San Diego Comic-Con 09

SDCC = The BEST fan convention, EVAR.

My second San Diego Comic-Con was a SUCCESS!!! Despite being sore after the ridiculously fun, but exhausting convention experience, I came away with some really cool shit, a healthy amount of free schwag, and inspiration from being in the same room as the incredibly talented artists/filmmakers/idols/icons in attendance in San Diego. My trip was a BLAST!

I had planned on arriving in San Diego on Thursday for the official opening of the show, but because of other plans, I had to delay until Friday. I was actually a bit worried, that my entire SDCC trip would have to be canceled at the time, but luckily, I was able to get out of LA.

We caught the morning train from downtown Friday morning and rode it all the way to San Diego. Estimated trip time: two and a half - 3 hours. The train cars were packed with con-goers, without enough seats for everyone, so we ended up sitting in the cafe train car, which was meant for 'business' travelers. Free snacks! Immediately I could see that we were surrounded by industry people, and artists. Some dude was storyboarding an episode of the animated Avengers series, and I couldn't help but observe his art skills. While a couple of collaborating writers, were busy typing away at their laptops, looking over and editing some sort of screenplay. Next to them were two marketing ladies, talking about their experiences with organizing conventions. It was a neat group of passengers. Eavesdropping was fun. We played some DS games on this scenic ride to pass the time.

Arriving in SD at around 12:30, it was already too late to lineup for certain 'HALL H' panels, but because there was so much more to do in the day, (and in the coming days), I didn't feel so bad for not seeing the Miyazaki panel. The fun was just beginning.

My first priority at SDCC was to visit the NCsoft booth in the exhibit hall, with the intention of securing a Beta code for AION. Because I wasn't able to get one from my pre-order with Gamestop in Vancouver, I felt like I had to go directly to the source, all the way in San Diego. In fact, I managed to get two beta keys. SUCK IT GAMESTOP!

I then went to the Capcom booth directly across, to play some Tatsunoko for the Wii, but they had run out of Capcom Towels. Lame.

After taking a quick look at the exhibit hall, it was time to head over to the lineup for Hall H, for the District 9 panel. (Any panel in Hall H, becomes the worst lineup of the entire SDCC). With no shade, fans wait in the hot burning sun, for hours just to get inside. They should call it HALL HELL, because you literally get cooked, waiting in line.

The lineup was so long that we missed practically the entire panel, and only caught the tail-end of it. Peter Jackson introduced his Apprentice Neil Blomkamp, the director behind District 9, and showed the audience a 7 minute preview, or was it 10 minutes? I forgot.

After District 9, we sat through a Star Wars Spectacular presentation, which was boring, but immediately after that was a panel with Peter Jackson, and James Cameron, two incredibly influential filmmakers, with different ways of working. Their talk way AMAZING.

The rest of the weekend at SDCC, involved more panels, more free stuff, and more spending $. Saw some actors, and artists doing signings, and some really great booth presentations.

I found myself using Twitpic a lot, so if you were following me on Twitter, you could see the amount of #SDCC related tweets I made.

I didn't buy as much stuff as I did in 2008, but I still came away with some excellent toys, which I'll post more about later.

It was a pretty tiring, but entertaining 3 days. can't wait till next year.

Are Video Games Bad for Comics? Ed Boon, Joe Madureira speak.

Comic licensing, video games, and you.

Several weeks in the making, my latest article for the Game Career Guide comes at the end of the summer movie blockbuster season, but with the holiday movie rush in sight. If you were sitting in theaters enjoying the spectacle of this year's big comic brands Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and The Dark Knight, but were all the while dreading how these superheroes would translate to a video game form, don't fret, you're most likely not the only one. Superhero video games have had a less than stellar track record.

Comic licensing and adaptations are still very much in demand. With this, comes a demand for not only more comic-based films, but for better quality ones as well. With the taste in audiences changing, and comic-book based films getting what some would consider 'better', why can't video-game adaptations keep up?

In a quest to figure out why crappy comicbook games continue to get made, I decided to do some research, asking a few experienced developers (Ed Boon, and Joe Maduriera) who have a unique perspective on the situation to open up about the business of licensing, and production. While comments by Frank Miller and Zack Snyder, taken from this year's San Diego Comic-Con, add to the discussion of adaptations.

With 'Are video games bad for comics,' I try and put into perspective the growing pains that developers are faced with when dealing with the licensing of comicbooks, the superhero kind, specifically.

Gamasutra, provides the entry, while Game Career Guide offers the 5 page post in full. I'm definitely pleased with the way the article turned out, and I'm especially grateful for having such a great editor, Jill Duffy, who really made this piece shine. Give it a read, and be sure to share the link.

Albert Art finally decides to join Twitter

Sharing a little more Online with Status Updates

...because pulling a 'Justin.tv' is out of the question.

Ah, the joys of the internet. With so many options available for people to share their lives online, one must consider exercising a certain amount caution. To be able to pick, choose, and control the amount of information that a person wants to broadcast is definitely important, especially for people who prefer to keep the details of their life to a minimum (or not). As one of my uncles put it when referring to dealing with the loss of my brother, "A Public face, and a Private face." With all these outlets available, the issue is no longer about the method in which we share our lives, but rather the amount of information we choose to put out there.

When considering the exciting events at San Diego Comic-Con fast approaching, I thought I'd offer readers a way to keep track of what I've been up to, which didn't require the labor of posting a lengthy blog summarizing the days events, or the strapping of a camera to my head 24/7, like a justin.tv 'lifecaster'. Without adding more people to my facebook,(which mind you I'm trying to keep down to a healthy number -- under 100), or myspace, Twitter seems like the ideal standalone Status Update tool for those interested in living vicariously through other people,. I had been thinking about getting Twitter for a while now, so I'm pretty late with joining the Twitter trend, but being that it doesn't require the time, attention, or energy of maintaining a whole new blog, I'm cool with just doing short, brief updates to "stay connected".

If there wasn't anything exciting going on, I probably would still update. There's something about updating ones status (updating since early MSN) that's not only a good way to communicate with others, but after a while it becomes required. People expect it. Your family, and friends want to know what you're up to, so with status updates, you're telling them. Telling them to watch a certain movie, or to avoid a certain restaurant, product or service, or simply to tell them that you have a stomachache and you're sitting on the toilet. Some updates can even be serious, like for example I updated my status on facebook to "Albert is dealing with the sudden loss of a family member," because I felt it was important at the time to let people know what was going on in my life, without being too specific. How could you not tell people what you're going through after such a tragic event? And yet, some people on my friends list NEGLECTED to read the status change, and continued to send me party invites, and stupid links. I replied to one 'friend' angrily, saying something like "READ MY DAMN STATUS!"

Other times I've updated my status to, "Albert managed to put custom ringtones on his unlocked iPhone. Super Mario theme FTW!," and "Albert thinks changing a reservation with travelocity Canada (based in India) over the phone is a painfully ridiculous experience. The "on hold" music sucks too...," Though really, how much can you learn about a person from these updates if they are taken out of context, and written like headlines in a newspaper, typed with a limited amount of characters? Which for total strangers who don't really know the individual behind the update, could create a false impression of that person.

For Comic-Con, I plan on keeping the Twitters brief, and on topic! In addition to utilizing Twitter with my Comic-Con coverage, I will be posting updates on my blogs, throughout the day, as stuff happens... (though not minute to minute). Stay tuned!

I give you permission to follow me @ twitter.com/albertart