Chellisms

PAX 2008

Gamers unite!

This weekend was the 5th Annual Penny Arcade Expo, held at the Convention Center in Seattle. This was our second year attending and it was a blast.

We sat in on a discussion first thing this morning, Raising Your Kids on Games. It didn't really provide any information that we didn't already know but that's okay. Familiarize yourself with the games your kids play, play the games, don't just buy the games play them with the kids and talk about the content. Play in common areas. ESRB ratings are there to help, but if you don't want your kids to play a game explain why. Chances are they are going to be exposed to it at a friends house. While the ESRB ratings are a guideline based on age you as a parent should take your own child into account. Emotional and mental maturity. You are the parent, you make the decisions, decide what is best for your kids.

Please teach the boys not to wear skirts.

 

This afternoon we sat in on another discussion, this one on NCSoft Kicking Ass. In the MMO arena. They had a lengthy presentation on their game in development Aion, pronounced Ion. The character customization screens are awesome, there are so many choices. More choices than the City of Heroes or Villains games. At the beginning of the game there are four classes; warrior, scout, mage and cleric. Each class has 8 subclasses; some of the subclasses mentioned were assassin, spirit summoner or guide (that one comes from Tim's memory?) and enchanter. Wings come into play at level 10 and are very important, though there is no unlimited flying. Characters have a flight timer, which is modified by equipment, level, potions or items. At level 20 character get stigma stones which add alternate abilities to their characters. No word on level cap. Not yet in closed beta. Release set for Spring 2009.

At the same discussion, NCSoft covered the future of the City of Heroes and Villains franchise. Issue 13:Architect was announced this week. The lead writer, Joe Morrisey aka Hero 1, was there to fill us in and give us a bit of insider info. Players will be able to design missions and arcs for other players by picking tile sets, mobs, dialogue, glowie placement, rescue mob, mob interaction and boss type. Let's break that down a bit.

Maps: You cannot design a map like you can build a base, you simply pick which map you want from the ones available, even the eight layer burrito cave map (blech).

Mobs: You can choose more than one type. You can have them interact and fight each other. Someone asked if you could perhaps have high level Hellions, basically is it possible to take low level mobs and pump them up for high level players. No straight answer, not currently was the answer given.

Dialogue: You can choose what the boss says. This wasn't too specific, not sure how much they can say. Be careful here, after someone runs our mission they have a chance to rate it and mark it as inappropriate.

Glowie: You have some control over placement. Beginning, middle or end of map. Or none.

Rescue: Choose to rescue someone and who to rescue.

Mob interaction: The mobs can fight each other. Or just you.

Boss: You can choose your boss or bosses. Choose whether they should be fighting each other or just you and if they should stick around if they start losing the fight or if they should flee.

You will be able to host about 6 (unconfirmed number at this point) missions on the mission server once I13 goes live. Anyone across the servers will be able to search for and play your missions, at this point you cannot restrict someone from playing your mission or arc. Once they play it they will be prompted to rate it on a 1 to 5 point scale, they tossed around a thumbs up/down choice but at this point it is a 5-point scale. Based on your ratings you will be able to unlock new maps, bosses, mobs and so on. Badges will be earned for designing and playing these architect driven missions. There will be three tiers ratings. Player Rated, Hall of Fame and Developer's Choice.

Once you upload your designed mission to the mission server it will be live immediately. Playable by all players immediately. Prior to uploading it you will be able to run through it with your characters to test it out.

Sadly, at this point it was asked if player characters would make it into the Architect missions. That was a negative, Ghostrider.

Checked out some new games for the Wii. I had no idea Word Jong was going multi player. That totally counts as educational when I play with the kids, right? I mean, it's spelling. Word scrambling or unscrambling. I love Word Jong on the DS, Word Jong Party for the Wii looks just as promising. I am putting this one on my Christmas list.

 

 

Alton Brown on the Wii! That should say it all. Iron Chef on the Wii. Ashley says it looks a lot like Cooking Mama but I since I have never played that I cannot agree or disagree. I kinda just like Alton's head floating around on the TV screen.

 

 

Seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we left home this morning the girls inquired about Mario Super Sluggers. The Nintendo booth was jammed so I never did get to play it but it looked fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Men wearing skirts were a big thing this year. I saw a couple last year but not nearly as many as this year. The least this guy could have done was iron out the wrinkles, at least he doesn't have chicken legs. Oh, and there is no way these were kilts. They are fricking skirts.

 

 

 

 

I have no explanation for this one. I just can't figure out the what or the why.

Midget Brigade

The girls and I went to the gaming store with Tim yesterday afternoon, he is a frequent customer and sometimes the girls and I tag along. The store doesn't open until noon and since Tim has to be to work at 2 he usually goes in on Friday or Saturday, sometimes he plays for a few hours or just watches or shops.

I know, Tim shopping, it baffles me too.

The store clerks all know Tim by name and since the girls have been in to play with him they are familiar with them as well, I am not as frequent a customer but they know me on sight as Tim's wife. Hey, let's face it, I could be and have been known as worse things.

The store itself is pretty small and it was pretty crowded, a few guys in the back were playing and there were 6 guys or so around the painting table. The shop is lined on either side with merchandise with the gaming tables and painting table in the middle of the store. Tim was looking at the merchandise next to the gaming table and I was behind the painting table with the girls looking at some of the painted models.

One of the men sitting at the painting table whom Tim has played with on occasion noticed him and said hi and asked how he had been. They exchanged pleasantries and then Tim asked me a question over the guys head. I should insert at this point that I was the only female in the shop over the age of 8. Um, yeah. If I head to the shop by myself to get something for Tim I try to get in and get out as fast as possible. Most of the guys in the shop are great, I am sure, however some of them just creep me the hell out.

The guy at the table turned around to stare and say hi to the girls. He then turns back to Tim and the painting table guys and declares that I am short. Then he turns back around to stare and calls us the midget brigade.

Asshole.

PAX 2007

We got up early yesterday morning and dropped the kids off at my moms house, drove to Redmond to pick up a friend and then headed into Seattle to attend the Penny Arcade Expo.

It was awesome. It was fun. It was odd. I had no idea what to expect.

Short plaid school girl skirts seemed to be the uniform of the day for girls and kilts for men. I was not impressed either way. Kilts always seem to have an air of mystery and sexiness surrounding them, not today. I did see bare ass, unfortunately it was of the plaid skirt variety and not the kilt variety.

There were a ton of people. At one point, entrance into the exhibition hall closed as they were over the fire code, I have a feeling they had been over it for quite some time and someone had just noticed or the fire department made a surprise visit.

At the Nvidia booth they were giving away t-shirts and other stuff, including buttons that had 5 digit numbers on them. The idea was to match your number to someone else's and win a prize. Not as easy as it sounds. I pinned mine on the lanyard holding my pass before I realized exactly how the day would progress. Everyone wanted to find their match. You would be walking along and all of a sudden someone would grab you to check your number. Evidently I had my button too close to my boobs...

We did get a few beta test passes/free trials for games like Tabula Rasa and Lord of the Rings Online. We got to check out a ton of new games too. We don't have an X-Box 360 or a PS3 but after the way my husband salivated yesterday I see them in our near future. The Eye of Judgment along with the Playstation Eye had very cool graphic interaction, the characters on the cards went 3-D on screen when under the Eye and when you moved your hand towards them the characters would bat at your hands or try to attack you. The Warhammer Online booth was kind of a disappointment. All of the demo stations had the same segment of the game on them, with no advancement beyond that point.

I could go on and on for hours about everything we saw, but I won't. Send me an e-mail if you have any specific questions.

We checked out all of the Tabletop Gaming rooms, Tim salivated over the 40K room and the mega battle going on inside. We sat in a discussion or two. I got my feet stepped on. We discovered a Palomino's across the street and I had margarita's for lunch, which totally made the boob grabbing and toe stepping worth it.

The best part of hanging out with thousands of men and very, very few women for an entire day?

Never having to stand in line for a bathroom.

Geek Genes FTW!

I should have known.

Before they were even born I should have figured it would come down to this.

Combine Tim's overly geekish genes with my newly realized geekdom and what do you get?

The girls were introduced to Warhammer 40K a few weeks ago and have been playing one game a day ever since. Tim has been playing since  before we were married and he loves that they are showing interest in something he enjoys. Hopefully this will  keep him satisfied until they are old enough for paintball.

Bailey is currently hooked on Tyranid Genestealers.

Tay on the other hand prefers Space Marines.

Kind of cracks me up that they are actually learning while playing and have no clue. Math and measuring.

I can't wait until school starts back up and they can tell all of their friends that they played with midgets (Bailey speak for the miniatures) over the summer.

Should I be worried that they have Slipknot cranked up and they can all sing along?

Speaking of gaming, looking to get a few hours of City of Heroes or Villains in this weekend. RWZ TF, anyone? Drop me a tell @Red Empathy