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PAX East organizers sign on for three more years
Did things feel a little crowded at PAX East this year? Organizers chose the Hynes Convention Center over the larger Boston Convention Center due to its superior location (and possibly because they were testing the waters for the first year), and the roughly 60,000 attendees were left with not much elbow room. That won't be an issue next year. Or the next one, or the one after that. The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has signed an agreement with the PAX organizers to bring PAX East back for three years. Even better, they'll be setting up shop at the roomier Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. "We're thrilled to host PAX through 2013, and we can't wait to welcome the show to the BCEC in 2011," said Convention Center Authority Executive Director James E. Rooney. You can check out the full story in the Boston Globe.
Accused PAX East 'Breach' thief shows up for court
Justin May, the 20-year-old man accused of trying to steal Atomic Games' Breach off the PAX East show floor, finally showed up in court today -- after previously skipping bail and eventually agreeing to appear for arraignment. Assistant District Attorney Kate Clayman briefly recited the facts of the case in Boston Municipal Court this morning and the judge released May on his own recognizance. No monetary bail was set. Suffolk County District Attorney Press Secretary Jake Wark told Joystiq that May will return to court with his defense attorney on June 27 to file a motion to dismiss the case. According to Atomic Games' complaint filed with Boston police, the company placed the value of Breach "in excess of $6 million." We're currently following up with Atomic Games and the District Attorney's office to find out how events are expected to proceed from here. Update: Comment from Atomic and the DA's office after the break. %Gallery-88941%
EA showing off 'marquee' title in 3D at this year's E3
[Image Credit: Frank Reese] Amidst the flurry of information in yesterday's investor call, EA COO John Schappert loosed a handful of interesting tidbits about his company's presence at this year's E3. Did you know that the publisher's sports arm will be showing off new titles across the board, as well as unveiling unannounced games "that make use of the new motion controllers from Sony and Microsoft" Neither did we! Okay, alright, we probably could've guessed that much. But we certainly didn't expect Mr. Schappert to say, "We will also show a marquee title in breathtaking 3D." Following up with him via email this afternoon, he told Joystiq, "We purposely didn't give more detail so we could keep the excitement up for E3 -- so you'll have to wait until then to find out!" We pressed on whether he meant Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (spotted running in 3D earlier this year at PAX East) or if he meant a new title, but were told that we'll just have to wait and see. What we can say with unflinching certainty, however, is that the company will be showing off the recently announced Hasbro Family Game Night 3 at its presser. Sorry, we're suckers for Clue. Did that not do it for you? [Via Videogamer]
Joystiq Podcast PAX East 2010 edition
Here it is, the moment that at least a couple of you have waited for: Get Ready for Love: The Joystiq Podcast LIVE straight from PAX East, now available for your home listening pleasure. We hope you'll still be able to get the effect the attendees enjoyed even if you're just listening at home. If it helps you to visualize, know that all three of us were (as anyone present can attest) extremely muscle-bound, tan and almost offensively shirtless. Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast in iTunes [Zune] Subscribe to the Joystiq Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace [RSS] Add the Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator [MP3] Download the MP3 directly Hosts: Christopher Grant (@chrisgrant), Justin McElroy (@justinmcelroy),and Ludwig Kietzmann (@LudwigK) For fans: Joystiq Podcast Facebook group New to the show?: Listen to Episode Zero The Do It Line!: 1-(877)-JOYSTIQ %Gallery-89159%
City of Heroes hosting a live Q&A with developers
If you missed out on PAX East, you missed the chance to twist the ear of the development team for City of Heroes. (And other things, probably.) Or, at least, you missed your chance for a little while. Because the team is giving the fans another shot at connecting with them live, even if it's not in person. Using the forumspring.me tool, which has been steadily growing in popularity over the past several months, players will be able to ask questions of the development team and have them answered in more-or-less real time. The actual session will take place on April 23rd between 4 and 5 PM PST (7-8 PM EST). Melissa Bianco, Matt Miller, David Nakayama, and Jesse Caceres will all be in attendance, the same team from the PAX East panel and the brain trust behind the newest content additions. If you can't or don't want to take part in the actual questioning, the highlights will be addressed on the game's official Facebook fan page. It's an excellent chance for City of Heroes players to get answers to their most urgent questions, so mark the date on your calendar.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Question and answers go retro
It's time to head back in time, back through the many views and opinion of the past month, and see where we've gone with questions from far and wide. And as long as we're going back in time, why can't City of Heroes go back with us? Seriously, where's the time-travel arc where everyone has to team up with their Silver Age counterpart in bell-bottoms and bad hair? We've long been missing that from the game, and now that I have the time to think clearly it's a problem which should be immediately addressed. Of course, we do have that new Doppleganger system coming up. It could happen. Also, questions should probably be answered before I deviate too far. Zsazsa piped up with an obvious question about the PAX information: "Was anything said about new maps located in space for level 50 characters?" Possibly? When talking with the inimitable Miss Bianco, she mentioned that there were new maps we haven't yet seen... emphasis on those of us in the playerbase. It's very possible that there are, in fact, maps set in space which will be used for the Incarnate system (which requires level 50 and Going Rogue to be playable, so there you go). But as it's implied here that they already exist, wouldn't we have seen them by now?
Hands-on: The Silver Lining (the game Activison doesn't want you to play)
Here's the real reason Activision doesn't want you to play this fan-made sequel to the legendary King's Quest series: It caught a whiff of money. Rather than working out a deal with with the developer, Activision sent it a cease and desist, even after a deal had been worked out with Vivendi Universal games that would allow the game to be distributed for free (as long as King's Quest was taken out of the title).But the game does indeed exist. At least, one episode out of a proposed five does, although the developers are no longer actively working on it due to Activision's legal saber-rattling. I played it at PAX on a laptop belonging to one of the developers, and I'm desperately hoping that this will make its way into the wild so you can play it for yourself. If the developers are able to buy the license from Activision, that might actually happen. The Silver Lining might not have the words "King's Quest" in the title, but the heart of that series definitely beats in this game.%Gallery-89156%
Alleged PAX East 'Breach' thief agrees to appear May 19 in Mass. court
Justin May, the man who allegedly attempted to steal Atomic Games' Breach at PAX East, has agreed to appear for arraignment in Boston Municipal Court on May 19, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. May was originally supposed to show up for his arraignment on Tuesday, March 30, but apparently decided he had more important things to do. May is accused of attempting to steal Breach, which Atomic Games values "in excess of $6 million." According to Suffolk Country District Attorney Press Secretary Jake Wark, May faces a maximum of five years for each of the the two theft charges and fines. We're currently following up to find out if he faces any additional charges for not showing up in court this week. A representative for Atomic Games tells Joystiq, "Atomic Games is happy to see justice being served. We hope the court understands the severity of the crime. This is a theft that impacts not just our company, but all developers who want to share our games with the public at large shows, such as PAX." Update: When asked if May would face any additional charges for skipping bail, press secretary Wark told us, "No, no additional charges at this point. He actually contacted the court upon learning of the default warrant and made arrangements to postpone the court date. Given that he and his whereabouts are known to authorities, that he has no criminal record, and that he affirmatively contacted the court, his request was granted. At the end of the day here, we aren't exactly dealing with John Dillinger, you know?"
Interview: Skate 3's Chris "Cuz" Perry
At PAX East, we managed to bend the ear of Chris "Cuz" Perry, one of the Skate series' producers -- you know, the dude from those developer diary videos? Yeah, him. He was rocking the Skate 3 booth, showing off the game, so we did what we do best: cornered him and started firing off questions. See what he had to say below! Could you tell us what your name and position is? My full name is Chris Perry and I'm a producer on Skate. You guys really kept up support for Skate 2 through DLC long after the game came out. Is that something you plan to do with Skate 3? Official policy is that we can't talk about that, but it sounds like it's a good idea! %Gallery-77563%
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.
Inaugural PAX East has 52,290 attendees, returns to Boston next March
Although initial predictions for PAX East attendance planned for the show to be bigger than PAX in Seattle, the final count came in at 52,290 -- still, a respectable start for the annual East Coast geek-a-palooza. Event organizers aren't ready to set dates, but have confirmed that the show will return in March of 2011 to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. If you missed any of our coverage, and there was a lot of it, check it out here: PAX East 2010. %Gallery-89141%
$20 off any game priced at $40 or more at EA Store
While they're improving, things still aren't the best for EA financially. Like all of the best misfortune though, EA's current cash situation can be capitalized on, with the offer of $20 off of many items in the company's store. You want Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for $30? No problem. Want The Saboteur for $20? Done. Does taking advantage of this sale help or hurt EA's financial situation? We don't know. Just use the code "PAXEAST842" when you check out, keeping in mind that the offer's only good for one item, and only on those $40 and up. If you're the indecisive sort, you've got until the offer expires on April 9 to make up your mind. [Via GamerDeals]
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Meet the PAX press
Compared to the other two City of Heroes events that I took part in at PAX East, the meet and greet almost seems like an afterthought from a news standpoint. And it's fair to say that no new information could be teased from the development team, mostly because they were far too busy laughing and chatting with fans. Not that any of the fans seemed too keen on asking big questions anyhow. It was, all in all, a big chance for everyone to relax, talk about what the state of the game was, and be pestered by me in the form of Mr. Not-So-Mild-Mannered Reporter. And it was a fun time, with a lot of different opinions and a very relaxed atmosphere. However much of an afterthought it might have been from the perspective of hard news, it was a great time for the fans, and that's what the column is really all about, right? So check on past the break for some of the highlights from the evening, not to mention my global handle. (Because people asked there and I blanked under pressure. Plus there wasn't room on the nametag.)
PAX East 2010: Turbine on renting vs. owning in the MMO market
Blizzard's presence at PAX East 2010 was even smaller than I was expecting, with two or so Community reps there to oversee the StarCraft II tournaments going on. Boston-based Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine, though, had a very large demo area which saw a lot of traffic over the course of the three-day event. Con-goers could stop by and demo LotRO, as well as Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited, and hobnob with the Community reps and developers present. With the WoW-specific news at the event registering somewhere between "literally nothing" and "nearly nothing" on the newsy scale, I decided to stop by Turbine and ask them a few questions about their MMOs. I ended up speaking with their Design Director, Ian Currie. "I'm from WoW.com," I said, "so obviously I don't normally do a lot of reporting on your games. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever even played DDO, and I've only played a little bit of LotRO." Currie smiled and said "You really don't know what you're missing, then, do you!" "Apparently not," I acquiesced, "but maybe you can help fill in the blanks."
PAX East: Podcasting (f)or PR
If you're interested at all in starting up a podcast or want to know more about what goes into creating one, the PAX East panel hosted by Gamers With Jobs' Julian Murdoch and attended by podcasting professionals Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, Insomniac Games' James Stevenson, Irrational Games' Ken Levine and Shawn Elliott, and EA's Jeff Green is a pretty enlightening listen We were anxious to hear what the group had to say on the subject of using podcasts for promotion -- and we recorded it because, well, you might be interested too! For the full, unedited (and very NSFW) audio, click on the play button below. Highlights include outlining the value in podcasting, being on the front lines of PR when something bad goes down and answering questions on how to get a podcast off the ground and cultivating an audience. Feel free to give a listen below.
Breach thief jumps bail, currently playing Modern Warfare 2 [update]
An arrest warrant has been issued for 20-year-old Justin D. May, the alleged thief of the Breach code at PAX East, after he failed to show up in a Boston court today. May posted $200 cash bail at the Boston Police station following his arrest and was ordered to appear for arraignment this morning. He was charged with larceny over $250 and "trade secret, buy/sell/receive stolen." As for May's potential punishment, especially now that he has fled, Suffolk Country District Attorney Press Secretary Jake Wark told Joystiq, "Both charges carry maximum five-year prison terms, though there are monetary fines as potential sentences. Neither offense carries a minimum term. Being a fugitive from justice carries a potential penalty in most states, but only in the jurisdiction to which a defendant flees. For the moment, he is only in default and not facing any enhanced penalties." According to the Boston Police report, May's attempted theft of Breach was valued at over $6 million dollars. May's current whereabouts are unknown, but we do have his Gamertag, which shows that wherever he is at the moment, he's playing Modern Warfare 2. Update 2: Added details about prison terms and fines. The person using May's Gamertag signed off after we contacted them. Update: The police report can be found after the break.
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.
PAX East 2010: What'd we think?
The first-ever Penny Arcade Expo East event has come and gone, and most gaming fans are interested to know how successful it was in the eyes of the attendees. With the popularity boom of PAX Prime (in Seattle since 2004), porting the expo to the east coast only made sense. But did Boston have what it takes to play host to such an important event? With a limit on space and actual news, the immediate buzz around PAX East was that of failure. However, things got much better as the main reason for the event was realized: after-parties! I mean, gamers know how to party, you can't deny that. But what were the best and worst parts of the event itself? Read on after the cut to find out.
PAX East 2010: A closer look at the Fallen Earth iPhone app
Just a few short weeks ago, the Massively staff descended on GDC in San Francisco, sending back all sorts of new information from MMO-land. One of the most exciting things we came across that week was from Icarus Studios. The minds behind Fallen Earth have been working in every direction on their game: joining Facebook, planning for a Mac client, and joining the ever-growing list of games that will be adding an iPhone app. We brought you a detailed overview of the app from GDC back then, and we were lucky enough to spend some more time with Dave Haydysch, Fallen Earth's Project Manager, at PAX last week. We got a look at the upcoming content for Fallen Earth as well as a closer peek at the iPhone app. We've got some brand new images of the app, and the guys over at Lagwar got something even better: video! Check out the gallery below, and follow along after the jump for the video. We think you'll agree with us that this app can't get here fast enough! %Gallery-89297%
Impressions: Two Worlds II
I rush back to the PAX East press room, locked in that strange place between disbelief and acceptance, nigh incapacitated by the surreal certainty that my worldview is in the process of being fundamentally shifted. "Guys," I say to the collected Joystiq staffers fully expecting my verbal evisceration of TopWare's follow-up. "Guys ... Two Worlds II actually looks kind of cool." They don't believe me. %Gallery-89295%
