Of Titmice and Zen (Or, How I Learned to Ride Boston MBTA Efficiently) – 223/??
Update 1 of 2:
First recap of going to Boston, I know it’s been a while, but I can say what I remember. On Friday, I skipped my classes to go to Boston, and met up with a friend’s friend to drop off my stuff to pick it up later. Long story short, I messed up somewhat by taking the Green B line not the E line cause I was behind the trolley, I should say, running with my bags trying to get on and it was at an angle, so on and so forth. When I got to PAX, I just made it at 12:50 or so, and the place opened at 2pm. Unfortunately, the line was enormous. I stood there within 3 folds of hundreds of people, thought I was in a good spot when I looked behind me. When we got to walk, I was nearing an entrance, and what do I see there? Literally about 12 more folds, and couple thousands of people. Not an overstatement. The whole thing took about 10 minutes to walk at a casual place. I got finally up to the main Keynote which was given by Wil Wheaton - of Flubber, Stand by Me, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, few Teen Titans episodes, as well as other voices in cartoons such as Ben 10 (or so Wikipedia states) – with a theme of “Welcome Home.” It’s all because out side of small conventions, and NYCC, Northeast does not have a geek-convention. Nextfest and Digital Life both died ~ 2006. But I digress, it was okay I suppose but it actually made me feel like I can’t connect with these guys. I’m all geek, by all means, but he made it seem as if it was all outcasts and rejects grouping. I’m by far not a social outcast. Anyway moving on.
Friday I went to some Panels such as Journalists vs Developers: The Ultimate Grudge Match – a somewhat funny meeting/Q&A from both sides sitting next to each other blaming each other for commercial failures. Wired, Harmonix, and G4 made appearance as the panelists. Also seen Puppet Masters – The Not So Invisible Hands of Video Game PR. This was a panel with Naughty Dog, Atlus, Owner of Tinsley PR and a few more. They covered everything from hating Metacritic, buying and selling of souls, controlling information leaks, and how they view various small companies and websites. Then I played games like Splinter Cell: Conviction, Bioshock 2 in 3D (glasses TV and everything), few other games etc. Went outside to eat at this awesome Greek place which really made me miss NYC cause walking into any restaurant and finding awesome food just doesn’t happen in Worcester. I went back to PAX where I also caught Friday Night Concerts with The Protomen, Anamanaguchi, Metroid Metal, and finally MC Frontalot which rotated. It was Awesome. To finish the day off I was walking to the open tabletop area where I played Settlers of Catan 6 player (for everyone who hasn’t played this, BUY IT… I got Wood for Sheep), with Jerry Holkins and 4 other guys. At approx. 10 I had to leave and at about 10:12 I came to get my bags. Unfortunately, the guy didn’t come back yet. I had to wait in below 0C weather (I know cause the puddle next to me froze as I stood there, I checked with my foot) for about an hour. Just when I started walking to the place I was going to stay at, he came back. Still needed to wait 15 min, but at least I got my stuff. Then I went to NorthEastern U where I stayed over the weekend.
Saturday, to say the least, I wanted to stay in bed. NEU has a LOT better beds than in my college, even though I got one of the best beds on my floor. The showers are horrible though, if I take a bottle of water and hold it over my head I’ll get more pressure – pathetic! Anyway, I came to PAX a bit late, not too late as it started at 10. I managed to catch the following panels: Penny Arcade Make a Strip, Naughty Dog LIVE – Game Design with the Dogs, Journal Frome the Plague Year: Big Huge Barely Makes It, Saturday Night Concerts ( Video Game Orchestra only). Penny Arcade was amazing and you really missed out, there probably are recordings on youtube from PAX10, and I suggest watching it but one may find them a bit boring as just sitting and watching an hour event isn’t as great as being there Live. Naughty Dog took their hit from few years back, Uncharted, and made a 3.5 Level since there is a weird transition between chapters 3 and 4, and they let the audience contribute to a pre-made design. It was fun, and watching these guys make a full 40+ minute game session was quite interesting. Moving on, Big Huge, it was quite an experience for these guys. Few friends made a game dev that exploded then imploded, came few hours-nigh to closing to be saved by a retired baseball player and to be bought by EA. The founder said during the “implosion” part that the worst day of his entire life was when he had to lay off people, many of which were his friends. Saturday Night Concerts, from what I seen went over superbly and I recommend listening to some of VGO’s work for it’s fantastic. That day I returned early because I felt bad for limiting my friend’s weekend. So we spent some time together and had a not-so-nice trip to Wendy’s where we came in when it was closing and they refused to serve beef. Sure Chicken Nuggets are good, but I need my #2 (and don’t even ask me what it is, cause I don’t remember, that’s what I get for years now). Ended up watching It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia through the night before sleep. Quite relaxing, PAX is somewhat stressful with all the running.
Sunday was somewhat different. I went to Blamination ALIVE: With Kris (Straub) and Scott (Kurtz) – guys who do Chainsawsuit and PVP respectively. It was fine, not as great as PA guys, but there had their moments. Then I went to So You Want to Get Into the Game Industry panel which was alright – in fact I don’t quite remember it! Then we went to Second Penny Arcade Panel, which was too many things -in a good way. From the beginning we knew it was going to be something worthwhile. The Bass on the system made your spleen move and pancreas turn… quite a spectacle. One of the most memorable moments was the arm-wrestling request from a fan. Other good moments included stories, funnies, and a guy who gave them some binder with some cards, and they gave the guy back a Core i7 processor – which he immediately donated to Child’s Play, a charity which gives games to play to children in hospitals. Moving on with Sunday, I had to get my stuff back so I missed half of Sunday PAX because the train back was around 6pm. A few friends of mine who were returning with me (Sunday tickets) scheduled the leave. We literally almost did NOT make it. My friend and I made it back within 2 minutes before the train arrived and left. Too much of a close call than I like – but that’s what makes stories engaging. Also, I lost my umbrella that day.
Stuff I forgot to mention and am too lazy to put back or don’t remember when they happened:
- I got to meet with Kris Straub and chat for good 10 minutes, not a huge fan of Scott though, so I didn’t talk to me much either – the picture shows this.
- I also met up with MC Frontalot on Friday and Saturday. Basic chat, asked him when he’s playing at NYC and it’ll b after his new CD tour which ends with Pittsburgh around May 21st. He agreed to sign some stuff including a small poster. Chill guy, really.
- Played some more games, got free stuff, including 3 shirts, Magic cards (Which I don’t play), got 4 business cards which are gonna come in handy in near future.
And that sums my weekend up. Sorry if it’s lengthy and you guys don’t care for it.
Now for pics (sorry I don’t have many! There are a few saved on my phone so I will add them another time):
