible" world Breach offers nothing more than Counter Strike. If you are looking for a current game, and willing to pay for it, there is no reason not to get Modern Warfare 2 or Bad Company 2. I feel like Breach attempts to cash in on the Modern Warfare trend, but it doesn't offer anything new, and Modern Warfare is a better game. I see no reason to purchase this game, to be honest, and I do not understand the hype it is getting. Though, keep in mind, the game is still currently in the very early alpha stages, so we could see much more in the way of improvement.

Pax East: Days 2 & 3

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.

Baseball Picks and MLB 2K10

Baseball Picks:

It's that time of year again. Every year, I like to make my baseball predictions, and being opening day tonight, I need to it. I will also include a review of MLB 2K10 with it, since I have been playing that due to lack of The Show for XBox 360. I will break down my predictions on were I think teams will fall and a short explanation about why.

AL East
1. Boston

The new look Red Sox are going to be a very tough team to score runs against. Between having the best and deepest pitching rotation in baseball, they should have one of the best defensive teams in the league. Their offense isn't going to be what it was in prior years, but it doesn't need to be. A big question mark for the team is the DH spot, Ortiz will never be what he was from 2004 to 2006, but I also don't think he will be what he was the first half of 2009. Boston will put up a good number of runs, but their runs allowed should be near the best in the league.

2. New York(WC)

The Yankees will make the playoffs, no doubt, but we won't be as good as last year. Last year, they stayed completely healthy, which is rare for any team. I think we will see A.J Burnett spend time on the DL, which really weakens their pitching staff, I also don't think Nick Swisher will play nearly as well as he did last year, and Javier Vazquez had a ton of trouble pitching in New York in 2004, and I think we will see the same. The Yankees are still a great team, but they had an almost flawless season last near, there is no way they can repeat it again.

3. Tampa Bay

In the three headed monster that is the AL East, one team has to be left out of the playoffs. That will be the Tampa Bay Rays. They have one of the better offenses in the league, but I honestly do not believe Ben Zobrist is as good as he played last year. Their pitching staff is still fairly inexperienced, David Price and Wade Davis have not shown me anything to be blown away by. They will stay in the race for the majority of the year, no doubt, but I think similar to last year, they will fall short.

4. Baltimore

In any other division the Baltimore is a contender, in the AL East, they are not. Their pitching staff is still very weak, but this could change over time. The addition of Kevin Millwood will give them a good veteran starter to help along the young pitchers they have in the system. Their offense is going to very strong this year, they will play over .500, and playing in the AL East, that deserves to be noted. In a few years, they will be an even better team, but they need to make a couple big moves to contend.

5. Toronto

Toronto isn't going to be good this year, with that said, they still have a lot of depth in pitching, and a good couple of young hitters. The team is in a rebuilding year, and should be for the next two to three years. Toronto will not be the worst team in baseball, and they should give the other AL East teams some trouble, they will not be a definite win. We will see how they progress over the next couple of years, but this year, they are last place.

AL Central
1. Minnesota

Even without Joe Nathan, the Twins will win the Central. They are just too good. They have, in my opinion, the best player in baseball, Joe Mauer, and have a solid offense built around him. Adding J.J. Hardy and Orlando Hudson make the offense even better. Their pitching staff is filled with no names, but they are very good no names. On top of that, Francisco Liriano could return to his former self, he has looked good in spring training. The Twins will take the Central, and I think they will take it by 5 games.

2. Chicago

The White Sox are a pretty good team, but I am not sure they are any better than last year. I am not convinced Jake Peavy will succeed in the AL, but if he does the White Sox will be in the race the entire year. Their offense is pretty good, but nothing special, they have some good talent. Their rotating DH is an interesting situation, and they will need to find the RBI numbers outside of the DH, unlike most teams. Outside of my worries for Peavy, their pitching staff is solid. I just think the Twins are that much better.

3. Detroit

Detriot went from a rebuilding team to a win now team during the course of the off season. Trading away Granderson, but then signing Damon. They will play well this season, but I am not sure they have enough to win the division, or pass the White Sox. Behind Verlander, their pitching staff is somewhat suspect, and the offense is good, but not great, outside of Miguel Cabrera, they do not have a top flight bat, so they won't be able to drive in a ton of runs. Detroit will be a good team this year, but they will fall short of the playoffs for sure.

4. Cleveland

Although an all out rebuilding team, they are not the worst team in the division. Cleveland still has a good offense, and their pitching staff could surprise people. Westbrook is back after missing all of last year, if he has a good year, it will go a long way with Cleveland having a better year than last. Travis "Dr." Hafner looks the best he has been in a couple years also. Between Choo, Sizemore and Hafner, they Indians will put a good amount of runs, their pitching beyond 3 is a total crap shoot though.


5. Kansas City

The Royals are bad. The royals will be bad until they fire the entire front offense. Behind Grenkie, there really isn't much to talk about with this team, Grenkie will still put up amazing numbers, but no one else around him will do much. I do not for see them doing much at all this year.

AL West
1. Seattle

I am very torn between Seattle and Texas for the west. It is going to be a very close race, but I am giving it to Seattle. With a duo like Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez, how can I not. Behind them is Eric Bedard, who could be a top tier pitcher, if he knew how to stay healthy. Their offense is pretty good overall, Ichiro will be Ichiro and with Chone Figgins, we will see a ton of speed on the bases with them. I think they will generate enough runs to win games, and pitch very very well.

2. Texas

Texas is much like the Twins with their pitching staff, no guaranteed ace, but a lot of solid guys. With that said, if healthy Rich Harden is a very good pitcher. If not healthy, the Rangers need to rely on their offense to carry them. With that said, it should carry them very well, they have an amazing offense. I like Texas a lot, and if they win the West, I will not be surprised at all, they will stay in the wild card race until the final day if they do not win the West.

3. Anaheim

I see a lot of regression for this team, starting with the pitching staff, Scott Kazmir is not what he once was, and Joel Pinero will be nothing like he was in St. Louis. Losing Lackey and Figgins was a huge blow to this team. I think they will play well, and won't fall out of the race to early, but I really think it is between Seattle and Texas for the West.

4. Oakland

Oakland might surprise people, they have the best defensive outfield in baseball, if you ask me, and are a machine for turning out great pitchers. They aren't going to win anything, but they very well could leapfrog into 3rd with some key injuries to other teams. I think they will end up in fourth though, they have way to many question marks to do much more than that.


NL East
1. Philly

Philadelphia is no worse than they were last year, they might be better, starting the year off with a top tier pitcher, and adding Polanco at third base. I still predict them to win the East, similar to the last few years, they are a great team. The major question mark is Brad Lidge. He seems to fall apart every few years, and then rebound, though, starting the year on the DL may not allow him to rebound this year. If the Phils can find someone to close out games and keep Lidge on a short leash, they should have no issues in the East.


2. Atlanta(WC)

Atlanta is going to be a great team this year, trading away Vazquez is going to hurt them, but they still have a very solid pitching staff. Their offense should also be better than last year, though they do have a couple question marks. Troy Glaus is coming back from injury and Jason Heyward is starting in the outfield as a rookie. Atlanta will still have a great year, and I think they will take the wild card.

3. Florida

Florida, though young and cheap, always find a way to compete. This year will be no different. I don't think they are going to be good enough to get into the playoffs, but they have a great team to build upon. Major League Baseball is now forcing them to spend money, so we might see more players go to Florida in the coming years, and they can only get better.

4. Washington

Washington is going to be bad, but not as bad as last year. And, my big surprise prediction is them not finishing in last place. They have a decent core of offensive players with Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn. Their pitching could also be good enough, and if Strausburg plays this year, and lives up to the hype, they have an ace on their hands.

5. New York

The Mets are going to be awful this year. Adding Jason Bay isn't going to do much for them. They failed pretty hard at adding depth to their pitching staff, and have almost nothing behind Santana. With Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes starting the year on the DL, their offense will suffer a lot. Omar Minaya is a bad GM, I am not sure why he has not been fired yet. I am predicting the Mets to be in last place this year.

NL Central
1. St Louis

St. Louis should run away with the Central, between Pujols and Holiday on the offensive side, and Carpenter and Wainwright pitching, they have a solid team. I think they might be the best team in the NL going into the year.

2. Cincinnati

Cincinnati might be better than most expect, they have a very deep pitching staff, and we should see Chapman at some point during the year. Their offense, lead by Votto, should be pretty decent this year. I don't think they are going to make it a race with St. Louis, but they will win a very respectable number of games this year.

3. Milwaukee

To be honest with you, I am not sure that Milwaukee has a pitching rotation this year. With that said, the duo of Fielder and Braun might be one of the best offense 1-2 punches in the league. Milwaukee should be good this year, but I think both St. Louis and Cincinnati will be better.

4. Chicago

The Cubs should be a .500 team this year. Zambrano and Dempster are both good starters, and should win a lot of games for them, but behind them, there isn't much. The offense isn't anything special, they are really a very middle of the road team, they need to clear out some of the bad contracts, and get some new players in there to fill to wholes.

5. Houston

This might be the worst Houston team we have seen in years. With Lance Berkman on the DL to start the season, Roy Oswalt can't carry the team alone. If there is any team that is going to let the Pirates pass them, Houston will be it. I still think they will be better than the Pirates, but just barely.

6. Pittsburgh

The Pirates are in a continuous state of rebuilding, but with a new GM, they are actually rebuilding right. They have a decent young core of players, but too young to make an impact any time soon. The Pirates might end up the worst team in the NL this year, but Houston will be very far behind them.

NL West
1. Colorado

Colorado is a good team, but they are a team of nobudy's, beyond Todd Helton. They hit very well, they pitch very well. The NL West is going to be a very tight division this year, but the Rockies are a good team. I think they will sneak out a division win.

2. Arizona

If Brandon Webb was starting the year healthy, this team would be very tough to beat. Danny Haren will continue to put up great numbers like he always has, I think we will see more of second half Edwin Jackson from last year with the DBacks, but he still should be good enough. They are a young team with a very good offense and a very good top of the rotation. They will keep it close the entire year, but I think they will just fall short.

3. LA

The Dodgers did not get any better this year, but, they are still a decent enough team. Their pitching staff is a big question mark, it is young, and could exceed expectations, but I do not see the Dodgers making the playoffs this year, the Rockies are too good, and the DBacks are getting better as their young players age.

4. San Fransisco

Originally, I had the Giants winning the West, not anymore. They have an amazing pitching rotation, no doubt, and they will win a lot of games as a result, but their offense does not convince me. Upon first glance, their offense does not look bad at all, but once you dig deeper, you will notice that the majority of the players are past their prime, or are injury prone. I do not for see this team going very far. The pitching staff will carry the team through the entire year, and they may stay in the race the majority of the year, but I don't think they have the offense to finish the year on top.

5. San Diego

San Diego is another rebuilding team, beyond Adrian Gonzalez, there isn't much this team has to offer. If Chris Young doesn't pitch well this year, they are in even worse shape. There is no way San Diego comes anywhere near 4th place, let alone any sort of playoff birth.


Now, for the video game section of the post. I picked up MLB 2k10 the day it came out, and jumped right into it. I did not get it last year due to reading about the bugs and how it wasn't a great game. I was craving a baseball game so I thought I would jump in and take the risk. The game isn't as buggy as 2k9, but it isn't perfect either. One game, by team bugged out and I had a completely different teams uniform on, and many times, when attempting to play the game, it would just freeze. On top of the buggy game, hitting is absolutely impossible. I am playing on the default difficulty, and I have not won a game yet. I am pretty sure in 20 games, I have 2 home runs and only 2 doubles, the game makes hitting frustratingly hard. On the other side of the coin, I really enjoy the pitching system. You choose a pitch, and use a analog stick to do a motion for the pitch, the more accurate you are with the motion, the more effective the pitch is, I like it a lot. Overall, I have grown tired of losing in MLB 2K10, and the bugs in the game make it even more frustrating. The game is not great by any means. Maybe you will have more luck hitting than I do, but overall, I am not a huge fan of the game.

PAX EAST DAY 1

This weekend was the big Penny Arcade Expo at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Ma. I was able to go with good friend and fellow D-pad D-Bag Egan. I’m going to give a short run down of my experience with some broad and general strokes.

Friday, I met up with Egan fairly early. We hung out, scoped out the scene, and then got some eats. We sat at a bar, got a burger, a beer and watched CNN. CNN was running a story at the time about Korea being ready for a nuclear strike. After I mentioned that Korea had nukes, Egan said “Blizzard should just release StarCraft 2 as soon as possible to save the world from nuclear holocaust. “ I finished my MGD and burger with bacon. Bacon makes everything better. I was ready to head back to the convention center.

The large queue room was the next scene of our adventure. 10 minutes passed before the heat from all the people in there and the odd smell of humid August garbage got to me and I had to go get air. We walked towards the doors on Boylston Street and hung out as we saw the line getting longer and longer. Once the line got moving after 2 pm we were in the exhibition room in almost no time. We entered and took it all in.

Upon entrance to the exhibition hall, we were greeted with the Rockstar sign for Red Dead Redemption and the big 2kGames signs for Mafia II and Bioshock 2. We looked around for a few then started walking towards demo booths. I saw there was no line for D&D online, a MMO for PC. I stepped up to a station, grabbed the mouse, and fiddled with the key board and killed 2 big rats or something after 10 minutes of trying to figure out how to play. I have 0 MMO experience and found the controls to be non intuitive. I had no idea how to fix the camera so I could see what was in front of me.

The Developers Vs Journalist panel was our next stop. I found it very interesting. Some key things I took away from the discussion were Journalists communicate with consumers what to buy or not buy. Bad reviews are imminent if the writer is not a fan of the game or genre. The journalist will hate his job, hate his boss, hate the game and just trash it. They also touched upon something I found interesting when they discussed journalists writing reviews based on the individual experience. If a writer only played on easy mode, they should disclose that. They can write about general game play mechanics, but mentioning difficulty is a relative aspect to the writer, and the reader as well.

After the panel we hit the show floor again and wandered around. We stumbled upon the Monday Night Combat demo. We stopped right away and got sucked into watching other people play for a solid 20 minutes before deciding to get into line to try for ourselves. One of the loading screens has a piece of bacon giving a shotgun shell a high five. I was sold on the game right then and there. Bacon makes everything better. We spent another 30 minutes waiting our turn and when we were about to pick up the controllers the guy with the mic hosting the demo called for all people that signed up for the tournament. Neither Egan, nor myself were one of the people entered in the tourney. Defeated, yet determined we vowed to get back and get some hands on time with the vividly crazy arena combat game.

The Skate 3 demo area was our next stop after a quick lap around the exhibition rooms. We found out they were giving stuff away for getting 50,000 points on the “Beat the Meat” game mode. The “Beat the Meat” mode basically has the player trying to skate board off of a cliff, and inflict the most bodily harm possible. I waited in line, and got my turn and only hit 49,500 (approximately) I was the only person the whole weekend it seems, to not leave with a free skate deck. I did eventually win a free t-shirt at the Skate 3 demo booth, but I really wanted the board.

We also got to check out Breach. Why some one wanted to steal the code for this is beyond me. I found the game dated, and a cliché FPS. The developers at the booth were trying to upsell the fully destructible environment. I could not find much evidence of that. I also found it extremely difficult to use grenades. They did not show the grenade’s path so it was hard to effectively gauge the direction, arc, distance, and landing location of grenades. I understand that the game is in a pre-beta build right now with a projected $15.00 price tag, but I could find the same jollies playing some Team Fortress Classic.

At this point in the day, the venue started to fill up and lines got long. We took a lap around the third floor and peaked into the various rooms hosting various console and arcade game free plays. We also checked out what other attendees were doing. It looked like mostly lounging around on huge bean bags, playing Nintendo DS, engaged in some sort of CCG, or listening to music and snoozing. Egan and I then decided to get some grub and hit up Wendy’s.

When we got back to the Hynes, we had about 45 minutes or so before exhibit halls closed. We checked out the second large room. We were able to check out some of the nVidia 3D exhibits. I got to see Lost Planet in 3D I was impressed. I don’t know if it because 3D is foreign to me, and a totally new entertainment experience, or because it really is that good. Expect me to talk more about my feeling on 3D gaming and entertainment in coming weeks.

The Alienware area was where we decided to camp out next. We were able to get into a Modern Warfare 2 game on PC. I was excited and thought I stood a chance. I know the weapons and I’m familiar with the maps. I’m born to kill. I got smoked. I am a better console game by far. I am an absolutely horrible FPS player when I am on a mouse and keyboard. I had no idea what my secondary grenade key was, how to switch weapons, or how to duck.

After we got pwn3d, we checked out a crowd of people around some booth. The booth was set up by a graphics card company that was giving away free swag. Headphones, water bottle clips, processors, graphics cards, and shirts. One kid kept screaming “I’m Miley Cyrus” over and over and over again. The MC for the company got a cheap laugh the first time, and the kid in the crowd got nothing. So “Miley” kept doing this. I had a raffle ticket to win something so I wanted to hold onto hope and stick around in case my number was called. I should have realized I had no chance. “Miley Cyrus” kept yelling and screaming. Then some kid started trying desperately to out do “Miley” by repeatedly shouting “But I’m the world’s worst Ghost Buster!” After the booth announced that there were no more prizes, I took off. “Miley” went to the desk where the MC was closing up shop and was trying to barter for a free water bottle holster clip.

Egan and I ended up at Monday Night Combat again. I had images in my head that a mascot in a huge bacon suit was undulating around the crowd. I was hoping to find a huge strip of bacon willing to give me a high five, followed by a gnarly air guitar solo like Bill and Ted do. I was only greeted with a line to play the game soon before the exhibit hall closed. Egan and I stood there wide eyed watching others play this game until last call. I set a goal of playing Monday Night Combat and Skate 3 as we exited the exhibition hall.

Somehow we got corralled upstairs at 6:00 pm, just as a big panel was letting out of the main room. A huge deluge of gamers was ushered up the escalators instead of directed towards the exits. Egan and I wanted to head outside for some air, but this sea of people forced us upstairs with no way to get outside. The exit lay just on the other side of the escalator we were forced to ascend. We found a spot on the third floor hall way next to a window, against a wall with an Asian dude totally passed out next to us. Plenty of other gamers stopped to get a photo of this kid knocked out cold on the floor.

Eventually we got up and the classic console free play room was found. Holy Shit! What an excellent move. They had a Sega Genesis and NBA Jam T.E. for an epic win. Egan and I played out 30 minute allotment. I went 2-1. We then decided it was time for some beer and fun. We went to the Pour House for 2.5 beers. It was over crowded, too loud, and a mix of PAX run off and usual post 9-5er nickel and dimers. We then hit up McGreevy’s. We grabbed a beer at the back bar. They had an 8x11 plastic sign holder with a piece of paper that read “Official PAX gamer party!” Egan and I looked around and saw 3 people with PAX badges hanging around their neck and a few coats on bar stools. We pulled up two empty seats, and had a few brews before heading back to the convention center.

We planned on going to the “Losing should be fun panel” that was about an hour and a half away. We had time to kill, and did what any red blooded American gamer would do. We played some more games. We hit up the classic console free play again. And again, I went 2-1 on NBA Jam T.E. as expected. We packed up and went over to get inline for the panel. The panel was very entertaining and made some strong points. The hosts said games should be fun whether you win or lose. Essentially, losing should be fun. They got into some philosophic thoughts on how games should be fun. The player should have fun, not necessarily the character. How ever the story should progress and make sense for the character to lose in a situation, even if the player does not want to lose. I wish I took better, more legible notes but 4 or 5 Hoegaardens made me throw the rule book out the window and have some fun.

After the panel wrapped up there was still time to go to the console free play for current generation systems. I picked up Darksiders and Egan snagged God of War III for a while. I got 45 or so minutes into Darksiders. I played it on default settings and felt like I was progressing at a good pace. I enjoyed the art style, but was not too crazy on the actually beat em up aspect of it. If I had more time I would have stuck with it. I do plan on playing this game later, probably as a rental. I had to see what a lot of hype was about, but didn’t think 45 minutes allowed me much perspective. Time ran out on both of our sessions then we decided it was time to split. PAX day 2 Awaited!