Okay, the actual submission videos from the BioWare contest are up and ready to view!
The Director's Cut
The Original Submission (had to be trimmed and edited to fit 2 minutes!)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
PAX, Day 3!
Before PAX opened…
After uploading some videos (more are coming! Though I won’t have the day 3 video available until after BioWare sends it back to me: they’re currently doing whatever it is they’re doing with it as we speak. =) ), I went down to a Dim Sum restaurant with some friends from the Penny Arcade forums. ElectricTurtle, Redhalo, Hypatia and others were there. It’s been years since I had Dim Sum, and it was quite enjoyable! Again, the name of the restaurant eludes me… it was “Honey” something, but I can’t remember what. I’ll have to see if I can find out what it was. It was also drastically less expensive than the food immediately around PAX itself: we fed 10 people for the price of two in the restaurants around PAX, and I would say this was probably the best meal I had on the trip.
PAX, Day 3!
But I digress, this isn’t a culinary blog! =) We took a taxi back to PAX, where my first goal was to meet up with Chibidani, who ran the Cookie Brigade this year. I was completely, 100% out of cookies, and I needed to turn the money in to her so that she could consolidate it at a meeting later that day (which I wasn’t going to be able to attend). I had raised just shy of $1500 dollars on Day 2, and I had a large Tupperware container full of money from Day 1 that I hadn’t yet counted… needless to say, carrying these with me during PAX (and back and forth from PAX to my room) was a bit nerve-wracking! But as someone mentioned when we were counting money on day 2, if anyone dared to take it they’d have a pile of ravenous gamers on them in moments. =)
We met just outside of the Wil Wheaton panel in the Convention Center Annex, and I managed to take some footage of the panel before she met up with me.
(INSERT Wil Wheaton video here!)
Penny Arcade Q&A
After handing off the money, I was off to get to the Penny Arcade Q&A panel. At PAX, Mike and Jerry (aka Gabe and Tycho) hold several question and answer sessions where people can ask anything they want, and they’ll receive responses that range from interesting to amusing. =) I couldn’t miss this particular one, however. In the following video, Houn explains the two events that other PAX goers were set to spring on Gabe & Tycho during this particular Q&A session:
(Insert Houn explanation here)
Though I didn’t get any video of the Bad Horse Sniping (d’oh!), I did get plenty of video of the button case presentation:
(Insert presentation video here)
LordThanda, a PAX Forum frequenter and former Omeganaut, put together the idea of getting a case for the buttons and presenting them to the duo. It came out beautifully, and was well received!
Dragon Age Toolset Presentation
At the end of the Q&A Session, I went to BioWare’s presentation of the Dragon Age toolset. There were many BioWare fans waiting in line, and I talked to a few in depth about what they think of the upcoming game.
(Insert interview videos here!)
I took plenty of video of the event, for those who might be interested! I imagine there’s more than a few of you in this particular audience who might want to see it. ;)
(Insert Dragon Age Toolset video here!)
From the looks of it, the Dragon Age toolset will be an extremely powerful tool for the gaming community, and it looks like they’ve improved greatly on ideas that they were honing in previous creations such as the Neverwinter Nights toolset.
The Omegathon Final Round
For anyone who has yet to go to the final round of an Omegathon, it is quite an event. The audience, even after three days of nonstop entertainment and activities, is electric with anticipation and excitement. Only two Omeganauts remained, and they were ready to compete head-to-head in a mystery game to be declared on the spot by Gabe and Tycho.
The chairs were removed from the main theater to fit more people, and even then the theater filled to the brim with a standing room only crowd. While we waited and listened to music coming through the sound system, several PAX attendees who had acquired puppets from the Fallout showing pulled them out and… well… here’s some footage of it.
(Insert Fallout puppet videos here)
Before the competition began, Tycho made a special announcement about the cookie brigade: we had earned over 5,000 dollars for Child’s Play! It was a great feeling to know that we had contributed meaningfully to such a wonderful organization, and it was great to see the limitless generosity of the Gaming community for good causes!
Finally the competitors were brought onto the stage, and the game was revealed. It was Vs. Excitebike, the two player variant of Excitebike that was never released in the United States! It was to be a best of seven competition between the two who had competed all weekend long to get to participate in this moment.
The closest round of the final was undoubtedly round 1, where the Omeganaut who went by the handle “Gecko” beat his opponent by a mere fraction of a second. After this, however, he gained more and more momentum, and ended up sweeping the series 4-0. We had a winner!
(Insert Omeganaut final video here!)
After this, Gabe and Tycho went head-to-head… as would be expected, Gabe won handily (Gabe is known for being the more experienced console player): however, Tycho did keep it fairly close in most of the rounds, and Gabe won the match 4-1.
Wrapping it up
The end of the Omeganaut finals signaled the end of PAX, and all that was left was to say goodbyes. It was a wonderful experience to meet so many people who I had talked to for so long in forums, IRC chats, and games… and I only can hope that the friendships made will last for years to come.
I feel honored to have been a part of this year’s PAX, and I can’t thank BioWare enough for the support and opportunities they have given me. Going back to the real world after five days in the world of our community will likely be a difficult transition, but the memories of this PAX will keep me going until next year!
I’d like to thank all of you who read my blog, and I hope you found it as amusing to read as I found it to write. Until next time!
After uploading some videos (more are coming! Though I won’t have the day 3 video available until after BioWare sends it back to me: they’re currently doing whatever it is they’re doing with it as we speak. =) ), I went down to a Dim Sum restaurant with some friends from the Penny Arcade forums. ElectricTurtle, Redhalo, Hypatia and others were there. It’s been years since I had Dim Sum, and it was quite enjoyable! Again, the name of the restaurant eludes me… it was “Honey” something, but I can’t remember what. I’ll have to see if I can find out what it was. It was also drastically less expensive than the food immediately around PAX itself: we fed 10 people for the price of two in the restaurants around PAX, and I would say this was probably the best meal I had on the trip.
PAX, Day 3!
But I digress, this isn’t a culinary blog! =) We took a taxi back to PAX, where my first goal was to meet up with Chibidani, who ran the Cookie Brigade this year. I was completely, 100% out of cookies, and I needed to turn the money in to her so that she could consolidate it at a meeting later that day (which I wasn’t going to be able to attend). I had raised just shy of $1500 dollars on Day 2, and I had a large Tupperware container full of money from Day 1 that I hadn’t yet counted… needless to say, carrying these with me during PAX (and back and forth from PAX to my room) was a bit nerve-wracking! But as someone mentioned when we were counting money on day 2, if anyone dared to take it they’d have a pile of ravenous gamers on them in moments. =)
We met just outside of the Wil Wheaton panel in the Convention Center Annex, and I managed to take some footage of the panel before she met up with me.
(INSERT Wil Wheaton video here!)
Penny Arcade Q&A
After handing off the money, I was off to get to the Penny Arcade Q&A panel. At PAX, Mike and Jerry (aka Gabe and Tycho) hold several question and answer sessions where people can ask anything they want, and they’ll receive responses that range from interesting to amusing. =) I couldn’t miss this particular one, however. In the following video, Houn explains the two events that other PAX goers were set to spring on Gabe & Tycho during this particular Q&A session:
(Insert Houn explanation here)
Though I didn’t get any video of the Bad Horse Sniping (d’oh!), I did get plenty of video of the button case presentation:
(Insert presentation video here)
LordThanda, a PAX Forum frequenter and former Omeganaut, put together the idea of getting a case for the buttons and presenting them to the duo. It came out beautifully, and was well received!
Dragon Age Toolset Presentation
At the end of the Q&A Session, I went to BioWare’s presentation of the Dragon Age toolset. There were many BioWare fans waiting in line, and I talked to a few in depth about what they think of the upcoming game.
(Insert interview videos here!)
I took plenty of video of the event, for those who might be interested! I imagine there’s more than a few of you in this particular audience who might want to see it. ;)
(Insert Dragon Age Toolset video here!)
From the looks of it, the Dragon Age toolset will be an extremely powerful tool for the gaming community, and it looks like they’ve improved greatly on ideas that they were honing in previous creations such as the Neverwinter Nights toolset.
The Omegathon Final Round
For anyone who has yet to go to the final round of an Omegathon, it is quite an event. The audience, even after three days of nonstop entertainment and activities, is electric with anticipation and excitement. Only two Omeganauts remained, and they were ready to compete head-to-head in a mystery game to be declared on the spot by Gabe and Tycho.
The chairs were removed from the main theater to fit more people, and even then the theater filled to the brim with a standing room only crowd. While we waited and listened to music coming through the sound system, several PAX attendees who had acquired puppets from the Fallout showing pulled them out and… well… here’s some footage of it.
(Insert Fallout puppet videos here)
Before the competition began, Tycho made a special announcement about the cookie brigade: we had earned over 5,000 dollars for Child’s Play! It was a great feeling to know that we had contributed meaningfully to such a wonderful organization, and it was great to see the limitless generosity of the Gaming community for good causes!
Finally the competitors were brought onto the stage, and the game was revealed. It was Vs. Excitebike, the two player variant of Excitebike that was never released in the United States! It was to be a best of seven competition between the two who had competed all weekend long to get to participate in this moment.
The closest round of the final was undoubtedly round 1, where the Omeganaut who went by the handle “Gecko” beat his opponent by a mere fraction of a second. After this, however, he gained more and more momentum, and ended up sweeping the series 4-0. We had a winner!
(Insert Omeganaut final video here!)
After this, Gabe and Tycho went head-to-head… as would be expected, Gabe won handily (Gabe is known for being the more experienced console player): however, Tycho did keep it fairly close in most of the rounds, and Gabe won the match 4-1.
Wrapping it up
The end of the Omeganaut finals signaled the end of PAX, and all that was left was to say goodbyes. It was a wonderful experience to meet so many people who I had talked to for so long in forums, IRC chats, and games… and I only can hope that the friendships made will last for years to come.
I feel honored to have been a part of this year’s PAX, and I can’t thank BioWare enough for the support and opportunities they have given me. Going back to the real world after five days in the world of our community will likely be a difficult transition, but the memories of this PAX will keep me going until next year!
I’d like to thank all of you who read my blog, and I hope you found it as amusing to read as I found it to write. Until next time!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Day 3 update coming!
Okay, the Day 3 update is coming! I got home yesterday, and did some Anniversary-related stuff with the Mrs. (Our anniversary is today! Woot! =) )... I need to grab both the Day 2 videos and the (already written, thanks to a long airport wait) Day 3 blog and post them after work today!
I won't have the Day 3 videos until Chris ships them back to me, which may take a little bit of time... but at least at the end of the day today I'll have the day 2 videos and day 3 blog up for your perusal!
I won't have the Day 3 videos until Chris ships them back to me, which may take a little bit of time... but at least at the end of the day today I'll have the day 2 videos and day 3 blog up for your perusal!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
PAX, Day 2!
Yesterday was Day 2 of PAX, and it was a lot of fun again!
I started off the day by heading to breakfast with some people I ran into in the lobby of the Hyatt. One great thing about PAX is that, in general, there's a sense of anonymous comradery. You don't have to know another person previously - or even know their name - to go sit and eat with them, or talk gaming. I don't remember their names, but I do remember that they were supporters of another Omeganaut (whose name eludes me at the moment... ack!). We snagged a quick bite at McDonalds and we were off to PAX!
Coming inside, I ran into Mentok (a PAX Forumer, and fellow Magical Mystery Tour goer!) who told me he was getting in line for the "Make a Strip" Panel. On the way over there, I noticed he was sitting with the same lady I ran into in day 1, before I had cookies... but this time I was armed and ready! I asked her some questions about what Child's Play means to her, and she gave some wonderful responses!
(Video here!)
We also ran into Lyanth, the coordinator of the Cosplay effort at PAX! She was dressed in a Zero Samus suit complete with an awesome wig!
They told me that they'd hold my spot (since the panel didn't begin until 1pm, and it was only barely 10am!), so I went off to do some more cookie selling, and to get some footage (as well as participate!) in the expo hall itself! I was also doing my best to get people to know about the BioWare booth and the showing of Dragon Age on Sunday!
(Video of expo hall here!)
I was given bags of cookies that had been unfortunately crumbled and more-or-less destroyed when they were shipped over (the cookies were gluten free, and non-glutenous cookies have a very difficult time retaining structure). Luckily, Annigaricus (the lady who made them) had a plan: she gave me a full box of Dixie cups, and suggested that I let them scoop the cookie crumbles and eat them from the cup.
I decided that they would henceforth be called "Cookie Shooters", and thus began the very mixed reactions to the concept of such a product:
(Some pretty hilarious videos here, when I can get them uploaded! =) )
After running through the Expo hall, I ran into ProXimity (another forumer) and a few others who were eager to play some magic... so we went across the street to the Annex where the tabletop gaming was taking place.
I got in a few good multiplayer games with them, though when I started playing I realized that my aforementioned deck wasn't in the state I thought it was in! I had forgotten, but I changed it at the last minute to a slightly less entertaining Ink-Treader variant... I still need to take the time to fix it back to where it was (I have the cards with me, but I have to go through and find the ones I added etc...), in case I get some games in on Day 3.
Before I knew it, it was almost 1pm... proXimity rushed off to do the (now infamous apparently!) Bad Horse Sniper gag on Felicia Day (which they did a few times over the course of the day, much to the amusement of all in attendance! Apparently she loved it as well! =) ), and I ran over to the panel!
I got a lot of footage of the panel, but I need to break it up a bit... I took it in one long stint, which YouTube isn't fond of... but I don't have time to edit it right now. I'll try to do so tonight or tomorrow morning before I head home!
The panel was excellent: it had a lot of extremely amusing Q&A, and the strip created was hilarious!
After this, I ran into a few Cookie Brigade people and got swept up in the cookie-selling wave once more. DJBreslin had made three gigantic (twice the size of my cookie-selling box) boxes of cookies, and he revealed that people waiting in line for the panels seem to really go for it. So we went and sold en masse... we took in a LOT of money for Child's Play today! I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say how much... but it will be a significant contribution to Child's Play, and I am grateful to BioWare for getting me to PAX to help in this effort!
I spent most of the afternoon selling cookies, and by the end of the afternoon the other cookie brigadiers and I had parsed down DJBreslin's boxes to just a few stray cookies and crumbles.
As the sun set, the rest of the Brigade found me and we went downstairs to try and actually count the money (as far as I know, this didn't happen in Day 1 but should have... hopefully we'll be able to do it today =) ). We raised so much!
A couple of people who passed us by asked us if it was safe to do that in a public place. We didn't even have to answer: other people standing around pointed out that anyone who tried to steal Child's Play money would likely be brutally beaten by a violent mob of angry gamers. =) The counting was also necessary before we went outside, where we might not have such protection: my cookie brigade box was FULL of loose money, which would've likely made me a ripe target for any sort of crime as I tried to walk back to the hotel to keep it safe. Counting allowed us to roll them tightly and stick them in an inconspicuous box (And opaque, unlike my cookie vendor box), which made transport significantly safer. =)
While there, I ran into JonXP (a forumer, good friend, and co-creator of the PAX Countdown Widget for Windows Vista), who wanted to get some drinks. I noted that I promised another forum-goer (Haikufrenzy) that I would play the Order of the Stick board game with him... and then realized that we could mix the two events!
We ended up in the lounge area of the Sheraton, which (I didn't realize until today) actually doubles as part of the attached restaurant! We got some drinks, played some Order of the Stick, and had a blast!
The Order of the Stick Board game, though entertaining, is also unfortunately long. Before I realized it, it was midnight: and we hadn't even come close to finishing yet. So I told them that I had to crash, and went back to my hotel to get some sleep for Day 3!
Stay tuned for coverage of the last day of PAX, and the uploading of today's videos!
I started off the day by heading to breakfast with some people I ran into in the lobby of the Hyatt. One great thing about PAX is that, in general, there's a sense of anonymous comradery. You don't have to know another person previously - or even know their name - to go sit and eat with them, or talk gaming. I don't remember their names, but I do remember that they were supporters of another Omeganaut (whose name eludes me at the moment... ack!). We snagged a quick bite at McDonalds and we were off to PAX!
Coming inside, I ran into Mentok (a PAX Forumer, and fellow Magical Mystery Tour goer!) who told me he was getting in line for the "Make a Strip" Panel. On the way over there, I noticed he was sitting with the same lady I ran into in day 1, before I had cookies... but this time I was armed and ready! I asked her some questions about what Child's Play means to her, and she gave some wonderful responses!
(Video here!)
We also ran into Lyanth, the coordinator of the Cosplay effort at PAX! She was dressed in a Zero Samus suit complete with an awesome wig!
They told me that they'd hold my spot (since the panel didn't begin until 1pm, and it was only barely 10am!), so I went off to do some more cookie selling, and to get some footage (as well as participate!) in the expo hall itself! I was also doing my best to get people to know about the BioWare booth and the showing of Dragon Age on Sunday!
(Video of expo hall here!)
I was given bags of cookies that had been unfortunately crumbled and more-or-less destroyed when they were shipped over (the cookies were gluten free, and non-glutenous cookies have a very difficult time retaining structure). Luckily, Annigaricus (the lady who made them) had a plan: she gave me a full box of Dixie cups, and suggested that I let them scoop the cookie crumbles and eat them from the cup.
I decided that they would henceforth be called "Cookie Shooters", and thus began the very mixed reactions to the concept of such a product:
(Some pretty hilarious videos here, when I can get them uploaded! =) )
After running through the Expo hall, I ran into ProXimity (another forumer) and a few others who were eager to play some magic... so we went across the street to the Annex where the tabletop gaming was taking place.
I got in a few good multiplayer games with them, though when I started playing I realized that my aforementioned deck wasn't in the state I thought it was in! I had forgotten, but I changed it at the last minute to a slightly less entertaining Ink-Treader variant... I still need to take the time to fix it back to where it was (I have the cards with me, but I have to go through and find the ones I added etc...), in case I get some games in on Day 3.
Before I knew it, it was almost 1pm... proXimity rushed off to do the (now infamous apparently!) Bad Horse Sniper gag on Felicia Day (which they did a few times over the course of the day, much to the amusement of all in attendance! Apparently she loved it as well! =) ), and I ran over to the panel!
I got a lot of footage of the panel, but I need to break it up a bit... I took it in one long stint, which YouTube isn't fond of... but I don't have time to edit it right now. I'll try to do so tonight or tomorrow morning before I head home!
The panel was excellent: it had a lot of extremely amusing Q&A, and the strip created was hilarious!
After this, I ran into a few Cookie Brigade people and got swept up in the cookie-selling wave once more. DJBreslin had made three gigantic (twice the size of my cookie-selling box) boxes of cookies, and he revealed that people waiting in line for the panels seem to really go for it. So we went and sold en masse... we took in a LOT of money for Child's Play today! I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say how much... but it will be a significant contribution to Child's Play, and I am grateful to BioWare for getting me to PAX to help in this effort!
I spent most of the afternoon selling cookies, and by the end of the afternoon the other cookie brigadiers and I had parsed down DJBreslin's boxes to just a few stray cookies and crumbles.
As the sun set, the rest of the Brigade found me and we went downstairs to try and actually count the money (as far as I know, this didn't happen in Day 1 but should have... hopefully we'll be able to do it today =) ). We raised so much!
A couple of people who passed us by asked us if it was safe to do that in a public place. We didn't even have to answer: other people standing around pointed out that anyone who tried to steal Child's Play money would likely be brutally beaten by a violent mob of angry gamers. =) The counting was also necessary before we went outside, where we might not have such protection: my cookie brigade box was FULL of loose money, which would've likely made me a ripe target for any sort of crime as I tried to walk back to the hotel to keep it safe. Counting allowed us to roll them tightly and stick them in an inconspicuous box (And opaque, unlike my cookie vendor box), which made transport significantly safer. =)
While there, I ran into JonXP (a forumer, good friend, and co-creator of the PAX Countdown Widget for Windows Vista), who wanted to get some drinks. I noted that I promised another forum-goer (Haikufrenzy) that I would play the Order of the Stick board game with him... and then realized that we could mix the two events!
We ended up in the lounge area of the Sheraton, which (I didn't realize until today) actually doubles as part of the attached restaurant! We got some drinks, played some Order of the Stick, and had a blast!
The Order of the Stick Board game, though entertaining, is also unfortunately long. Before I realized it, it was midnight: and we hadn't even come close to finishing yet. So I told them that I had to crash, and went back to my hotel to get some sleep for Day 3!
Stay tuned for coverage of the last day of PAX, and the uploading of today's videos!
QUICK ADDITION: Minion video at Pre-PAX Dinner
While reviewing the video this morning, I found that I *DO* in fact have footage of my minion video available right now! Though it's not the video itself (which I don't have on me =( ), I do have footage of it being played at the Pre-PAX Dinner thanks to Queen Brewer (who was holding the camera while I was helping out with stuff and standing up there for the video =) )
On a side note, I really am a dorky looking guy! Wow. =) You never realize these kinds of things until a bunch of people in a room are watching you on video. =)
Anyways, here's the clip!
The day 2 post is coming soon!
On a side note, I really am a dorky looking guy! Wow. =) You never realize these kinds of things until a bunch of people in a room are watching you on video. =)
Anyways, here's the clip!
The day 2 post is coming soon!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
PAX, Day 1! =)
Hi everyone! Yesterday was the first day of PAX, which was an exciting half-day!
There were also more community-driven events taking place!
Morning in Seattle
My first night of sleep at the hotel was good, though a bit short. Three hours after I posted the blog for the last day of Pre-PAX action, I was on my feet again to go to the Pre-PAX Breakfast!
Pike Place Market is a short walk from the WSCTC (where PAX takes place), and is home to a Bar & Grill that serves all-you-can-eat waffles. You could likely imagine my excitement! =) This is a popular morning destination for PAX-goers, though there's enough places to eat in the Pike Place Market area to satisfy any breakfast hunger.
As for me, however, my hunger would only be satisfied by the consumption of waffles. =) I met up with a group of fifteen or so PAX goers, and we took a couple of tables. The waffles are good... though I recommend getting strawberries as your topping if anyone happens to end up eating there in the future. =) I have some brief footage of the breakfast, if I can get it all uploaded and working! ;)
Click here for a quick Breakfast video!
From there, I went back to the hotel to grab my box for the Cookie Brigade.
The Cookie Brigade
The Cookie Brigade is a PAX tradition with a great cause that it's working for. At a previous PAX, members of the community got together and decided to cook and give away cookies to anyone who happened to be in need of something sugary. Donations for said cookies are optional, but welcome, and 100% of the donations went directly to Child's Play (Child's Play being the foundation set up by Penny Arcade to provide games and entertainment to kids in Children's Hospitals around the world).
The Cookie Brigade has returned this year, and the dorky box you'll see in the following video clip is my solution to both holding the BioWare camera and selling cookies for Child's Play!
Click here!
EDIT: In the following clip, I run into several cookie brigade fans... but I haven't yet received any cookies! =( Fortunately, I run into most of them later: though there's 50,000 plus people at PAX this year, it's still a small world. I run into one of the people in this clip again on Day 2, and we have time for her to elaborate on why she personally loves Child's Play!
Additional video! Talking to people on the way to the line!
PAX!
After a short wait in line to get my pass from Will Call, a few people met up with me to stand in line for PAX.
On Friday, the Expo itself doesn't open until 2:00pm, but as you'll see from the upcoming clip, the line is... well... enormous! In retrospect, I took a bit too much video footage during the line... though I did get to talk to a lot of fellow gamers on camera, and I got footage of some awesome costumes! Again, here's a few clips of the line, along with us spying on those who were spying on us! Mwa ha ha ha ha!
Standing in line, talking to some people... and a few bloopers. =) Apparently putting someone on the spot with a camera can unintentionally derail trains of thought. =(
EDIT: Houn, at one point in line, took some footage of the initial difficulty I had getting both box and bag to be accessible. By the end of the day I'd figured it out, and by day 2 I had forsaken the box lid entirely which made the process much easier. =)
Click here for the chaos of bag and box management!
Once the line opened up, we were free to enter and roam about as desired! I stopped in front of the BYOC ("Bring your own Computer") LAN area and met a bunch of people for more button exchanging. After a bit of waiting at the pickup spot for cookies, I loaded up my box with them and dashed over to the Expo hall to appease some hungry gamers! =) Sadly, my batteries ran out before I got into the expo hall, so I'll be heading back in there today... hopefully with fully-charged camera in hand! =)
Admittedly, I didn't get much of a chance to jump into the booths and try stuff out: the cookie brigade selling became an event unto itself, and so I spent most of my time in the Expo hall refilling, emptying, and refilling again with cookies. The generosity of our community really shone through as well, with many people giving generously to Child's Play as they grabbed cookies: and with some donating without even asking for cookies!
Omegathon Update: NOOOOOOOOOOO!
I was rooting for Erica (BrokenAngel) to win the Omegathon. PAX forumer "Queen Brewer", who was the cameraman for most of the Pre-PAX Dinner footage (and an all-around awesome guy!) ran over and found me while I was distributing cookies in the expo hall... and he brought with him bad news.
BrokenAngel lost in the first round, dispite a herculean effort. Dispite the defeat, she's still in an upbeat mood, and she's looking forward to seeing various PAX events that she might not have been able to otherwise!
After Hours
When the Expo Hall finally closed and the adrenalin started to lose potency, I went with a few people to a great Japanese restaurant on Spring Street. Had some Sushi, drank some Sake... it was great!
I can't recall the name of the place off-hand. I'll edit this post and put it in once I remember it... but it's definitely a place worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing!
From dinner it was off to the Concerts... Houn (a PAX forum member and a good friend of mine) wanted to check out the One Ups, and I rolled along!
Admittedly, I've always been fairly ignorant of the whole "video game remix" music genre. (I know, -5 geek street cred! =*( ) I've dug what I've heard, such as the Minibosses, but I'd never taken the time to check it out intentionally.
The One Ups rocked: they had a funky jazz sound that electrified the crowd and left us begging for one more song at the end! There were two gigantic screens on either side of the stage as the performance went on, displaying footage of the game being remixed: and the crowd boo'd and cheered at the action going on while the songs were playing. I was particularly fond of their Ducktales remix, having been a big fan of the game back in the NES days.
When the crowd chanted for more, the One Ups came onstage and did a stirring Diablo-inspired tune. I'm going to have to pick up some of their music today when I get the chance!
I was starting to really get worn out by this point... three days of nonstop running about without much sleep was taking its toll. We went over to Freeplay to get in a couple rounds of Team Fortress 2. It was fun, but I should note that I was outmatched by my more seasoned opponents... I'm more of an RPG and RTS fan, and though I like FPS's I'm a fish out of water when I play them. My apologies to my fellow members of the Blue team. =)
Bedtime
Shortly after this, I realized I probably should actually get some sleep. I got to the hotel, and sat down to post this blog entry... and almost immediately fell asleep at the keyboard. =) So I decided it could wait until tomorrow, and went to bed.
Today we're starting it up again! Hopefully I should have much better footage today. =) I'm planning on hitting the Annex for some tabletop action (I gave my copy of the Order of the Stick Board game to a friend of mine on the forums, and I want to get in a little bit of action there... though hopefully just a short game. OOtS is an entertaining game, but if you play by the official rules, it's... extremely long =) ), I'm going to go to the Expo Hall to hopefully actually participate a bit, and I'm looking forward to playing a few rounds of Magic: The Gathering with my utterly useless - yet entertaining - Ink-Treader Nephilim deck.
My Janky Magic Deck
Those who don't play MTG, feel free to skip this part. =) I'm probably one of the few people out there who actually liked the Nephilim cycle in the Ravnica block... it presented an inescapably tasty opportunity for wild combos. =)
This particular one I crafted myself, and is mostly White and Green with a splash of Blue, Red, and Black (Yep, all five colors =) ). It was an idea I had back in the Ravnica days, but it wasn't practical until the recent Shadowmoor expansions and their one-mana casting cost "do something to target creature and draw a card" instants came out. (Wisps they're called)
Basically, the idea is: get Ink-Treader Nephilim on the table with creatures in play (yours, theirs, whatever). Play a wisp on the Nephilim, to make it copy to everyone. Draw that many cards... which in a multiplayer game, could be a LOT of cards. Play Summer Blooms to get all of the lands you just drew into play, and use those lands to play more wisps and draw more cards. Once a land of all five types and a creature of each color is in your control due to this (I have a second Nephilim that uses black just for this purpose), look in the gigantic pile of cards you likely now have in your hand. One of them will likely be Coalition Victory. Win!
In practice, this is utterly inefficient and easily defeated... but it's extremely entertaining to play, especially when it works. In one game I played just before leaving for PAX, I tossed out about 12 lands in one turn, drew about half of my deck, and had the mana to both drop the second Nephilim and play Coalition victory on the next turn, with mana to spare. =)
So yeah... janky, but amusing. =)
Okay, so that's it for now, talk to you all tomorrow!
There were also more community-driven events taking place!
Morning in Seattle
My first night of sleep at the hotel was good, though a bit short. Three hours after I posted the blog for the last day of Pre-PAX action, I was on my feet again to go to the Pre-PAX Breakfast!
Pike Place Market is a short walk from the WSCTC (where PAX takes place), and is home to a Bar & Grill that serves all-you-can-eat waffles. You could likely imagine my excitement! =) This is a popular morning destination for PAX-goers, though there's enough places to eat in the Pike Place Market area to satisfy any breakfast hunger.
As for me, however, my hunger would only be satisfied by the consumption of waffles. =) I met up with a group of fifteen or so PAX goers, and we took a couple of tables. The waffles are good... though I recommend getting strawberries as your topping if anyone happens to end up eating there in the future. =) I have some brief footage of the breakfast, if I can get it all uploaded and working! ;)
Click here for a quick Breakfast video!
From there, I went back to the hotel to grab my box for the Cookie Brigade.
The Cookie Brigade
The Cookie Brigade is a PAX tradition with a great cause that it's working for. At a previous PAX, members of the community got together and decided to cook and give away cookies to anyone who happened to be in need of something sugary. Donations for said cookies are optional, but welcome, and 100% of the donations went directly to Child's Play (Child's Play being the foundation set up by Penny Arcade to provide games and entertainment to kids in Children's Hospitals around the world).
The Cookie Brigade has returned this year, and the dorky box you'll see in the following video clip is my solution to both holding the BioWare camera and selling cookies for Child's Play!
Click here!
EDIT: In the following clip, I run into several cookie brigade fans... but I haven't yet received any cookies! =( Fortunately, I run into most of them later: though there's 50,000 plus people at PAX this year, it's still a small world. I run into one of the people in this clip again on Day 2, and we have time for her to elaborate on why she personally loves Child's Play!
Additional video! Talking to people on the way to the line!
PAX!
After a short wait in line to get my pass from Will Call, a few people met up with me to stand in line for PAX.
On Friday, the Expo itself doesn't open until 2:00pm, but as you'll see from the upcoming clip, the line is... well... enormous! In retrospect, I took a bit too much video footage during the line... though I did get to talk to a lot of fellow gamers on camera, and I got footage of some awesome costumes! Again, here's a few clips of the line, along with us spying on those who were spying on us! Mwa ha ha ha ha!
Standing in line, talking to some people... and a few bloopers. =) Apparently putting someone on the spot with a camera can unintentionally derail trains of thought. =(
EDIT: Houn, at one point in line, took some footage of the initial difficulty I had getting both box and bag to be accessible. By the end of the day I'd figured it out, and by day 2 I had forsaken the box lid entirely which made the process much easier. =)
Click here for the chaos of bag and box management!
Once the line opened up, we were free to enter and roam about as desired! I stopped in front of the BYOC ("Bring your own Computer") LAN area and met a bunch of people for more button exchanging. After a bit of waiting at the pickup spot for cookies, I loaded up my box with them and dashed over to the Expo hall to appease some hungry gamers! =) Sadly, my batteries ran out before I got into the expo hall, so I'll be heading back in there today... hopefully with fully-charged camera in hand! =)
Admittedly, I didn't get much of a chance to jump into the booths and try stuff out: the cookie brigade selling became an event unto itself, and so I spent most of my time in the Expo hall refilling, emptying, and refilling again with cookies. The generosity of our community really shone through as well, with many people giving generously to Child's Play as they grabbed cookies: and with some donating without even asking for cookies!
Omegathon Update: NOOOOOOOOOOO!
I was rooting for Erica (BrokenAngel) to win the Omegathon. PAX forumer "Queen Brewer", who was the cameraman for most of the Pre-PAX Dinner footage (and an all-around awesome guy!) ran over and found me while I was distributing cookies in the expo hall... and he brought with him bad news.
BrokenAngel lost in the first round, dispite a herculean effort. Dispite the defeat, she's still in an upbeat mood, and she's looking forward to seeing various PAX events that she might not have been able to otherwise!
After Hours
When the Expo Hall finally closed and the adrenalin started to lose potency, I went with a few people to a great Japanese restaurant on Spring Street. Had some Sushi, drank some Sake... it was great!
I can't recall the name of the place off-hand. I'll edit this post and put it in once I remember it... but it's definitely a place worth checking out if you're into that sort of thing!
From dinner it was off to the Concerts... Houn (a PAX forum member and a good friend of mine) wanted to check out the One Ups, and I rolled along!
Admittedly, I've always been fairly ignorant of the whole "video game remix" music genre. (I know, -5 geek street cred! =*( ) I've dug what I've heard, such as the Minibosses, but I'd never taken the time to check it out intentionally.
The One Ups rocked: they had a funky jazz sound that electrified the crowd and left us begging for one more song at the end! There were two gigantic screens on either side of the stage as the performance went on, displaying footage of the game being remixed: and the crowd boo'd and cheered at the action going on while the songs were playing. I was particularly fond of their Ducktales remix, having been a big fan of the game back in the NES days.
When the crowd chanted for more, the One Ups came onstage and did a stirring Diablo-inspired tune. I'm going to have to pick up some of their music today when I get the chance!
I was starting to really get worn out by this point... three days of nonstop running about without much sleep was taking its toll. We went over to Freeplay to get in a couple rounds of Team Fortress 2. It was fun, but I should note that I was outmatched by my more seasoned opponents... I'm more of an RPG and RTS fan, and though I like FPS's I'm a fish out of water when I play them. My apologies to my fellow members of the Blue team. =)
Bedtime
Shortly after this, I realized I probably should actually get some sleep. I got to the hotel, and sat down to post this blog entry... and almost immediately fell asleep at the keyboard. =) So I decided it could wait until tomorrow, and went to bed.
Today we're starting it up again! Hopefully I should have much better footage today. =) I'm planning on hitting the Annex for some tabletop action (I gave my copy of the Order of the Stick Board game to a friend of mine on the forums, and I want to get in a little bit of action there... though hopefully just a short game. OOtS is an entertaining game, but if you play by the official rules, it's... extremely long =) ), I'm going to go to the Expo Hall to hopefully actually participate a bit, and I'm looking forward to playing a few rounds of Magic: The Gathering with my utterly useless - yet entertaining - Ink-Treader Nephilim deck.
My Janky Magic Deck
Those who don't play MTG, feel free to skip this part. =) I'm probably one of the few people out there who actually liked the Nephilim cycle in the Ravnica block... it presented an inescapably tasty opportunity for wild combos. =)
This particular one I crafted myself, and is mostly White and Green with a splash of Blue, Red, and Black (Yep, all five colors =) ). It was an idea I had back in the Ravnica days, but it wasn't practical until the recent Shadowmoor expansions and their one-mana casting cost "do something to target creature and draw a card" instants came out. (Wisps they're called)
Basically, the idea is: get Ink-Treader Nephilim on the table with creatures in play (yours, theirs, whatever). Play a wisp on the Nephilim, to make it copy to everyone. Draw that many cards... which in a multiplayer game, could be a LOT of cards. Play Summer Blooms to get all of the lands you just drew into play, and use those lands to play more wisps and draw more cards. Once a land of all five types and a creature of each color is in your control due to this (I have a second Nephilim that uses black just for this purpose), look in the gigantic pile of cards you likely now have in your hand. One of them will likely be Coalition Victory. Win!
In practice, this is utterly inefficient and easily defeated... but it's extremely entertaining to play, especially when it works. In one game I played just before leaving for PAX, I tossed out about 12 lands in one turn, drew about half of my deck, and had the mana to both drop the second Nephilim and play Coalition victory on the next turn, with mana to spare. =)
So yeah... janky, but amusing. =)
Okay, so that's it for now, talk to you all tomorrow!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Pre-PAX Update! 2 days in one update!
So, as some may know, I got to Seattle on Wednesday morning to go on and help coordinate the Magical Mystery Tour. I was given housing thanks to the gracious s7arbuck of the Penny Arcade forums (thanks! =) =) ) on Wednesday night... which meant I wasn't homeless, but did sadly mean that I was unable to post that night.
Therefore, today's post covers both Wednesday and Thursday's Pre-PAX events!
A Pre-PAX Event Primer
This is a brief primer for those who haven't been following the subculture around the Penny Arcade expo. The PAX Community is, by and large, an extremely motivated and active group. In addition to the expo itself, the active participants in the community often plan and attend a multitude of Community-driven events leading up to PAX itself.
I have had the privilege of founding the Magical Mystery Tour this year: a tourist group for fellow nerds who want to see the sites of Seattle. The Tour, however, is by no means the only Pre-PAX event. There are likely many that I don't even know the existence of, but I personally just finished attending a string of events: the Pre-PAX Dinner, the Triwizard Drinking Contest, and the Dick's midnight gathering.
The Supertrips are probably the most well-known of the PAX Community-driven events. The Cross Country Supertrip, which is headed by the Penny Arcade forums' Moe_Fwacky, is the most famous of these trips, which help to shuttle fellow gamers, by car, across the country in one massive caravan. There is also a Canadian Supertrip, the West Coast Train Trip (which was once done by car, and then switched to the train for its pure awesomeness... if you haven't heard about the train trip and live on the West Coast, look it up for next year! They basically commandeer the Amtrak train heading north to Seattle, and turn it into a 20 hour Pre-PAX Gaming marathon.), and many others. The "Transportation" events are part of what allows the PAX Community to get together so readily each and every year.
The Pre-PAX Dinner is one of the oldest traditions in the world of PAX Community-driven events (aside from the Supertrips themselves). Run by the Penny Arcade forumers "ElectricTurtle" and his wife "Astayonix", theirs has been a cornerstone of Pre-PAX Social gathering that has grown in size and spawned the very notion of the Pre-PAX event. This year marks the first year that the Dinner has been a more formal gathering, complete with a reserved hall (notably, the Naval Shipyard building). A great majority of my coverage tonight comes from this event, which is both a cornerstone of the PAX Community and the first event I could attend with video camera in hand... (and also the only event I could attend with it before the batteries ran out =) )
The Triwizard Drinking contest is a relatively new activity, run by the Penny Arcade forumer "Atlus Parker". It consisted of attending a series of bars around the Convention Center area, and (optionally) taking part in several challenges. I'll leave it up to your imagination to guess the challenges. Dressing AS a wizard was optional, but preferred for the event. =)
Lastly, Dick's Midnight Gathering was an event put on by Penny Arcade forumer "Kazuo", who wanted to create an event specifically for those who frequent the PAX IRC chat room. Dick's is a drive-in style burger joint, and though I didn't actually have a burger tonight I hear they are delicious. =)
Anyways, so given all of that, onward!
Pre-PAX Events - Day 1 (Wednesday, August 27th)
After landing in Seattle and taking a short detour to a store to buy some items I forgot to bring with me (as you will no doubt see by the end of this blog, I'm in the running for the most absent-minded person in the world =) ) I caught up with the Magical Mystery Tour as they were entering the Experience Music Project and Sci-Fi Museum.
Even if I had my video camera at this time, they wouldn't have allowed it in... but it was a sight. The building itself is a piece of art: scuplted and colorful on the outside, and lines with contoured girders supporting the main structure of the building on the inside... at least at the main lower entrance.
It was there that I found out how the first stop went, to the Boeing Factory. Apparently the tour-goers got to see a unique site: they just happened to arrive in time to witness a strike commencing inside of the massive structure. Though they were not allowed to take photography, I was told that it consisted of potentially thousands of people, marching far below the tour walkways. It apparently was interesting to see, though the delays due to it caused the tour to take some shortcuts on the rest of the schedule.
Due to this, we were attempting to catch up in time to get to the Aquarium, so we only looked in detail through the Sci-Fi Museum portion of the building. The props on display (such as the only full 3D model of the Death star created for Episode IV) were exciting to see!
From the Sci-Fi Museum, we proceeded to the Aquarium... and found out along the way that we only had minutes left to buy tickets! The first car that arrived was kind enough to buy the tickets for the rest of us in time, so that we could enter into the building. Many fish were seen, and a certain (possibly soon to be infamous) parody picture of the E For All Shark advertisement was taken by one of the participants... if it gets linked somewhere, I'll try to edit this post to link to it so that you can see it. =)
After this we went to Gameworks... played a bit of House of the Dead 2, only to have it remind me that re-using all of the prior bosses in the game in sequence at the end of the game is a complete and utter cop-out for actual content.
Most of the tour-goers went home at this point, but a few of us went to the historic Neptune Theater to see Hamlet 2. It was... well, it was pretty damn funny. I don't know what more to say about it... at least right now, at 3:13 am. =) Maybe I'll think of more to say later. =)
Pre-PAX Events, Day 2 (Thursday, August 28th)
I woke up early to get to the rendevous point for the final day of the Magical Mystery Tour. We walked down to Pike Place Market, and saw the sights... and along the way, I found a fantastic anniversary present for my wife (which I can't mention on the blog now... she may be reading it! =) ). We also ate some delicioius donuts from... what was the place called? Hmm. At this late hour, I can't seem to remember. They were tasty though. Right next to the famous fish-tossing guys. Them is good donuts.
From there, we went to the Seattle library. Beautiful architecture to be seen, which I would like to show to you... but I was without camera at the time. I know some people took pictures and put them on Flickr, I'll try to link them here when I can find them.
After this, we went to the area around Pioneer Square, for an unofficial Seattle Underground Tour from MetaverseNomad of the Penny Arcade forum. Though unfortunately the entrances to the underground (the remnants of the old city of Seattle before the great fire more than a century ago) were locked and inaccessible to us unofficial tour-goers, she did a great job taking us to some of the interesting above ground sites and giving us information on the founding fathers of Seattle.
From here, we went to the Convention Center to meet up with the Cross Country Supertrip, but I had to break off to (finally! =) ) check into my hotel room and meet the BioWare staff in person!
I met them in the lobby, where I was presented with the video camera (yay! =) Video for the blog! =) ) and other assorted neat stuff, including the swag that will be obtained by the lucky person who gets me in Assassins! The swag consists of a Mass Effect faceplate, as well as Mass Effect on both the PC and XBox 360! (Just in case whoever it is has one and not the other, or not a good enough computer to run it on the PC... etc... =) )
I barely got time to throw most of my stuff on the bed before I joined the group to go to the Pre-PAX Dinner, where the video footage begins! =)
On our way toward the dinner, we picked up BrokenAngel (my personal favorite to win the Omeganaut competition... go BA! =) ) so she could swing along with us to the Dinner!
Here's some video of us in the car, on our way to the Dinner!
Some more video - us approaching the dinner... sadly brief, yet likely to be prophetic. =)
Us in the Parking Lot, reflecting on a Green Lantern car and on BioWare-paid (indirectly ;) ) parking!
One more - Greeting a car full of hungry PAX-goers (and good friends).
At the Pre-PAX Dinner
The dinner was a tremendous success! ElectricTurtle and Astayonix had everything planned out, and it went perfectly. We arrived early enough to help set up the roomful of tables and chairs for the dinner, and a few of us volunteered to help run the registration tables for the dinner. Admittedly, I exploited the opportunity in order to gain buttons for the PAX Button Exchange... but who could resist the opportunity? =)
Anyways, the following is some awkward footage from when I first tried to start using the video camera. My BioWare entry was done using a Webcam, which is (not surprisingly) much more still than carrying it in your hand... especially when, like me, you're used to making hand gestures when you talk. It definitely comes through in the videos... but I'd like to believe it gets better as it goes on. (Just let me believe it, okay? =) )
I interviewed s7arbuck (Travis), who was nice enough to let me crash at his place so that I could come into town early for the Magical Mystery Tour! Karma came back to help him later, as he scored the BioWare-provided loot for the PAX Assassins game when he killed me! =) He got a Mass Effect faceplate for his 360, as well as Mass Effect for the PC and 360 (BioWare was trying to cover their bases to make sure that whoever killed me could actually *use* the loot, so just in case the killer didn't have a 360 they could play the PC version, and vice versa).
Interview with s7arbuck!
Immediately afterwords, they turned the tables on me!
The guys interviewing me!
When I went to volunteer at the registration desk, Penny Arcade forumer Queen Brewer volunteered to take the camera in my stead... his work is awesome, and much appreciated! =) (He was also the driver of the car I was in during the Magical Mystery Tour... so henceforth, I will likely refer to Queen Brewer as Fearless Leader. =) )
Anyways, here's clips of the (fantastic!) footage he shot of the dinner as it was unfolding, and coverage of the event itself. With everything going on, the event wouldn't have been covered in this blog without him: I greatly appreciate the help he provided! =)
QB Filming some button exchange and other assorted fun
The Dessert Table! Om nom nom nom!
Peoples Registering!
Shots of the food!
Mentok1982 reviewing the Magical Mystery Tour!
helping out with Registration!
At some point, QB and s7arbuck cruised the dinner, looking for people to say hi to BioWare! There were some great responses, and some... well, not so great. =) You can't please all the people all the time it seems... but most people seem happy to be there and happy to see BioWare!
Part 1 of Hello's
Part 2 of Hello's
Part 3!
After this, I accompanied three of my BioWare associates to the Triwizard Drinking Contest. A good time was had, and we didn't get lost (bonus!) =)
I swung by Dick's to meet the IRC group, but could only stay until 1:30am before I had to head back so I could write this blog, actually get a bit comfortable and situated in the room, and then go to bed... and it's now 3:39 and I haven't yet done the "going to bed" part yet. =) I'll get to it eventually. =)
So, I'll wrap this up for now... I'm going to upload video in the morning if possible, or whenever I get the chance. Tonight I'll post about Day 1 of PAX itself!
Therefore, today's post covers both Wednesday and Thursday's Pre-PAX events!
A Pre-PAX Event Primer
This is a brief primer for those who haven't been following the subculture around the Penny Arcade expo. The PAX Community is, by and large, an extremely motivated and active group. In addition to the expo itself, the active participants in the community often plan and attend a multitude of Community-driven events leading up to PAX itself.
I have had the privilege of founding the Magical Mystery Tour this year: a tourist group for fellow nerds who want to see the sites of Seattle. The Tour, however, is by no means the only Pre-PAX event. There are likely many that I don't even know the existence of, but I personally just finished attending a string of events: the Pre-PAX Dinner, the Triwizard Drinking Contest, and the Dick's midnight gathering.
The Supertrips are probably the most well-known of the PAX Community-driven events. The Cross Country Supertrip, which is headed by the Penny Arcade forums' Moe_Fwacky, is the most famous of these trips, which help to shuttle fellow gamers, by car, across the country in one massive caravan. There is also a Canadian Supertrip, the West Coast Train Trip (which was once done by car, and then switched to the train for its pure awesomeness... if you haven't heard about the train trip and live on the West Coast, look it up for next year! They basically commandeer the Amtrak train heading north to Seattle, and turn it into a 20 hour Pre-PAX Gaming marathon.), and many others. The "Transportation" events are part of what allows the PAX Community to get together so readily each and every year.
The Pre-PAX Dinner is one of the oldest traditions in the world of PAX Community-driven events (aside from the Supertrips themselves). Run by the Penny Arcade forumers "ElectricTurtle" and his wife "Astayonix", theirs has been a cornerstone of Pre-PAX Social gathering that has grown in size and spawned the very notion of the Pre-PAX event. This year marks the first year that the Dinner has been a more formal gathering, complete with a reserved hall (notably, the Naval Shipyard building). A great majority of my coverage tonight comes from this event, which is both a cornerstone of the PAX Community and the first event I could attend with video camera in hand... (and also the only event I could attend with it before the batteries ran out =) )
The Triwizard Drinking contest is a relatively new activity, run by the Penny Arcade forumer "Atlus Parker". It consisted of attending a series of bars around the Convention Center area, and (optionally) taking part in several challenges. I'll leave it up to your imagination to guess the challenges. Dressing AS a wizard was optional, but preferred for the event. =)
Lastly, Dick's Midnight Gathering was an event put on by Penny Arcade forumer "Kazuo", who wanted to create an event specifically for those who frequent the PAX IRC chat room. Dick's is a drive-in style burger joint, and though I didn't actually have a burger tonight I hear they are delicious. =)
Anyways, so given all of that, onward!
Pre-PAX Events - Day 1 (Wednesday, August 27th)
After landing in Seattle and taking a short detour to a store to buy some items I forgot to bring with me (as you will no doubt see by the end of this blog, I'm in the running for the most absent-minded person in the world =) ) I caught up with the Magical Mystery Tour as they were entering the Experience Music Project and Sci-Fi Museum.
Even if I had my video camera at this time, they wouldn't have allowed it in... but it was a sight. The building itself is a piece of art: scuplted and colorful on the outside, and lines with contoured girders supporting the main structure of the building on the inside... at least at the main lower entrance.
It was there that I found out how the first stop went, to the Boeing Factory. Apparently the tour-goers got to see a unique site: they just happened to arrive in time to witness a strike commencing inside of the massive structure. Though they were not allowed to take photography, I was told that it consisted of potentially thousands of people, marching far below the tour walkways. It apparently was interesting to see, though the delays due to it caused the tour to take some shortcuts on the rest of the schedule.
Due to this, we were attempting to catch up in time to get to the Aquarium, so we only looked in detail through the Sci-Fi Museum portion of the building. The props on display (such as the only full 3D model of the Death star created for Episode IV) were exciting to see!
From the Sci-Fi Museum, we proceeded to the Aquarium... and found out along the way that we only had minutes left to buy tickets! The first car that arrived was kind enough to buy the tickets for the rest of us in time, so that we could enter into the building. Many fish were seen, and a certain (possibly soon to be infamous) parody picture of the E For All Shark advertisement was taken by one of the participants... if it gets linked somewhere, I'll try to edit this post to link to it so that you can see it. =)
After this we went to Gameworks... played a bit of House of the Dead 2, only to have it remind me that re-using all of the prior bosses in the game in sequence at the end of the game is a complete and utter cop-out for actual content.
Most of the tour-goers went home at this point, but a few of us went to the historic Neptune Theater to see Hamlet 2. It was... well, it was pretty damn funny. I don't know what more to say about it... at least right now, at 3:13 am. =) Maybe I'll think of more to say later. =)
Pre-PAX Events, Day 2 (Thursday, August 28th)
I woke up early to get to the rendevous point for the final day of the Magical Mystery Tour. We walked down to Pike Place Market, and saw the sights... and along the way, I found a fantastic anniversary present for my wife (which I can't mention on the blog now... she may be reading it! =) ). We also ate some delicioius donuts from... what was the place called? Hmm. At this late hour, I can't seem to remember. They were tasty though. Right next to the famous fish-tossing guys. Them is good donuts.
From there, we went to the Seattle library. Beautiful architecture to be seen, which I would like to show to you... but I was without camera at the time. I know some people took pictures and put them on Flickr, I'll try to link them here when I can find them.
After this, we went to the area around Pioneer Square, for an unofficial Seattle Underground Tour from MetaverseNomad of the Penny Arcade forum. Though unfortunately the entrances to the underground (the remnants of the old city of Seattle before the great fire more than a century ago) were locked and inaccessible to us unofficial tour-goers, she did a great job taking us to some of the interesting above ground sites and giving us information on the founding fathers of Seattle.
From here, we went to the Convention Center to meet up with the Cross Country Supertrip, but I had to break off to (finally! =) ) check into my hotel room and meet the BioWare staff in person!
I met them in the lobby, where I was presented with the video camera (yay! =) Video for the blog! =) ) and other assorted neat stuff, including the swag that will be obtained by the lucky person who gets me in Assassins! The swag consists of a Mass Effect faceplate, as well as Mass Effect on both the PC and XBox 360! (Just in case whoever it is has one and not the other, or not a good enough computer to run it on the PC... etc... =) )
I barely got time to throw most of my stuff on the bed before I joined the group to go to the Pre-PAX Dinner, where the video footage begins! =)
On our way toward the dinner, we picked up BrokenAngel (my personal favorite to win the Omeganaut competition... go BA! =) ) so she could swing along with us to the Dinner!
Here's some video of us in the car, on our way to the Dinner!
Some more video - us approaching the dinner... sadly brief, yet likely to be prophetic. =)
Us in the Parking Lot, reflecting on a Green Lantern car and on BioWare-paid (indirectly ;) ) parking!
One more - Greeting a car full of hungry PAX-goers (and good friends).
At the Pre-PAX Dinner
The dinner was a tremendous success! ElectricTurtle and Astayonix had everything planned out, and it went perfectly. We arrived early enough to help set up the roomful of tables and chairs for the dinner, and a few of us volunteered to help run the registration tables for the dinner. Admittedly, I exploited the opportunity in order to gain buttons for the PAX Button Exchange... but who could resist the opportunity? =)
Anyways, the following is some awkward footage from when I first tried to start using the video camera. My BioWare entry was done using a Webcam, which is (not surprisingly) much more still than carrying it in your hand... especially when, like me, you're used to making hand gestures when you talk. It definitely comes through in the videos... but I'd like to believe it gets better as it goes on. (Just let me believe it, okay? =) )
I interviewed s7arbuck (Travis), who was nice enough to let me crash at his place so that I could come into town early for the Magical Mystery Tour! Karma came back to help him later, as he scored the BioWare-provided loot for the PAX Assassins game when he killed me! =) He got a Mass Effect faceplate for his 360, as well as Mass Effect for the PC and 360 (BioWare was trying to cover their bases to make sure that whoever killed me could actually *use* the loot, so just in case the killer didn't have a 360 they could play the PC version, and vice versa).
Interview with s7arbuck!
Immediately afterwords, they turned the tables on me!
The guys interviewing me!
When I went to volunteer at the registration desk, Penny Arcade forumer Queen Brewer volunteered to take the camera in my stead... his work is awesome, and much appreciated! =) (He was also the driver of the car I was in during the Magical Mystery Tour... so henceforth, I will likely refer to Queen Brewer as Fearless Leader. =) )
Anyways, here's clips of the (fantastic!) footage he shot of the dinner as it was unfolding, and coverage of the event itself. With everything going on, the event wouldn't have been covered in this blog without him: I greatly appreciate the help he provided! =)
QB Filming some button exchange and other assorted fun
The Dessert Table! Om nom nom nom!
Peoples Registering!
Shots of the food!
Mentok1982 reviewing the Magical Mystery Tour!
helping out with Registration!
At some point, QB and s7arbuck cruised the dinner, looking for people to say hi to BioWare! There were some great responses, and some... well, not so great. =) You can't please all the people all the time it seems... but most people seem happy to be there and happy to see BioWare!
Part 1 of Hello's
Part 2 of Hello's
Part 3!
After this, I accompanied three of my BioWare associates to the Triwizard Drinking Contest. A good time was had, and we didn't get lost (bonus!) =)
I swung by Dick's to meet the IRC group, but could only stay until 1:30am before I had to head back so I could write this blog, actually get a bit comfortable and situated in the room, and then go to bed... and it's now 3:39 and I haven't yet done the "going to bed" part yet. =) I'll get to it eventually. =)
So, I'll wrap this up for now... I'm going to upload video in the morning if possible, or whenever I get the chance. Tonight I'll post about Day 1 of PAX itself!
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