Geekscape Goes To PAX East 2011: Day 3

Kimerex here. Closing day. Closing thoughts. Closing remarks. Closing time. PAX East 2011. The myth. The legend. The nerd mecca. Our promised land. The first thing that jumps to mind about the experience as a whole is one simple statement. On behalf of both of us here at the Herocast… we’re sorry. We are sorry to all the people we didn’t get to meet at PAX. We are sorry to all the people who couldn’t make it. We are sorry to all the panels set up that we simply couldn’t make due to prior engagements. We are sorry to all the nerds that, as of yet, still don’t know about PAX. For all of this, we are truly sorry. This is, without a doubt, something that needs to be experienced by all. The definition of “replay value” in convention form. I have so many memories that I will carry with me now from this, and I can say for certain that Andyb0y will probably speak of this weekend for years to come. The convention that never existed, but should have. I see now what that truly means.

But still, the thing is I understand that concept now better than I ever did, but I didn’t even take part in all of PAX East. I’m a table top gamer. I’m a competition proned gamer. I’m a collector of all things odd and intriguing. I’m an artist and a writer. I have a deeply ingrained love for music in games. PAX brings this all to the table, and leaves no real easy way to have it all, but dammit I will have to try. Even if it takes years to be a real part of it all. Right now however, I feel my first step of recovery upon returning to the dull mess that is my home life will have to be going into a month long coma to restore my very being back to a manageable state. The need to just disappear and come down from the euphoric and adrenaline fueled high that PAX has elevated me to is so strong, but I have to get right back to it. Reality. The true enemy of us all. But I will carry it with me. The glimmer that will allow me to walk through hell and high water, knowing what I am is so much bigger than just me.

That Damnable Thing Called Media

So what did we do today. What did role did the Herocast play in this historic day. The semi-nerd worker bees. We walked into the center thinking we were going to nerd out and spend our time taking pictures of cool things, collecting random free stuff and even buying more nerd memorabilia.  Two quick appointments and we’re off to be what we, at heart, truly are. The only problem with that plan was that one appointment is with man from a team of talented modders who are on my short list of heroes, and the second was with a company making a game that will most likely have me in rehab later in life. Damn you fate.

First up, Ed Stern of Splash Damage.  Lead Writer on their current project. Their first original IP. Our first victim in our attempt to have more candid conversations with developers, Nathan Davis of Obsidian being our “trial run”. Hopefully we did well, though he seemed happy to have talked with us. Hopefully the fan boy in me didn’t do anything stupid.  It was great though. It was amazing to hear how Splash Damage has been handling the transition into Bethesda, how wonderful Bethesda has been to them and how truly happy they seem to be working on a title they can truly call their own. After giving Ed Stern a run down of my history with Splash Damage, it seemed to have broken the ice in the best way both Andyb0y and I could have possibly hoped for. To here about all the prep work they put in to making this a legitimate venture to produce Brink with the utmost attention to being a viable triple-A IP. Their drive to find that delicate balance between casual and hardcore players needs. Putting a great amount of focus on personalizing the experience for each and every player that decides to take the leap.

Through all of this, the one thing that struck me was seeing the gamers behind the devs coming through in decisions made with Brink. They weren’t really decisions, more instinct. When asked about a moment that stood out for Ed, he told us about a moment at PAX where he was thanked by a quadriplegic gamer for allowing the player to customize the controls both completely and during the game. This truly stood out for him and seemed, to me at least, to be an almost instinctive gamer behavior to want to have more control in your own gaming experience coming through even though, from what it sounded like, that Splash Damage didn’t actively think about putting that feature in as something new. Just something they felt had no reason not being there. He said he was astounded to find out that this type of control wasn’t in most games out today.

Honestly, this interview gave me hope for the idea of open air conversation. When asked about the transfer from making great multiplayer games from pre-established games to becoming their own entity, it almost felt as if we were transported away from the raging storm of the PAX East video game floor to a quite corner in the world. Names were dropped. References were made comparing how Splash Damage was growing into this incredible new entity to one of them becoming a father. The only thing I could think of after walking out of the little room with chairs in it were all the people with yellow media badges that this man talked to who only asked the canned questions, and how much those people missed out on. Its one thing to greatly anticipate a game and go for all the cold hard facts about it, but to also find a new sense of respect for those making it… truly extraordinary. This was already a day one purchase for me. Its going to be so hard to not just insta-stamp 10/10 on it after the great conversation we had. Thank you again, Ed Stern, for being such a great sport. It sound like you, and everyone from Splash Damage have put together and incredible team of people. Good luck on your, hopefully, many projects to come.

Maybe now you see why, even on our nerd off, me and Andyb0y were stuck doing work again. *sigh. Damn you gaming world for being way to interesting to us.

We quickly found ourselves running around, taking snap shots of things we may have overlooked in the hurricane that was day 1 and 2. Then came Firefall. What I thought was going to be icing on the PAX East cake. A cake which had turned out to consist entirely of icing. I swear PAX East… if you gave me convention diabetes….

So Firefall. An intriguing anomaly in our country’s upcoming MMO heritage. Free to play. A massive title with several MMO heavy hitters in its utility belt, and still free to play. I thought Arena Net was an astonishing group for what they did to the MMO business model for the states, but Red 5 is pulling out all the stops and ushering us in to what is already established as the working norm all over the world as far as I can tell. And they are not trying to do this with a 2d side scroller. Their not just putting out a fps match making system. No. A full world game. PVE. PVP. Dynamic Events. Gear. Leveling. Persistence. And did I mention all of this for free?

Item shop based, yes I know. We in the circle of MMOnaughts have been burned before by this term. And yes, I too am wary of anything involving both the words item and shop in any MMO at this point. It sounded like Red 5 is sticking to this mantra though, under the assumption that we as gamers will step up and pay for it in return for them giving us fun. New content, fast response to player issues. Everything a pay 2 play comes with. Almost mockingly good. And I’m going to tell all gamers reading this right now. We need to take this leap. We need to break away from the idea that monthly fees are the only option. It will open the floor for so much more to come out in the future. I believe this stigma can be broken.

I am sad to report, however, that me and Andyb0y screwed up. We did not, at all ask our dev about any fun stories from Red 5. Only until well after our talk did I realize our great mistake. This does not mean we are not open for hearing from them either through email or over the phone at any time in the future, but we screwed up. Plain and simple. What we did find out were basic gap filling answers I look for in “skill” based games. From what we were able to get, the core structure of Firefall is a basic equation. Levels=gear. Gear=more modules. Modules=tweaks to play style. Play style=Skill. I have to agree. Its so simple yet so profound, and as long as something doesn’t derail this concept, I see great things coming out of Red 5. Sadly, considering what I’ve seen from out MMO community right now in the world, I almost feel that the conversation amongst us has changed so much that something new might not work as well as I am hoping. And that is far to sad. Best of luck to Red 5, and beware the all consuming trolls. They will try and gobble up Firefall, amazing concepts and all.

Overload

Nerd power… ACTIVATE! With what short time we had left to us before needing to get back and get all this down before our brains had synchronized aneurysms, Andyb0y and I rushed around to everything we could think of. It was like living a montage in a few very short hours. Watching as two metal band members had a sack race across the main hall. Being able to touch the arcade games of our history in the ACAM exhibit.  Watching as young and old came together to enjoy systems from the Dreamcast and back. Seeing droves of people take part in table top games, both established and new to the scene. So much we didn’t get to be a part of. And to top it all off, we were unable to make any panels on our schedule. 🙁

With that we await the appointed time for our train to take us away from this fantasy world we took part in, tucked away in Boston. Until next we meet, and don’t worry. We’ll be bringing friends.

And better equipment. Sorry for the blurry pictures.