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PAX East 2011: No Dickwolves allowed...
- Thread starter AlphaTwo00
- Start date
bounchfx said:
Tell me more!
It's my most anticipated title of 2011.Do you think it'll be the next "big" shooter to step things up from Call of Duty/Battlefield? Or is it something that'll have its own audience only ?
Anything at all you can share from your impressions is good though on how it played would be awesome to read.
CitizenCope
Member
Just got back home. Took me 15 minutes. Funny thing is it took me 90 minutes to get in because my GPS was telling me I arrived at my destination which would have been a wall in a tunnel. WTF!! I paid $5 in tolls that I shouldn't have.
My first Pax and boy was it mayhem. Only Chralie Sheen does more lines than this place. Was in line for a demo of Rage and the "Enforcer" said the end of the line was 40 people back. By the time we got near the entrance they closed the doors with 50 people still in front of me. About an hour wasted.
I want to hear some Battlefield 3 impressions because I certainly wasn't getting in that line.
I've got to say I am jealous of Master Race because I was blown away by how good some of the PC games looked. They had Dragon Nest there. Isn't that game a couple of years old? On the gaming rigs they were playing it on it just blew my mind. Rich colors, high resolution, superb framerate etc... I want that in my console MS and Sony!!!
Favorite outfit of the show was Barry Wheeler from Alan Wake. X-mas lights and all.
I don't have much info on games as I spent most of my time in panels and in line for panels.
Ended it with the Major Nelson panel. Good stuff. Cliffy B. dropped by to get us excited for Gears.
Sorry I'm all over the place but this post is much like my day.
My first Pax and boy was it mayhem. Only Chralie Sheen does more lines than this place. Was in line for a demo of Rage and the "Enforcer" said the end of the line was 40 people back. By the time we got near the entrance they closed the doors with 50 people still in front of me. About an hour wasted.
I want to hear some Battlefield 3 impressions because I certainly wasn't getting in that line.
I've got to say I am jealous of Master Race because I was blown away by how good some of the PC games looked. They had Dragon Nest there. Isn't that game a couple of years old? On the gaming rigs they were playing it on it just blew my mind. Rich colors, high resolution, superb framerate etc... I want that in my console MS and Sony!!!
Favorite outfit of the show was Barry Wheeler from Alan Wake. X-mas lights and all.
I don't have much info on games as I spent most of my time in panels and in line for panels.
Ended it with the Major Nelson panel. Good stuff. Cliffy B. dropped by to get us excited for Gears.
Sorry I'm all over the place but this post is much like my day.
A Human Becoming
More than a Member
Cromulent_Word said:
Were you there today? I might have talked to you and not realized it.
Over the past two days I played:
Child of Eden Fun, but the controls take some time to get used to.
Gunstringer Another fun Kinect railshooter. The graphics suck, but the controls feel better than Child of Eden.
Homefront Plays like CoD; story still interests me. The opening cinematic is fantastic.
Ms. Splosion Man More Splosion man = Take my money!
Clash of Heroes HD Been waiting for this to come to XBLA for awhile. Fun, but PAX certainly isn't the place to learn how to play it.
3DS Augmented Reality I pre-ordered the 3DS again (I had cancelled it) after playing it. Fantastic piece of technology.
Outland Simple little combat platformer with a great art style. I was surprised to have not heard of it; hopefully it gets more attention as it closes to release.
Snapshot Neat idea. I suck at puzzle games though, so I stopped once I got stuck.
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Cool Metroid-esque spaceship flyer.
I've mostly focused on smaller games. Tomorrow I plan on finally trying Bastion, BattleBlock Theater, Duke Nukem Forever and Portal 2.
JacksUsername
Member
I only had a Friday pass, but didn't get to post my impressions last night/this morning, so here goes:
Positives:
The highlight of the day was my friend taking first place in the SFII HD Remix Tourney. I've been to cons before, but never really got into the tournament scene. It was really tense, especially the last few matches, and I know it was a great experience for him. It was his first convention, and his first tournament, so he was a little shocked when it went down the way it did.
Playing the 3DS for the first time. The line yesterday was mildly long, but it actually moved pretty quickly - we only waited 15-20 minutes or so to get into the Nintendo booth. It was really weird feeling your eyes adjust the first time you experience the 3D, but I didn't have any major problems with it. The first open kiosk that opened up for me was SSFIV, so I was pretty psyched (my friend got sent to Nintendogs). A lot of people weren't realizing that once you were in the booth, you could walk to any kiosk and wait for an available 3DS, so I actually got to experience most of the games. Played AR Games, Pilotwings, SSFIV, RE: Mercenaries, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Steel Diver (passed on Nintendogs, Lego Star Wars, and Zelda OOT) Was really impressed with both Capcom games and Pilotwings. Kid Icarus seemed cool, but they have these box locks on the back of the system, and I was finding it very difficult to hold the system with one hand (making sure it was stable as to not lose the 3D effect) and hold the stylus in the other. AR was also difficult: I kept losing the 3D because I was trying to walk around, but the booth was so small and so crowded, there was not much room to really position it where it needed to be to reach some of the targets.
Negatives:
Tournament organization: One of my friends was in the Street Fighter tourney, while the other was in the Starcraft. The Street Fighter tournament was supposed to start at 2:30, but it was so loosely organized that there was almost an hour of just playing around before any match even started. The Enforcers didn't even manage the brackets, they actually just picked a volunteer (who was actually supposed to play) and he took it from there. He was a good guy though and did a great job at getting the tournament underway amidst the chaos.
My other friend was in the Starcraft tournament - I headed over there for a bit and was disappointed to find out there was no way to really spectate. He was near one of the back rows, but since his monitor was facing the interior of the room, we wouldn't get to see him play unless he made it to the finals. And then, the tournament was postponed after they had been sitting there for over a half hour. Because so many people were trying to log into Battle.net, Blizzard blocked the IP, and no one could play. Because LAN isn't supported, they postponed the tournament while trying to contact Blizzard (so people were saying). My friend didn't bother to return since he had already wasted so much time.
Giant Bomb Panel: This was more my fault; I had told my friends we should get in line 1 to 1.5 hours ahead of time to get good seats, but due to my group's procrastination, and my not-so-successful efforts on getting them out of the bar early, we only arrived a half hour before the panel. We did get in, but the seats were horrible, and the sound speaker we were sitting next to wasn't working. So I couldn't really hear the panel, and I could not see anything on stage because we were so far back and I had a huge guy sitting in front of me. This was really a bummer since the main reason I chose to go on Friday instead of Saturday was for this panel.
Cosplay: Not that many costumes at the convention, which I found a bit surprising. Today might have been a different story though.
All in all, it was a fun day; wish I were able to play and see more games. Didn't do any shopping, but I did see a Japanese 3DS that a booth was trying to sell for 500 dollars. Next year I'm going to try and get a three day pass and spend more time on the show floor. I also wish I could have gone to the IGDA panels; I am trying to get started in this industry, but it's tough when you're there with friends who are not that interested in panels and are there more so for the games. And a quick pro-tip, the Capcom booth has a few 3DS's of their own, and the lines yesterday were so much shorter compared to the Nintendo booth. Not sure if the same applied today.
Positives:
The highlight of the day was my friend taking first place in the SFII HD Remix Tourney. I've been to cons before, but never really got into the tournament scene. It was really tense, especially the last few matches, and I know it was a great experience for him. It was his first convention, and his first tournament, so he was a little shocked when it went down the way it did.
Playing the 3DS for the first time. The line yesterday was mildly long, but it actually moved pretty quickly - we only waited 15-20 minutes or so to get into the Nintendo booth. It was really weird feeling your eyes adjust the first time you experience the 3D, but I didn't have any major problems with it. The first open kiosk that opened up for me was SSFIV, so I was pretty psyched (my friend got sent to Nintendogs). A lot of people weren't realizing that once you were in the booth, you could walk to any kiosk and wait for an available 3DS, so I actually got to experience most of the games. Played AR Games, Pilotwings, SSFIV, RE: Mercenaries, Kid Icarus: Uprising, and Steel Diver (passed on Nintendogs, Lego Star Wars, and Zelda OOT) Was really impressed with both Capcom games and Pilotwings. Kid Icarus seemed cool, but they have these box locks on the back of the system, and I was finding it very difficult to hold the system with one hand (making sure it was stable as to not lose the 3D effect) and hold the stylus in the other. AR was also difficult: I kept losing the 3D because I was trying to walk around, but the booth was so small and so crowded, there was not much room to really position it where it needed to be to reach some of the targets.
Negatives:
Tournament organization: One of my friends was in the Street Fighter tourney, while the other was in the Starcraft. The Street Fighter tournament was supposed to start at 2:30, but it was so loosely organized that there was almost an hour of just playing around before any match even started. The Enforcers didn't even manage the brackets, they actually just picked a volunteer (who was actually supposed to play) and he took it from there. He was a good guy though and did a great job at getting the tournament underway amidst the chaos.
My other friend was in the Starcraft tournament - I headed over there for a bit and was disappointed to find out there was no way to really spectate. He was near one of the back rows, but since his monitor was facing the interior of the room, we wouldn't get to see him play unless he made it to the finals. And then, the tournament was postponed after they had been sitting there for over a half hour. Because so many people were trying to log into Battle.net, Blizzard blocked the IP, and no one could play. Because LAN isn't supported, they postponed the tournament while trying to contact Blizzard (so people were saying). My friend didn't bother to return since he had already wasted so much time.
Giant Bomb Panel: This was more my fault; I had told my friends we should get in line 1 to 1.5 hours ahead of time to get good seats, but due to my group's procrastination, and my not-so-successful efforts on getting them out of the bar early, we only arrived a half hour before the panel. We did get in, but the seats were horrible, and the sound speaker we were sitting next to wasn't working. So I couldn't really hear the panel, and I could not see anything on stage because we were so far back and I had a huge guy sitting in front of me. This was really a bummer since the main reason I chose to go on Friday instead of Saturday was for this panel.
Cosplay: Not that many costumes at the convention, which I found a bit surprising. Today might have been a different story though.
All in all, it was a fun day; wish I were able to play and see more games. Didn't do any shopping, but I did see a Japanese 3DS that a booth was trying to sell for 500 dollars. Next year I'm going to try and get a three day pass and spend more time on the show floor. I also wish I could have gone to the IGDA panels; I am trying to get started in this industry, but it's tough when you're there with friends who are not that interested in panels and are there more so for the games. And a quick pro-tip, the Capcom booth has a few 3DS's of their own, and the lines yesterday were so much shorter compared to the Nintendo booth. Not sure if the same applied today.
If anyone is interested, the Scott & Kris panel is still going http://www.team9000.net/live/
They're both really drunk.
They're both really drunk.
CitizenCope
Member
Thanks I'm enjoying this. Were a lot of panels streaming live today?AcridMeat said:
I got into the line for the concerts maybe a half hour before they were scheduled to start and got in fine, I was right next to the front, too, since a lot of people wanted to just lay down or sit when they got there. Jenga was amazing. I loved VGO, recorded most of their sets. If the sound isn't too blown out, I'll try to post them when I get home.
I went to two panels today that I left early, both were at capacity. Geek Parenting and cosplay. Geek Parenting was okay, but my kids were really young and (not trying to sound better than anyone) I'm not really on the same level of geek. I did get some good advice out of it before I left though. A friend and I went to the cosplay panel to try to get some good pics of all the costumes (and we did see some really good ones), but man was it boring. Left halfway through, even though they did want to get all the costumed people up in front of everyone at the end of the panel.
The Battlefield 3 demo was pretty impressive. Something happened at the end which was totally unexpected (I think its already been revealed, but I'll spoiler it anyway)
, but other than that, I do have some fps fatigue, so it didn't grab me. I thought the amount of allowable environment destruction was interesting though.
I checked out the Deus Ex panel, too, posted impressions in that thread.
I tried SSFIV 3d and Mercenaries again and was more impressed this time. I'll prob wait on a price drop for ssfiv though.
Probably spending lots of time on the floor tomorrow, maybe just seeing the "ten games you must play" panel.
I went to two panels today that I left early, both were at capacity. Geek Parenting and cosplay. Geek Parenting was okay, but my kids were really young and (not trying to sound better than anyone) I'm not really on the same level of geek. I did get some good advice out of it before I left though. A friend and I went to the cosplay panel to try to get some good pics of all the costumes (and we did see some really good ones), but man was it boring. Left halfway through, even though they did want to get all the costumed people up in front of everyone at the end of the panel.
The Battlefield 3 demo was pretty impressive. Something happened at the end which was totally unexpected (I think its already been revealed, but I'll spoiler it anyway)
giant earthquake
I checked out the Deus Ex panel, too, posted impressions in that thread.
I tried SSFIV 3d and Mercenaries again and was more impressed this time. I'll prob wait on a price drop for ssfiv though.
Probably spending lots of time on the floor tomorrow, maybe just seeing the "ten games you must play" panel.
blackMamba1187
Member
My friend took a bunch of pictures from the show; mostly cos-players and booth babes, I'm sure. Is there any reason to post them?
I'm gonna check out the El Shaddai booth again tomorrow, and maybe try to play it. Someone else got the last play session today.
I dunno sometimes I wonder if I really like videogames because none of these games REALLY feels like it's worth all the effort, wait, and pretentiousness surrounding this just to play them before release. Or maybe it means I'm just normal, I dunno.
Like last year I was freaking out at finding Limbo (inconspicuously tucked away in the 360 Arcade area) and I mean all I got out of that was, "yup this game is really good, but I dunno I'd feel a lot better being able to just play this at home in private than play it in a convention center with tons of eyes on you, including either a tired as fuck PR person or developer." And then I did and that really was how I felt, more or less.
like I mean even the indie developers, who tend to be more accessible and knowledgeable than PR people, I can hardly think of anything to say to them other than "wow you guys did a really good job," so really I just say nothing... which in some respects may be even worse because then they may think you're just using them as a kiosk accessory or don't like the game (assuming you get noticed at all, which to be fair you probably won't be, at least not specifically). But all the information I want from a game has already been scouted out, all the questions I could want to ask have been asked, and if they haven't then they probably WILL be. So it's merely the experience of the game that's usually left for me, and most often I feel that's probably best done at home. Which basically, again, leaves being chummy with developers and PR, which I mean, I'm sure they're nice people, and I think I'm a nice person, too, but there are a billion nice people at PAX and they're all "gamers".
It's weirdly alienating.
maybe I should just stop going to these things by myself.
I dunno sometimes I wonder if I really like videogames because none of these games REALLY feels like it's worth all the effort, wait, and pretentiousness surrounding this just to play them before release. Or maybe it means I'm just normal, I dunno.
Like last year I was freaking out at finding Limbo (inconspicuously tucked away in the 360 Arcade area) and I mean all I got out of that was, "yup this game is really good, but I dunno I'd feel a lot better being able to just play this at home in private than play it in a convention center with tons of eyes on you, including either a tired as fuck PR person or developer." And then I did and that really was how I felt, more or less.
like I mean even the indie developers, who tend to be more accessible and knowledgeable than PR people, I can hardly think of anything to say to them other than "wow you guys did a really good job," so really I just say nothing... which in some respects may be even worse because then they may think you're just using them as a kiosk accessory or don't like the game (assuming you get noticed at all, which to be fair you probably won't be, at least not specifically). But all the information I want from a game has already been scouted out, all the questions I could want to ask have been asked, and if they haven't then they probably WILL be. So it's merely the experience of the game that's usually left for me, and most often I feel that's probably best done at home. Which basically, again, leaves being chummy with developers and PR, which I mean, I'm sure they're nice people, and I think I'm a nice person, too, but there are a billion nice people at PAX and they're all "gamers".
It's weirdly alienating.
maybe I should just stop going to these things by myself.
I was there live holy shit it was hilarious and great. I had to leave at midnight though due to reliance on public transport.AcridMeat said:
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
The PAX showfloor is a people trap. Freeplay and the panels are a much better time investment.
friskykillface
Banned
oh yeah, while walking on the show floor, saw Jessica Chowbot , what a sexy woman, that guy on G4 is lucky to date her.
dat beauty lol <3
also saw Morgan Webb (dat chin, but also sexy) and Adam Sessler .
dat beauty lol <3
also saw Morgan Webb (dat chin, but also sexy) and Adam Sessler .
YuriLowell
Member
Its def worse then last year. I played everything last year and the longest wait was an hour. Duke was 2 hour old repubic was 8 portal 2 was 2 hours. Brink was 2 hours.DeBurgo said:
There weren't nearly as many big publishers/developers last year though. I think the biggest game last year was crackdown 2, and if I remember correctly its wait time at certain times of day was comparable to that.YuriLowell said:
wait was KOTOR really 8 hours or is that a typo? wtf?
well, yeah. I guess I'm just still kind of in denial about that aspect. I remember wanting to play games before they were released in a format like this since I first heard about E3. I'm not 14 years old anymore though.SapientWolf said:
YuriLowell
Member
Old republic is 10 hours today. Its not even open 10 hours.
friskykillface
Banned
YuriLowell said:
0_o haha, how can it be 10 hours, what exactly do you do when you play it?
I also remember seeing an awesome Samus cosplay yesterday, girl had the suit ad everything, except the helmet, dat Samus
Sanjuro Tsubaki said:
I was kinda disappointed there was no playable demo
Screaming_Gremlin
My QB is a Dick and my coach is a Nutt
JacksUsername said:
I got in line about the same time so we were probably sitting in the same area. I had the exact same issue. You really couldn't see anything due to being so far back and because the speaker wasn't working you really couldn't hear anything either. We ended up leaving about halfway through.
I also avoided most of the big games because the queue times were just ridiculous. As others said, Old Republic was sitting at 5 hours plus for most of the day. I did wait through Portal 2, which was only an hour at the time. It was an awesome video, but I doubt I would go through that again. It seemed like lines were at their smallest on Friday, but I was at the Fantasy Flight booth demoing Mansions of Madness so I didn't see a lot of games.
I had more fun seeing some of the indie games and smaller developers. In particular I liked Bastion (which had an additional demo station in the WB booth that no one was at) and Orcs Must Die. It was also easier to see the PC games, mainly due to how random and spread out they are within the Nvidia and other hardware manufacturer's booths. I was able to play some Darkspore, Witcher 2, Homefront, Dungeon Siege 3, and Crysis 2. The only game I missed that I really wanted to see was Guild Wars 2. While there weren't a ton of people in line for the game, the demo was set on a 30-40 minute timer and people wouldn't leave until the timer was hit. So even if you were 4th in line, you were probably going to have to wait 2 hours to actually play it.
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
PAX isn't really a trade show. It's more like a big party for gamers. E3 is the usual time for big announcements.Cyborg said:PAX didnt bring up anything new......I expected much more
CitizenCope
Member
Didn't get to see The Chobot. =( Who is she dating from G4?
A couple got engaged during the Major Nelson panel. Sweet.
What is it about 3D-gaming or movies for that matter that I'm just not enjoying? I mean part of what I'm seeing is absolutely amazing but at the same time it's like 75%(random number) of the screen is out of focus.
A couple got engaged during the Major Nelson panel. Sweet.
What is it about 3D-gaming or movies for that matter that I'm just not enjoying? I mean part of what I'm seeing is absolutely amazing but at the same time it's like 75%(random number) of the screen is out of focus.
CitizenCope
Member
Doh! Oh well, he seems cool.zlatko said:
Well work turned my planned three-day PAX trip into one (Saturday) but it was still worth it. Tabletop gaming with gaffers was very fun. Didn't really check out any of the demos or stands or anything but I leave that more to the teeny-boppers who don't mind waiting in line for a couple hours with their friends. Tabletop at PAX is funny to me b/c I realize there's this whole other world of tabletop gamers that seem to play pretty much only Munchkin and maybe one or two other fantasy-themed games.
Hahah looks like things haven't changed. I was bummed that my trip got shortened so I didn't get to partake in the tournaments this year, but I was even telling someone on the PA forums who was whining about some really minor rules/tournament-style issues pre-PAX that he needed to set his expectation way lower in terms of "professionalism." I would call them almost more roughly organized play than tournaments they are so informal. I still do really like that they have them because it's a fun way to meet up with like-minded gamers in a semi (but not overly) competitive setting. I remember in the Lumines tournament last year I had to beat the same guy like three times even though it was supposed to be single-elimination. Hah. The one part that does bother me about it though is as you discuss the part about starting late and not really getting things running properly -- that is annoying regardless.
JacksUsername said:
Hahah looks like things haven't changed. I was bummed that my trip got shortened so I didn't get to partake in the tournaments this year, but I was even telling someone on the PA forums who was whining about some really minor rules/tournament-style issues pre-PAX that he needed to set his expectation way lower in terms of "professionalism." I would call them almost more roughly organized play than tournaments they are so informal. I still do really like that they have them because it's a fun way to meet up with like-minded gamers in a semi (but not overly) competitive setting. I remember in the Lumines tournament last year I had to beat the same guy like three times even though it was supposed to be single-elimination. Hah. The one part that does bother me about it though is as you discuss the part about starting late and not really getting things running properly -- that is annoying regardless.
shinobi602
Member
Anything on ME3 yet?
Or should we wait for E3?
Or should we wait for E3?
iAmMaximus
Member
CitizenCope said:
Got to meet the both of them during PAX Prime. Super nice people and down to earth.
CitizenCope
Member
Yeah when I saw JC tear up a little during the presentation for the winner of the Doritos Unlock Xbox challenge she was cool in my book. Not just another pretty face.The Int3rsect said:
CitizenCope
Member
I know. lolzlatko said:
I think he was referrng to my post on 3D.
bounchfx, I actually deleted the part where I mentioned I was having a hard time describing what I was and was not seeing. Sorry this is getting you all uptight.
I just know that the 2D versions of things like Avatar(the movie) and Crysis 2 look much better than in 3D for me. What that better is I just can't figure out. I don't know if it's the 3D technology or my eyes. You'll be the first to know when I figure it out.
Caught your smiley after posting. I guess your not too upset.
CitizenCope said:I know. lol
I think he was referrng to my post on 3D.
bounchfx, I actually deleted the part where I mentioned I was having a hard time describing what I was and was not seeing. Sorry this is getting you all uptight.
I just know that the 2D versions of things like Avatar(the movie) and Crysis 2 look much better than in 3D for me. What that better is I just can't figure out. I don't know if it's the 3D technology or my eyes. You'll be the first to know when I figure it out.
Caught your smiley after posting. I guess your not too upset.
Ah okay I was confuzzled if it had to do with my post.
If anyone got an extra Halo: Reach Defiant Map Pack code from being at PAX I know a certain Gaffer who'd love it.
Me? ;Dzlatko said:Ah okay I was confuzzled if it had to do with my post.
If anyone got an extra Halo: Reach Defiant Map Pack code from being at PAX I know a certain Gaffer who'd love it.
Kidding, but it would be great if I could get one. Could you only get them from being in that Reach tournament at PAX?
Dug said:
I think they were just handing them out to anyone who was there. Some people definitely got extras too, because from what I read they just came up to you and asked if you got one already or not... so you could lie and be a bit of a poop head to get extras.
Twitter was also giving them out in droves from various spots/contests.
Nelo Ice said:
I really should hop on my 360 to see how it looks now that I have one. Twitter winning is a toss up. The best ones are when they don't just put the code in their tweet, but instead link you to a picture of the code so you have to type it in manually bit by bit. Makes it harder for people doing stupid scripts and junk to soak up all the wins.