All We Want to Do is Eat Your Brains
Wow I can't update this thing without getting all distracted with pictures from my flickr bar.
The current soundtrack is radiohead, life in a glasshouse.
I'm going to try updating here more often rather than writing the occasional novel. *smirk*
On to business!
I went to PAX! It was sweet. I got to see chums of yore.
That would be Shroud, Gecko, Schmorgo, and Fuego in one place! Unprecedented. Or not.
Essentially, PAX is a gaming expo. There was an exhibition hall from a lot of developers, and I got to play several unreleased titles.
Rock Band is similar to Guitar Hero, except add a microphone, bass guitar, and faux-drum kit to the lineup, and you have Rock Band. Four people take an instrument and it rates you according to accuracy. It was reallllly fun; I sang, Gizmo played drums, Fuego played guitar, and Shroud handled bass.
The track listing looked top-notch too. We played Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" and Nirvana's "In Bloom." I was particularly happy to have sung a Nirvana song in Seattle, of all places.
I also played the beta copy of Warhammer Online. I was a huge Dark Age of Camelot nerd back in the day, so seeing Mythic's next MMO was cool. It looks good, and I wish them all the best in burying World of Warcraft, if anyone can.
I also played a Nintendo Wii for the first time. Interesting, interesting concept. I can see why it is an awesome party platform.
That would be me and a random guy playing Rockstar's Table Tennis. We're holding a remote, the Wii's main controller, which contains a motion and infrared sensors. You swing it as you would a normal ping-pong paddle, and the game interprets these movements on-screen. It's actually much more intuitive than it seems. Schmorgan and I also had a great time playing a few rounds of absolutely madcap soccer on the Wii's Super Mario Strikers title.
Beyond the exhibition hall, there were some panels. I saw a Canadian guy from Ubisoft present on Assassin's Creed, a very impressive game set in the 1100's in a fictional Jerusalem and Damascus.
There was also a keynote speech from Wil Wheaton. I did not get my picture with him as I'd hoped because the line was stinking long -- but I did stand about six feet from him before being waved off by one of his publicists! So close. Whatever.
There were also concerts! The Minibosses were awesome, but a new guy this year was Jonathan Coulton. I'd heard of him several weeks ago so it was a real treat to see him live. Here's his most popular song, recorded that night live at PAX.
We played in a Battlefield 2 tournament and got schooled by a pair of semi-professionals. If you can call in UAVs, keep track of the enemy movements on the command screen, AND commandeer a tank, AND kill me while I am specifically wielding a kit to destroy you, AND do it with ease, then yeah, you pretty much deserve to win.
Of course, the best times were the talks with the guys. I really enjoyed the drive down to Seattle with Fuego in his sweet rental car, talking about all kinds of stuff.
Shroud and I had some good random conversations, and playing 4-player Mario Kart on our little Nintendo DSs in the hotel room was good fun.
One of my best memories was escaping the Seattle convention center during a bored moment, by myself, and just walking up the street, looking at the city and finding a delightful little coffee shop that played Iron & Wine.
We capped the Seattle experience the same way we did last year, by driving down the coast to this awesome little pizza place called the Pegasus. It serves quite possibly the most amazing pizza I've ever had -- seriously, it's that good. We walked around on the beach and ponded Aduma since it was his birthday weekend.
Note the Space Needle in the background.
And then it was back to Dallas. A great weekend all around. Thank goodness it's only once a year or we wouldn't have cash for much else. ;D
The current soundtrack is radiohead, life in a glasshouse.
I'm going to try updating here more often rather than writing the occasional novel. *smirk*
On to business!
I went to PAX! It was sweet. I got to see chums of yore.
That would be Shroud, Gecko, Schmorgo, and Fuego in one place! Unprecedented. Or not.
Essentially, PAX is a gaming expo. There was an exhibition hall from a lot of developers, and I got to play several unreleased titles.
Rock Band is similar to Guitar Hero, except add a microphone, bass guitar, and faux-drum kit to the lineup, and you have Rock Band. Four people take an instrument and it rates you according to accuracy. It was reallllly fun; I sang, Gizmo played drums, Fuego played guitar, and Shroud handled bass.
The track listing looked top-notch too. We played Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" and Nirvana's "In Bloom." I was particularly happy to have sung a Nirvana song in Seattle, of all places.
I also played the beta copy of Warhammer Online. I was a huge Dark Age of Camelot nerd back in the day, so seeing Mythic's next MMO was cool. It looks good, and I wish them all the best in burying World of Warcraft, if anyone can.
I also played a Nintendo Wii for the first time. Interesting, interesting concept. I can see why it is an awesome party platform.
That would be me and a random guy playing Rockstar's Table Tennis. We're holding a remote, the Wii's main controller, which contains a motion and infrared sensors. You swing it as you would a normal ping-pong paddle, and the game interprets these movements on-screen. It's actually much more intuitive than it seems. Schmorgan and I also had a great time playing a few rounds of absolutely madcap soccer on the Wii's Super Mario Strikers title.
Beyond the exhibition hall, there were some panels. I saw a Canadian guy from Ubisoft present on Assassin's Creed, a very impressive game set in the 1100's in a fictional Jerusalem and Damascus.
There was also a keynote speech from Wil Wheaton. I did not get my picture with him as I'd hoped because the line was stinking long -- but I did stand about six feet from him before being waved off by one of his publicists! So close. Whatever.
There were also concerts! The Minibosses were awesome, but a new guy this year was Jonathan Coulton. I'd heard of him several weeks ago so it was a real treat to see him live. Here's his most popular song, recorded that night live at PAX.
We played in a Battlefield 2 tournament and got schooled by a pair of semi-professionals. If you can call in UAVs, keep track of the enemy movements on the command screen, AND commandeer a tank, AND kill me while I am specifically wielding a kit to destroy you, AND do it with ease, then yeah, you pretty much deserve to win.
Of course, the best times were the talks with the guys. I really enjoyed the drive down to Seattle with Fuego in his sweet rental car, talking about all kinds of stuff.
Shroud and I had some good random conversations, and playing 4-player Mario Kart on our little Nintendo DSs in the hotel room was good fun.
One of my best memories was escaping the Seattle convention center during a bored moment, by myself, and just walking up the street, looking at the city and finding a delightful little coffee shop that played Iron & Wine.
We capped the Seattle experience the same way we did last year, by driving down the coast to this awesome little pizza place called the Pegasus. It serves quite possibly the most amazing pizza I've ever had -- seriously, it's that good. We walked around on the beach and ponded Aduma since it was his birthday weekend.
Note the Space Needle in the background.
And then it was back to Dallas. A great weekend all around. Thank goodness it's only once a year or we wouldn't have cash for much else. ;D
Skullcrusher Mountain
It sounds like you had a great time.
---abU
PAX is special.