Preview: PAX Prime 2011

The nights are getting longer, summer’s almost over, and college is right around the corner. But before I bid adieu to this summer, there is one more task I must accomplish: PAX Prime 2011. To be honest, this is my first time attending any convention ever. This event has it all; video-game industry booths marketing their next big titles to the public eye, internet celebrities swimming in a sea of nerds and geeks meeting their fans, panels and concerts ready to rock the day and night away, and many more surprises I’m bound to experience. With my handy photo and video cameras charged and completely free of memory, I’m going to catch just about every minute there. This isn’t a list of games/panels I’ll try to play/watch, but more of a lineup I’m hoping to get a glimpse to see. Here are the games I’m hoping to see while at PAX Prime 2011.

Prey 2 – This is a sequel I was shocked to be announced earlier this year. My hype is iffy at this point. Teetering from hoping to be good, to hoping it won’t be a cash-in title to catch the craze of First-Person Shooters. I’ve been hearing the plot has been going some changes since its announcement. At first, it was gonna set the same time as the first Prey, but now it seems that it’ll take place sometime afterwards, with the main character of the first game interacting with the new protagonist a certain times throughout the story. Sadly Bethesda, the studio backing up Prey 2, will only be showing the game on an hourly basis, which means I’ll have to wait in line to catch 10 – 15 minutes of gameplay. It’s a downer, but that’s better than showing nothing. Hopefully it’ll gain some hype and prove to me it isn’t a cash-in title.

League of Legends: Dominion – This Free-to-Play game created by the same team who made Delta of the All-Stars (DotA) has been getting lots of attention. A friend of mine introduced me to the game 2 months ago, and while it was a bumpy start I found my stride and found 2 potential main-stay characters. Riot Games will be at PAX Prime to not only helm a tournament and handing out free skins for a few champions, but also to show the next game mode in LoL, Dominion. From what I’m hearing this will be a capture-a-territory match where one team must capture a territory from the opposing team, and must defend it from said-team. I’ll definitely give it a shot and ask the developers if my characters will be saved from getting the “treatment” (aka nerfed down).

Bioware – This year’s PAX Prime has Bioware having five booths dedicated to them and I can’t blame them since they have two big titles coming out in the next six months. The first one is Mass Effect 3. This is one of my most anticipating titles, and while it won’t be releasing this year, seeing the game at PAX will hopefully convince me that Bioware needs to leave the game in the oven a little bit longer. Maybe it’s due the fact it’ll have features that can be used through Kinect, Microsoft’s motion sensor for the Xbox 360, and probably are gonna show just how useful it is. Another game that is also in the works is Star Wars: The Old Republic. A Star Wars MMO developed by the same team who started the Knights of the Old Republic franchise that has been in the making for quite some time. This might be the first MMO that I will buy and try it out since it looks like to be different from the rest of the MMOs out there in the market.

Twisted Metal – This pick is on a whim since David Jaffe, the man behind the beloved franchise and creator of another loved title, God of War, will be the keynote speaker for PAX Prime, and not to mention Sony has a few booths, which is ironically next to Microsoft. Ever since its announcement at E3 2010, I’ve been patiently waiting for this next installment. Taking the formula of using a vehicle of destruction and taking out anyone in your path, into a multiplayer with more variety than Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, smells like a recipe for success. Aiming for that same dark-tone that was in Twisted Metal: Black by making some of the iconic characters more human can a benefiting reward if done properly and with Jaffe at the helm I hope this game won’t fall into the category of suckage. I’m not holding my breath for it to be there, but if it is, I’m going to wreck some carnage.

Dead Island – The zombie genre has been on a roll. It seems like dozens of movies and video games (along with a TV show or two) have been catching the craze, and while its run is staring to dry out, one particular game has been getting a lot of buzz, Dead Island. It takes the First-Person-Shooter aspect of Left 4 Dead, the free-roam sandbox and customizing weapons of Dead Rising 2, and a hint of realism (i.e. a bar-meter where every action you do drains and slowly refills like swing bats or shooting guns), and you get Dead Island. What I like about this game is that not only it puts you an environment that what would like if the zombie apocalypse starts, but you can enjoy this experience with three of your buddies. It’s placed in a very un-expecting booth (Square Enix booth), but if the game is amazing as everyone says it is, I have to see Dead Island for myself to believe it.

Capcom – Let me get out the bad news first, Capcom won’t have Asura’s Wrath nor they probably won’t be talking about any new game, but at least they have plenty of fighting games to have the public to give a shot at. Street Fighter X Tekken will be there to give fans of both fighting games a chance to play. This isn’t anywhere near my radar but I’ll give it a shot to see if I have what it takes to play it. Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is gonna meet with praise or extreme loathe since this game is set to be released six months after its predecessor, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. The main reason why is because it’ll have 12 new characters (two who were originally going to be DLC), and a new mode for online, and that’s it. As of now they’ve showed off four characters, and I don’t know if Capcom will be showing off two more at PAX Prime. It’s very likely since the last convention they went to, GamesCom in Europe, introduced two characters there, and with release date approaching, it’ll be unwise to not show off more at PAX Prime. As for everything else, there are two Resident Evil games and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, but my hype for those games are little to nothing.

I could name a few more, but my time to get ready for PAX Prime is slowly draining and I need to get moving. When I get back I’ll have pictures and videos of my experience. I’ll present the videos in a V-Log like style through my YouTube channel. I’ll see you all when I get back. Laters!

August, or as I call it "Sunday"

It’s August, the month where it’ll be very dreadful month for me. For one, after this month I’ll be back into college for the 4th year and get into a degree (AA English), a very good friend of mine will be heading back to Idaho to continue his college run there, and have one last enjoyment weekend when I (hopefully) will be at PAX Prime, one of gaming’s biggest convention where not only nerds like myself get to play games and tourneys, but panels will happen, concerts will be blasting, and game companies will be flocking over there to show their games before the fall/holiday season arrives. So why am I posting all of this on my on-and-off blog?

Since it’s almost half a year since my last English class, I feel like I need to brush up on my writing so when December comes around, I won’t be scrabbling around my room on how to turn my “F” grade to an “A”. So every week throughout this month, I’ll shoot the shoot about whatever’s on my mind, whether it’ll be a subject I have lightly touch upon or something that’s been on my nerves for quite some time. This is an effort for me to get back into writing and to prepare for my next English class so I won’t flunk at a level I’m in. Whether these posts happen between now to next week we will see. Wish me luck and I’ll see you all soon…and not in months this time. :)

-James

Edit: It seems now like just about everyone is on formspring, isn't it? Well I've joined the club, so if you have any questions fire away there.