PAX East is finally rearing its head once again, and I could not be more excited. Some members of my sketch group and I will be tooling around on the con floor shooting goofy stuff while I’m not covering the show for Snackbar. But even with all that screwing about and mischief-making, I’ll be setting aside time to see as many panels as I can. The panel schedule has been released, and we can all start laying out our plans for maximum con enjoyment, but there are so many! So I thought I’d let you know about a few of the panels you absolutely should check out at the show. READ MORE
Despite being one of the most popular franchises of this generation, Mass Effect had managed to completely elude me until recently. My cultural blindspots have always been staggering. I’ve yet to play more than two hours of the Assassin’s Creed series, I never saw Citizen Kane and I have no idea who Skrillex is. But this one just made no sense. I love Star Trek and, for that matter, any sci-fi/fantasy property with an expansive and lively universe, so Mass Effect should be a no-brainer for me. And once I got into Mass Effect 2 a few weeks ago, it was. I absolutely loved the game. READ MORE
Advertising can make or break a product. A bad commercial can kill a new game release. Namco’s recent debacle of an ad campaign for Soul Calibur V has managed to alienate and make a large part of their fanbase uncomfortable. This is piled onto criticism that their characters have been oversexed more and more with each iteration in the SC franchise. Or you may remember PSP’s “cheese you can listen to outside” era in advertising. Or the racist billboards they put up in Europe. Or that annoying kid from Role Models. On the contrary, a good ad can really excite prospective players and encourage them to plop down their hard-earned cash on a title. READ MORE
There are many ways in which my brain and personality resemble that of a child, but moreso than any is the way I love the things I love. If something manages to capture the attention of my cold and cynical heart for more than a second, there must be something special about it. This happens so rarely that when I truly enjoy something, I just go whole hog. I’ll snatch up the merchandise, play all the games in its canon and wear my love for it proudly on a t-shirt for the world to see. No franchise in history has been more able to engulf my life in this way than Pokemon. READ MORE
Video game nostalgia is an odd phenomenon. It makes us hang on to outdated technology, spend hours upon hours sewing scarves and hats adorned with the heroes of our youth and get into heated arguments about which entry in a series is better (rather than agree that they’re both pretty great). But rarely does it lead to anything productive. READ MORE
