General Discussion [ Page 89 ]

Dear PAX, Yep. Thats me up there lounging in a Riot Games

Dear PAX,

Yep. That's me up there lounging in a Riot Games bean bag chair watching a few League of Legends tournaments. PAX, you are big. You have attracted every kind of geek imaginable. You are the first video game convention ive attended and you are intense.

We met up with a few friends of @chowda and that was fun to meet some new people. They had attended PAX a few times previously and gave us a few tips. One such tip was that you would stand in many lines. I am not sure I have had feet as sore as this and ive back-packed around Italy. I just might be getting too old or something..... :D

http://i.imgur.com/b6U7I.jpg (the morning line up)

One of the highlights of the... Read All

PAX today - WOW. I am continually floored at the dedicated

PAX today - WOW. I am continually floored at the dedicated community that are gamers. From the most intricate cosplay costumes, to hardcore e-sports fanatics; gamers turn out in mass for their passion.

I saw lines to play unreleased games that were a multiple hour wait. I went to panel discussions where the entire room was dead silent in anticipation of developers sharing their knowledge. I watched the League of Legends tournament live and the crowd was louder than any professional sporting event I've ever attended.

This is why I love the "nerd/geek" community, this is why I love gaming.

Taking a few minutes to post a bit about PAX as I wait in

Taking a few minutes to post a bit about PAX as I wait in line for a panel on PC gaming. Nothing could have prepared me for the scale of this convention. The amount of video game fans present and eager to tear through the endless halls of video game culture is incredible.

I heard there were 60,000 tickets sold and that doesnt surprise me. Had to take a few breaks away from the crowds due to the scale and intensity of things.

I'll post more tonight, with pictures and more awesomery! Having a good time with the army of nerds.

Leaving for PAX Prime in Seattle Tomorrow!

Leaving for PAX Prime in Seattle tomorrow. Reading over the presentations and noting which ones I want to attend:

"Story Time with Ted Price"
"Chiptunes"
"The Double Fine Adventure Adventure"
"Assassin's Creed III PAX Prime Panel"
"Epic Games Presents: Fortnight Reveal"
"Behind the music of blockbuster video games"
"After notch the new minecraft team"
"Which Interactive Lie Did I Tell: A conversation on game writing with Chet & Erik of Valve Software"

I plan on hitting up others but these were the ones that stood out to me.

According to Bethesda Doom 3 BFG Edition will be playable as well as Departed. Gearbox will be showing Borderlands 2 as well so I will have much to write... Read All

Not much to share because PopCap hasnt shared much with us

Not much to share because PopCap hasn't shared much with us yet... That said, Plants VS Zombies 2 has been confirmed by PopCap for release for Spring of 2013.

http://beefjack.com/news/plants-vs-zombies-2-coming-spring-2013/

Hoping it comes with difficulty modes or something that makes it harder for multiple replays!

Looks like Nintendo Power is going to be closing up shop.

Looks like Nintendo Power is going to be closing up shop. It had a fantastic run in the late 80's and early 90's and whomever had a subscription I was always envious of. I read each issue cover to cover many times.

I remember reading the issue with Secret of Mana detailed and I couldn't put it down for weeks. The way Nintendo stiched together images and game hints was magical to my young video game addicted brain.

A few years ago I got a subscription to Nintendo Power again and some of the spark remained but my habits changed and I didn't read them as eagerly as I once did. Oh and they talked about Nintendogs too much for my tastes. I should have kept my original issues... Read All

PC Gaming For Cheap! So theres a new Humble Bundle out.

PC Gaming For Cheap!

So there's a new Humble Bundle out. Although it's called the Humble Android Bundle 3, all the games are cross-platform, for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android. You can get Steam keys and Ubuntu Software Center activations as well, same as with the last numbered bundle. Some good stuff here, but nothing to top what we've seen in the past.

Everyone who's participated in a Humble Bundle knows that it's a great opportunity to get great games for next to nothing. But there are also other bundles going on that fewer people are aware of.

IndieGala

http://www.indiegala.com/

This works similarly to the Humble Bundle. There's a similar profit distribution, with a... Read All

A bit ago I finished watching another presentation from

A bit ago I finished watching another presentation from QuakeCon "The Game of Making Games" with Todd Howard (Bethesda Game Studios), Jens Matthies (MachineGames), Raphael Colantonio (Arkane Studios), and Ted Price (Insomniac Games).

Fun to hear about how different studios approach game development and design. A few awesome moments when the audience asked questions you should check out. At one point someone in the audience asked how it feels to have your games go to the bargain bin faster than others. I have a new sense of respect for these leads and what they do.

So then I got this in the mail. @chowda and I are headed to

So then I got this in the mail. @chowda and I are headed to PAX this year and I am really excited. To be able to see games exhibited with full wall art work, developers possibly answering questions and the ability to play it before launch? To experience an event in person which I only read about on blogs is a really cool thought.

PAX recently posted a schedule and speakers here if you are interested:

http://dev.paxsite.com/schedule
http://dev.paxsite.com/speakers

PAX Also dropped there will be a few tourneys and seeing people play games like League of Legends should be fun. Over the next few days I am going to digest the schedule and plan out what I want to do. I want to... Read All

The Game Genie is Magic

To celebrate Retro Tuesday today I am dialing the time machine back to awesome and talking about Galoob's magnificent Game Genie. Buckle up kids, the Game Genie allowed you to enter video game worlds you didn't know possible and often times more glitchy than before!

First time I was exposed to the Game Genie was when @WhiteboySlim showed it to me. It was a gold half cart that connected to the end of any Nintendo game. After you switched on the Nintendo a screen came up to enter a code and after the code was entered you could start the game. Game Genie came with a manual for how to essentially mod or cheat at a game. The only mod I remember was in Super Mario Brothers... Read All To celebrate Retro Tuesday today I am dialing the time machine back to awesome and talking about Galoob's magnificent Game Genie. Buckle up kids, the Game Genie allowed you to enter video game worlds you didn't know possible and often times more glitchy than before!

First time I was exposed to the Game Genie was when @WhiteboySlim showed it to me. It was a gold half cart that connected to the end of any Nintendo game. After you switched on the Nintendo a screen came up to enter a code and after the code was entered you could start the game. Game Genie came with a manual for how to essentially mod or cheat at a game. The only mod I remember was in Super Mario Brothers where Mario could jump really high. This allowed you to jump over the flag and if you did that and continued right, the map would continue without end.

Oh right, check out this awesome Game Genie commercial from the 80's. I remember this one as it was released during the Bill and Ted era and the commercial totally rides that 80's skateboard to paydirt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xi4m2qnZaY

The Game Genie manual recommended you try out random codes on games and see the effect. I remember us trying a bunch of random codes on Gradius and most of them scrambled the screen and other less awesome things. I am not sure if we hit pay dirt with any of the codes but it was fun trying things out. We always wrote them down in case we hit Genie gold so we could do it again.

Game Genie lives on in PC gaming now in that some games offer a console mode to change things if you desire. Proliferation of mods allow you take your game to a level Game Genie didn't, Skyrim being one modern example. That said, the ghost of Game Genie lives on in most emulators as all the major emulators support game genie codes.

Game Genie is one of those awesome things from the past that I don't see make the transition into the modern console era. In a world where console manufacturers are making systems more closed, a system to allow you to mod your game sanctioned by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo seems unlikely. The openess of the PC system allows this but not as retroly awesome or one stop as the Game Genie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Genie
http://gamehacking.org/w/images/2/2a/Game_genie_nes_screen.png (the code screen)