I hate to do it but let’s talk about Jack Thompson for just a moment. He’s been relatively quite since our last encounter but with Bully on the horizon he’s popped up again. His recent appearance on G4 has everyone talking about him and that is exactly how Jack wants it. The man is a media whore and by putting him on television you’re just giving him what he wants. Not only that but G4 decided to put him on television with two people who are incapable of going toe to toe with him. Whatever you want to say about Jack, the guy is a lawyer and he knows how to handle himself in these sorts of debates. We all think Jack is nuts but Adam is the only person on that tape who comes off as being crazy. The guy can’t even preach to the choir for God’s sake. Mark seems like a decent guy and he stays calm but I don’t think he did any preparation for this. You can’t go up against someone like Jack and just “wing it”. Jack keeps is cool and essentially runs the show. G4 should have just given Jack his own half hour program. Maybe only schedule twelve re-runs of X-Play and then just slip in the Jack Thompson show.

So how do you fight Jack? Well first off all you don’t fight him directly. He’s like the fucking Candy Man. Mention his name and you give him power. Arguing with him is a waste of time. Jack or someone like him will always be there beating their chest and begging for air time. You’ll never change his mind. What you can change is the validity of his arguments and we don’t do that during a televised debate. We do it through our actions as a community. Last year we took some of the money that came in for Child’s Play and we helped to fund a project called HOPE. What is HOPE? Well, here is their mission statement:

HOPE gives chronically ill children the opportunity to escape stresses inherent in their conditions by providing distraction through gaming and comfort via peer contact. Through our virtual world we are able to ameliorate depression, reduce perceived pain, and improve the quality of our patients’ lives.

Arguing on TV with someone like Jack Thompson seems kind of stupid now don’t you think?

All we have to do, is not be who he says we are.

-Gabe out

PAX is not the new E3. E3 failed. If someone else wants to be the new E3 they are welcome to it. They can even set up shop in the carcass of the giant and claim his power, but E3 is dead and it died for a reason. If I were them I wouldn't be in such a hurry to stuff myself in that coffin, and I certainly wouldn't boast about it.

One of the biggest events at PAX is the Omegathon. Over the course of three days, twenty random contestants compete in six gaming events. These competitions cover everything from tabletop gaming to the latest "next gen" consoles. In every round contestants will be eliminated until we are left with only two. Then, on the last night of the convention these champions battle each other in front of thousands of cheering attendees. In the past the winner of the Omegathon has received massive collections of hardware and games worth thousands of dollars.

This year the winner will get an Xbox 360.

 

 

and a brand new 2006 Scion to play it in!

We literally doubled the price of the car with all the extras we tacked on.

It will be on display in the wireless lounge at PAX.

That’s a 15” flip down screen with a built in DVD player hooked up to an Xbox 360.

But who are the lucky twenty gamers with a chance to drive this baby home? I give you your PAX 2006 Omeganaughts:

Will Garroutte
Jonathon Whooley
Rob Pimentel
John Heistuman
J Warrington
Mike Rose
Ruston Van Lue
Matthew Forrest
Anna Kindelan-Taylor
Brent Robinson
Zach Cullen
Scott Bruce
Andria Schwortz
Aaron Gaguine
Lisa Pellerin
Kyle Spradling
Sam Robnson
David Davis
Brad Porter
Adam Balaz

The final round of the Omegathon is always a secret. No one will know the mystery game until it's revealed on stage during the last match. However the road to the final round is something we can discuss. These are the games in the order they will be played:

Round 1 - Dice Land
Round 2 - Geometry Wars
Round 3 - Quake II
Round 4 - Guitar Hero
Round 5 - Mario Kart DS
Round 6 - **TOP SECRET**

Another event you wont want to miss at PAX this year is the very first Penny Arcade panel. As usual we'll field questions from the audience for about and hour but then we have a surprise. At the end of our first Q&A we will make a huge announcement. If you're in the audience you'll be the first to hear what's next for Penny Arcade. Trust me, if you're a PA fan this announcement will kick your ass.

One final bit of PAX related news. DJ Mike Realm has decided to pull out of the show. He wouldn't tell us why but I'm sure he has important DJ business to take care of. I was disappointed for a split second until I realized it just means one of our other incredible bands gets to play longer. Don't think about it as losing a DJ, think about it as gaining more Minibosses.

-Gabe out

The recently conducted Xfire chat has now been collated into this easy to digest transcript.  In case you wanted to digest it. 

In addition, the latest page of our insane Prey project has now gone online.  Just click the link on the left, for "We Have Visitors." 

Also!   Your mom is trying to get a hold of you.  You should give her a call.

(CW)TB

You may be wondering what happened to the lever that regulates the amount of fan-service that flows into a given strip. This lever has been tugged free of the housing. You can only pull it in the open air now, and it does nothing to staunch the flow. Before this thing is over, you motherfuckers will need scuba gear.

I mentioned Chromehounds last time while simultaneously neglecting to mention the reason I got interested in it, which was its notion of a Tactics Commander. Similar to, say Battlefield 2's command system, except the player is not disembodied - they're a physical unit on the map designed especially for this purpose, bristling with sensors that give them a level of awareness their fellows don't possess - this equipment also lets your teammates talk to each other, so I think we can agree this is a crucial Goddamn role.

I'm not particularly adept at command in online games, but I often end up with it because I'm the only one with any interest - if my Chromehounds dreams come true, I just accept that I'll be the one with he whirling, foe-attracting sensor dish. This is sort of my job in GRAW, to the extent that the tools on the 360 version allow it. These tools are more robust on the PC, but that's not the platform we're playing it on. I command the drone which illuminates enemy positions, I give waypoints if they're asked for, and generate strategy at the most general level. Grand decisions are arrived at in a democratic way, but when the team drops in, someone needs to point in a direction.

The tools aren't particularly complete, though - there's no way to issue a waypoint to "all", the basic UI for players doesn't communicate the cardinal directions, and unlike the single player campaign there's no way for me to arrest their advanced optical gear to show them useful information. There are a lot of inefficiencies this presents, but a lot of time invested in this sort of thing is probably wasted on most players. I think that most people who grip a controller are interested in playing a game, as opposed to enabling others to play it in a more efficacious manner.

I described a couple Battlefield 2 experiences I had after the release of the game, and there were similar experiences to have in the Tribes games, which also experimented with a force commander role - though it was more liquid in its interpretation. There is some blood-level, wolfpack thing that happens when you give, take, or follow orders that the body rewards you for chemically. That it is maintained even when you are taking imaginary orders in a simulation, even when the valor in question is a parenthetical in some greater algorithm, underscores the potential of the medium.

(CW)TB out.

inventing small contraptions