With just a handful of months to go before the annual Penny Arcade Expo opens its doors again, you may be wondering who will be taking to the stage to the deliver the August event's keynote address. Organizers have announced that the opening speech will be given by none other than 2K Boston president and creative director Ken Levine.
Says Penny Arcade business mastermind, "Obviously, Ken is pimp supreme...We're super excited to have him open up the show." Given Levine's involvement with one of last year's biggest releases as well as a sequel that already ranks among our most anticipated in 2009, we're sure he'll have plenty to talk about -- and we expect to be left hanging on every word.
The annual Penny Arcade Expo has quickly evolved from being simply a gathering of video game enthusiasts to becoming one of our most anticipated gaming conferences each year. We never know what we're going to see there first hand, from fresh rhymes to Metroid attacks, and this year's event, taking place from August 29-31, looks to up the ante with a showcase of independent games called PAX 10.
Event organizers are currently seeking indie talent to show off during the event, and devs can submit their creations online for consideration from now until May 7, after which a panel of 50 "industry experts," including PA's own Gabe and Tycho, will decide which ten submissions represent the crème of the crop based on gameplay and that all important "fun factor." The home-grown games will each be shown as part of the event's PAX 10 exhibit, and attendees will be able to vote on which one tickles their fancy, with the one garnering the most votes being lifted up following the expo on the Penny Arcade website as the Audience Choice Award winner. But with just a touch over two months remaining, time is running short -- if you're a would-be developer you've already wasted precious minutes reading this post! Get cracking!
Is that two month old PAX07 t-shirt started to look slightly worn or wrinkled? (If so, may we recommend occasionally wearing other clothing.) Save the date and start booking your flight for Seattle, as the dates for the 5th annual Penny Arcade Expo have been unveiled: August 29 through 31, 2008.
This year's event drew in approximately 37,000 attendees into the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. According to the press release (PDF file), "attendance for the 2008 event is expected to reach forty-seven million bajillion people." A venue for the 2008 expo was not specified; exhibitor packets are now available and attendee registration opens in January.
Okay, folks, you can now officially start placing your bets on what will be next year's Omegathon.
Why waste afternoons playing video games by yourself when you can best your opponents on the virtual battlefield? We beseech you, dear reader, to consider devising your own Omegathon competition, modeled after the five-game event seen every year at the Penny Arcade Expo. Here are some suggested guidelines:
At least one game that is "off the grid" (i.e. not on a television screen).
At least one retro title (e.g. Pong, Tetris, Daikatana)
A variety of genres such as puzzle, first-person shooter, racing, etc.
At least one embarrassing title that gets competitors active. Usually a rhythm game
Bear in mind the length of each competitive match -- although Civilization would make for an interesting event, if you place it early with 10 contenders, you're going to lose enthusiasm fast. Don't have any friends? Create an Omegathon for yourself -- it'll be exactly like preparing for Ninja Warrior by building your own obstacles in your yard. Tell us your ideal Omegathon run and check out our picks for the week's best gaming comics. Be sure to vote for your favorite!
Two challengers are brought before a massive audience to test their opponent's gaming mettle on a gigantic screen. Though the game is familiar to them, the rules have been changed. There are new levels that they're unfamiliar with, new items they've never used. Two will enter the battle, but only one will leave victorious. It's the final round of Video Armegeddon and the game? Super Mario Bros. 3! ... No, wait, that's not right. It was the Omegathon, and the game was Halo 3. But the similarities are striking, aren't they?
Now, you can be a part of the unofficial sequel to The Wizard with this video direct from the competition. Though the audience gets pretty pumped whenever they see new weapons like the flame thrower, the excitement when the sword is brought into play is palpable. The battle continues after the jump.
PAX just wrapped up in the traditional way, with the final Omegathon challenge -- and this year they broke from the tradition of old-school games by going with Halo 3 as the final game. Gabe and Tycho unveiled the title to an ecstatic crowd, who were expecting something much more along the lines of Donkey Kong. And if that wasn't enough to whip the thousands of geeks into a frothy frenzy -- they also had the Minibosses come out and blast out a quick tune before the last two contestants sat down for their final challenge.
The final Omeganauts, Accelon and MNC Dover, sat down on stage to play a brand new, never-before-seen level populated with never-before-seen weapons -- a slick move that guaranteed that neither player had an unfair advantage. Both players' screens were displayed on massive projectors so that the crowd could get into the action as well, and get into it they did. As each player explored the new level, a huge forest ruin high in the trees, the crowd oohed and aahed at each new weapon and new vista that the players discovered.
Sure, we had a lot of blogging to catch up on, but we couldn't help but stop by Sierra's splashy Word in Conflict party last night if only to play our favorite game: "How Much Do You Bet This All Cost?" Alongside what appeared to be real military vehicles (they're scary looking in Real Life) and Communist propaganda were the requisite "booth" (party?) babes and overpriced drinks. How overpriced? How does upwards of $7 or $8 sound? It's a good thing anyways, we'd have just drank too much, riflebutted a guard, then drove one of those tank-things out of the building and through downtown Seattle.
We admit it. Our writeup of Wil Wheaton's PAX keynote didn't manage to capture the palpable energy of the crowd. And that's why we're happy to present you with this here audio file which should manage to better communicate the cheers of adulation and camaraderie. But don't go thinking audio is an infallible format! For example, can you hear the audience's fists pumping in the air during the speech's high energy moments? You may be able to feel it, but you can't hear it. So there.
Destineer had a bunch of new stuff on display for the Wii and DS. Indianapolis 500 Legends (Wii) was a racing game with an impressive historical bent. The game starts you in 1961, with each subsequent year to 1971 representing a new difficulty level, and presents (in addition to the full Indy 500) mission objectives based on actual races, organized by driver. Each year has three drivers, and each driver has at least three missions, for about 100 different missions, involving tasks like passing a rival or surviving a crash scenario. The track was modeled on the real Indianapolis Speedway and changes by year to match the authentic appearance at the time; almost every car's engine noise is recorded from that actual model. It's an incredible effort for what turns out to be a not-spectacular-looking Wii racing game with extremely touchy motion-based steering.I kind of got used to it, but we still felt like I was fighting the controls most of the time. The tire-changing pit-stop minigame was fun, though!
The game fared quite a bit better on the DS, though-- graphics that were disappointing on the Wii looked much better on the DS, and the game contains the same drivers, missions, and structure. The stylus-based steering works much better in my opinion than waggle. I don't know how interested in historical racing games on the DS you are (I'm usually not very) but I enjoyed my five minutes with it, at least.
It's Interactive Day for Joystiq's PAX coverage! First we got to assist in the creation of a Sam & Max scene, and now we made a dude in the Penny Arcade game trailer bald!
The Hothead booth at PAX had a demo of the character creation system in On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. After we finished our character editing, the demo presented a video from the game with our character in the lead role. It then offered to email us the video, which means we get to share it with all of you! Enjoy the video, starring a guy who looks not that much like any of us!
At the Penny Arcade game panel today at PAX, they've just confirmed that Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness – the first installment of their episodic series – will "debut" on Xbox Live Arcade in 2008. That's in addition to the already announced PC, Mac OS X, and Linux platforms. It's unclear if the game is console exclusive to the XBLA platform or if other console ports are in the works.
This is the first digitally distributed episodic title to be announced for a home console download service. Telltale is working on Xbox 360 and Wii ports of Sam & Max, but it's unclear if the title will be distributed as a full season retail product or as individual releases through Xbox Live Arcade and Wii Ware respectively. You can check out the game's recently launched site here.
D3's Dragon Blade makes a very good attempt at representative motion for a sword-based Wii game. It's not 1-to-1, of course, but at least the canned attack animations are mapped to reasonable motions. For example, swinging the Wiimote to the right slashes to the right, instead of executing some spin attack or opening the menu. Having a logical basis for the control scheme makes it very simple to know what's going on when you get into a frantic battle against some, I don't know, evil dogs or whatever they were. The attacks themselves form rhythmic three-attack combos, exactly like those found in Phantasy Star Online.
The Wii graphics were nice, but nothing special, with the exception of the dragon-power effects. The hero gains abilities as he finds pieces of the Dragon Blade, and is able to activate those abilities with the D-pad, controlling them with the Wiimote. These effects fill the screen with huge flaming hands (or whatever the part may be), and they are stylistically very nice. The dragon hands allow you to attack with two giant fire hands, each controlled by one of the Wii controllers. I actually really wished I could have done this the whole time. It's nice-- and surprising-- to see an original action game for the Wii, and, based on my time with it, Dragon Blade could be something of a sleeper when it releases this September.
Despite being told we'd be creating an episode, it turns out games (even episodic ones!) take a little longer than an hour (but just barely we imagine). Improv comedy style, they take suggestions from the crowd for events in the game. First, a favorite fruit? Pomegrenates we yell out. A vacation destination? Someone yells "North Pole." A new career for Sybil? "Taxidermist" two blurt out over each other. The writing process has begun.
Sam: Hiya Sybil! Max: What's your story lady? Sybil: I'm an orthopedic surgeon, baby! Sam: Holy heavenly horse radish in a Houston whorehouse! Max: Who cares, I'm running for re-election! Sam: More importantly we need a pastrami on rye to save the world! Sybil: Why do you think I have a pastrami on rye sandwich? Max: Orthopedic surgeons always have pastrami on rye sandwiches! Sam: They use them for lubrication! Max: It's science, Sybil. Sybil: The problem with science is you can't prove it. Also I need condiments. Sam: To Bosco's little buddy!
Don't say the guys at Penny Arcade don't love you. With a large auditorium full of fans, they really wanted to give everyone something special, something we'd all remember for a long time. So they invited a special guest. Apparently good buddy Jack Thompson wasn't available, so they opted for Public Enemy #2: "filmmaker" Uwe Boll.
First, we'd like to personally congratulate Uwe for climbing on stage in front of hundreds of people who ... dislike his films to present his side of the story. Sure, a lot of folks got right up and walked out (not unlike seeing his films in theaters!) and the clips he showed off didn't elicit an overwhelmingly positive fan reaction ... but we're still proud of Uwe for sticking to his clichéd guns without resorting to fisticuffs.
Just like last year, the duo enter the stage to "Hustlin'" which, we much admit, is pretty pimp. (Is that right, is that how you say it?). This is Q&A style, where fans ask wacky questions and the pair respond with witty ripostes. We'll spare you a blow-by-blow here, and just limit our writeup to the good stuff (which is really in the air, it's difficult to capture in a bottle). They discuss the fascinating Halo 3 testing process recently covered in Wired; what's better Guitar Hero 1 or Guitar Hero 2; and whether or not Jerry is a fan of professional wrestling.
Is Jerry interested in writing a book? "No, I am super, super lazy."
Is there hope for the future of downloadable content and who do you think will lead the way? No, he's not talking about the podcast. They're of a mind that as long as we stop buying horse armor, they'll stop making it. Will Rock Band kill off Guitar Hero completely? Do they save or harvest Little Sisters? Mike saves 'em (he says "it's worth it") while Jerry kills 'em. He's up to twelve. "They're not little girls anymore." Are they working on an animated series? Basically, the animated scenes in the game are their animated series.
A fangirl request: Jerry sings an a capella rendition of My Belruel while the crowd waves their various portable handhelds in the nerd equivalent of lighters. Touching, to be sure.
Posts with tag PAX
The annual Penny Arcade Expo has quickly evolved from being simply a gathering of video game enthusiasts to becoming one of our most anticipated gaming conferences each year. We never know what we're going to see there first hand, from fresh rhymes to Metroid attacks, and this year's event, taking place from August 29-31, looks to up the ante with a showcase of independent games called PAX 10.
