Blog - Shiggy

0 comments by Shiggy on Aug 31st, 2008 digg this super bookmark

     The first northwestern convention to have a hold on the gaming community since Comic-Con is here for another installment of geek gathering and internet innuendos. Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX, is an annual gaming festival that is hosted throughout the state of Washington. The most recent installment was hosted at the Washington State Convention Center which is located in downtown Seattle. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the famous webcomic, Penny Arcade. Their main focus has been finding ways to contribute to the gaming community, whether it be through hosting a gaming convention, making a webcomic, or creating a charity for children (Child's Play).

     The convention began with the entry line, which squeezed tons of sweaty gamers who wreaked of bad body odor into one room, in order to keep some sort of organization before the the mad rush to the Exhibition Hall. Unfortunately, the line barely moved for an hour, and seeing the same faces over and over again was not exactly the most reasuring experience, since it gave the false illusion of progression.

To give you a sense of how big the line was, I took a picture.

We were halfway through the line as well, so you are only seeing about half of the picture. The convention finally kicked off when we got to the entrance to the Exhibition Hall.

     The wait was over... or so we thought. When we got inside, we immediately saw the Left4Dead stand, with it's giant box-shaped setup that glowed green. We decided to check it out, only to be saddened because the wait to play was over two hours. We were hopeful, though, since we also saw Fallout 3, and Little Big Planet nearby. However, their lines were no shorter, and seemed to be the main games of the show. All the games displayed at PAX appeared to have a playable demo for them, including Starcraft II, Dead Space, Spore, Guitar Hero: World Tour, and the games already listed before. For two full days, I had a hard time even seeing everything that was in the Exhibition Hall due to the overwhelming turn out from companies.

To help you get a feel for how it was inside, I'll give you a picture of people playing Left4Dead.

     There was also the not to be forgotton display of the documentary Nerdcore Rising. The movie follows MC Frontalot as he begins his first tour which in the end leads him to PAX. Frontalot is recognized as the grandfather of Nerdcore, which is a subgenre of Hip-Hop which focuses on the themes that revolve around the common life of a nerd. And, funny enough, most of the audience connected with the jokes that were mentioned throughout the video, as well as the songs performed.

     Although the convention isn't over, especially since the all too famous Omegathon is yet to be finished, the two main days have already passed by very quickly, so I feel that I got a good grasp of what was there, and what there is to come in the gaming industry.

Reid Flamm

0 comments by Shiggy on Jul 23rd, 2008 digg this super bookmark

                Creation of a New Gaming Website

In the past, I have been forced to visit such sites as IGN or Gamespot if I wanted key information on upcoming games, when their release dates are, and what I have been missing in the video game universe. However, there has been much bi-ism in the online community when it comes to video game websites. Gamespot has been notorious for giving games a greater rating based on how much money a company gives them. IGN has been focused on being a site in which all forms of media are shown, including Movies, Video Games, Sports, Music, and essentially everything else that can sidetrack someone from the gaming community.
    Just to be clear, I'm not saying they are bad websites. On the contrary, they are amazingly well designed websites that I respect, and visit a good deal. However, I have yet to find a website that focuses on what gamers actually want. The only exception to this, would be the very website I am posting this on, ModDb.com. This website has allowed many people to share their media, ideas, and reviews to the modding community. However, the key word here is modding. This website is amazingly well designed and simplistic for what it was made to do: Create an organized community in which people may design, create, and discuss mods in all their glory. However, I wish to make a website where the same feeling that is present here can be fully displayed in all types of gaming. I'm not talking about random media, but ALL types, not just mods.
    Now, I do realize that there is a gaming section in which standalone creators may post their games which would not be mods in the slightest, and you can visit games that have been created/are being created to see what they are about. However, this is a community in which modding is the main goal. Having discussions about gaming, in which the community would play a major roll in what we try to review, display, and create is a different step but not a very polar one. Essentially, I want to make a community very similar to this one, but still holding some of the qualities of a 'mainstream' website, like IGN. However, the main focus will be on what gamers want, and not what big business wants.

    If you have any suggestions for me, and my partners, we are open and would be very pleased to hear all that you have to offer, since we are trying to make this for you. We are in the very early stages of creation, in fact, we are in the over all layout design phase, so any pointers would be great.

Thank you for your time,

Reid Flamm