Expanded PAX East Show Tickets Available Now (Well, FOR Now Anyways...)

It may seem like it's a far ways away, but 2017 is almost done, which means it's prime time to start looking at convention lineups for 2018. That includes PAX East, the east coast's biggest convention for games and gamers. The sprawling show will make its yearly descent upon the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center this coming April. 2018's show brings a major change for ticketing - a remedy of sorts for all of us that have gone through the woes of experiencing cons only through at pics and videos online - passless, listless, and most importantly, gamesless.

That major change? PAX East will now run for 4 days instead of 3. The show will run from Thursday the 5th through Sunday the 8th of April, 2018. More like PAX Beast, amirite kids? But I digress.

"While my biggest joy is helping bring millions of gamers together at PAX, my biggest disappointment is not being able to share the experience with more people," said Jerry Holkins, co-founder, Penny Arcade. "With PAX East's expansion to four days, we expect even more people will be able to join us for our best show yet at PAX East 2018."

And that's awesome. Even more awesome because it's an east coast show, and brings the experience to a more accessible location for fans that can't always make the journey out to Washington or California for a gaming convention.

PAX East has become the premier east coast event for gamers since its debut in 2010. The annual expo quickly sells out, drawing tens of thousands for a celebration of gaming culture with reveals from the biggest publishers, hands-on demos with the most hotly anticipated titles, panels with industry icons, eSports tournaments with world-class players, concerts with game inspired music and much more.

Single day badges are available for purchase via the official PAX East registration page for $53 USD. Exclusive PAX East 2018 merchandise, including a blanket ($40), socks ($25), and a dice set ($40) are on sale exclusively through the online store. These items can be added onto PAX East badge orders and will be shipped out prior to the expo.

Even with the expanded show, tickets are still going fast. As of now (Friday afternoon), Saturday passes are already gone, and I'm sure that the rest will start disappearing soon. If you've ever wanted to go to a PAX show, or have and want to return for more excellence, head over to that link now and secure that admission.

See you in Boston in April everyone!

Don't Sleep on Play NYC

I've been to a number of conventions for pop culture and games from coast to coast, and there's a certain expectation you have when you attend one. Sprawling crowds, long lines for a panel or trying out a game demo, and of course the arduous trek while dead on your feet just to get some nachos. Sometimes a big con can go from a fun day to an exhaustive odyssey, where dodging the after parties for bed is an all-too-viable option. This year though I got to add a new games convention to my list, which didn't hit me with all of your standard con fare.

That convention was Play NYC, held at Terminal 5 in New York City (naturally). This was the first year this convention took place and I have to say, it was a great first outing from the folks at Playcrafting. They packed 3 floors of indie goodness, including all sorts of games ranging from handheld apps like Mama Hawk all the way up to what i can only call installation art with Salmon Roll. In the middle I even played a bullet hell game on a DDR dance mat. I can honestly say that I was able to pack more demos in over the span of one day than I have been able to in a lot of larger shows.

And that's part of what made Play NYC so great. More than a coliseum hosting upwards of 75,000 people, this was a more intimate environment. There was room to walk, demo in comfort, and talk directly to developers while you played without having to jam elbows to get to where you were going. And what really added something to was how they took care of everyone in the building. On every floor at multiple stations were free lemonade, energy drinks and snacks to keep you on your feet when you start to waver, as we all do. They even had a diet variety of lemonade for those who need and/or want such an option, which made my delicious hydration a bit easier, and was very welcome after walking in the hot sun before we got to the venue.

More then just the amenities (for lack of a better word) this was the first show I've been to that put a focus and importance on indie game development. Howard Zemsky, CEO of the Empire State Development Corporation as well as NY State Senator Martin Golden spoke during the convention on the importance of growing the games development industry in New York, and making it a flagship hub for devs.

And with continued events like Play NYC, I think they have a chance. I myself am looking forward to next year!

Some Say Cosplayers are Ruining Con Sales, and Cons.

So I Read Sam Maggs' Mary Sue article about Denise Dorman (wife of Star Wars artist Dave Dorman) and how she posits that cosplayers and social culture at cons are killing sales for artists, and questioning why they even show up to cons anymore.

An excerpt:

"But today, I have something on my mind…something most comic book artists would never publicly reveal. However, I think it finally needs to be said aloud. We need to–as comic book convention exhibitors and comic book wives–finally crack the seal on this conversation. I invite any of you following me to respectfully discuss this issue. 

Privately, famed comic book industry personalities everywhere are discussing with each other whether to stop exhibiting at comic book conventions. There’s a fine line between being accessible to and pleasing the fans vs. LOSING MONEY at these conventions."

Sure, ok so artist sales are low.  Yes it's a probelem and I get it, but how are cosplayers specifically killing a Comic Con?  It's like half of my friends are being blamed for bad sales.

... I dunno, kids.

And the below was the ol' geek sector of the brain immediately spat out.  So I decided to quickly cobble this together in response. Enjoy.

** Pictures lifted from Gotham Spoilers.

Adult Swim @ NYCC: Venture Brothers, Robot Chicken, and... Emmett.

I had a great time at NYCC this year.  There was a bunch of stuff to see, some great cosplayers (which you can see in the IHOGeek Facebook galleries), and of course a good list of panels to check out.  On the latter I had the side-splitting pleasure of experiencing the Adult Swim treatment on Friday night, catching back to back panels from the Venture Brothers and Robot Chicken.  Two hours of Adult Swim personalities answering fan questions, cutting up and going nuts, and well, just hijinx in general.

… And you know how I feel about hijinx, kids.  Love 'em.

Starting with Queen’s “Princes of the Universe” hitting the speaker system, The Venture Brothers‘ Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick came out to the stage rocking black jumpsuits to a wall of pure sound from the audience.  After playing it up a little, they sat at the table and answered some fan questions.  It was a strange panel in the sense that there was no footage from the show like some of the other panels I attended, but it really wasn’t all that surprising.  Doc and Jackson let us know that they had just started working on the new season 6, and even though it was going to take a while that it is “going to be awesome” (don’t expect it until 2015).  SO i guess without any content to give you, I can at least give you some of the Q&A schtick that they put on -

On underwear: Jackson’s underwear costs $60 a pair.  Sixty.  and Doc rocks boxer briefs.  We’ll just have to take his word on that though – when chants to show the crowd came up he declared he couldn’t, because he has no ass.

On continuity: When asked whether continuity helps or hurts the show’s comedy.  Big surprise, it hurts.

On music: Doc doesn’t care who your favorite guitarist is – your favorite guitarist is Johnny Marr.

On giant robot cosplay: If you ask a question dressed as a giant robot, Doc Hammer will go into strike mode (as he appeared to do) and state his desire to jump across the table and knock you out.

Throughout the answers was of course the nutty behavior we expect from these two fancy lads, but it was their last act that got the biggest round of applause from the audience, myself included.  A young lady stepped up to the microphone and upon trying to speak, saw that she couldn’t find her words. “I’m too nervous to ask a question,” she said.  Without missing a step Doc Hammer comes back with “are you too nervous to DANCE with me?” and proceeded to dance with the young lady while the DJ played “Greased Lightning.”  And a grand time was had by all.  Check it out from Adult Swim here.

Next up was Robot Chicken. The whole crew was out in force – Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Clare Grant, Breckin Meyer all clad in cat ears, including an unannounced appearance by Macauly Culkin, who is indeed, as it appeared to me, alive and well.  The crew made a couple of big announcements, the first being a sequel to the wildly popular DC Comics Special entitled DC Comics Special II: Villains in Paradise.  They showed some footage from the special, focusing on Batman’s embarrassment about being dragged around in Green Lantern’s green bubble.  A musical bromance ensues between the two, with Batman being floated along in a green sailboat construct.

Seth Green also talked about Übermansion – a joint project between the Robot Chicken crew and Bryan Cranston, who is fresh off the heels of the success of Breaking Bad.  Cranston voices Titanium Rex, an elderly superhero who fights the day to day perils of, you know, being old sharing the mansion with this super-team.  It’s stop motion like Robot Chicken, and from the trailer we were shown the humor is unrefined, juvenile, and let’s face it kids, right up your alley.

There wasn’t much commentary on future Robot Chicken seasons, but they did announce their Born Again Virgin Christmas Special, which will air this December.

… Oh right.  Then there was Emmett.

Early in the panel a young lad by the name of Emmett got up to the microphone to ask a questions.  The panel addressed him as “the young man in the brown hat.”  After snarkily replying “first off, it’s a Borderlands hat, so…” he went on imply that by Seth Green taking on his series Dads that it could take away from the writing of Robot Chicken.  After some more sass and Green’s “I’ma point at you and yell” antics Breckin Meyer jumped in to Green’s defense – “Hey Seth’s working REALLY HARD!”  After that Emmett became a running gag for the entire panel, cracking me up more than any of the other antics the panelists had, aside from meth jokes at the expense of Macauly Culkin.  Afterwards, in response to a simple “Hi how are you?” from a fan, Breckin’s answer was “Well I was having a great day until I met this douchebag named Emmett.”  And this went on and on for the entire panel.  Please, do yourself a favor and watch the panel here.  Warning though – the panel features a moment between Seth Green and Doc Hammer’s nipple, who made an impromptu cameo.

Stay tuned for my next installment where I talk about that time i met Neil DeGrasse Tyson!