Wednesday, March 27, 2013

PAX East 2013 Day 3

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            I am extremely tired today. We didn’t get home from our last panel until like midnight. I took a shower and all that fun stuff and wound up in bed at around one in the morning. All this so I could get up at six this morning, pack what stuff I could and get out the door. So we’re sitting here in line again and we all came up with this great idea. Since everyone probably bum rushed what games they wanted to play first thing yesterday, there wouldn’t be many people doing it again today. So our new perfect plan is to get to the Last of Us as soon as the gates open. We have an even better advantage this time because we are literally right near the front, our best line position yet.

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            You would think we’d have seen this coming. Of course everyone bum rushed the Last of Us the same way they did with Elder Scrolls Online yesterday. Fortunately we are much closer in line. The only bad thing also happens to be the best thing about this game’s demo. It’s thirty minutes long! So we’ll be standing in line for probably an hour, but we’ll at least get to play for a good while.

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            So I have never owned a PlayStation 3 because it didn’t really have any games that I was dying to play on it. That all changed like twenty minutes ago when I finished the demo for the Last of Us. I was extremely impressed with the games graphics and stealthy game play. I’m not entirely sure this is a zombie game, but it certainly feels like it is. The detail in the characters faces is impeccable and the voice acting is spot on. The intense stealth and combat system kept me enthralled the entire time I was playing. I hadn’t even realized that our thirty minutes were up when the guy came tapping me on the shoulder. I wanted to stay and play more. They were giving little foam bricks to anyone who could complete the demo in time. I was pretty close to the end but still managed to fall a couple of minutes short. Tom failed as well, but Patrick didn’t. He came out of the showcase area and smacked us in the face with his foam brick.
            We had walked around for a little bit before heading up to the Gearbox panel. We lost Patrick again. I’m sure he’ll turn up before it starts. Ha, he’s calling right now.

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            I will never miss a Gearbox panel. Ever! Those guys are amazing and they gave away a bunch of free crap. They introduced Krieg, a new playable vault hunter as well the next (and I’m assuming last) campaign expansion. Some of you may remember the collector’s edition of Borderlands 2 and how it came with a loot chest, right? Well apparently they had a bunch of them left over. Everyone coming into the theater was given a color-coated card and one of the panelists drew one from a bucket. Whoever had the orange card got a freaking loot chest. I did not get one and I cried a little bit inside. But they didn’t leave us hanging. Randy Pitchford surprised everyone by giving him or her DLC codes for their new and upcoming character. He’s like the Oprah of gaming. Mind. Blown.
            Then Gearbox got into a little discussion about what they were doing with their newest game, Aliens: Colonial Marines. If you haven’t already heard, the game turned out to be a giant flop. Like it literally shit the bed. It was getting solid crap reviews across the board. Now I was expecting head honcho, Randy Pitchford, to make some excuses about it, but he surprised me. He told the crowd that they love the Aliens franchise and they love the game they put out. He also stated that they would continue to stand by it and support it so it can be the game everyone was hoping for. Mind. Blown.
            He didn’t pull a Casey Hudson and point fingers at other people or blame ignorance on the matter. Instead he manned up, pointed out the crappy reviews, and told us that they were doing all they could to make it the game people want to play. What a man. I have huge respect for someone like that. That is why we are now standing in line outside of the theater to get some autographs from Randy Pitchford and his crew. They are gaming inspirations.
            Oh, Patrick is missing again. Apparently he went down the escalators and is trying to get back up.

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            Meeting and shaking the hand of Randy Pitchford made me feel like a schoolgirl crushing on Elvis. As they were signing our stuff I told them that they would be hiring me in a couple of years. I thought they were going to laugh at me and tell me to fuck off, but instead Randy told me that he loves confidence in people. So there you have it people, I now have a goal to work for Gearbox Software. It will happen.
            The funniest thing happened when Michael Neumann, creative director/writer/voice of Scooter, started signing Tom’s code cared (you know, the one they gave us for a free character) right over the code itself. He stopped almost as soon as he started.
            “Oh man! I’m an asshole.” We started laughing, but he wasn’t done. He signed his name in an appropriate spot and then on the other side he wrote the word “Asshole” and drew an arrow down to where he messed up. Totally epic. Patrick never did make it up to us. Apparently once you go down you can’t go back up. He was extremely pissed of to say the least. I think he might cool down though. We went back to the expo floor for one last hoorah and he hopped on to the Lost Planet 3 demo while Tom and I came over to the Rooster Teeth booth to see what they have for sale. The line is huge, but it’s because Burnie Burns is signing autographs. Yeah, we’re waiting for one.

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            Patrick was feeling much better by the time he got back to us. He told me that Lost Planet 3 sucked and that it wasn’t worth it. Duly noted. We waited for a good while in line when Jack from Achievement Hunters (also from Rooster Teeth) came over asking if we wanted pictures and autographs. I was like, yes. Your beard is awesome. So he signed our stuff and I told him I wanted a picture, but only if we cuddled. This large man wrapped his hands around me and I was honestly scared for a second. The picture shows my fear. Not too long after that we got our stuff signed by Burnie, and Patrick and I took a picture with him. There were other people in the booth leading up to Burnie that were signing autographs too, but I didn’t know who they were and the whole situation felt awkward. I didn’t really want an autograph from people I didn’t know, but they were looking at me like they were waiting for it. I just stared at the Mortal Kombat cosplayers behind us until we passed them up.
            Well that’s it guys. After we collected Burnie’s signature we took off. I had a ton of fun at PAX East this year and I’m completely looking forward to going to PAX Prime. Email me or drop comment if you have any questions. I will be posting all of my pictures in a separate post.  

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