JC

I got to play 15 minutes of the Trooper at PAX and I had a great time with it, for what it's worth. Combat was responsive and the dialogue and quest stuff was immersive and interesting. Kind of neat- the female Zabrak Trooper is voiced by Commander Shepard's VA. It startled me a little at first but I like it. :) Not sure if it's the same VA for all female troopers or just that race though.

I had a great time at PAX East this year, but it definitely had hints of the 'unproven event' whiffing around it's overcrowded hallways. But PAX has never really been about the companies -- it's always been about gamers, and that it had in droves. Honestly, the best times to be had are with friends (old and new) in line or in console freeplay or just hanging out on a Sumo.

That said I definitely agree that there should be more programming -- the biggest problems were that people would have to line up an hour before a panel (at minimum) that they really wanted to attend or they'd have no hope of getting in. This isn't just a PAX East problem, it's a big one at PAX Prime too. I think a couple of alternate tracks -- say one entirely for MMOs, or aspiring designers, or retro gaming, or what not -- would ease up some of the pressure on the available panels and let things mellow out a bit.

PAX in general's a very young convention and it hasn't had the 'feature creep' that a lot of the other established conventions have gotten, so I think it'll definitely grow and change with time. I had a fantastic time, though, all of the various drawbacks aside.

Did any of you hear any of the people doing the Heavy Rain call for 'Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaason'? in the hallways? It was cracking me up. If you haven't played it, there's a sequence -very- near the beginning where your kid is wandering around at a mall and you're calling his name to keep the little bugger from getting lost. Totally awesome.

I checked out this game for the first time last night and fell right into it -- it's incredibly creative and not click-boring in the slightest. I'd encourage anyone with an interest in the odd/Neo-Victorian/Steampunk/Gaimanesque/gothic to have a swing at it.

Heck, even if you aren't into those things, take a look. You might be intrigued. :P

It's not a ghost town. It's just so much bigger than everything else in terms of land area that per capita, you won't randomly bump into someone as often.

The trick, if you're looking for people, is to not randomly wander around. Click the "Map" button. On the bottom where it says Zoom, slide the slider midway to the left. At the top of the map info area, make sure the little box next to 'Resident' is checked. See all the green dots, thousands and thousands of them? People. Go find one. :P Heck, click the boxes next to 'Event' and see what's actually going on in terms of events.

SL isn't for everyone, just like EVE isn't for everyone, or WoW, or whatever. But if I've never played Aion or Free Realms or WAR - I'm not going to sit around kvetching on blogs about what a waste of space they are. :P Who cares about games you don't play? Why read columns about games you don't play? It's baffling to me.

I couldn't get over how awful the avatars were. In a social game like that where you're basically wandering around looking at stuff and playing minigames, the environment has to be a huge part of the draw. If the environment and avatars aren't even close to appealing, then you might as well be playing Bejeweled on a website.

It's a real shame, but craftsmanship is one of the core tenets of Steampunk. You can't just throw a cog on something and call it steampunk. :P It has to be well-made. Ah well. Here's hoping someone else picks up the torch and does it right.

I know that spot! There's a sort of hollow full of these crazy aggressive bears, where you need to go in to retrieve some stuff off of the bodies of some tomb raiders that fell.

There is a 'Hey there are way too many bears in this area close to town, halp' quest, but I mostly remember that one because these dudes had run off with some statue and the rangers were peeved. I think. Anyway. Evendim is pretty but that lake is such a time sink to swim all the bloody time.

Facebook's API and the applications developed under it by users is actually a huge part of why it's become the dominant social networking forum. I don't know about you, but I get almost as many application updates and quiz reports and whatnot than actual friends posting updates or photos.

Some of the bigger Facebook API developers actually make a lot of money with their User-generated content (the topic of this article). MafiaWars, for example.

Is this a kissing game?

Does look kind of cool, though. I'm a sucker for space - I still miss Earth & Beyond! And Space & Beyond! And Babylon 5...hey. Why does all the cool space stuff get canceled, anyway?

I'll be in my bunk.

Yeah, that's definitely bad hardware. This shot on DX10 with a higher end card would blow your doors off. My housemate plays on a high-end rig and coming around hills she's always stopping to go, "You've got to come see this."

It's got some really gorgeous background work - vistas that stretch for miles, mist in the hills, etc. You just need the power to see it. :) It's still pretty even if you have a lower end setup, though. Just not quite as jawdropping.

@ #4

1. They continue to report on it because the articles get good traffic. It's all about the metrics.

2. The 'game' isn't really a game and the people who are into it often don't overlap with other standard MMO players. It's a very different type of experience, so the audiences are naturally different.

To be honest, there's more interesting stuff being done in Second Life from a purely creative standpoint than in most marketed or commercial MMOs. It's just a matter of getting used to the idea that the players (or residents or whatever you call them) are the ones that actually make content, not the game gods.