When I found out that I would be attending PAX, one of the things I was most excited about was getting a really good look at the new Penny Arcade Adventures game being put together by Hothead Games with some help from Gabe and Tycho themselves. A few trailers have been out so far and in the last two days, a website has surfaced as well as the news that the game will be coming to XBLA. Well this morning I finally got a chance to see it for myself live and in person. More »
In case you have never been here or have noticed that I haven’t been posting lots of “hands on” articles, PAX is really about gamers. It’s not an E3 where you will see all the latest games (although there are some things here) it’s more a giant social gaming party. Everywhere you look there are gamers playing games. And not just video games either, there is plenty of board gaming, card gaming, RPG gaming, D&D gaming and pretty much any other kind of gaming you can think of. As I’ve been wandering around I’ve marvelled at all these gamers peacefully co-existing with each other, making friends and just generally having a good time. If you’ve ever doubted the camaraderie of the cult of gaming, come to PAX and it will change your outlook completely.
PAX goers were treated to a whole raft of new exclusive Halo 3 merchandise that will soon be available on Bungiestore.com (if there’s any left) for those of you who weren’t able to attend the conference. There was a little something for everyone including calendars, man purses, keepsake photos, back packs, four styles of T-shirt and even a fancy bedazzled Halo 3 logo T-shirt for the ladies or you few daring gentlemen. Make the jump to peruse some more pics and start making your shopping lists. More »
From the PAX floor, GameVideos bring us a gameplay clip from the upcoming Kane & Lynch. Sorry fellows, I don’t think there are any panty shots in this one. But there are guns. Lots and lots of guns. More »
More Penny Arcade news from PAX, imagine that! Hothead Games announced today that the Penny Arcade Adventures downloadable episodic game will be available over Xbox Live arcade. It will join the releases destined for Windows, Mac OS X and even Linux. Now that’s what I call hi-tech! The game is set to release in the early part of 2008. I’ll be checking it out tomorrow morning so if I can push back my hangover and get the hooker out of the room early enough, I’ll be sure to let you know what it was like. More »
No, I don’t mean they are playing Doom. Actually, I don’t really know what they were playing, but there sure were a lot of them doing it. The room was enormous and allowed players to play on PCs that were provided plus an area set up for those obsessive enough to actually bring their own computers to set up and play. Surprisingly, there were quite a few of these hardcores dragging in all their equipment on pack dogs and wagons. I hope they live in the area because I can’t even imagine hauling my heavy ass computer and monitor across the country to sit in a dark room and play games. My dedication to PC gaming is obviously lacking.
Make the jump to check out the seedy (and surprisingly not stinky) underbelly… More »
The doors of PAX opened an hour early for press and when I arrived there was a small smattering of media folks hanging out in a line waiting to get in. Once they let us have the run of the place I made a beeline for the Rock Band booth. At E3 (or any other event I’ve been to this year for that matter) I wasn’t able to get anywhere near it, so I was determined to check it out this time. I got my name in the hat for checking it out and when they called me they asked if i had anyone else I wanted to play with. Well, standing with me was none other than Mr. Destructoid and the lovely Colette from Destructoid.com as well as my friend Chris Furniss of the Weekly Geek so we decided to become the hottest multi-blog band at PAX and stormed the stage to give a stellar performance of Creep. We did pretty well with Chris on bass, Mr. Destructoid on drums, myself on guitar and Colette selling the crowd with her melodious voice and scored a respectable 97%.
The game was a blast and sharing it with my fellow friends and bloggers made it an extra amazing experience. This will definitely be a title that will quickly become a party classic, bringing drunken wanna be rockers together in the comfort of their living rooms regardless of talent. Just add a fog machine and you’re a star, baby. More »
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) I missed the tail end of Gabe and Tycho’s Q&A with the crowd at PAX. After hearing the boys answer the audiences in their typically hilarious style and watching Tycho sing a song of his own creation they announced that they had a special guest arriving to greet the crowd. Being as I had a previously scheduled appointment, I was unable to stay and for the safety of my sanity, this was probably a good thing.
Apparently, the gleeful pair let loose with what may go down in history as one of the biggest let downs in surprise history, the introduction to director Uwe Boll. Luckily, the folks at Joystiq were on hand to catch every painful moment from his arrival on stage to massive booing and jeers to the crowd leaving in droves like rats from a sinking ship. Even more fun awaited in this half hour journey into hell including a hideous bit of his upcoming Postal movie and a gal who just couldn’t help herself from telling Uwe how she really felt about it. Watch and cringe in terror if you dare. More »
Just in time to miraculously coincide with PAX, Hothead Games had announced that the Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness website is now open for business. The episodic game is set to launch this year and will feature the ability to custom create a character that will join Gabe and Tycho in their exploits. PAX attendees will get a chance to try out the character creation at the Hothead Games booth. I have an interview with the Hothead folks tomorrow morning and will presumably get the chance to create a character myself which I will then try to convince them to let me photograph for posting later. More »
2007 has been a landmark year for me. I had my first E3, my first GDC, my first Comic Con and today, my first PAX. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, not really having anything to compare it to, and knowing that I would be the lone Kotaku representative at this momentous event was a little more than daunting. Seeing as it was the first day, I decided to take it a bit easy, see the keynote and try and get a general lay of the land before diving in headfirst. More »
