PAX 2011 Trinity Nightclub Alienware Chun-li

Alienware at PAX.

Alienware, the people who make graphically intense computer rigs, threw a party at PAX 2011, at the Trinity Nightclub in Seattle on Saturday night. Aside from the projected Alienware logo on the wall, there wasn't anything remotely related to the Alienware brand.

The atmosphere was just like any other dance club. Add to the mix free admission for those who were on the guest list, PAX clubbers were treated to some good tunes, Go-Go dancing, and fun.

Chun-Li even made an appearance, wearing much less than usual. Was the videogame-themed Go-Go Dancer a happy accident? Her dance moves were exceptional.

PAX 2011 Ubisoft Soar Like an Assassin

Photo Booths are awesome. Photo Booth Fun.

Especially when people get creative with the scenario. Ubisoft had a 'Soar Like an Assassin at PAX' theme going on, and recently uploaded all the pictures into several galleries on Facebook. The poses, and comments are pretty effin hilarious, and informative because apparently I look like http://thekassemg.com/ which is news to me!

Are you in any of the pictures?

http://www.facebook.com/assassinscreed

PAX 2011 Pics with PAX friends

PAX PEOPLES

One of the things that I look forward to most, is meeting up with friends who I haven't seen in a while. There are the usual characters the I see every year at PAX, and then there are those who make it out to PAX every few years. And then there are those who I randomly run into, like an old classmate of mine, who I haven't seen in over 7 years.

This year was filled with many familiar faces, and a few new ones which makes PAX 2011 my favorite PAX yet.

People that I met when I first started going to PAX in 2005, have all grown up and matured. Kinda strange, but true! Time flies, indeed. Sharing a drink with friends once a year made me realize that social gatherings like this should happen more than just once a year. Getting all these people together in one place though is hard, glad they showed up to PAX!

You know you're old when, more and more gamers use PAX as a backdrop for a marriage proposal.

PAX 2011 SWAG BAG

Stuffs

I didn't get too much stuff this year at the Penny Arcade Expo, mostly because I only had a Saturday Pass, I also didn't want to wait in long lines in the exhibit hall, and well, I was too busy socializing or playing Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown. The good thing is though, I wasn't hauling a too much stuff around, and rather than getting a whole buncha swag crap, I think I got some good quality stuff.

My favorites include, the assorted SEGA stuff, T-shirts, postcards and lanyards. Maybe I'll ebay some of this stuff.

ncsoft aion assault on balaurea launch party seattle

AION ASSAULT ON BALAUREA LAUNCH PARTY

NCsoft threw a party at the Experience Music Project, in Seattle during the Penny Arcade Expo weekend. This is what it looked like. No sound.

PAX 2010 Dead Rising 2 Capcom Event Greene's Hardware

CAPCOM DEAD RISING 2 PAX PARTY - Zombie killing event, minus actual zombies!

Capcom rented out a studio space during the Penny Arcade Expo, and transformed it into 'Greene's Hardware' an event to promote the upcoming title, Dead Rising 2. Gamers were treated to demo kiosks, and free pizza and soda, but the highlight of the night was the selection of 'hardware' on hand for attendees to handle.

From hammers, and batons, to samurai swords, gamers celebrated the popular videogame with a real hands-on experience. Unfortunately, there were no zombies to slice and/or impale outside of the videogame.

Dead Rising 2 was developed by Vancouver-based studio Blue Castle Games, which Capcom has recently purchased. The expansion has been referred to Capcom Games Studio Vancouver.

Now you can only expect a flood of resumes being sent to the studio, with would-be employees hoping to work on some popular Capcom properties.

Penny Arcade Expo 2010 Timelape Kinect Gears of War WATCH IN HD!

PAX 2010, a partial time-lapse.

Another expo has come and gone, leaving attendees exhausted from all the fun, but eager for what awaits in next year's expo. With the weekend long event now over, looking back at some of the sights and sounds of PAX is a good way to get all excited once again, and if you've never been to PAX perhaps these wonderful images would convince you to attend in 2011.

I wanted to make a video that captured the hustle and bustle of the Penny Arcade Expo, and what better way to do so than with a time-lapse. I figured since the majority of the time, gamers at PAX are either waiting in lines, or sitting on beanbags, the best time to film PAX would be as attendees enter the building.

And speaking of lines, I've been to all sorts of conventions, from E3, TGS, GDC to SDCC, and I think PAX has hit the point where the Expo floor, has become just like any other convention. Waiting in lines certainly feels that way. Lots of waiting, and waiting.

But don't let my mention of long expo lines dissuade you from attending the Penny Arcade Expo. The convention is filled with a multitude of things to do, see, and play, the Expo floor, is merely an aspect of the craziness. I may not have gotten to everything I wanted to film, but this should be enough.

The video above is actually a partial time-lapse, in addition to regular speed footage of random gaming, from Kinect, to Marvel vs. Capcom 3, even a Tetris Tourney, as well as a PAX party at the tail end.

Who knows, you might appear in the video and not even know it!

Enjoy!

PAX 2010 CHIPTUNE MUSIC ROCKS MAGFEST JAMSPACE SeanBad at PAX. Watch in HD!

SeanBad @ MAGFEST

It was only a matter of time before the Penny Arcade Expo, gave music fans an alternative to the headlining musical acts at the popular gamer convention. Though these artists may not grace the main concert stage with the likes of Jonathan Coulton, Protomen, or Anamanaguchi, the electronic beats, and nostalgic sounds of classic gaming, performed by a single person armed with a Nintendo Game Boy, is certainly a musical experience not to be missed.

It seems like only last year that chiptune artists were outsiders to the PAX masses, playing impromptu performances on the steps of the Washington State Convention Center, denied entry maybe, but surrounded by curious onlookers as they jammed to 8-bit sounds. Maybe there wasn't enough interest in electronic dance music in the past, to accommodate these musicians inside the expo, but oh how things have changed.

Certainly, for a chiptune DJ, there is no 5-piece band to fill up a stage, nor geek laden rap lyrics, or folk rock music for the audience to sing along to. However, this year is an entirely different story for chiptune music at PAX Prime, thanks to Jamspace, a venue for anyone who plays an instrument to perform, and MAGfest Music, and Gaming Festival, bringing together such a great group of musicians.

Now PAX goers can get their electro chiptune fix, with lots of flashing lights in a dance party environment. The great thing about Jamspace is that you can walk into the room at any time of the day during the convention and hear some great music. I didn't know what to expect when I first entered the room, but an artist by the name of SeanBad was rocking the crowd.

I made this video from footage taken the day SeanBad performed. It features the track 'Kiwis,' a remix of the Live Animal track.

Keep your eyes and ears on SeanBad, he could play at Blipfest one day alongside Nullsleep, Bitshifter, and the other 8bitpeoples.

PAX 2010 - 'Kiwis' - (SeanBad Remix) Jamspace MAGFest (HD) from Albert Art on Vimeo.

More Seanbad --

Facebook SeanBad

http://8bc.org/members/SeanBad/

http://soundcloud.com/seanbad/clusterfuk

Bumbershoot 2009

This Weekend...

Seattle is the place to be this Labor Day weekend. With the Penny Arcade Expo kicking off this Friday, and Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival Saturday, the long weekend in Seattle is looking like a great way to chill.

Last year was my first Bumbershoot experience, which I went into not really knowing what to expect. Needless to say, after spending sometime at the Music & Arts festival -- which showcases a wide range of bands, arts, and FOOD! -- I came away pleased with the experience. It was something I had to balance with the Penny Arcade Expo also going on during the same time, (which is a whole other beast of a festival), but made convenient with the close proximity of the Convention Center, to the Seattle Center. I'm glad I had took the time to see what Bumbershoot was all about last year, this time around is looking to be another great lineup of music.

I'm definitely looking forward to Andre 3000's, protege Janelle Monae performing. Other notable acts, De La Soul, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MSTRKRFT, Raphael Saadiq, Black Eyed Peas, Franz Ferdinand, Metric, Modest Mouse, to name few over the course of 3 days.

It's gonna be a hot one, and that's only a part of the music side of the festival!

PENNY ARCADE EXPO 2009 Pre-registration ONLINE NOW

PAX 2009 Registration online NOW!

Pre-Registration for the 2009 Penny Arcade Expo (Sept 4-6) was announced last week on February 18th, and with six months away until the gamer expo hits the Seattle Convention Center for a third time since departing from Bellevue, it's never too soon to start planning.

This time around it seems that the organizers paid some attention to the cries from attendees of PAX 2008, because now they're planning to place limits on badges. Many complaints from the previous years revolved around the lineups in the exhibit hall, overflow of crowds, and media presence, which dampened the spirits of some expo-goers who didn't expect the expos growth to affect their enjoyment. Obviously with the popularity of the event growing each year, PAX will never be the same as it was in it's first few years.So get your badges/passes/plane, train, or bus tickets/hotel reservations, as soon as possible! On the plus side, San Diego Comic-Con is 10 times worse than PAX in terms of crowds.

Now I'm not too concerned with early registration. In fact I haven't even been thinking about registering for PAX. It's on my list of conventions to attend this year, but there's so much going on in the months prior to PAX that it's not a high priority just yet. I've been going to the expo since 2005, and thinking back to other years, I've always got my passes closer to the actual date, and in a sense quite late compared to other people. I've always managed to get in though, so unless something terrible happens in 09 that prevents me from going, I will be at PAX, late registration or not. This year sounds like it might be a different story though, so I may register in the next few days.

To-do: Register for PAX. Register for San Diego Comic-Con.

No GDC09.

I'm unfortunately cutting the Game Developers Conference (March 23-27) out of my cons to attend this year, saving up for a trip to Hawaii in the summer, as well as another trip to the great San Diego Comic-con, and whatever else might come up. I'm bummed I'm gonna miss out on all the educational talks, entertaining games, and crazy ass late-night happenings at GDC after hours (drunk, open bar). Those really important "networking" events. HAHA!

GDC is awesome. Maybe I'll go back in 2010.

Freezepop featured on NPR Music

Freezepop gets the spotlight on NPR.

Freezepop, the Boston-based Synth-band known for catchy retro-futuristic music appearing in videogames like Amplitude, and most notably Guitar Hero II, has been a band on the rise with a large following of gamers who have embraced their music. What better way to play up their growing status than with a plug on NPR.

Featured in a short interview in NPR's All Things Considered section.

They play shows at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle to packed crowds of gamers at the 3 day geek convention. I've been lucky enough to have seen their live show at PAX twice, and they always bring such awesome energy to the crowd. If it wasn't for PAX I probably would have never discovered the band.

They recently released new music on 'form activity motion' EP with Frontload remixes. Congrats on your success Freezepop, and it the cool music coming!

All I gotta say is, "Less Talk More Rokk".

Seattle Bumbershoot 2008 - Thumbs Up

Bumbershoot rocks!

The annual end of summer music, and arts festival Bumbershoot, offered something for everyone over the labor day long weekend in the Emerald City. As a first time festival goer, who was somewhat unsure of what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of things to see and do, that it was practically impossible to get around to everything, leaving me with a feeling of wanting to come back next year.

What is Bumbershoot exactly? Read up on it's history here.

The festival spans 74-acres at the Seattle Center, from the Space Needle, to the Key Arena, and everything within and around it. The area is densely populated with pure entertainment, vendors, stages, exhibits and all sorts of people. The event was also easily accessible via the Monorail.

One thing that I think surprised me the most about Bumbershoot is that it does not favor a specific musical genre, or style, or demographic of people for that matter. Performers from Beck, Estelle, Death Cab for Cutie, to the Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring, Bedouin Soundclash, Final Fantasy as well as folk, country, jazz and electronic acts to name a few, performed on various stages all over the grounds throughout the day and night. Families, and young people all coming together to enjoy the festival. Skate ramps, screenings, drop-in art classes with live models, comedy performers like Human Giant, and thought-provoking exhibits like "The Power of One" illustrate the diverse appeal and interests of the festival. The food was international, from Thai, and Filipino, to your basic Corn on the Cob, and Russian baked goods. And the free samples of the festival sponsors like Starbucks, Rockstar Energy Drinks, and Cliff Bars wasn't bad either.

Despite how chaotic, Bumbershoot may sound, it was actually very well organized, and controlled. Even though I went to Bumbershoot half the time (the other half was spent at the Penny Arcade Expo), I still was able to find something to do. Even if it meant breaking off from my friends group, exploring the festival grounds by myself, and discovering The Power of One exhibit. It was such a strong contrast to all the entertainment going on, that it actually affected me and brought down the festive mood. In a good way. The images of mutilated soldiers of war, and the struggling people of different countries, was eyeopening.

Please check out The Power of One online, to learn more.

Estelle put on a head-bopping, ass shaking performance. The UK singer charmed the audience with her down-to-earth personality, and shed some light on her songs, love, breakups, and being in the music industry. Her live performance should be recorded as an album because after hearing her in person, listening to her studio record just isn't the same. The band added so much to the music, it was like hearing remixes.

Stone Temple Pilots performed for a packed crowd, that rocked the festival. Anyone who has forgot who they are was definitely reminded when they played familiar hits from their albums. I was planning on attending Beck's performance, but I ended up being unable to secure a ticket to the show, so I opted for the GameWorks 1UP meetup instead at PAX.

All in all, Bumbershoot was fantastic, and I plan on attending next year. You should too! And if you're stressing about the price for a 3 day pass.. it's totally worth it with the amount of stuff you get access to.

Suckage in Seattle

Awful Chinese food, and lack of electronic stores in downtown.

When I first arrived in Seattle for PAX it was pretty late, the drive ended up being longer than I thought because of the Canada/USA border crossing delays, odd sunny-rainy weather, and the traffic issues it caused. Hungry and being somewhat familiar with certain landmarks in downtown, I ended up going to Chinatown thinking that I'd be able to eat at the Japanese market Uwajimaya, (The foodcourt has multicultural cuisine). Though by the time I got there, it was practically closed. Plan B was to eat somewhere in the area, since most Chinatowns kick ass, and Asian restaurants typically stay open late.

There was this one restaurant that I had been meaning to go to since my last trip to Seattle, so I decided to check it out. It was pretty packed, and it seemed to be a popular spot, hungry we (my dad came along to PAX) proceeded inside. Everything seemed cool, I look at the menu, and I was surprised to see they had fried brown rice, rather than the usual fried rice. Taken by the idea, I ordered it, along with some noodle dish. At this point I was really excited about the food, until not even 2 minutes later, the waitress brings out the food. I was kinda shocked at how fast they "cooked" it.

The food was luke warm, like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for hours, and it had a flavor of cheap soy sauce, lard, and just general shit quality. I was disgusted. I take a look around, and I see everyone enjoying their food, the thing is, there weren't any Asians eating. Usually the lack of Asians at an Asian restaurant is a bad thing. I should have noticed sooner. I tried to eat as much as I could, but I got to a point where subjecting myself to such an atrocious meal was morally wrong.

I flagged the woman down for the bill, tossed some cash on the table, and literally walked out as she was ready to pour more tea. Worst fucking Chinese food evar. Even worse than Panda Express.

When I told a friend of mine who used to live in Seattle what had happened, he himself agreed that Chinese food in Seattle is utter crap. He used to drive all the way back to Vancouver just to get a good meal. And he's absolutely right. Here in Vancouver we have some really kick ass cuisine, in fact we're spoiled. After this bad experience in Seattle, it makes me appreciate Vancouver even more.

This place was on the corner of S. Weller and 6th. Avoid at all costs.

Another thing that bugged me about Seattle was the lack of electronic stores in the downtown core, specifically around the convention center, and Seattle Center. I wanted to buy something for my ipod, but there wasn't an Apple Store, or Best Buy, in the area. Really annoying considering Vancouver has multiple electronic stores within short distances of each other.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Seattle, and these minor quibbles are just that, minor. Seattle's great, and I'll post my thoughts on Bumbershoot coming up next.

PAX 2008 - Bigger than last year, but is it better?

Fun, friends, and mixed feelings on this year's expo.

Where to begin? I'm back in Vancouver and finally ready to post about my long weekend in Seattle at the Penny Arcade Expo, and Bumbershoot Music & Arts festival. The event filled weekend had me at first questioning whether or not planning for 2 major events was a good thing, but in the end, it all balanced out quite nicely thanks to the strategic placement of the monorail conveniently located near the convention. Would I do it again next year? Probably.

As you might have noticed it's been dead around these parts for the past several days -- I didn't have time to do any updates live or otherwise, nor was I interested in doing so. I was more concerned with going with the flow of the daily expo happenings, rather than stressing about blogging, running around covering panels, or gathering research for articles. I just wanted to chill out for once, though the fact that the PAX Panels were pretty weak this year worked in my favor! So expect related posts over the next few days.

This year's PAX was different. Not that everyone's expo experience is the same each time around, but in my opinion it was different from my last year's PAX adventures in a slightly negative sense. That's not to say I didn't have any fun, because I did with Jen, Jon, David, Doug, Kevin, Mike, Shane, Flips, and all the other peeps I hung out with (random elevator people included). The thing is, the expo just wasn't the same in terms of overall appeal.

Whether it was because of the missing friends, that made the last expo so fun and who inspired a sense of community, or the E3-esque exhibit hall lineups, weak freezepop performance, timid concert crowds (PAX-goers have a tendency to just stand, watch, applaud, and wave their DS), or limited panel selection, PAX 08 was lacking something. Maybe it's just me, and I've become too used to the GDC, and Comic-Con atmosphere, growing a little distant from the geekery of following the webcomic, but I doubt that's the reason why I feel this PAX fell flat. After much discussion with other PAX-goers, they seem to agree that the vibe has changed a bit. As a regular PAX attendee since 2005 (4 years and counting?) this year was kinda 'meh.'

If it wasn't for the people, and after hours fun, no amount of exhibit hall bells and whistles, or panels would have made this expo entertaining. It's all about the gamer community after all. It always was, and hopefully always will be, and though it seems PAX is getting too big for it's own good, the staples of gaming in a large scale social setting remains at it's core. Gamasutra did a pretty good writeup on PAX 08... an estimated 58,500 attendees???

I spent sometime in the PC freeplay arena, and console freeplay which was cool, but I never did break out my DS, or PSP because I was always on the move, with no time to crash on the bean bags. I also intentionally skipped out on collecting swag. I didn't want to carry a bunch of shit with me. I mean I wanted that Skateboard, and that's pretty much it, but I couldn't answer any of the trivia questions. I never really bought anything too, aside from food. Went to a few Panels, one of which featured 1UP's own Karen Chu on game reviewing. I also went to another panel about why the game industry doesn't suck, by Jason Della Rocca, and I was pretty surprised to see that the majority of people sitting in on the panel didn't know who he was. A definite difference between PAX versus GDC demographics. It was like watching a teacher lecturing a bunch of high school students, no offense intended. The topic itself was meh, nothing most people didn't already know, so I got up and left. I did however notice he used a tablet pen with his laptop, which is what I do whether on a desktop or laptop.

The 1UP Gameworks meet up was cool. No community managing was really required when the 1UP members pretty much organized themselves. Of course with all the 1UP members who already knew each other from previous years, it was always like being in a 1UP meet up. I missed out on Anamanaguchi though for the 1UP meet, but that's cool. After getting buzzed at Gameworks briefly speaking to Toasty, and for the first time meeting one of my longtime readers Doug, new community manager Tina, former gamespotter Brad Shoemaker, and 1UP member Amarisse (whom I thought worked at 1UP as the new Karen Chu with her massive professional camera), a few of us headed over to watch some Rockband stage, then to Kevin's other Sheraton hotel party. The hotel party was quiet until I invited a bunch of random people from the elevator. They just so happened to be Canadians and harsh drinkers. After a while (around 3 or 4am) I received a txt message from my other group of peeps who were at a Club. Ended up going there, for a bit, but then after feeling threatened by Vietnamese gangbangers, headed on back to the hotel to crash.

N64 DD. Me, David, and Amarisse. We were pretty disappointed with the watered down Guinness. Mega lame, but thanks for the drink tickets Guild Wars PR lady. That jon guy sure is a double fisting alcoholic from Detroit. LOL Driving the kids back to Canada.(Jen and Mike, intentionally missed their bus the night before, so they could ride back with me in a pretty smooth drive to Vancouver in less than 2 hours)

When thinking about the growth of this once little gamer centered expo from Bellevue, it has me curious to see where this event is going next year. Will it get better or worse?

PAX 08 will have my divided attention this year.

Penny Arcade Expo, and Bumbershoot.

Here I thought that I'd be sick of geek conventions after enduring the ridiculousness of San Diego Comic-Con, but it looks like I'll be attending PAX after all... Just not in it's entirety.

This year my trip to the Penny Arcade Expo will be a slightly different experience from years prior. For one thing, my brother's not gonna be around, and neither is my sister which I'm totally bummed about. Though surprisingly, many of my friends, and co-workers are planning to go, even though previous years they had no idea what PAX was. Now that they're all familiar with what PAX is all about, they're eager to go on a road trip to Seattle. And so I was convinced to go after I had planned on skipping out on PAX this year. To make things even more different, I won't be at PAX the whole time. I was swayed to buy a pass to the Music festival Bumbershoot going on the same time.

Though the concert lineup isn't packed with awesomeness, there are a few acts that I did want to see like Beck, Estelle, Keyshia Cole, T.I., Stone Temple Pilots, The Offspring, Bedouin Soundclash, Death Cab For Cutie, Dan Deacon, The Weakerthans and a few others. Oh wait, that's actually a lot for 3 days.

In any case, I'll be spending time at both events. I fear PAX will take a back seat this year, but oh well. Better to be there, than to not be there at all.

Blipfest - Reformat the Planet, on Pitchfork.tv

8.15-8.21 For one week, and one week only!

Today Pitchfork.tv did one of the greatest things that I've ever since them do in the short time that they've been around. Available for One Week Only, free for online viewing in it's entirety is "Blipfest: Reformat the Planet", the documentary on Chiptune music and culture by 2 Player Productions, which in my opinion is the best, most comprehensive resource that covers the Chiptune music scene. This my friends, is a cause for celebration.

The thing is, it's only available for ONE week, so head on over to Pitchfork.tv to see what the excitement is all about. If you haven't seen it, and have been curious about music made with Gameboys, now you can!

It came as a complete surprise to me, after having not seen the film since the Game Developers Conference back in 2007, so I found myself distracted all day long at work watching it over again. I was literally sitting at my computer when I got word of this Pitchfork exclusive, and as I watched it, I couldn't help but Geek Out. I instantly updated my Twitter, and facebook statuses to reflect my enthusiasm for this. You see, I plan on attending Blipfest 2008 in December, so seeing scenes from the fest got me totally stoked about attending the event. No one else in the room was as enthusiastic as me, and believe it or not I work at a video game company. I guess Chiptune is an acquired taste even for gamers, and employees of game studios.

I've always been somewhat frustrated with the fact that Chiptune music on the west coast of North America doesn't seem to be too prevalent. Certainly there are Chiptune artists in LA, and San Francisco, but other than that I don't think it has reached other cities on the west, definitely not Vancouver. New York is where it's at, and I've been missing many exciting events going on this summer. If ever I move to New York, I'd be all up in this party scene.

I began to think of the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle which is fast approaching at the end of August as a place that would be a perfect to showcase this music. The massive gamer/geek expo features musical acts, none of which are Chiptune artists. There's rappers, and electro pop acts with songs that deal with familiar gamer themes, and covers of game songs, but for Chiptune itself, that's where its lacking. I remember I emailed the folks at Penny Arcade sometime ago, regarding their lack of interest in inviting chiptune acts, but I received no reply.

*EDIT So apparently this year's PAX will be getting a Screening of Reformat the Planet, along with a performance by Anamanaguchi. I will definitely try and make it to those. So should you! Though Anamanaguchi rocks, I'd prefer if it were Bitshifter, Glomag, Nullsleep, Covox or Bubblyfish representing at PAX.

What will it take for Chiptune to gain a larger audience and presence at gamer events? Just because chiptune artists don't necessarily perform Megaman songs, and other fan service, doesn't mean the art itself isn't relevant to game culture.

Here's hoping this Pitchfork exposure gets Chiptune the recognition it deserves.