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Warren Spector will keynote at PAX Prime 2010
The official Twitter account for the Penny Arcade Expo has announced that this year's PAX Prime keynote speaker will be none other than Warren Spector, driving force behind the classic Deus Ex and System Shock games, and current boss behind the upcoming Disney Epic Mickey. Spector's no stranger to the keynoting game, having spoken at GDC and other conferences before. We got to talk to him back at E3 this year, and he's right in the thick of Epic Mickey, thinking about accessible gameplay and how to build very famous and licensed characters into his game in a fun way. Spector will also be at Comic-Con later this week, speaking at a panel with writer Peter David about bringing Mickey and his less famous friends to life in the video game medium. PAX Prime is going down the first week of September up in Seattle, WA, and tickets are still (barely) available.
Joyswag: Win a trip for two to PAX, courtesy of HotHead Games and DeathSpank
Update: Congratulations to grand prize winner Stefan, and to the eight first prize winners! He is DeathSpank: Defender of Justice. Vanquisher of Evil. Hero to the Downtrodden. Guy who's footing the bill for you and a friend, loved one, or really lucky stranger to attend PAX Prime! But who is this "you" we speak of? Well, it could be you, provided you're the winner of this epic giveaway brought to you by DeathSpank's gracious overlords at Hothead Games and your pals here at Joystiq. Otherwise it will be someone else, who may or may not laugh at your misfortune -- that jerk! Don't be the one who that jerk potentially laughs at -- heed the rules, cross your fingers and enter for your chance to score free airfare, lodging, attendance to PAX, and the possibility of being referred to as "Sir" or "Miss" for a change. That, and the ultimate honor: being able to say, "I'm with DeathSpank!" To enter this giveaway: 1. Visit DeathSpank.com and search for "the Artifact" image (pictured below) that's been hidden on one of the pages there. The Artifact will be clearly visible and looks like this: 2. Locate and copy your own unique "Joystiq Code" that appears beneath the Artifact image. 3. Return to this giveaway post and paste your code in a comment to enter for your chance to win. Head past the break for complete rules and details.
PAX 10 winners announced for PAX '10
The ten independently-developed games that will be featured on the show floor at PAX Prime 2010 have been announced. There are a few recognizable names in this year's PAX 10 collection, including Super Meat Boy and Retro City Rampage-- but there are also plenty of lesser-known (but assuredly spectacular) indie titles in the mix as well, like the pictured Fowl Space. Check out the full list of featured titles posted just past the jump, or catch a glimpse of each game in the gallery below. If you want to give the games a once-over at PAX Prime, you might want to grab one of the remaining one-day passes for the event. %Gallery-97577%
PAX West pre-registration now open
With the BBMT-fueled madness of PAX East 2010 still fresh in our minds (and bodies), it's already time to pre-register for PAX Prime in Seattle. The official PAX website is already counting down to the event, which will take place from Friday September 3 through Sunday, September 5. Single day badges are available at $35 each, while a three day pass runs $55. The PAX site notes that prices are slightly higher this year thanks to the Seattle public event tax. Also, remember that the prices above are for pre-registration only. All prices will go up by $5 come September 3. We'd suggest grabbing your tickets now before the event inevitably sells out. After all, you don't want to miss magical moments like this, do you? [Via Kotaku]
Turbine on renting vs. owning in the MMO market
While we had the opportunity to chat with Turbine Entertainment about the upcoming plans and changes for Dungeons & Dragons Online, our sister site WoW.com was at PAX East as well. Since Turbine doesn't run World of Warcraft (however often Lord of the Rings Online might get compared to it), the discussion there went in a different direction. Much of the numbers side is well-known to the larger MMO community, but the interesting part is the discussion of renting content versus owning it. Subscription MMOs fall into the former category, while Dungeons & Dragons Online is the latter. As design director Ian Currie put it, while DDO has an option to subscribe, you can stop doing so at any time and retain everything you bought. You can enjoy the full leveling game without paying anything. Your character is undeniably yous, no matter how much or little you pay. By contrast, in a subscription game -- such as Turbine's own Lord of the Rings Online -- your character is yours only so long as you continue to pay the monthly fee. As digital goods and the culture of MMOs becomes more and more ingrained in the popular mind, expect to see more discussion on this topic. After all, people see their characters in MMOs as their property -- even if that's not technically true.
PAX East 2010: Our interview with Melissa Bianco of City of Heroes
Melissa "War Witch" Bianco is without a doubt one of the leading ladies of the MMO world, a title she said she could definitely get used to. But as she says it, that hasn't made an impact on her in some ways, because she never felt there was a bias to overcome at either Cryptic or the current Paragon Studios. "I don't know if I just happened to be in a company that wasn't like that," she says, "or if I'm just so awesome it didn't matter." We would certainly believe either. Bianco is riding fairly high on success at the moment in the eyes of many players, having a solid track record of revamped and improved zones coupled with a highly-anticipated expansion on the way. We had a chance to speak with her after the City of Heroes panel to talk about more future plans for the game, aiming for several of the more outlying areas in the game's development. Read on past the cut for her answers ranging from the immortal warehouse map to the possibility of new epic archetypes.
City of Heroes whips up some demon summoning
One of the features that City of Heroes: Going Rogue is heavily selling are the addition of new powersets. We've already seen the trailer for Dual Pistols, and we were shown the trailer to the Demon Summoning powerset at PAX East. That trailer is now available for every City of Heroes player to view online, allowing all to witness the power of ripping blood-caked monstrosities straight from the nether realms to do your diabolical (or possibly somewhat heroic) bidding. While it's not a full demonstration of the improved graphical designs coming in the expansion, it's clear just how far the game's models have come. Like most Mastermind powers, the set features both minions and a "secondary" power, in this case a flaming whip. The whip, appropriately enough, seems to be both used offensively and in a support role, as the summoner is seen whipping at least one of her demons in what appears to be an enhancing spell. And if the flamboyant gestures aren't enough to impress players, the skull-faced monstrosities should do the job. City of Heroes players who missed out on PAX East as well as those who just want to see Issue 17's upcoming pre-release powerset should click past the link for the video.
PAX East 2010: City of Heroes panel reveals many things
Unpacking the City of Heroes panel at PAX East is a big deal: there were huge amounts of information being thrown around, and a lot of new pieces of information to process. For that matter, there was far more than anyone expected, with information about the full spread of new issues up to Issue 19 and the reveal of Matt "Positron" Miller's heretofore unrevealed new endgame system. The panel as a whole featured a huge breadth of information about the game from concept into the future, and was filled with people long before the official start time, with fans vocally professing their adoration for the team the whole way through. We had the good fortune to be front and center at the theatre, and once we started taking notes we didn't really stop until the event was over. At the panel were lead designer Melissa Bianco, former lead designer and current lead system designer Matt Miller, art lead David Nakayama, and development producer Jesse Caceres. They opened off with a discussion of the game's history from launch back in 2004 to the present. The changeover from Cryptic to Paragon Studios was discussed in brief, mentioning that four of the major launch employees (Miller, Bianco, CW Bennet, and Brian Clayton) were still with Paragon even after the change.
Dead Space 2 thrusts gameplay footage at PAX audiences
Dead Space 2 producer Steve Papoutsis promised that Visceral's survival horror sequel would have a greater emphasis on action. Well, they weren't kidding. At their live-streamed PAX panel, the Visceral team showed off thirty seconds of footage of the upcoming game, and "action-packed" would be a pretty appropriate way of describing it. The blurry off-screen footage captured from the show's Ustream may not be the best look at the quality of Dead Space 2's graphics, but it gives a good idea of what to expect from Issac Clark's new adventure. Rushing through a moving train, Issac can be seen activating a jet pack in a scene that looks like it should be from Dark Void The Rocketeer. Watch it after the break.
Breach expected to launch this summer on XBLA for $15
We popped by Atomic Games' booth here at PAX to check out Breach, the dev's attempt to take on DICE's online-only, digitally distributed Battlefield 1943. Atomic president Peter Tamte revealed during our play session that he hoped to get Breach on XBLA this summer (as previously estimated), and that the developer is targeting a $15 price point. Considering how polished the game was in the state we saw it, we certainly believe it can meet that deadline. Look for our hands-on impressions later today.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 Fermi cards launching March 26th
It's okay, we understand your confusion, but the news here isn't that NVIDIA uses CoTweet as its Twitter client. What's exciting is that the GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470 -- the company's first to use the new Fermi architecture -- are just over a month from release. Friday, March 26th, and given that also happens to coincidence with the kickoff date for Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East 2010 (of which NVIDIA is a major sponsor), we tend to think that's not just some convenient coincidence. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
PAX 2008: Population 58,500
The show is over and the numbers are in. Said Penny Arcade business guru Robert Khoo to BigDownload, this year's PAX recorded 58,500 people in three days, placing it near the echelon of "Old E3." Previous guesstimations put the attendance at 45,000 to 50,000, which still would have eclipsed the PAX 2007 population of 37,000.So, what's to be done for PAX 2009? More expansion, of course, to ease overcrowding. "At 2 or 3 of the main theatre events 3-4% of the line wasn't able to make it," said Khoo, "but we hear those 3-4% loud and clear. We have a few ideas to manage that problem for 2009 including wristbands for popular events or just a straight-up hard count of people in line. The worst thing is if people line up for something and end up not getting in." The next PAX will take place again in late August, with the first PAX East Coast opening its Bostonian doors in late March 2010.
