pax 08
The Problem with PAX
7:00AM Brian Crecente | The Penny Arcade Expo hit a few road bumps this year, discovering that their exponential growth, while slightly slowed, is still enough to cause problems with line-management and space issues. But that’s a problem easily solved, and the PA folks are all over it. The bigger problem, as I see it, is in the expo’s name and its association with Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade Expo has the potential, the very likely potential, to become the one preeminent video game show in the country. It has the exuberant backing of developers and publishers, it has more than enough willing participants to go around and it has the blessing of the many folks who cover the gaming industry for a living. But what it doesn’t have is a neutral jumping off point. PAX has the words Penny Arcade in the title and while for me, and tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people like me, that’s a bonus, there are still lots of people out there who hate the strip, the people associated with it and anything whatsoever that has to do with Penny Arcade, Gabe, Tycho and, yes, even Fruit Fucker. More »
Pax To Address Overcrowding For 2009
5:20AM Stuart Houghton | The Penny Arcade Expo hit 58,500 attendees this year – way up from 2007’s 37,000 and just a shade lower than E3 in its prime. Although the general feeling was that the con was a big success, there were complaints that some panels and demos were difficult/impossible to get in to due to overcrowding and the organisers admit that there is work to be done for next year. “We finally stopped doubling our attendance”, said Penny Arcade Business Development manager Robert Khoo, “but lord I’m not sure if we could have handled any more people if they showed up. Key learnings for next year? Better line management and more space!” For the 2009 event, Khoo told BigDownload.com that they were going to introduce some practical crowd management measures. “We have a few ideas to manage that problem for 2009 including wristbands for popular events or just a straight-up hard count of people in line”. Penny Arcade Expo 2008: 58,500 attendees [BigDownload] More »
Gauntlet DS Wicked Retro Fun
12:00AM Brian Crecente | I spent a small chunk of timing messing around with Gauntlet DS at Penny Arcade Expo this past weekend. The look of the game and sound of the game are spot on (the game uses some of the original sound files), a perfect fit for the DS and some fun portable play, but I wasn’t totally enchanted with the games controls. Designed by Backbone for a release this fall, the game is a throw-back to the original retro action classic and it really nails most everything it’s going for. And the problem with the controls aren’t completely Backbone’s fault. It’s mostly because the game plays on a DS using the D-Pad and that just doesn’t translate very well for me. The controls felt a bit mushy and having to turn to take on an opponent, especially with the elf, could be frustrating at times. I longed, while playing the game, to have a joystick to fine-tune my shots with. More »A Sea of Pip Boys Rock Out to April Wine
3:00AM Brian Crecente | Penny Arcade Expo 2008 has officially wrapped up, but as always it went out with a bang. More »
PAX Panel: How To Get Your Girlfriend Into Gaming
9:00AM Kotaku US Edition | Just for the record, readers, I’m here as a Plebeian (and I heart that word) – with a normal three-day pass I paid for with my own hard-earned money. I’m also hanging out with three friends and am subject to what they want to do, not what I want to cover. I have not once pulled rank as a Kotaku correspondent to score free shit or get into crowded events (okay, maybe once, but that was for The Conduit, which you can read about tomorrow). More »
Kicking Zombie Arse In 360 Left 4 Dead, Why No PS3 Version
3:30AM Brian Crecente | One of my most anticipated games for this year is Left 4 Dead, Valve’s Zombie Apocalypse game that’s all about cooperative play. The thing is I haven’t been able to try, and until this week no one has, is the Xbox 360 version of the game. More »
Fable 2 Pub Games Patch Coming, Maybe Repercussions Too
2:30AM Brian Crecente | During my interview yesterday Lionhead Studio’s Sam Van Tilburgh was pretty mum about the gold-churning glitch that was discovered in Fable 2’s pre-release mini Pub Games. More »
Left 4 Dead To Be Cut Scene Free
11:30PM Brian Crecente | Left 4 Dead is very much a zombie apocalypse game — you’ll find no deeper meaning here, no Romero-esque political message. More »
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