Day 2 of PAX 09 (Penny Arcade Expo 09: www.paxsite.com) was just as packed (paxed?) as the first day. It included many panels, some of which didn’t cover new video games, but were entertaining nonetheless. Our day 3 coverage will include updates on upcoming games and interviews with developers.
I’m sitting here about 2/3 of the way through day 2 of PAX and only now have had time to work on the day 1 coverage of the convention for Game Usagi… that’s how busy and chock-full this show is. But let’s maybe back up for a moment and explain what PAX or Penny Arcade Expo is all about: a culmination of the success andculture of one of the most popular web comics around (Penny Arcade: www.penny-arcade.com). PAX has grown to a powerhouse in videogame conventions. The website and its resulting “expo” is the brainchild of Mike Krahulik and Jerry Hulkins who have created animated alter egos by the name of Gabe and Tycho. Born from humble beginnings, the site grew in popularity with its witty commentary on video game and table top gaming culture. PAX in its current iteration hosts the world’s biggest video game companies and their new content, along with indy game developers and also features a healthy dose of table top gaming-related exhibits.
This year is the sixth iteration of PAX, which is spread over a 3-day weekend and has been growing in size each year. PAX 09 is the first time where the show was sold out before tickets went on sale at the door. On August 21, two weeks before the start of the convention, all 3-day passes were sold out. On August 31 all single-day passes were sold out as well, drawing the largest crowd in PAX history with 75,000 PAX passes sold.
Highlights of this year’s show are:
– Live in-game demos of Star Wars the Old Republic, Splinter Cell Conviction and Assassins Creed 2.
– A keynote by Ron Gilbert.
– A world record for the most Nintendo DS’ in one place and
– Playable builds of almost all major game releases for the end of this year andbeyond.
Please note that we will add many images and videos once we get back to the office, however to keep information on PAX as current as possible, we’ll update you as the show progresses. For day 1 we had some hands-on time with a number of upcoming high profile releases:
Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-2, 2 (online)
Console: Xbox 360, PS3
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Hours Played: 30
Progress: Contender (ranking of 15-0-0)
It’s been over three years since the release of the last Fight Night, which impressed, especially graphically, as an evolution of the king of boxing games. Although three years seems like a long enough time to dramatically improve the series, Fight Night Round 4, like so many EA sports games before it, mainly focuses on subtle game play tweaks; new controls, counter system and AI, so are these enough to make it worth your while? Read on……
Well, we have our new PS3 already, and we thought that we’d give you as thorough a guide as we could to the size and general hardware features of the new PS3 Slim. So, we’ll start off with some size comparisons to the Big Daddy version of the PS3 and then carry on to compare the size of the PS3 to most other home console systems. Hopefully you will own at least one of them and be able to gauge the size of the PS3 Slim for yourself before you decide whether or not to take the plunge and purchase the system. At the end of the article we have a couple of bonus pics highlighting a nuance of the new hardware.
Developer: Sucker Punch
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Genre: 3rd person open-world action/adventure game (sandbox)
Platform: PS3
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Players: 1
Hours Played: 35
Game Progress: Finished main story and all side quests
Sucker Punch, the developers best known for the Sly Cooper series on the Playstation 2, bring us an open world, super-hero epic, exclusively for the Playstation 3. inFamous combines elements of Crackdown, Assassins Creed and Spiderman: Web of Shadows and bundles it into one of the best Playstation 3 games this year.
My sincerest apologies for our leave of absence over the past month or so. Much Usagi work has been taking place behind the scenes to revitalize and renew our perspective on game reviews. Starting tomorrow, we will present you with a simple, standardized review system with proper graphics and also iPhone/iPod Touch game and app mini-reviews (called Kit Reviews after baby usagi). We hope that you will find the new features to be well-worth the wait and thank you for your patience while we ironed out our new set-up.
-Miyamoto
Happy Canada Day from the Game Usagi Krew! Our review-system revamp is nearing completion, so look forward to both that and a great deal of iPhone/iPod Touch game reviews!
-Miyamoto