Last week I went to PAX.  First time going and I'm glad it was the first as I heard on the grapevine (what a weird fucking phrase) that the previous 4 years were an unorganized cluster fuck.

Any who, it was huge and filled with some of the most contemptible people in the world: VIDYA GAYMERS.  I didn't take pictures for fear of being attacked by rail-thin overprotective executive producers but I can summarize the experience.  



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Multiplied by ten thousand (seriously there was about ten thousand people at this thing all weekend long).

Your mind has just been blown.

There was a lot of boring shit.  There was a lot of fun shit.  This article is a highlight of the games I thought were really cool (and a few of the truly awful ones).

Dragon Age: Origins

A new PC exclusive role playing game developed by Bioware and billed as the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate.  Am I happy?  Fuck yes.

Was I disappointed?  Fuck yes.


(yaaaaawn peter jackson did you direct this scene?)

The 30 minute video we were shown was okay but for a game that's due out in 6 months there's a lot of work that needs to be done.  One thing that can't be helped is the boring setting.  There's a scene where all of these ugly orc like things pop out of the forest and attack an army of humans and I turned to the guy sitting next to me and he simultaneously turned to me as if he had the exact same thing on mind and we both said "Is this fucking Lord of the Rings??"  The dialog system looks rad which actually tracks a character's background and class.  For example, elves are second class citizens as showcased by how every NPC basically spits in your presence.  On the other hand, playing a noble practically lets you get away with murder (seriously, he murdered a prisoner and when a guard was like "WTF?" he told the guard to mind his own business).  The battle system is pretty similar to KotoR and no real complaints there but the setting and graphics are bland and generic.  This is coming from a company that's been at the forefront of PC style rpg's!


(is this gothic 3?)

Valkyria Chronicles: This game was pretty unique.  Imagine a mix of turn based war strategy with 3rd person shooting and anime.  I hate the art style, but the game itself is actually pretty indepth.  You take turns moving your character around like you would in an action game, set up his area to cover, and employ any special abilities.  Walking in someone's line of sight can set off an interrupt or a counter attack and height and range play crucial effect in battle.  The tutorial level was bland but the later areas were decent looking.  


(the game really does have this neat manga look with numbers and sound effects flying about)

Castle Crashers:  It's a beat 'em up.  It supports up to four people online.  It's one of the funnest games I've played on XBL.  Buy it.  Enjoy it.

 

Fallout 3:  I can safely say this game isn't Oblivion with guns... but yeah, it isn't Fallout.  I mean, we all determined it isn't Fallout when Bethesda completely dropped all PnP aspects of the game save the SPECIAL system.  Still, the game DOES feel like Oblivion 2.0 with a total conversion mod.  The dialog system is actually deeper then the stupid screens let on (let's just say that, unlike the original Fallout, the small arbitrary variances in your choices do affect the outcome of the speech skill).  Combat is pretty simplistic... and dumb, but the demo was hacked to hell with tons of ammo lying around, reduced enemy difficulty, and the guys standing there would get angry if you switched it to hard mode.  Fags.


(this screen fucking cracks me up)

Demigod:  I think there was an open beta of this but I didn't bother playing.  Billed by Gas Powered Games as a combination of Dungeon Siege and Supreme Commander, Demigod is a RTS RPG inspired by Warcraft III that looks really really impressive.  You basically take a general, his troops, and cut your way through big ass battle fields leveling up and getting new skills.  I don't know where the actual RPG elements come into play (unless people think EXPERIENCE POINTS automatically equals RPG) but the guys at the booth were talking about a "persistent world" and things like balance of power and stuff.  I can only assume that you'll be returning to old battlefields or something.  Bah, I'm not a journalist!



Games That Were a Real Letdown

Fable II: This game is uglier than the original vanilla Xbox version.  How the fuck is that possible?  There's a lot more options for co-op and interacting with NPCs is no longer limited to a handful of hand gestures (although there's still gestures there's like 30 more than in the original).  I like the combat and the addition of firearms works surprisingly well AND the world is actually open; you're no longer limited to a set path like the original.


(the world is more open and you can hop over fences... oh yeah, it really is this ugly)

But the graphics... my god.  I don't consider myself a graphics whore but the game is ugly in a way that offends the eyes!

Spore: This game is really boring.  It'll probably be more fun once you can actually interact with people but the core gameplay is really, really boring.  With EA watching over this game like Batman watches over Gotham I can only imagine that some of the more creative designs will be censored.  I don't want to see any phallus monsters honestly but there's something unsettling about a bunch of guys who monitor your every creation.  Can't we just enjoy the damn game?  The ESRB specifically has a warning that experiences online may change.


(a game that lets you download your friend's worlds and blow up planets should not be such a drag to play)

Blades:  This game is disgusting and had to have been made by a crew consisting of 30 frat boys with a computer.  I'll let the screenshots explain the rest.


(gotta love half-naked elf chicks with silver thongs)

Gears of War II: It's the exact same thing as Gears of War.  


(is this Gears of War 1 or Gears of War 2?  Yeah, I can't tell either)

I'm serious.  I thought people were playing the original GEARS OF WAR (2004 GAME) until I noticed the "II" on a booth.

Atleast the episodes of Half-Life 2 are half the price of the full game.  Jesus.

Spore doesn't interest me at all either but I've been keeping that one quiet (You say something like that around here, next thing you know someone does a drive by on your topic, rapes your sister and sets your hair on fire).

I can see the modellers on the gears of war team getting slapped on the wrists now and then for texturing things *out of the colour palette*. I mean goddam look at that game you'd think that we didn't have colour monitors.

When fallout 3 comes out I will have the problem of choosing PC or PS3. I have an 8800 GTS 320 in my PC so it will handle it in pretty hi-res if it's like oblivion. However if the PS3 one supports 1080p I may as well go with that. I just love using a mouse so much.

If they enable keyboard and mouse input for the PS3 version, my problem is solved.

fallout 3 console versions support native 720p

bumping this because it deserves more attention

I can't believe you didn't take any photos.

They would've been comedy gold like usual. But yeah, there are some pretty interesting games here. Demigod's graphics look amazing and Fable II doesn't look that bad, why they chose to go for that type of graphics I don't know, but it's not the worst thing I've ever seen.

I can't believe you didn't take any photos. ​

seriously there was absolutely no room to take photos.  this place was packed... so packed it was PAXed (everyone vomits).  there were several dozen people that would just take out their camera, extend their arm out, and then just snap a photo of whatever random blur they happened to take.  the guys at the booth were like camera hawks and if they even spotted something with a lens they'd throw their hand up and block your shot.

Holy crap. How did I not know Castle Crashers existed? I must buy this.

did you see the mega64 guys

did you go to the epic mega64 panel

if not you missed out on the whole point of pax

I'm serious.  I thought people were playing the original GEARS OF WAR (2004 GAME) until I noticed the "II" on a booth.

Atleast the episodes of Half-Life 2 are half the price of the full game.  Jesus.

Gears of War came out in November 2006.

Half-Life 2: Episodes 1 + 2 aren't full games. They are addendums.

Gears of War 2 is a full game (probably still short!) with full co-op modes and online multiplayer.

oni blade or whatever is by some russian devs trying to break into the market with SEXY ANIME BABES and is just really stupid.
Dragonage just reminds me of nwn2 and that game was ass so I ain't bothered(focus on more mass effect downloadable content instead please)
Demigod I'm really looking foward to because I love dumb rts games like universe at war, and this looks one of the dumbest of them all (BIG STOMPY TITANS) so yah hook me up with that shit.

Also I've been hearing that the animation for fallout3 is like 10 years out of date, as in they all look like they're doing the robot. Is this criticism still valid in your experience?

Fallout 3's animation is still ass.  It's slightly above Oblivion but everyone looks like they're ice skating.

I also played Starcraft 2 which is Starcraft 1 with better graphics.  I don't know if this is a good thing or not but I still enjoy Starcraft in small bursts so we'll see.