The only Sunday panel discussion that interested me was "Future of the MMO Scene - MMORPG.com." This panel was moderated by Garrett Fuller [News Manager, MMORPG.com], and had the following unannounced guest panelists: Bob Ferrari [Sanrio Digital / Typhoon Games], Craig Alexander [Turbine Entertainment], Paul Barnett [EA / Bioware / Mythic], and Curt Schilling [38 Studios].
This discussion was different in that they immediately opened the floor to questions, and the questions, unlike the questions asked in previous panels, were very good. The panelists discussed their views on transmedia (accessing your favorite MMO from iPhone apps and web widgets); various pricing models (subscription-based services, transaction-based services, the "Las Vegas" model, where some pay a little and some pay a lot); technical accessibility (if you don't meet the specs then you can't play the game and you've lost a potential customer); web browser MMOs (instant accessibility with a minimum of download times: click-and-play right away) and the WoW Killer (WoW does everything right: it is the iPod of MMOs). The biggest laugh came from former major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling, who stated "I played professional baseball, and I could not wait to go home and go online."
After the discussion, I toured around the exhibition hall again. Sometime last week I mentioned the Emissary by Geek Chic, and I was surprised to see this company present at the expo. I had a delightful chat with company founder Robert Gifford and briefly discussed his niche business and its rapid growth. He was very cool and I wish this company plenty of good karma in the years to come.
Afterwards I played a hand of Magic: the Gathering at the WotC demo table. There was five seats available: I had one seat and the others were occupied by a family of four. It was humorous to see the eight year old boy leap into action, sending a monster at me in retaliation for my playing a card against his dad. Afterwards I played the XBox version of M:tG, and had much better luck in winning against the computer than I had against the eight year old boy.
All-in-all, it was a very enjoyable weekend, and I can see myself willing to attend another PAX someday. And like Curt Schilling, I am glad to be home and back online.
Showing posts with label Cons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cons. Show all posts
28 March 2010
27 March 2010
PAX East, Day 2
I arrived at day 2 of PAX East a little after noon, so I was late for the panel discussion "I HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR A GAME!!" The gist of this discussion was getting yourself to SACWAG and surround yourself with talented people. It was very entertaining and the panelists,Chris Oltyan [Director of Product Development, ZeeGee Games], Eitan Glinert [President, Fire Hose Games], Darius Kazemi [President, Orbus Gameworks], Ichiro Lambe [President, Dejobaan Games] were very lively and engaging.
While waiting for the next event, I visited the exhibition hall and played a very entertaining (if not very abbreviated) version of D&D 4E. Instead of using miniatures, we moved ourselves through a small tiled area and battled against a life-sized (cardboard cut-out) opponent. Our group was victorious defeating the wraith, and we each received a "Monster Slayer" medallion. I applaud WotC for the way this booth was operated; the personnel were really into it in a light-hearted stage way.
While I had not planned on attending this next event, I found myself thoroughly enjoying and laughing throughout "A Sophisticated Evening with Rooster Teeth Productions." This raunchy, irreverent group is responsible for the hit machinima series Red vs. Blue, and the audience got a lengthy preview to season 8. This event was truly a lot of fun.
The final panel discussion that I attended was "MMO Gamer Behavior 101," featuring Ethan Gilsdorf [author, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, freelance writer], Victor Pineiro [Social Media Strategist, Big Spaceship], Juan Carlos Pineiro [CEO, Pure West], Sean Stalzer [President and CEO, the Syndicate]. This was a discussion on the social aspects of MMOs, focusing primarily on World of Warcraft and Facebook, and where the two intersect. We all love to be the hero, and we all love the opportunity to overcome challenges, but with MMOs, we are able to face these challenges with friends, and within there lies the appeal. This was a very informative discussion, and I have more to say on it. I'd best save that for another journal entry.
I've really been enjoying myself. Tomorrow is the last day. I'll need to play more games before the exhibit halls close.
While waiting for the next event, I visited the exhibition hall and played a very entertaining (if not very abbreviated) version of D&D 4E. Instead of using miniatures, we moved ourselves through a small tiled area and battled against a life-sized (cardboard cut-out) opponent. Our group was victorious defeating the wraith, and we each received a "Monster Slayer" medallion. I applaud WotC for the way this booth was operated; the personnel were really into it in a light-hearted stage way.
While I had not planned on attending this next event, I found myself thoroughly enjoying and laughing throughout "A Sophisticated Evening with Rooster Teeth Productions." This raunchy, irreverent group is responsible for the hit machinima series Red vs. Blue, and the audience got a lengthy preview to season 8. This event was truly a lot of fun.
The final panel discussion that I attended was "MMO Gamer Behavior 101," featuring Ethan Gilsdorf [author, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, freelance writer], Victor Pineiro [Social Media Strategist, Big Spaceship], Juan Carlos Pineiro [CEO, Pure West], Sean Stalzer [President and CEO, the Syndicate]. This was a discussion on the social aspects of MMOs, focusing primarily on World of Warcraft and Facebook, and where the two intersect. We all love to be the hero, and we all love the opportunity to overcome challenges, but with MMOs, we are able to face these challenges with friends, and within there lies the appeal. This was a very informative discussion, and I have more to say on it. I'd best save that for another journal entry.
I've really been enjoying myself. Tomorrow is the last day. I'll need to play more games before the exhibit halls close.
26 March 2010
PAX East, Day 1
Whew. Today was a long day. I attended one panel discussion and one movie, separated by four hours of waiting.
The panel discussion was Design An RPG In An Hour, lead by David Hill and his wife (whose name I don't remember). It was a light and whimsical discussion that was heavy on designing game themes and less on game mechanics. I suppose there's only so much that one can cover in an hour (the game that we decided on was Scoop! : a Game of Cold-Blooded Journalism! featuring dinosaur reporters trying to uncover tales of conspiracy).
I learned something important at PAX: if one wished to attend two back-to-back events held in the same room, then one may not linger around in said room; one must leave that room and reenter the line for the second event. I missed the "Storytelling in the World of Interactive Fiction" discussion as a result. I shall bear this in mind for the rest of the weekend when planning my events. I'll need to look around for an online transcript or podcast of this missed panel discussion; it was a subject that I was really interested in hearing.
I had some down time, so I wandered around the exhibition hall and saw some neat games: of note was Power Gig, a competitor to Rock Band (but uses a six string guitar instead of a push-button guitar), as well as Open Chord, which is more of a do-it-yourself version of Rock Band.
Two other games caught my eye: Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games, a very impressive first-person shooter set in the Old West; and Limbo for the XBox, a moody black and white platform game.
Throughout the convention hall were Sumo beanbag chairs. These things were pretty awesome.
My evening ended with previewing the documentary Get Lamp. This was a more of a "very long trailer," as director Jason Scott phrased it. The film is still being edited, so we saw a special director's cut that gave us a general feel for documentary. One especially fascinating sequence concerned interviews with three blind Interactive Fiction players. It was intriguing to listen to their perspective on playing these games (one player mentioned commented on the need for a light source: "It's dark and I can't see? Like, so what?").
I didn't stay around for the panel discussion, as the pace was a little slow and unfocused and I was finally all Conned-out for the evening. There's still tomorrow and Sunday for more gaming and panel discussions.
The panel discussion was Design An RPG In An Hour, lead by David Hill and his wife (whose name I don't remember). It was a light and whimsical discussion that was heavy on designing game themes and less on game mechanics. I suppose there's only so much that one can cover in an hour (the game that we decided on was Scoop! : a Game of Cold-Blooded Journalism! featuring dinosaur reporters trying to uncover tales of conspiracy).
I learned something important at PAX: if one wished to attend two back-to-back events held in the same room, then one may not linger around in said room; one must leave that room and reenter the line for the second event. I missed the "Storytelling in the World of Interactive Fiction" discussion as a result. I shall bear this in mind for the rest of the weekend when planning my events. I'll need to look around for an online transcript or podcast of this missed panel discussion; it was a subject that I was really interested in hearing.
I had some down time, so I wandered around the exhibition hall and saw some neat games: of note was Power Gig, a competitor to Rock Band (but uses a six string guitar instead of a push-button guitar), as well as Open Chord, which is more of a do-it-yourself version of Rock Band.
Two other games caught my eye: Red Dead Redemption by Rockstar Games, a very impressive first-person shooter set in the Old West; and Limbo for the XBox, a moody black and white platform game.
Throughout the convention hall were Sumo beanbag chairs. These things were pretty awesome.
My evening ended with previewing the documentary Get Lamp. This was a more of a "very long trailer," as director Jason Scott phrased it. The film is still being edited, so we saw a special director's cut that gave us a general feel for documentary. One especially fascinating sequence concerned interviews with three blind Interactive Fiction players. It was intriguing to listen to their perspective on playing these games (one player mentioned commented on the need for a light source: "It's dark and I can't see? Like, so what?").
I didn't stay around for the panel discussion, as the pace was a little slow and unfocused and I was finally all Conned-out for the evening. There's still tomorrow and Sunday for more gaming and panel discussions.
14 March 2010
PAX East Itinerary
The schedule for PAX East has been posted, and I've been looking through the list of panel discussions. Of particular interest to me is:
- Design an RPG in an Hour. According to the description, this panel will "address the problem-solving and analytical questions required to design a successful game."
- Storytelling in the World of Interactive Fiction, covering "reordered storylines, unreliable narrators, deeply responsive NPCs [and] how they apply to other kinds of games."
- Beyond Dungeons & Dragons, which explores the "'indy' role playing game scene."
- I HAVE A GREAT IDEA FOR A GAME!! Finally I'll be able to SACWAG.
- A Sophisticated Evening with Rooster Teeth Productions, which is unlikely to expand my gaming knowledge but will undoubtedly cause me to bust a gut laughing. If you've never seen Red vs. Blue, then get thee viewing Season 1 (NSFW: strong adult language).
- Naughty Dog LIVE – Game Design with the Dogs, where "designers hold a game design meeting right in the middle of PAX East to tackle the challenge of developing a new gameplay sequence." I know nothing of their game, but I want to learn about challenges that they face.
- Fail Now! A discussion on learning from one's mistakes.
- MMO Gamer Behavior 101. This one especially interests me, as the panel will discuss what "...exactly is it about [MMO] games --- killing the dragon? feeling powerful? vicarious adventure? acting out?--- that explains their massive appeal?"
- But Thou Must: Choice in Games, which examines how "role-playing games need choice to propel the plot and motivate the player."
- Community Managers: More than Forum Monkeys, which is an especially interesting topic.
- Beyond Candyland, another very interesting discussion which will "explore the theory and thought behind the so-called 'German Board Games'."
- Future of the MMO Scene - MMORPG.com, just because I want to know.
- D&D Seminar: Save My Game! Live, which may not interest me if it's all technical questions.
22 February 2010
PAX East
Is anyone other than myself attending PAX East?
I'll be there primarily to see the GET LAMP documentary, but since I was buying a ticket for one day, I decided to spend the few extra bucks and get the three day pass. I don't know what the event schedule is like (I'm not even sure that the organizers know what the schedule is like), so I don't really know if I'll be hanging around for the entire weekend.
This will be my first gaming industry trade show. I don't know what to expect. If it's anything like Magic: the Gathering tournaments, then I can expect three days of that "musty gym locker" aroma.
Just sayin'.
I'll be there primarily to see the GET LAMP documentary, but since I was buying a ticket for one day, I decided to spend the few extra bucks and get the three day pass. I don't know what the event schedule is like (I'm not even sure that the organizers know what the schedule is like), so I don't really know if I'll be hanging around for the entire weekend.
This will be my first gaming industry trade show. I don't know what to expect. If it's anything like Magic: the Gathering tournaments, then I can expect three days of that "musty gym locker" aroma.
Just sayin'.
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