Closing Observations

More than a week, the vivid PAX memories have faded. Seattle’s season has shifted  and time moves on. Now is the time to [cautiously] approach the eating disorder holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Not so fast

In the interest of putting my impressions to bed, here are my keepable photos.

Expo Hall Impressions

• Civilization 5 looks fantastic. Moreover, I got to play the demo on a 3D laptop rig. I’m not much of a 3D fan. I find that it hurts my eyes. But this actually worked because the user interface sits in the foreground while the gently moving world rests in the background. Color me impressed .
• Epic Mickey‘s booth was… [actually] epic. The game has a very stylish look, but Mickey’s the only cartoon character of note . I will say that the Wii’s graphic deficiencies are on display this late in the current console cycle.
• What to say about Killzone 3? It’s standard stuff, pretty enough [in 2D], but the 3D mode gets pretty jaggy. Nothing distinguishes the game from a million other modern FPS’s.
• The Playstation Move was on display. I never played any of it; the line was too long. But one thing is certain, you look like a total goon playing it. The colored orbs are ridiculous . I get the feeling that everyone’s rushing to replicate Nintendo’s success with the Wii while Nintendo itself moves on.
• Torchlight II was on display. We were promised an eventual MMO, but we’ll have to deal with this version of the game. At least it features multiplayer. Oh, and the graphics haven’t made any further strides, but that’s not exactly an insult.
• Nintendo [sadly] didn’t show off the 3DS, but they did show off Metroid: The Other M. This is a different take on the Metroid series; it got a lot of geek-anger due to it’s action-oriented style among other things. I can’t tell you if it’s any good, though, because [again] I am allergic to long lines.
• Nerds are in a tizzy over the Tron 2.0 video game. It was featured at a truly stylish booth, along with a light-cycle model. I still didn’t play it.
• Every single day, the line for Valve’s upcoming Portal 2 game stretched over the horizon. I had to make do with the delectable videos instead. That’s how it is when there’s a crazy-anticipated game like this. I mean, I’m going to buy it anyway.

• Raskulls is a delightful game that can be played by 4 players [on the couch]. It’s a hybrid platformer-slash-racing game where you have to race your little skull-guy through a blocky environment and cross the finish line before everyone else.
• A little iPhone game called Shibuya was a total steal at 99 cents. I don’t know how much it is now, but if it’s $3 or less, buy it. Seriously.
• Plantronics was the only audio equipment booth not stocked with mobile breasts [I have breasts at home]. That was good, because I wanted to talk to a techie and gripe about how every headphone manufacturer makes lousy 3.55″ TRS connectors that can’t handle the rigors of travel. Nothing will come of it, but you can’t engineer for problems that you don’t get feedback about.
• The new Archon is quite fun, and I’m not just saying that because I won a coat. There are literally no games like this. It’s filled with moments of strategy, skill, and dumb luck. It feels like the game I remember from my youth, except now I can share it with my son .

And the rest

I came out of PAX with at least six T-shirts [a new record], which is great because I can wear almost two of them without looking like a goober. At least I have some decent work-out shirts. This was intermingled with the usual array of free stuff you don’t want or need.

After PAX, however, there was a delightful Gamers with Jobs meetup at the home of Jonman. I even managed to get a few people I work, plus my wife, to enjoy these festivities. There was plentiful board gaming, lots of Rock Band 2, and [ahem] drinking. I can’t thank everyone enough for showing up. It was a wonderful topper on the PAX 2010 experience. I can’t wait until next year.