pax-east-2010
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Hands-on: Skate 3 and its new difficulty levels
We've covered Skate 3's new focus on co-operative challenges, managing a team of skaters and selling some skateboards -- but the raw experience of getting on the virtual board and busting tricks, not much has changed significantly. And that's why the new difficulty levels were such an interesting addition for me. %Gallery-77563%
Reminder: Two panels you'll want to attend today
a man chooses, a slave clicks for a larger image PAX East is winding down today, but don't fret! Our own Chris Grant is going to be involved in two panels today, talking about this games journalism thing (you know: Joystiq), as well as discussing video game sequels. He will be joined by a cavalcade of the best and brightest our industry has to offer, so that's plenty of incentive to attend. And, remember: five of the folks heading into the second panel will get the completely awesome limited edition Andrew Ryan figure you see above. The treat of the first panel is undoubtedly teh infoz. So, don't want miss these panels! Here are the details: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Game Journalism... Manticore Theatre - Sunday, 2:30pm Chris Grant and a team of esteemed gaming peons will answer any and all questions you have about the art and craft of getting paid to write about games (it's a tough life). Review scores. Swag. Junkets. Bias. The death of magazines. The rise of blogs. It's all fair game. [more info] Sequelitis Snake Oil: Quack Medicine for the Video Game Industry Manticore Theatre - Sunday, 4:00pm This panel will seek to diagnose the video game industry's purported "sequelitis" by way of discussion from thoughtful panelists, including Irrational Games' Ken Levine; Obsidian's Chris Avellone; Harmonix's Dan Teasdale; Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann; and moderator Chris Grant (from Joystiq!). Mr. Levine is bringing five of the above, super limited edition Andrew Ryan figurines. There are only 200 of these in existence and they're not for sale anywhere – so come early. [more info]
Hands-on: Red Dead Redemption
I love Westerns: Shane, Stagecoach, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, Unforgiven, Open Range. These are the immersive stories that I've always wanted to play in games. There have been some decent efforts, like Dead Man's Hand, Gun, Call of Juarez, and even Red Dead Revolver, but they all confine the player to narrow paths. What happened to the wide-open Wild West? Enter: Red Dead Redemption. This is the largest world Rockstar has ever created. Can you quantify that? "It's big," a representative assured me. %Gallery-43816%
Seen@PAX: The Uncharted 2 chapter title that should have been
Naughty Dog's panel at PAX East 2010 offered attendees a fairly in-depth look at how the studio created each level in Uncharted and Uncharted 2. One important aspect of the series' level design is, of course, coming up with a clever name for each chapter -- a task assigned to lead designer Richard Lemarchand. Unfortunately, "the Man" occasionally prevents Lemarchand from putting certain chapter titles in the game, keeping Uncharted 2's original train segment title card (pictured above) out of the final version. Curse you, unseen managerial powers-that-be!
Rock Band 3 to have vocal harmonies, Harmonix (accidentally) confirms
At Harmonix's PAX East 2010 panel, five Rock Band designers answered questions from the audience for "An Awkward Hour" with one major stipulation: No questions about Rock Band 3. However, when an audience member inquired whether Green Day: Rock Band songs would still have harmonies when imported into RB2, Harmonix Project Lead Chris Foster began listing off the games with harmony support. "We've said Rock Band 3 would have harmonies already, right?" Foster asked his fellow panelists, who responded with a booming, "No!" Foster clammed up without revealing more details about Rock Band 3's harmonies (or even answering the attendee's original question), only mentioning, "It's been nice working at Harmonix." (We think he was joking about that last part.)
Impressions: Action Castle
We ask for your patience as you attempt to wrap your mind around the concept behind Action Castle: It's a text adventure akin to Zork, only the dialogue and choices are conducted by speaking -- no pen, paper or arduous typing is involved in the process. Can you comprehend that? If so, you're one step ahead of Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik (a.k.a. Gabe), who was flummoxed when presented with a live demonstration of the "game" during the PA Q&A panel yesterday afternoon. Check out a NSFW video of the demo after the jump. We missed the first part of the presentation, but here's the prompt which kicked things off: "You are in a cottage. There is a fishing pole here. Exits are out." Hilarity ensues.
Live from the Joystiq Podcast at PAX East ... right now!
click to BBMT-size You may not be here with us in person, dearest Joystiq reader, but you're with us in our hearts. We're just as sad as you that you couldn't make it all the way to Boston's first ever PAX East, but we've got a whole bunch of pictures of the Joystiq Podcast trio (and the hundreds of people who showed up to the Manticore Theater this evening) for you right now ... live! No, seriously, we're sitting here in the front row. No, we can't stop working. But lookie! Pictures! %Gallery-89159%
PAX East: Tour Microsoft's N.E.R.D. Cambridge office with us
click to New England-size Just because you don't live in the Northeast (or couldn't afford to hop on a bus/train/plane/cattle cart to PAX East 2010) doesn't mean that you can't tour Microsoft's New England Research & Development Center with us. Sure, you might not be here in the physical sense, but our hi-res gallery below should assist you in achieving a semblance of the zeitgeist in Cambridge yesterday morning. Xbox's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse, Laura "Lollipop" Massey, and Eric "E" Neustadter ate breakfast with us (and two or three hundred of their closest friends), handed out some prizes, and even gave everyone a chance to check out a Surface. If you're so inclined, flip through the gallery below and tour N.E.R.D. with us, won't you? %Gallery-89140%
PAX East 2010: Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 4 and beyond
PAX East in Boston kicked off yesterday, and we were lucky enough to have a visit with Fernando Paiz, the Executive Producer of Dungeons and Dragons Online. We spent some time looking at Update 4 as well as chatting about what else is in store for Dungeons and Dragons Online in 2010. Update 4 will bring the standard Adventure Pack, of course -- "Sentinels" is geared toward more low-level characters than the previous one -- but Turbine didn't stop there. Players were pretty excited and even more curious about the guild housing planned for this summer, with a lot of questions about it. Will smaller guilds be at a disadvantage? Do you have to spend money to access it? How is it all going to work? For all the answers, follow along after the jump to see what we heard from DDO's Executive Producer.
Inside the mouth of Rooster Teeth
You know Rooster Teeth from Red vs. Blue, but have you ever wanted to check out the interior of their sweet offices? Inconspicuously located above a coffee shop in Austin, Texas, we got a sneak peek at the place where all the magic happens during SXSW. That one shot of all of the different controllers? That's that heart and soul of the show, while the recording studio is a glamorously converted women's restroom. Oh, and for you Achievement Hunter fans out there? That comes to you from underneath the Rock 'em Sock 'em robots. Rooster Teeth will be showing off some of that magic as they bring a big change to the next season of Red vs. Blue, and we promised to keep our mouths shut after they gave us a sneak peek. But suffice it to say, it's packed with even more awesome hilariousness. Burnie Burns and the Rooster Teeth team toured us around their digs, although they're moving to a new studio soon. They'll be premiering parts of the new episode at PAX East this weekend, after which we can reveal said seekruts. %Gallery-88596%
Breach coming to PC 'six weeks after' XBLA version
On one of our many trips to Atomic Games' booth on the PAX East 2010 show floor, a representative of the developer told us Breach would see a release on PC in addition to Xbox Live Arcade. The multiplayer shooter will launch on XBLA this summer for $15, with the PC version expected to follow six weeks later. Breach on PC will only be available as a digital download; however, Atomic Games has not decided on a digital distribution platform yet.
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.
Wil Wheaton's State of the Geek Union Address delivered during PAX keynote
We've been floating on a cloud of inspiration since yesterday afternoon, when nerd culture luminary Wil Wheaton delivered the keynote address for PAX East 2010. For one hour, the audience watched as Wil touched on a myriad of game culture touchstones: His newfound love of Dragon Age (including a ton of end-game spoilers), his first encounter with D&D, how he's watched games evolve over the years, and his ever-evolving love of the Penny Arcade Expo. We couldn't poll the audience, but we're pretty sure everyone left the theater with inexplicable warm feelings. You can listen to the whole (fairly NSFW) keynote in the audio player below.
Hands-on: Breach (XBLA)
Breach wants to go after Battlefield 1943. Atomic Games president Peter Tamte summed up DICE's digitally distributed title as a "stripped down version of a retail game," and believes that Breach can outdo last year's surprise XBLA hit with its accessibility and sandbox-style destructibility. Atomic hopes to have the game on XBLA this summer with a price of $15. Focusing on eight-on-eight multiplayer with combative and objective-based game modes, the game heavily emphasizes utilizing cover ... and blowing stuff up. %Gallery-88941%
Hands-on: Hydro Thunder Hurricane (XBLA)
Hydro Thunder Hurricane is not your typical case of sequelitis. The original concept, simply, an arcade-style boat racer, was hatched by indie developer Vector Unit. The 2-man studio, which has grown to 6 for Hurricane, is led by technical director Ralf Knoesel and creative director Matt Small, who met in the late '90s at Stormfront Studios. They stayed in touch over the years, as each continued to build a strong resume of work, and, in late 2007, they co-founded Vector Unit and began work on a small, downloadable project that would become the licensed sequel to Midway's decade-old arcade racer. Checking out a playable build on the PAX East show floor today, I quickly understood what caught the attention of now publisher Microsoft Game Studios, which smartly licensed the Hydro Thunder brand from sinking Midway in order to establish Vector Unit's game as part of a celebrated heritage. With the exception of nods to some boats from the classic arcade game, Hydro Thunder Hurricane is not much of a sequel, and instead represents the promising talent of a new independent developer. It's also, bizarrely, one of two Xbox Live Arcade games premiering at PAX East with a really slick, proprietary water physics engine. (Hydrophobia being the other.)
Reminder: The Joystiq Podcast is LIVE at 8:30 p.m.
Hey PAX attendees, what are you doing tonight at 8:30 p.m.? Did you say "Going to 'Get Ready For Love: The Joystiq Podcast Live' at the Manticore theater"? Because if not, you're wrong. Trust us, you're going to want to be among the hundreds that will join us for our inaugural live PAX-cast. We don't want to tell you how to live your life (except for telling you to come to our show, obviously) but you may want to come early. Not only will you guarantee your presence at the most important event of our day, the first folks in line will win some first come, first serve swag. We'll see you there.
Skate 3 demo on Xbox Live and PSN April 15
While visiting the Skate 3 booth here at PAX today, we were handed a few stickers. In fact, the front of the stickers weren't even the interesting part, as the back revealed a demo is set to bust mad trixx on Xbox Live and PSN on April 15. Not too surprising, considering the first two games also offered a taste before their respective releases.
Joystiq vs. PAX East 2010: Day One
Team Joystiq is attacking PAX East 2010 and we have the footage to prove it. We shot it especially for the YouTube generation. Meaning, it's mostly comprised of shaky camera angles and dirty cuts. So anything that you see above that you think looks terrible is an artistic choice. We promise!
PAX East: How to get into the Joystiq BBMT breakfast
[Update: And we're off! The Joystiq BBMT breakfast is underway, Disney's here with Split/Second (!) and there's enough free cereal to go around. There are some spots left for the 9-10am slot – we're handing out wristbands near the escalator in the Hynes Convention Center. If you want in on the 10-11am slot, just head upstairs to room #312 where we'll be letting people in on a first-come, first-served basis. Guys, free cereal and Split/Second!] Good morning, PAX Easters – in just a few short hours, we'll be having a bunch of you over for Blueberry Muffin Tops breakfast, courtesy of our pals at Malt-O-Meal. Since space is limited, we're asking those of you who want to reserve a spot to roll up to the above location (map!) at 8am ET to get a wrist bracelet from the handsome gentleman in the red hoodie, standing at the statue just alongside the Hynes Convention Center. In case of rain or extreme cold, you can find him inside the Food Court – status updates will be at @JoystiqBBMT. Out drinking late last night? Look, we get it! If we have any bracelets left over, we'll be inviting people in on a first-come, first-served basis – we'll be sure and update this post before the 9am start time.
PAX East's Omeganauts assemble, the Omegathon begins
Click to Omega-size Behold: The ledger containing the names of all 32 Omeganauts participating in the inaugural PAX East Omegathon. Earlier today, their names were randomly drawn during Wil Wheaton's keynote presentation, they were paired into teams of two, and tossed immediately into the unforgiving gauntlet known as Mario Kart: Double Dash. Already, 16 of these contestants have been culled by the first round of the competition. Those who survived must now face three more rounds before claiming the lofty prize of an all-expense paid trip to GAMESCOM and $2,500 spending cash -- rounds which will pit them against one another in Geometry Wars 2, an unknown rhythm game, and PAX's' always entertaining mystery finale. Stay tuned! %Gallery-89124%
