And… we’re back (just about)

I’ve managed to get most of the layout back, although it is slightly different than it was before.  Still, it looks like this should work pretty well.  I have a few more tweaks left to get it to where I want it.  Let me know if you notice anything glaring that still needs to be fixed or if you have any recommendations.

Technical Difficulties…

I apologize for the weirdness going on with the site right now.  I’m trying to fix the issue with the garbage at the bottom of the page, which clearly is not working at the moment.  Hopefully things will be back to normal soon, but if not, please bare with me.

*Update* - I got rid of the garbage, but I’ve obviously screwed up the layout of the site now.  Still working on this. =)

*Update 2* - Well, I accidentally deleted my most recent theme and since I haven’t dug into it in awhile, I’m having trouble getting everything back.  I’ve upgraded word press and the spam at the bottom of the page seems to be gone, but it’s unbelievably still somehow making it’s way into the source (I don’t really get that, but that seems to be what’s happening).  However, correcting the theme so that everything looks right again will have to wait until tomorrow when I have a bit more time and energy.  I apologize for the issues and I hope that we’ll have everything back to normal soon.

*Update 3* - The spam has been found and deleted.  The layout is obviously still in need of some work, and I also deleted several dozen user accounts last night for users that I’d never seen a message for.  I apologize if I ended up deleting your account, but we get quite a bit of spam accounts as well and I decided it was time to clean house if I hadn’t seen any posts from you yet.

Things I Don’t Care About Vol. 1

• “Ultra limited editions” with ultra not-so-limited prices
• A GTA game on the DS, or any of the very purposefully ginned up controversy around it
• Box art (even with puns)
• Drug “censorship” in Fallout 3, (the VP is right)
• A multimedia focused DS
• Regressing to a time when game design was evil (at least, at the moment).

PAX Pix

I’ll have more later (I know I promised this awhile back), but I wanted to post the link to the excellent pictures Megan took at PAX.  Here you go.

Guitar Hero to out-Rock Band Rock Band?

I’ve already bought Rock Band 2 and a significant amount of downloadable content for the original (which, of course, also works with Rock Band 2), but I have to say that 1up’s Guitar Hero: World Tour preview, which gives 10 reasons why you should still get it even if you have Rock Band 2, makes it sound pretty damn good.

Once Activision (finally) confirmed cross-instrument compatability with Rock Band instruments I figured I’d be picking up the game anyway, but even the new hardware for the game is sounding pretty impressive.  Not only that, there seem to be several gameplay tweaks that actually do a bit more to change up the game than what Rock Band has added.  Based on this list and what I know about Rock Band 2, here are what I consider all the significant new additions/features in the games:

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The Devil Beats the Protoss

At least the rumor is that Diablo III will beat Starcraft 2 to the market. I, for one, have absolutely no problem with that whatsoever. I saw Starcraft 2 at PAX and it looked beautiful, but pretty much the same as Starcraft 1.

I suppose the same could basically be said for Diablo III vs Diablo II. So sue me. I want Diablo III far more than I want Starcraft 2.

PAX Impressions Part 1

Yes, it’s been a bit over a week since PAX, but since I was still on vacation and still gathering my thoughts, I figured I’d wait until this week to post on it. I’m going to do this post in multiple parts. The first few parts I’m going to basically give my general impressions of the PAX, what I liked and didn’t like overall, and what I would maybe do differently if I went again. In the last part I’ll discuss the games I played and saw there in as much detail as I can remember. I think this will probably be 3 parts total, but we’ll see how it goes. So, without further ado…

Convention Organization

The convention has a somewhat overwhelming amount of stuff to do, which is certainly a good thing considering the number of people who decided to attend this year. But, it is a bit daunting and can lead to some confusion. PAX is basically divided into 4 different parts:

1. The Expo Floor -Basically where all the new, mostly unreleased games are being demoed, as well as other companies booths like mega64 or Razer.
2. Panels/Demos/Presentations - Includes playthroughs by the developers and forums like the Penny Arcade Q&As, the Gamer Dad panel, the Wil Wheaton panel, and even a gaming-themed Family Feud contest
3. Playing/watching games - Includes PC, handheld, and console freeplay, as well as various tournaments and of course the Omegathon, for which all rounds can be watched. Tabletop games also have tournaments and freeplay.
4. Concerts/Movies - Jonathan Coulton, Freezepop and others played, and/or you can watch various movies (or continue with gaming freeplay until 3 AM).

If I’m missing something specifically, it probably fits into one of these categories. In any case, within these categories there’s quite a bit to do, and I think perhaps this is where my confusion came in. I think I went to the convention mostly just to try out a bunch of new, unreleased games. In retrospect, however, I’m just not sure if this was the best use of my time.

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Disaster Lives!

Destructoid has the new Japanese trailer for Disaster: Day of Crisis (Wii), which apparently comes out September 25 (!) in Japan.  I have heard next to nothing about this game for months, and figured it was going to be either quietly canceled or pushed to next year.

Considering the English voice acting, I have to imagine that a US release can’t be too far behind, right?  Of course, the bigger question is, of course, is it any good?  Since it was first announced, it seemed like an intriguing title, but basically nothing had come out about it.  Hopefully that doesn’t portend poorly for the game.

On a completely unrelated side note, I’ll be posting part 1 of my PAX impressions tonight.  I realize it’s basically ancient history now, but I only just got back to work this week.

A Digital Convention

Penny Arcade’s Tycho (aka Jerry Holkins) recent comment regarding PAX struck me as a little strange:

“Things went well, but we’ll never be satisfied until the year that every con-goer fuses into a single, omnipotent digital entity. The convention’s biggest hurdle is that it happens to be held within the confines of the physical universe, with its intractable laws and finite space.  I wonder who we can talk to about that.”

Well, how about Microsoft?  Or Blizzard?  Or maybe Mythic, NCSoft, Cryptic Studios, or Linden Labs? I understand what Tycho is referencing here, but in a sense, don’t we already have several different ways for gamers to digitally meet and play together?  We even have several digital ways of gathering information about new, unreleased games that may be shown at these conventions.

The fact that the convention takes place “within the confines of the physical universe” isn’t a “hurdle”, it’s a feature.  Yeah, I get that he’s making a somewhat common geek joke, but I thought it would be helpful to remind people that if PAX were what he claims to want, it wouldn’t be nearly as special to people as it is now.

PAX-bound

I’m on my way to PAX this weekend, which will be my first time attending.  I will try to update about it as I can, though I’m not sure exactly how much time I’ll have and what my connection status will be like when I’m there. Drop me a line if any of you are going as well.  Hope to see you there!