Friday
The sights, sounds, and... smells of PAX. I arrived at around 1:15pm at the WSCC hoping to get in line and make the 2pm showing of GOW2 at the Microsoft booth. Last year's crowd wasn't as packed as this years was. Some kids are hitting a inflatable ball and counting the successive times that it's hit into the air, and booing the anyone who lets it fall. As the line-up gets longer the room becomes hotter and the smell becomes stronger, and I make a mental note to come about 90 mins late next year, there's really no reason to show up early or on time; because you don't really need the wristbands for the concerts (everyone can get in). 2:45pm the line starts, 2:55pm we're in the expo hall.
2:00pm - Gears of War 2
Unfortunately no new info here; the demo shown is the exact same from e3. The multiplayer demo on the other hand is fun. Honestly, I've never been good at GOW, and there's been no change here. I'm getting dominated by kids who have just picked up the game. Looks like there are some of the original GOW1 maps on here but as far as names of which, I couldn't tell ya.
3:30pm - Omegathon Round 1
Popcap's Peggle. Enforcers are telling us that spectators are not allowed for the first round.
4:30pm - Expo Hall
Spent most of my time wandering the expo hall, though I spent a lot of time watching Fallout 3. This was one of about four games that had lines so long that it really wasn't worth waiting for. Never been much of a PC gamer so this game is all new to me. Todd Howard is helping a kid play the game. At any time you can scan your enemy, find his weak spots and select the proper weapon to take him down. After you've killed you enemy you can take his booty and even his clothes. The game is an early build, it doesn't quite have that polish you'd expect; but it looks like a hell of a lot of fun and that is more important.
6:00pm - Ubisoft presents EndWar
Li Jou and an onslaught of marketing reps are going to demo Tom Clancy's EndWar. Ubisoft has always made a strong showing at PAX and this year is no different. EndWar is impressive and the voice controls work really well. Voice commands work by selecting the unit, the action, and then the target. So a basic command would work like the following: Unit 1 move to Alpha. The response time could be quicker but the game is responding to voice commands that are given at various speeds and voice inflections. AI is fairly intelligent, but you have to put your troops in the right positions to be effective. Jou states that he wants you to to have a connection to your units, not just treat them like cannon fodder. FYI, all buildings can be destroyed and all buildings can be captured. This is a must buy for me.
Lastly, the team shows off a short movie of two parrots using the voice commands for the game. And it's hilarious, there's someone in the background who is giving the commands, but the parrots are repeating those commands into the mics and the game is responding, very clever stuff. As we leave we're given beta codes; no worries you can get them too, you'll just have to pre-order the game.
8:00pm- Omegathon Round 2
Boom Blox, I'm late. Took too much time getting over here after the Ubisoft demo and now I'm near the back. I can't see much of the action that's going on, but it looks like the Omeganauts are having fun. I've never played Boom Blox before so I can't really tell what's going on, but it looks like enough fun to rent.
9:00pm - Screening: The Guild
All nine episodes are screened. I've never seen the show before, it's really good. It's written well and in webisodes short enough to watch all of season 1 well within a hour. After the screening Felicia Day (writer/actor), Sandeep Pahrik (actor), Kim Every (producer), and Greg Benson (director) field the Q&A. Day states that season 2 is written in full and they are waiting to shoot. She would like to partner up with a big company and distribute the series via large retailers, but she hasn't found the right deal yet.
Pahrik, Every, and Benson talk about their respective projects, but Q's keep getting geared towards Day and her "hair color." Lastly they field a couple of questions from smaller comedy teams about breaking through and getting noticed. Q&A wraps up and sales of "The Guild" start outside of the Raven Theater.
End of Day #1
Drinking shoes are put on.
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