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Perfect World demoing Neverwinter and RaiderZ at PAX East
If you're heading out to PAX East next week and your dance card is getting full, you may want to save a foxtrot or two for Perfect World Entertainment's booth. The company has announced that it will be showcasing two of its upcoming titles to those lucky few who make it out to Boston. At Perfect World's booth (#736), both Neverwinter and RaiderZ will offer demos so that players can see for themselves whether these are games worth anticipating. As if the early glimpse weren't enough, participants can discover special loot while they play that will transform into real-world prizes. Perfect World will also hold raffles for the chance to win gaming equipment. Senior Vice President and General Manager of Game Publishing Yoon Im sees these two games as the most exciting of Perfect World's future lineup: "We are proud to showcase RaiderZ and Neverwinter at PAX East. Our strong partnerships with developers worldwide have allowed us to expand our diverse portfolio of impressive free-to-play games and strengthen our position as a leader in the business of online games. Both RaiderZ and Neverwinter are looking spectacular and we can't wait to show them off." Massively will be on location at PAX East with an in-depth look at these games! [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release]
Microsoft reveals Xbox 360 lineup for PAX East 2012
We haven't figured out a way to travel into the future yet, and we're just as upset as you are about that. But the closest thing has to be playing games that aren't actually out yet, right? Microsoft is offering PAX East attendees a chance to do just that next weekend.Major Nelson posted the list of activities and upcoming Kinect and XBLA titles that will be playable at Microsoft's booth, including Trials Evolution, MineCraft: Xbox 360 Edition and Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor. We hear one of our editors really liked that last one when he got a chance to play it earlier this month.Also of note is a playable build of Dust: An Elysian Tale, the winner of 2009's "Dream-Build-Play" competition. It's currently slated to launch on Xbox Live Arcade in 2012.
Try Hitman, Theatrhythm, and more Square games at PAX East
PAX East attendees will have plenty of Square Enix-themed stuff to do -- which probably won't conflict with your most important appointment. Visitors to the company's booth will get to try two anticipated 3DS games: Heroes of Ruin and the just-announced Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, along with Sleeping Dogs, Quantum Conundrum, Risen 2, and Wakfu, which can't possibly be as much fun as its own name.To learn more about shooting people (in Square Enix games), you can also attend a Hitman: Absolution panel and gameplay demo on Saturday, and a Hitman/Sleeping Dogs party on Friday night. Find more details after the break.
2K Games' PAX East lineup includes playable Borderlands 2
Borderlands 2 may not hit store shelves until mid September, but that doesn't mean you have to wait until then to play it. All you have to do is spend several hundred dollars on last-minute travel and hotel accommodations for next week's PAX East convention in Boston, and you too can get your randomly generated little hands on all that cel-shaded goodness.The demo, playable at 2K's booth, will feature the Siren and Gunzerker character types and will take place in two zones, "Caustic Caverns" and "Pandora Park." XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Civilization 5: Gods and Kings and Spec Ops: The Line will also be present and accounted for, but only Spec Ops: The Line and Borderlands 2 will be openly playable.
AirMech stomps and flies into PAX East
Carbon Games's AirMech is working its way through alpha testing and will be playable at PAX East next week. It'll be the first "proper" showing of the game, which debuted at last year's PAX Prime in a very early build. The developers will be on hand to distribute exclusive in-game items, which also grant access to the game's closed beta."It's important to note that we are happy with the core of the game, and it's balanced enough that we are not wiping accounts or progress," Carbon Games founder James Green wrote on the company's site. "We don't mind if people earn a bit more XP or kudos because they can exploit the AI or found a bug–we're glad to let people benefit in that way because it helps us make the game better. So all of our early testers tend to do quite well, and can rest assured that they can keep their progress and unlocks."Carbon Games was formed by members of Titan Studios, creators of Fat Princess. The team is currently working on a list of improvements before they consider the game in beta.
Super T.I.M.E. Force infiltrating PAX East
When you first enter the outskirts of the Boston area, you may feel a certain sensation. Relax, that's not another Highlander in the vicinity, it's your body knowing that something special is about to happen. You're about to attend an awesome gaming convention and possibly come hang with your pals at Joystiq!Today, we're glad to report the show will be even better: Capybara Games will have a playable build of Super T.I.M.E. Force at its booth, the developer has revealed. Super T.I.M.E. Force is an IGF 2012 entry and won the XBLA prize this year, meaning we'll see it arrive on Xbox Live Arcade eventually.Capy will be situated at booth #764, so stop by if you want to play. You may have to push us out of the way, though -- fair warning and all of that.
Get some hands-on time with The Secret World at PAX East
Tired of taking our word about The Secret World? Well, if you're going to next month's PAX East convention, you can get some hands-on time with Funcom's upcoming title yourself. The full Templar faction starter experience as well as the haunted town of Kingsmouth will be on display, and all the action happens at booth 260 on the show floor. Funcom is also giving away 10,000 Illuminati, Templar, and Dragon dog tags, each of which contains a key code that grants access to TSW's beta weekends. PAX East runs from April 6th through April 8th in Boston, Massachusetts. More info is available at the event's official website. [Source: Funcom press release]
En Masse bringing TERA and sci-fi surprise to PAX East
PAX East 2012 is swiftly approaching, and that means that it's about time developers start announcing their plans for the show. Today, En Masse Entertainment joined that steadily growing roster with an announcement that the studio will be showcasing its upcoming action-based MMO TERA at the convention. Attendees will be able to get a look at a never-before-seen area of the game, so fans of the title would do well to stop by En Masse's booth to have a go-'round in the world of Arborea. To top it all off, the studio ends the announcement with the cryptic remark that it "will also have some new details to share that are sure to excite fans of modern sci-fi." We're not sure whether this means that TERA is going to be getting some sci-fi flavor or En Masse has a new project to announce or what, but we can't wait to find out. Of course, Massively will have its own presence at the show (including yours truly!), so even if you can't make it to Boston for the con, you can bet that we'll be bringing you all of the delicious, juicy TERA news that you could possibly ask for. In the meantime, though, just hang tight for a couple of weeks. We're sure it'll be worth the wait. [Source: En Masse Entertainment press release]
Star Command playable at PAX East
Star Command, the ambitious mobile sci-fi RPG assisted by the Kickstarter phenomenon, will be playable at PAX East."The PAX demo is gonna be a playable version of combat," Jordan Coombs, designer and art director at developer Warballoon told us. "We want everyone to get a chance to mess around with it and starting a new game from scratch can take a bit."The Warballoon team will also give a talk at the Kickstarter booth about mobile development and how it's changed their designs, along with what they've learned since starting the project.%Gallery-141696%
Play Guacamelee at PAX East
It seems unlikely that you'd forget a game called "Guacamelee," but feel free to watch the trailer and refresh your memory. During an appointment with developer Drinkbox Studios, we had the opportunity to watch that lovely trailer again -- and to learn that Drinkbox plans to bring a playable version of the world-shifting luchador platform action game to PAX East 2012. So not only will we get an update on the game, which is a strong contender for best title ever (reminder: "Octodad: Dadliest Catch" exists) -- we'll get to play it soon.
Joystiq Show Live at PAX East
We hope you're attending PAX East on Saturday, April 7, because that's when we plan on doing The Joystiq Show Live. As noted in the official PAX East schedule, we will be in the Manticore Theatre on Saturday from 3-4 PM.We aren't exactly sure what we're going to do yet, but we certainly plan on having a session of "Ask JC," where you can ask our managing editor to name a game you've been trying to recall for years with only the most obscure details. Panelists also include the former X3F crew and EiC Ludwig Kietzmann hosting a "With a Q?" segment.Or, we may scrap that whole idea and come up with something new. Either way, we'll be there. Please join us.
The WoW Insider Show Live at PAX East
Are you heading to Boston for PAX East this year? Want to spend a little time hanging out with your best friends from WoW Insider? That's right! WoW Insider is doing a live version of the podcast at PAX East 2012. Featuring Mike Sacco, Mathew McCurley, Fox Van Allen, and editor-in-chief himself Alex Ziebart, we'll be doing a live panel with fun, questions, answers, prizes, and more. You don't want to miss out. Come see the WoW Insider Show Live! at PAX East in Boston: What: The WoW Insider Show Live! Podcast Where: Wyvern Theater, PAX East Boston 2012 When: Saturday, April 7, 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. The WoW Insider podcast comes to life as hosts Michael Sacco and Mathew McCurley, along with special guests, create a home away from Azeroth at PAX East. Join with the most popular World of Warcraft fansite for an hour of WoW news, views, laughter, and lots of WoW talk. There are more World of Warcraft fans at PAX than we can count, so come on down to talk all things WoW! Blizzard doesn't usually have a huge showing at gaming conventions like PAX Prime or PAX East, and with no BlizzCon happening in 2012, we've got to bring the community together ourselves. Come out and talk WoW -- you know everyone at PAX plays, anyway. Plus, prizes. Lots of prizes. Hope to see you all at PAX East!
PAX East has fewer than 1,000 Saturday badges left
PAX East organizers are warning there are under 1,000 badges left for Saturday. If you're a fan of this site, that would be the day to attend (more on this at a later date). Take the town crier of Twitter seriously: the three-day badges lasted a little under 24 hours after that warning went out. Procrastination will not be rewarded.Last year's PAX East had 69,500 revelers at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, with that number expected to climb this year. PAX East is locked into Boston until 2023, with attendance expected to climb to 100,000 sometime in the next ten years.
Massively's own Eliot Lefebvre will tell your site how not to suck at PAX East
Are you planning on heading to Boston, Massachusetts for PAX East 2012? If you are, then boy have we got a treat for you. On Sunday, April 8th, our very own Eliot Lefebvre will be joining members of Guild Wars Insider, Darth Hater, ArenaNet, and Vox Games on a panel informatively titled How To Make Gaming Sites That Don't Suck. It is what it says on the tin, folks. So if you've got a blog lying around and you're not sure what to do with it, let this panel of experts tell you how to turn it into the next big thing. Or at least let them tell you why Papyrus and Comic Sans are not legitimate font choices. Please? If nothing else, just show up, ask questions, and show our favorite cynical curmudgeon some love.
PAX East commits to Boston until 2023
PAX East organizers and the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) announced this morning that the popular video game convention will remain in Boston until 2023. Show organizers are hoping to grow attendance of the three-day show to 100,000, making it easily one of the largest public gaming conventions in the world (behind Gamescom and TGS).PAX East will also make a sizable donation to digital games education. Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDiGI) will receive a $50,000 contribution this year, along with an annual $25,000, for a total of $325,000 over the next 11 years."Over the last year, MassDiGI has worked towards building a strong public-private partnership across industry, academia, and government in support of the state's digital games cluster," said Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray. "PAX East's commitment to bringing the largest East Coast video gaming convention to Boston and providing an annual donation to MassDiGI complements ongoing collaboration to increase economic activity within the state and foster knowledge-transfer between Massachusetts and the rest of the world."Beyond the academic cash, PAX East naturally brings in buckets of cash to the city through hotels and dining."We're thrilled to host PAX East for at least 10 more years," said James E. Rooney, executive director of the MCCA. "Hosting an event for the next decade that draws gamers from around the globe to Boston is fantastic, but the international attention it brings to the incredible technological advancements coming out of the Commonwealth is a win-win."
Firefall video contest can get you to PAX East on Red 5's dime
Firefall is looking for a few aspiring video editors to shower with fame and fortune (mostly the fortune). If you have the skills and talent to cut together a captivating trailer for Firefall, you could be on the receiving end of a juiced-up laptop or a posh trip to PAX East. In the Firefall Battleframe Trailer Challenge, Red 5 Studios is rewarding creative editors with a good eye for taking raw Firefall gameplay footage and shaping it into an exciting commercial for the game. Entrants are instructed to post these on YouTube, as Red 5 will take into account the likes and views of each video when making its final decision. Videos have to be submitted by March 16th, at which time Red 5 will select the best three trailers for luxurious prizes. The first place winner will get a trip for two to PAX East -- along with hotel accommodations and $500 spending money. Second place nets a spiffy Alienware M14x laptop, and third place will enjoy a Firefall-themed ASTRO gaming headset.
PSA: PAX East 3-day passes sold out; sorry, slowpokes
PAX East three-day passes have completely sold out, but single-day passes are still abundant -- for now. If you want to get your PAX East on this year, we suggest you register soon. Last year's PAX East had 69,500 attendees and was the biggest ever, so you'll have to have a strong stomach for crowds as well. Don't forget to book a hotel too -- though if you're really dedicated, you'll just rent a VW van to sleep and eat in, and you can bathe in the Charles River (no you can't).
PAX East three-day badges 90% sold
PAX "Easter" is still about three months away, but organizers announced yesterday that the three-day passes are 90 percent sold out. Heed this warning if you plan on coming to the event. The distance between warning and tickets being totally sold out isn't very far. "We still have tons of single day passes, but we strongly suggest people buy their passes sooner rather than later," event organizers told us. "Their pace tends to accelerate after we run out of three-day passes." Another thing to remember is that there were issues with counterfeit badges sold at PAX Prime last year. Fake badges won't get you in the door and, if you get scammed, PAX organizers won't help resolve the problem. So, get those PAX East tickets now for the April 6-8 event.
PAX East 2012 tickets now available
PAX East 2012 registration is officially open, so grab those three-day passes quick, because they are always the first to go. Although there will be more tickets this year for the regularly sold out show in Boston, the event will take place over Easter and Passover weekend, so be aware of those in case you have familial obligations. "It wasn't our first choice by any means, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but we're working with the city to hopefully prevent it from happening again," PAX East organizers stated. Organizers also warn that they had issues with counterfeit badges being sold to unsuspecting attendees at PAX Prime this year. They warn if you buy a fake badge from someone else that it won't get you into the show and they won't be able to help. So, if you grab a ticket now, you'll be all set for April 6-8.
PAX East tickets on sale now
Convention-goers, start your engines. PAX East 2012 tickets are now on sale, and if you're planning on attending, you better get movin'. Single-day tickets should last for at least a little while, but three-day tickets are always the first to go. Do take note that the convention does fall on Easter weekend this year, so if you've got plans for the holiday, you better start planning your excuse. And remember, this year's PAX Prime saw extreme numbers of fake badges being sold at the sold-out convention, so if you want to be sure to escape the scammers, buy your ticket early so you don't have to rely on scalpers later. To get your tickets, head on over to the PAX East official site.
