Dear Jerry and Mike,

And here we are: the gamer blog; the obligatory PAX post. This time it’s different though, because the one thing I realize we’ve never done is to thank you for PAX.

So this time, that is what I’m doing.

Jeff and I have never been to Boston before. So the thought was, what better time to see this glorious new city, but crammed into a convention center in front of a screen?

So in a stark modern building nestled amongst some old-world charm that we quickly hurried past, there she was: PAX East. And she was a beaut. Brimming with excitement and anticipation. The camaraderie of witty T-shirts, buttons and badges.

Day one was filled with the essentials. The PAX Q & A of course. There is nothing quite like a show that makes you laugh, cry and a feel little insulted at the same time. The ever-sharp wit of Jerry and Mike, the endless stream of gifts that were laid at their feet are always the best to see/hear. Amongst the fun though, there’s got to be something ever humbling, listening to the stories of those lives touched by this Childs Play and this very event.

But enough of beautiful and on to the tragically magical: the games. Oh the glorious onslaught of expo hall games, free play games, games that you brought yourself, because why the hell not?

I didn’t check out too many of the bigger titles this year. Though I did stop to ponder in front of the Far Cry 3 tattoo parlor, imagining the rampant diseases of a tattoo piercing my skin in this open air, probably germ filled expo hall.

Oh wait, we’re safe. There’s a health inspector here, and looking ever excited to be here sir!

Of all the games I saw I was most drawn to Quantum Conundrum, a plucky game about being able to switch dimensions in a room to solve puzzles. I will most certainly be getting it. Well, if I can get over the humiliation of being told that I could win a prize if I didn’t die during the whole trial, then feel the immediate sweat to my palms and shortness of breath that can only come with such high-stakes conditions. Let’s just say I promptly died more times that that bewildered expo-prize wielder would probably see all day.

The rest of the show passed like a dream; the happy, plump dream of a fat kid frolicking a field of hot dogs.

Of course enjoying one type of nerddom wasn’t enough for a trip of this caliber. Between the table-top games we were discovering, swag we were grabbing and maybe a happy hour with some Star Wars Nerds (Lucas Arts TM I’m pretty sure), I couldn’t quite quiet the journalism nerd in me.  So you have it. A picture from the guys from the newly founded polygon.com

We may have asked them to take a picture of only Jeff and I first. Please don't hold that against us.

and t tweet I’ve been drafting and redrafting thanking @BenKuchera for a great panel on long-form game journalism.

“Thanks @BenKuchera for a great panel”

…No that’s lame

“@BenKuchera’s panel on long form journalism was my favorite part of #PAX. Second to the Q&A, which I think he’s obligated to be ok with”

…maybe he’ll find that funny…

So … anyway thanks Jerry and Mike for another great year. See you next…

Oh right. I forgot, we maybe seeing you later this year as we are going to PAX Prime too. Hope that’s not creepy.

Sincerely,

Just some Northwest Gamers

New PC

Building computers is a relatively recent hobby of mine, and recently I decided it was time to upgrade my desktop PC to a system that could reliably run Minecraft and all the other next-gen titles. My second build, this rig turned out well, besides a brief frustration over a defective motherboard. I had originally intended to try my hand at overclocking this time around, but right now it devours everything I can throw at it, so I’m not sure how much good an overclock will do, besides voiding a few warranties.  More photos, as well as specs from the build can be found here.

With a new system, I’ve been getting back into PC gaming, my most recent forays being:

Metro 2033- I missed this one when it released last year, and Zack’s review wasn’t much encouragement. Nevertheless, the $10 Steam sale won out, and while I haven’t played much, It’s enjoyable so far. It’s a beautiful, albeit ominous game, clearly meant to be played on the PC. I’ve only invested a few hours into it so far, so its not clear how the gameplay will hold up, but its a interesting experience for what I’ve seen.

Rift- I’ve been out of the MMO world for quite awhile, but decided to pick this title up to give the genre a fair shake once more. While I doubt I’ll continue past the free month of play, the game is proficient, its most notable achievement being the class system, which allows you you specialize and multiple roles at will, a la Final Fantasy XI. This one exception aside, the game is in many ways cloned from World of Warcraft. The story especially is quite weak, which, while not out of the ordinary for an MMO, is still a hard sell for a game that requires an incredible time investment and a monthly fee to “complete”.

In the console world, my efforts have been focused on Portal 2 (awesome) and, to a lesser extent, a replay of Mass Effect 1 and 2 (obviously awesome, otherwise I wouldn’t be replaying them).

That’s all for now, stay tuned for more….eventually!

To some creation (classic) mode will be the big draw. In it, entire teams of players are creating large scale, complex projects. In the same mode, another play style has evolved on the other end of the spectrum, focused not on creation, but on destruction. While wearing the engineering hat from time to time can be enjoyable, It was the main Survival Mode (Alpha, as its currently referred to), that hooked me in to Minecraft. Construction of enormous structures and tunnel networks is certainly a part of this experience, but when the player must balance their creations with resource management and survival, well, that’s when things get interesting. Your first full day and night spent in Minecraft will teach you this balancing act very quickly. As soon as the sun begins to set, you had better have your shelter built if you hope to survive the night- whether it be a simple hole in the ground, a free standing cabin, or a Helm’s Deep. Similarly, as you begin to tunnel underground in search of better, and rarer resources, so grows the risk of zombie infested caverns, lava flows, and underground flooding. Each day, though, you grow to become a more capable adversary against the abominations of the night, and your colony continues to grow in size and scope.

Its an addictive yet simple formula. The whole experience though is made strange by the game’s spartan visuals and gameplay mechanics. These will improve, surely, but one cannot deny that even in this early version,  Minecraft is already an utterly engrossing experience. Check it out.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is exactly what many have tagged it as: a glorified demo. It has all the trappings of a demo (short play time, limited options, no story to speak of), with one key difference: this demo will set you back 5 bucks (400 MSP). Going into it, I really wasn’t sure if any “demo” would be worth an actual monetary investment. Did purchasing Case Zero pay off for me in the end? Hit the jump to find out!

I’m just gonna come out and say it before this gets awkward. I was not a fan of the original Dead Rising. I thought the game had a cool premise (thousands of zombies, tons of weapons to kill thousands of zombies with, etc.). But when it came to the actual gameplay, Capcom’s game fell flat. I was constantly bored by the whole thing. Sure, there were a lot of things to whack zombies with, but after a certain point it just became tedious. And aside from the occasional psychopath boss battle, the game held no alterations to the “kill x amount of zombies on your way from point a to point b” formula. So, concerning the release of a sequel, I was obviously nonplussed. I held no stake in the franchise, and was too distracted to even honestly care.

Over a week after Dead Rising 2′s initial release, I noticed several of my Xbox Live friends with Achievements in something called “Dead Rising 2: Case Zero.” I had seen some articles about this “Case Zero” in numerous publications, print or online, but hadn’t really investigated any more than a glance and a page turn. I investigated a bit further, and learned that the game was not really a demo of Dead Rising 2, but a prologue of the whole story. I asked a few friends (suffice it to say they all love Dead Rising), and they all had the same thing to say about Case Zero. “It’s totally worth it!” So, seeing as I had a couple hundred Microsoft Points to spare, I bought it this past Friday.

And here I sit, on a cool Sunday evening, having beaten everything there was to beat in Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. And what have I got to show for it? Honestly, not much. I have the 200 Achievement points associated with the title, and probably a fairly smug expression on my face. Case Zero was meant to get people excited for the full release of Dead Rising 2. I can honestly say that it had the exact opposite effect on me. I went into the game with a completely open mind (impressions of the first game notwithstanding), and I was still unimpressed. The “story” itself had almost no effect on me, even though it (I think) was supposed to leave somewhat of an emotional impact. I didn’t care that my daughter was turning into a zombie. Not at all. I didn’t care about the survivors that I had to save. Part of the reason for my not caring can easily be attributed to the wooden animations of the title. PS2 era cutscenes and animations plucked straight from a House of the Dead arcade game are not necessarily great catalysts for gripping storytelling. Back in the good ol’ days, that would be acceptable. But on today’s HD consoles, one comes to expect a little more polish in the triple-A games that get released.

Aside from the unimpressive story and visuals, Case Zero also suffers from (¡Surprise!) some checkpoint and saving issues. The game autosaves after the completion of each segment of the “case-file,” which has a total of 4 segments. The first 3 of these segments took me about 5 minutes to complete. The 4th segment, conversely, took me a solid hour or so to finish. And there are no autosaves in the middle of this segment. To preserve your data, you must go to a bathroom and manually save your file. This would not be a horrible thing, but when you are literally “on the clock” trying to complete all of the missions in the game before your daughter turns into a zombie, going out of your way to save is actually quite annoying. And without a checkpoint system, a zombified daughter results in an automatic “game over.”

All negatives aside, I must say that I occasionally had fun with Case Zero. Combining two random items together and creating unique (albeit disturbing) weapons was quite a thrill. The selection of weapon pickups in the game is almost staggering, with everything from poker chips to mustard bottles available for use against the horde. It was obvious that the makers of this game put a lot of work into making sure that whoever played the game would chuckle whenever a zombie gets decimated by interesting means. And I admit, I did have a good time plowing through crowds of zombies while wearing a moose head.

But the fun of zombie killing wears off fast. A lot faster than it takes to finish Case Zero. I’m sure Dead Rising 2: Case Zero and the full release of Dead Rising 2 are exactly some readers’ cups of tea. But I don’t even drink tea. I had fun playing the game, but there were too many flaws that hampered my enjoyment. And seeing as I’m not an Achievement/Trophy junkie (anymore), I’d much rather give up the 200 Gamerscore I received and just get my 5 bucks back. This “demo” was definitely, at least in my particular case, not worth the price of admission.

MidwestGamer

In last year’s PAX, I was fleeting familiar with the sense of community one finds at such an event, but it wasn’t until this year’s convention that I was hit in the face with this fact. As I’ve noted previously, much of my time last year was occupied pursuing swag and spending hours in line for a few minutes playtime of the latest titles. While I certainly spent my fair share of time in the expo hall this year, my experience with PAX 2010 was profoundly different than the last, and one of ultimately more enjoyment.

Why?

Well, for one, the panels. Warren Spector’s keynote on the changing community of gamers, and creating a welcoming environment to newcomers really set the theme for the entire con, and helped me reach a deeper understanding about what it means to be a gamer. It may not seem apparent with all the trash talking forum bashing and fanboyisms each of us see on a weekly, if not daily basis, but we gamers are more alike than most realize. It isn’t until events like PAX is that we meet face to face and see this affinity revealed. One of these revelations happened for me while waiting in line to demo Star Wars: The Old Republic. I struck up a conversation with the fellows ahead of me about the game itself, but we eventually began discussing the state of the industry, reminiscing about past games, all the while sucking others from the show floor into our scintillating debate.

One of these eye-opening moments happened while making new friends, but another happened throughout the convention while strengthening relationships with existing friends. This year was a little different for me, as I got to meet someone at PAX that I had been friends with online for nearly 6 years. He, in turn, had friends attending the con as well, and at one point over dinner, the four of us realized that each of us had sprouted friendships completely online, but more specifically, with gaming as the catalyst. “OMG” moments aside, I felt this posed a great example of the reach and effect gaming can have. The interactive and collaborative properties found in the enjoyment of gaming are quite unique in entertainment media. PAX thus provides the perfect venue, and its no wonder that gamers like you and I feel right at home here.

While PAX 2010 for me was about exploring what makes the gaming community so special, I imagine your experience was probably a little different. In fact, I invite and encourage you to share your PAX stories in the comments. Whatever the specifics of your experience, I’m willing to bet it was a positive one .

WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

Alan Wake ended with our hero freeing his wife from the dark place but only in exchange for himself.  “The Signal” picks up right where the main game left off.  Wake is again fighting through Bright Falls, but not quite as you remember it from before.  Just when you think you might have a grip on things, the environment changes.  You’ll go from the diner straight into the darkness of the woods.  The Taken are still there, but now you must fight them alone in this dark place (well… almost alone).

The gameplay is basically identical to the main game.  Use your light and weapons to defeat the taken.  However, in the dark place, Wake’s perception of reality is skewed.  Hence, he acquires ammo and tools by dispelling the darkness from the words he sees (much like in the last part of the main game).  It’s very straightforward.  Shine your light on the word “flare”, and you get a flare.  Some words actually have physical effects, such as “boom”, which add a whole new way to combat the Taken.

The visuals are basically identical to the main game.  Thankfully, there are no cutscenes featuring the horrendous facial animation.  The televisions all project images of you talking to yourself (it’s a key theme in this expansion), and the animations for those are handled quite well.

“The Signal” is short.  It runs about as long as any episode from the main game.  I took my time with the first go-round.  That took just over two hours.  It is possible to speed through it in less than an hour.  The final fight is arguably more difficult than the end of the main game (unless you conserve ammo for a certain weapon).  Like the main game there are collectibles and achievements that give the content some added replayability.  Also, just like the main game, it left me eager to see what Remedy has in store for the next episode: “The Writer”.  Having nabbed “The Signal” for free, I am not about to complain about value.  I would even say it is worth the 560 Microsoft points it would cost to get it.  Basically, if you like Alan Wake, you will love “The Signal”.  So dive in.  It’s not a lake.  It’s an ocean.

Given its occurrence on such a pivotal weekend, Labor Day, last year was the first time I was able to attend PAX. I had an absolute blast, but I still felt like I missed quite a bit of what the convention had to ffer.  For one, I spent most of my time on the exhibition show floor. When I was younger, I used to dream of going to E3 (back when it was closed to the public), so the exhibit hall of PAX was my small way of making up for all those times I missed E3. While I got to play plenty of great upcoming games, I regret not branching out more – the panels, meetups, etc.

This year, I hope to fully make up for last year’s shortcomings . PAX isn’t just about exhibiting the latest and greatest games, its about gathering with 60,000 other gamers, playing a game or two, and making a few friends along the way.

I remember my first look at Splinter Cell: Conviction came in an issue of EGM, full of concept art of a Sam Fisher given a “rugged”, some might say “homeless” new look. The game featured gameplay elements to allow the player to hide in plain sight, using crowds and the environment to slow and escape from enemies. It was a radical change from the past five games, all of which focused on stealth gameplay and an arsenal of gadgets. While these changes might’ve upset some, Splinter Cell Conviction, unlike its precessors, was shaping up to be a game I was legitimately psyched about.

Homeless Sam, meet Rogaine Sam.

The new direction apparently wasn’t a hit with everyone else, because the game was put on hold, and eventually sent back to the drawing board. The eventual end product turned into something much more familiar to SC fans, ditching almost every new feature that got me excited about the title in the first place. I like stealth games, and I generally enjoy the majority of the games that Ubisoft Montreal puts out, but for whatever reason, the SC franchise has never grabbed me. Playing through the game has revealed that Conviction, even departing from its original concept, was a refreshing surprise.

The game’s sense of urgency is what maked it stand out to me so dramatically from its predecessors. Gone is the obtuse control scheme, extensive arsenal of gadgets, and slow, methodical gameplay. The shell of a game that remains plays beautifully, and you feel like a badass every second of the way. Some of the new features – namely Last Known Position, work so perfectly that its a wonder they weren’t thought of before. The cover system is simple, and allows the player to flow between shadows and dispatch large groups of tangos, even in confined areas.

While some elements perform brilliantly, others fall flat. Features I remember being heavily touted at the PAX Prime last year were the contextual cues and plot moments projected onto the environment. While these felt unique at the beginning, they quickly grew old, and at times jarred me out of the experience completely. The plot, as well, is nothing to write home about, though I was probably missing some context having skipped or only partially played most of the previous games.

These aside, the game is quite proficient. In terms of replay value, I haven’t yet had a chance to try out the co-op, but I’ve always been a Rainbow-Six-terrorist-hunt-kind-of-guy, so the Deniable Ops mode sucked me right in.

I’m sure Splinter Cell fans may a lot more issues with the drastic changes made with Conviction, but I’ve never been a fan, so playing this title without a lot to expect beforehand left me, dare I say it–impressed.

I’m probably the biggest LittleBigPlanet fan as you are likely to meet. While never willing to devote the time into level creation myself, I simply cannot get enough of the content-creation community that is LittleBigPlanet. The sequel appears to be providing full backwards compatibility, which is really the only way for the developer to avoid fragmenting the community between the two titles. There was plenty to complain about with the platforming aspects of LittleBigPlanet, but as the trailer above suggests, many of those problems are being addressed in the sequel. Direct control, a much needed grappling hook, and several others should help the game become a more proficient platformer, while helping it evolve into other genres as well. For me anyway, LittleBigPlanet 2 is shaping up to be one of the strongest-looking releases this fall.

Today on the Engadget show, Peter Molyneux himself broke the news that Fable 3 will not include Kinect support on its October 26th launch date, but patched in later instead. It seems rather silly for such a major title in Microsoft’s fall lineup, from one of the most passionate supporters of Kinect, to lack out of the box support.  Microsoft certainly isn’t alone in disappointments though.  A few months back, Media Molecule confirmed what sounds like half baked Playstation Move support with LittleBigPlanet 2. Being a bit skeptical over the long term success of motion control in the first place, I can’t say I am all that upset by this news.  Yet when the success of a new hardware launch in the market is so heavily dependent on the software available for it, I wonder how Microsoft or Sony expect consumers to justify the steep entry fee with the current launch titles announced.

I’d love to get a perspective from someone who is excited about Kinect/Move and their respective launch titles. Leave a comment!