Okay, I did some checking and here's how it is. ANYBODY can become an Omeganaut. You get a 3 day pass (special omeganaut pass?) when chosen. The only stipulation is that you must be able to attend all three days.
Oddly enough, there don't seem to be omeganaut badges this year, at least not according to señor heels:
Oh man! I hope that's not the case, I had to buy all 3 days seperately! *sheds a single tear*
One of my jobs will be to make sure that the people picked have passes for all three days. If you have a three day pass or three passes (F/S/S), I don't care, you just need to be there all three days.
Okay, I did some checking and here's how it is. ANYBODY can become an Omeganaut. You get a 3 day pass (special omeganaut pass?) when chosen. The only stipulation is that you must be able to attend all three days.
Oddly enough, there don't seem to be omeganaut badges this year, at least not according to señor heels:
The second I saw that this was team-based and would involve a music game I immediately thought Gitaroo-Man. Still got my fingers crossed that we'll get to see that!
By the way, any word on which version of Geometry Wars they'll be playing? I've only played the Wii version... and it was a long time ago.
I know for the tournaments it stipulates that whenever possible, all games will be played on the Xbox 360. I imagine the Omegathon is included in this as well.
Are there any major gameplay differences between the two versions?
The 360 one won't have massive amount of slowdown when grenade launchers start firing at each other : )
Otherwise no they seem like the same base game. The controllers would probably be the biggest difference. I don't care either way as I would expect classic console tournaments to be more of a casual thing. It's not like we're playing for some huge prize.
So to your actual question. The version most likely to be played is Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 for Xbox 360. No clue what makes that game any different from the others, but I will say I grabbed it last week and it is fan-frickin-tastic.
I looked to buy my own copy of the Wii version.. but to no avail... maybe I'll see one at the store tomorrow... if not... maybe in Boston somewhere? Who knows?
Everything below is the truth as I know it. If you find any factual error or important omission, please inform me. Some thoughts/events/conversations have been intentionally omitted to protect the innocent.
I was one of the Omeganauts at PAX East 2010. The following was my experience.
I was extremely excited to find my name up on the screen after the keynote. I was one of the lucky few called to be an Omeganaut. I briefly “lost my shiz” and proceeded to exit house right. After waiting for most of the Omeganauts to assemble, we left the Main Theatre where we were then told what was going to happen. Five people didn’t show up, so they had to pull from a reserve list of 10 people – apparently, this was the most reserves they had to use in any Omegathon (?).
The Rules:
We were going to be randomly teamed up with one other person, and we would stay in those teams for the entirety of the Omegathon. Both partners had to be present at least 15 minutes before the start of the event (Round 3, and I’m assuming Round 4, were exceptions) or else that team would be automatically eliminated. No substitutions, even if you didn’t want to play in the Omegathon. Yes, there was somebody asking if they could be subbed out from the onset. All decisions made by Omegathon judges were final and not subject to argument/rebuttal. Omeganauts, even if we lost in the first round, could use their badges to (theoretically) jump to the front of any line (panels, etc.) with a +1. We were also told that since PAX East was new, a lot (most?) of the Enforcers had not worked at a previous PAX before and may not know that the Omeganaut badge gave such a privilege… they tried spreading the word out to as many people possible, but we shouldn’t be completely surprised if we met resistance.
After the explanation of the rules to everyone, we were handed out Omeganaut badges that had our team number on it. I was on Team 6. We had to write our names on the badges so that if they happened to get lost/misplaced, they could be returned to us. We were then told where/when Round 1 was going to be held, and that it was supposed to be two grand prix matches of Mario Kart: Double Dash. But they didn’t have the network adapters yet, so we might be doing 16 one-on-one races. After the explanation, we were free to do whatever until then. I briefly talked with my partner, Francisco, and we entered the Main Theatre. I was walking down one of the aisles to sit down for whatever was left of the Q&A, when I turned around to say something to Francisco and he wasn’t there. At that point I thought, “We really should have exchanged phone numbers.” I prayed that he would be on time for Round 1.
Round 1:
I got to the Manticore Theatre for Round 1 about fifteen minutes early. They were setting up Mario Kart, and it looked like we wouldn’t be doing grand prix matches. Francisco showed up sometime soon, and all was right with the world. It seemed everyone was pretty excited about the match, but nervous that they might be eliminated in the first round. We were pretty impressed that the room got completely filled up. I wasn’t expecting that for Mario Kart.
Francisco and I had a plan. First, we would move our chairs so that they were side-to-side and not front-and-back (which may obscure the vision of the person sitting in the back). I would be the driver and chose Yoshi and Yoshi’s kart, while he would chose Diddy Kong in the back seat. Since I hadn’t played Double Dash in years (at least four, if not more), I forgot most of the shortcuts one could take, and Francisco had played less than me, so our plan was just to focus on collecting ? blocks, tight turns, and playing it safe. After briefly introducing ourselves via gamer tags that were never used for the rest of the competition, we began the race. Our strategy seemed to work pretty well. Things that led to our success were me getting the speed boost from the starting line, and Francisco shoving the other kart and getting a lot of special items. We beat Team 5 in a fun race around Wario Stadium. By the way, worst Random Stage selector? For the team that did abominably bad in Double Dash – kart wasn’t moving, switched players by accident, got lapped twice – our hearts really went out to you guys. I decided that if we got to Round 3, I would unofficially dedicate our performance to you guys.
Francisco and I exchanged phone numbers and we decided to get together sometime after the concerts to play some Geometry Wars 2 (GW2) for Round 2. He had played it only a few times and I had never played it before. Sometime before the concerts, I found out that there was GW set up in the LFG Free Console room. At first, I was only able to get onto a console with the GW’s demo. Then I met another Omeganaut (Ryan, I think?) and his buddy (I forget his name, sorry) trying to do the same thing I was, and we found a console with GW2’s demo. Apparently, there was another console with the complete version of GW2, but there were people on it and I wasn’t able to get to it before I left.
Right before they opened the doors to the main theater for the concerts, my friends and I briefly talked to Jerry Holkins about PAX and the Omegathon, which was pretty cool. Thank you, Jerry, for taking the time to talk to us. It felt like you wanted to stay and talk some more, but other forces were pulling you away - the chains of a logistical nightmare.
I left PAX after Anamanaguchi’s awesome performance, called up Francisco, and was able to walk to his buddies’ place a few blocks away. I think it was about 1am by the time I got there. His friends showed us how to play and practice the different team-based multiplayer modes for 1.5 hours. We got a pretty solid handle on how to play the different modes and were confident that we would win Round 2. They would be at Round 2 cheering us on. We were also speculating at what the Round 3 game would be. We were thinking it would be DJ Hero with the second player playing the guitar since Jerry has posted his fondness for DJ Hero… and we were thinking Rock Band/Guitar Hero had been played at so many other Omegathons before. Then again, we were also speculating that Green Day Rock Band would make a showing as Round 3. Anyway, Francisco’s friends had a copy of DJ Hero, which I tried for 30 minutes and got a basic understanding for it (but not very proficient). If we were going to play DJ Hero with a guitar, I was going to play the guitar. I left at about 3am, Francisco starting to pass out, and told him I’d call him in the morning to make sure he was up. I finally got in bed at 3:30am. I slept for about five out-like-a-light hours.
Round 2:
I met Francisco and his friends at the Free Console room right on time. I was expecting Round 2 to have a huge projected screen with hundreds of people, like in Round 1. But, disappointingly, it was only a few dozen people surrounding a nice flat TV monitor. I guess it was too early in the morning, and/or GW2 wasn’t high on people’s spectator-sport list. It seems the rules were changed slightly from the program, as we were only going to play the King mode for every round, instead of a random multiplayer mode each round. First team to 50 points would win. Winning team of a round got 10 points while the losing team would get 5 points. Two teams competed before Francisco and I went up. I forget what Team # we were facing off against, but it was the one composed of two ladies. We were playing as the Red Team, which threw us off slightly, as we were practicing as the Blue Team the night before. We won the first round, lost the second round, but then had our shiz together the rest of the time. Since we won the third and fourth rounds, we were guaranteed to win Round 2. We were given the option to play the fifth round anyway, and I specifically wanted to do that – after all, the girls may have been able to beat us, giving them better cred. Also, I wanted more time playing GW2, which is pretty fun. The girls agreed to play the final round. Francisco’s friends were yelling “Suicide, suicide!” And I was like, “No, no, let’s play this for real, I’d like to win it.” And we won it. We were going to Round 3 to play in front of thousands (?) of people! The girls seemed pretty upset by our victory, as I hardly got a handshake at all, and at least one of them looked misty-eyed and shaken-up (couldn’t tell about the other girl). It was a good game girls, I hope there are no hard feelings.
Since we won before the PA: The Series panel started, I told Francisco I’d give him a call later, and I went to see the panel. After the panel, I spent a lot of time in the LFG Free Console Room playing the guitar in Rock Band, on Medium (~2 cumulative hours, max). I never had much time with Rock Band before, so Medium was the best I could do with ~90-99% accuracy/song.
Round 3:
The remaining four teams of Omeganauts met in front of the Main Theatre at 7pm. We were told once we went inside, we could not come back out… not even for the bathroom. I immediately went to the bathroom. After we were all good, we entered the theatre and promptly met Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins and were told that we’d be playing Rock Band. So much for our DJ Hero theory. They then split us into two groups of four. Mike and Jerry had to choose which team they wanted to sponsor. Mike went first and chose the team that he felt would be the underdogs, the team that Francisco and I were on – I forget the names of the other two guys (my bad). We walked down a ways from Jerry and the other team and talked strategerously (sic).
The logistics of the Rock Band challenge were: 1) Each team would be allowed to play one practice song, which would not be the actual song played for the challenge, and we were not told what the practice song would be until we were playing it. 2) Everybody would play at Medium level. 3) Each team would stay in the Green Room (room leading to the back stage – behind the black curtain) until it was there turn to play. This way, we wouldn’t know what song was being played or how well the other team was doing. 4) If we failed the practice song, we couldn’t redo it. 5) If we didn’t want to play an instrument that we were playing during the practice round, we could switch for the actual challenge. 6) You could play two instruments at the same time (e.g., guitar and microphone) or have multiple people playing the same instrument if you wanted. 7) We had to come up with a team name.
Obviously, the most crucial aspect of this challenge was to figure out who was playing what. I said that I could play guitar/bass on Medium, and that I might be able to do the drums, but my drums experience was mostly for Guitar Hero, not Rock Band. I only played a couple times on drums for Rock Band, and there was definitely a difference in the feel of it between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Also, I think the difficulty levels don’t exactly match up between the two games. I could be wrong, but I don’t know. Francisco said he really didn’t play Rock Band, and that he wasn’t that good at guitar/bass, but he used to be a drummer in middle school. One of the guys on the other team said that music games weren’t really his thing, so he never really played them before (let’s call him Voice), and his partner said that he could play any position in expert (let’s call him Wildcard). So we decided that I would play the bass, Francisco would play the drums, Wildcard would play the guitar, and Voice would sing into the microphone. Mike said band names usually referenced Penny Arcade material, and we decided to call ourselves The Claptraps after the band in the Automata strip (even though we were aware that a previous Omegathon band used the same name).
Both teams then went into the Green Room, and the other team was called up first to practice. After they came back in, we went to the stage, grabbed our controllers, and began to rock on “Dani California” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (I think). I was doing fine on the base, although I was playing with a guitar model I wasn’t used to so the frets felt different. Wildcard was doing fine, and Voice seemed to be doing alright, too. Francisco, failed out – I think we saved him once… but then we failed out the song. I was just shaking my head and made a thumbs-down sign. I briefly looked at Kiko, who was taking photos at the edge of the stage, and I believe he sort of smiled and nodded his head, agreeing with me. We were disheartened by our failed performance as we walked back into the Green Room. We started to discuss if we should change instruments. Francisco said that the reason he failed was that he wasn’t hitting the notes at the right moment, even though he was getting the rhythm down. Voice said he was pretty comfortable with the microphone as long as he knew what song we were going to play. We decided to keep the same instruments and we told Francisco that if he was lagging behind notes, just to miss a measure and then get back in. Mike and Wildcard were giving us pointers about how to get Star Power (I’m still not even sure if it’s actually called that in Rock Band) and when to unleash it. Essentially, my job was to unleash Star Power whenever Wildcard told me to do so.
Somebody (Mike or an Enforcer) said they were going to decide which band was going to perform first. I was pretty sure that we were going to go first since we failed out our song, and the other team probably did not. After all, as an entertainment piece, you would want the better band to go last. I was right, we were going to play first.
We were made to wait at the door of the Green Room before going on stage. And once we were called to go on stage, we had to MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT! Francisco went up on stage first, followed by me, Wildcard, and Voice. I patted Francisco’s shoulder, said something cool, and picked up the bass controller. Then I went to the monitor on stage right and sat in front of it with my left leg extended and my right foot underneath it (my knee was/is injured and I couldn’t bend it all the way or stand for too long. Also, I could see the monitor better). And then we played “The Gambler”. It seemed to be a much easier song than “Dani California” (at least for the bass). I hit almost every note, so I was really happy with my performance. More importantly, we finished the entire song, and I don’t think anybody failed out. We came off the stage feeling pumped and excited that we didn’t fail and we had a solid run. Everyone felt pretty confident. We entered the Green Room and waited while the other team performed.
When it was about time for us to be brought out, we were told that we might hear that the other team had to restart the song because there was a mix-up between the guitar and bass player, that they had played about 10-15 seconds before failing the song. We were all like, “Ok?” They made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal that they restarted. We were promptly brought on stage where it was announced that we had lost to the other team by almost twice as many points. It stung, but at least we got that far and it was fun to play in front of everybody and not totally suck. Apparently the other team just had more concurrent Star Power than us, thus having a better point multiplier.
The members of The Claptraps parted ways after thanking Mike and Jerry, and I met my friends outside the back stage area. I got their take on what happened. They said it was “bullsh**” that we lost because the other team had an advantageous edge over us by playing through the first 30 seconds or so of the song on their first time. I told them that we were told it was more like 10 seconds. My friends did not agree and said it was definitely more like 30 seconds *shrug*. (After looking at one YouTube video, it does seem they played more than 20 seconds before failing out). They argued that the first play through gave the singer and drummer a view at what to expect at the beginning of the song and allowed them to get their shiz together. They then said that even after being given a second chance, the singer failed out once and was saved. So my friends were thinking that the team would have failed out the first time anyway, but were able to figure things out after being given that second chance (foreshadowing?!). Well, it was too late to do anything about it, but I can’t help think that what would have made things fairer would have been both bands playing a second unknown song and seeing who won at that one, or best two out of three.
Round 4:
I wanted to know what was going down for the final round and see what the closing ceremony was like. Everybody who’s reading this probably saw what happened, either in person or on YouTube, so I’ll spare the details of the competition. But man, I felt what happened to the team on the left (let’s call them Team 1) was what happened to The Claptraps the night before. Team 1 should have won. In my mind, they are the winners. The pure disappointment and pissed-off anger on one of the players from Team 1 said it all. My friends turned to me and said, “See, this was the same bullsh** that happened to you guys last night.” Despite stating that they wanted a clean run, they should have had a best two out of three contest at that point. They make the rules, and they can break and remake them (like they did with Rounds 1 and 2). And I don’t think anybody would have resisted a best two out of three challenge. Anyway, it felt like a sour point at the end of PAX. Maybe Team 1 will be called back to play in the Omegathon next year. I wish I could be called back to play in the Omegathon next year I hope I’ll be lucky enough to get selected again in a future Omegathon.
Privileges of the Omeganuat badge:
I didn’t really get much use out of the Omeganaut badge to cut lines. I definitely knew I could use it for panels, but I wasn’t completely sure about other lines (like at the Expo Hall or at Console Freeplay). My first attempt was at Console Freeplay where there were a lot of people waiting, and when I asked an Enforcer, he asked somebody else, and she essentially said that Omeganauts were no more special than anybody else. I didn’t fight it and went on my way. My second attempt was to get into the CollegeHumor panel, which was already closed and was ending in five minutes. The Enforcer there was a bit resistant at first, but I made a point that there was only five minutes left and I wasn’t going to stay for the next panel. She let me get in, and I left when it was over. The third attempt was at the Skate booth in the Expo Hall. The girl didn’t seem to know what an Omeganaut was, nor whether I could be let in front of the line (my medical badge didn’t help, either). She told me I could find an Enforcer with a gold arm band and ask him/her about it because, “they would definitely know.” I found an Enforcer with a gold band on and asked her if I was able to cut Expo Hall lines with my Omeganaut badge and she said, “Absolutely not.” I didn’t fight it and went on my way.
My fourth attempt was at the Gabe and Tycho signing in the Queue Room, where the line was closed but relatively small by that point. I was with one of my friends, counting on him to be my +1, and the Enforcer said that he didn’t think we would be able to get in line. We asked him to make sure and find somebody who knew. He asked somebody who didn’t know, so we went to another Enforcer directing people for the Closing Ceremony. He didn’t know, so he brought us to some Enforcers by the signing table, and they were like, “Oh, yeah, definitely.” And we were able to get our stuff signed by Mike and Jerry. Thank you, Mike and Jerry! I think after that, we went upstairs and noticed Wil Wheaton was signing stuff outside the Main Theatre. The line was considerably shortened by that point and the Enforcer at the end of it said that the line was closed and we wouldn’t be able to get in line. I told him I didn’t even care about waiting at the end of the line, I just wanted to meet him – I’m an Omeganaut, after all. He was dubious and we urged him to ask somebody about it. Since he himself couldn’t leave the line, he asked us to ask another Enforcer to go ask another Enforcer. After the WoW-based task was completed, we got a “Yeah, definitely let them in, they’re Omeganauts, they can get into anything they want.” And we were able to briefly meet Wil Wheaton. Nice meeting you, Wil.
Expectations for how the Omegathon was going to run:
Before I was an Omeganaut, before PAX East had even started, I had a few expectations of how general proceedings were going to be. First, I thought that the Omegathon was going to be a big deal in general. I imagined people talking about it, a lot of people going to the different rounds, and people recognizing Omeganauts and giving them high-fives. Personally, I don’t think the Omegathon was a big deal at PAX East. It didn’t feel like it was a big deal, except to those that were in it. I never heard anybody talking about it except for other Omeganauts, friends of Omeganauts, and the people/Enforcers behind the Omegathon workings. To illustrate my point, I was talking with the folks from The Protomen on Sunday and they noticed I had an Omeganaut badge, and they asked me (in a genial manner, mind you), “What the f*** is an Omeganaut?” So I explained to them all about the Omegathon. It sounded like a cool idea to them.
I expected Omeganaut pictures would be taken and posted in a hallway, at least after the first round, like they did for the 2009 Omegathon. And if they didn’t do that, at the very least have a few giant signs about the Omegathon. Obviously, neither happened. The closest thing to these ideas was the team brackets that they said they were going to try and put up before each round. That didn’t happen until the third round. And I wonder how many people were actually interested in seeing Rounds 3 and 4 versus being there because of the concerts or the closing ceremony.
I expected longer play time per round. I didn’t time them, but Round 1 was probably the longest because sixteen races were played. Playing Round 2 seemed a bit longer and more satisfying than Round 3 since teams were playing at least five rounds, if not more. And if Round 4 had a clean run from beginning to end, it probably would have been the shortest round. I didn’t like the shorter play time, neither as an Omeganaut, nor as a spectator - with each successive round, the remaining Omeganauts should be having more play time. It also makes for a greater time for the audience.
I expected that Round 3 was going to be four teams competing, not two teams. Putting together teams seemed to deemphasize the point of having two-person teams to begin with. On the other hand, if team-combining was a must, it probably would have been more interesting and more fun (and more fair?) to play six rounds of Rock Band with team swaps (i.e., team combinations of Team 1 & 2, Team 3 & 4, Team 1 & 3, Team 2 & 4, Team 1 & 4, and Team 2 & 3) and see which combination did the best.
Suggestions for future Omegathons (apart from the ones already stated above):
With the understanding that PAX East is in its infancy and that there are a lot of things that will be changed in the following years, I suggest some ideas for future Omegathons. In no particular order:
- Make sure that all Enforcers and Expo Hall dealers understand the privileges Omeganauts are afforded. And make sure Omeganauts understand those privileges, too.
- Single/double elimination tournaments are cool, but you could also do a leader board style of tournament, where every Omeganaut will receive a certain number of points per round for their performance that round (e.g., first person gets 10 points, second person gets 8 points, etc.). Then you can have the top people after several rounds compete in the final round. Gives players a chance to claw their way to the top if they did poorly the first couple of rounds. Also gives everybody more playing time as a competing Omeganaut instead of being one for 5 minutes in the first round. And it would be cool to have a giant billboard in one of the halls as a leader board that passersby can look at (it can be updated after every round with velcro/magnet pictures to show the order the players are in).
- Make Omeganaut-specific medals/trophies. Each successive round would require a bigger and cooler medal. Medals could be different colors. Champions could get small trophies. Engravings optional.
- Make the final round more epic, or at least longer. Many people waited hours for the final ceremony and they got ~ 15 minutes of shenanigans. I think the final round should last at least 30 minutes or more if there’s not much of a closing ceremony.
- Have a Fun Round: after the final round is played and winner(s) determined, there can be a game(s) where all the Omeganauts have the option to play against each other for fun… I envision it as a nice, non-competitive capper that has the potential for many laughs, ending PAX on a good note.
- An Omeganaut-only section/room? Maybe something like a VIP room where Omeganauts can leave their stuff, grab some complimentary snacks, and maybe have a console to play against each other for fun. This could also be the same room the music artists use… just an idea.
- The opportunity for Omeganauts to play some games with Jerry and Mike. They’re usually very busy, so it’s understandable if this doesn’t happen.
Voice and Wildcard (and anybody else mentioned in the post), if you’re reading this, let me know what your names are and I’ll edit the post.
I encourage other PAX East Omeganauts to post about their experiences. Take care.
My Omegathon experience started very unexpectedly. It actually wouldn't have started at all, if Gilby hadn't thought to remind someone that when we (the medical pass folk) were led to the theatre early for Wil's keynote, we bypassed the box to collect the Omegathon entry slips. The Enforcers quickly collected them from us and added them to the rest of the bunch.
Later on, after Wil's Rockin' Keynote(tm), Gabe and Tycho came out and explained how the Omeganaut announcement was going to go. As Tycho was talking, explaining the graphic that was going to display the names of the Omeganauts and how they were supposed to, appropriately and proportionately "lose their shit," a list of names showed up on the big screens. When I noticed my name on the list, I honestly thought to myself, "Oh great, they used my name on the sample list. I really thought that since the list popped up so early, as Tycho was talking, that it was some sort of example of what the "real" list was going to look like. It took me a few moments, but I eventually realized that this was, in fact, the real list.
I then lost my shit.
I somehow managed to wheel towards Travis and the other Omeganauts, on the other side of the theatre, while simultaneously throwing horns up with both hands. This, I must tell you, is more difficult than it sounds, and involves momentum and other boring physics. It also involved my wife frantically trying to carry the extra bags of cookies that we had with us (for the Cookie Brigade), as well as our own bags, and follow me towards the door where we were supposed to gather. (Ah, the glamorus life of the Omeganaut's wife.)
Once through the door, the gathered Omeganauts stood with Travis checking our ID to make sure we were really us. It was at this time that they figured out that they needed to call five of the alternates, which was, as previously stated, a pretty darned high number. Andrew (@GeekBoston), who would end up being my partner, was one of them. Khoo was back there as well, at this point, and I'm pretty sure Kiko was taking pictures.
Once it was confirmed that we were who we said we were, and that we were, in fact, on the list, we were randomly split into teams of two. As previously mentioned, I was paired with Andrew(@GeekBoston), which was kind of amusing, as he and I had actually spoke via Twitter before PAXE about Boston and what to expect.
Travis briefed us on the rules, explained how both partners needed to show up for each round, etc. He also explained, at this point, the benefits of the Omeganaut badge, which got a nice round of applause. (This being my first PAX, I was not aware of the Omega-perks.) He listed the games for the first couple rounds (which I believe most of us knew) and told us to meet at the Manticore theatre for the first round immediately after the Q&A.
I met Andrew up at the Manticore theatre and we both admitted to never having played Double Dash before. This turned out to be fairly common, apparently, as there were several Omeganauts sitting in our row on smartphones or netbooks looking up instructions and tips. We were in the second heat, and I'm pleased to say that despite losing, we held our own fairly well. We had some trouble with the controls, but for our first time with Double Dash, we did well. (Our motto for the rest of PAXE became "At least we went forward.") We laughed about it and enjoyed watching the rest of the races. Really, while it would have been awesome to go further, it was a lot of fun just being a part of the Omegathon.
I used the awesome, combined power of my medical badge + my Omeganaut badge to jump to the front of the lines for Wil Wheaton, then Scott and Kris for autographs on the back of my chair. I was able to give Wil one of the "His name was Aeofel" wristbands that I made for him, prompting him to begin his autograph with "Aeofel Lives!!" (I later gave him the handful of them that I had left over, and he was thrilled.) I also used it later on to jump to the front of the line for the Mike & Jerry signing, but these were the only times. Anything else, and I would have felt like I was violating Wheaton's Law. Looking back, I wish I would have used it to jump to the front of the line at the second Q&A, or something like that...but I can't really complain.
Overall, my experience was incredible, despite not moving past the first round. When I was going through chemo, I promised myself, every day, that I was going to get better and make it to PAX. Not only did I do that, I got to see a bitchin' keynote by Wil Wheaton, got a wheelchair full of autographs, became an Omeganaut and helped raise over $3100 for Child's Play with the Cookie Brigade. As far as first PAX experiences go...it couldn't be a lot better.
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Goose!That's me, honeyShow me the way home, honeyRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
Yeah, the thing about the omegathon that to me made it feel like less of a big deal was there wasn't any build up. Because there was no thread here announcing who is who and what their forum name is (if they have one) like at PAX Primes past, there was no real way to find interest in it because I didn't know anyone's name. If they keep the same format, at least insert a forum handle/gamertag field on the card.
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Oddly enough, there don't seem to be omeganaut badges this year, at least not according to señor heels:
One of my jobs will be to make sure that the people picked have passes for all three days. If you have a three day pass or three passes (F/S/S), I don't care, you just need to be there all three days.
There will be badges, not photo badges like at PAX Prime but there will be badges.
PAX East Unboxing Parody
Yeah bring them with you, I am sure it is in some system some where but it will be easier on me if you have them there.
PAX East Unboxing Parody
Otherwise no they seem like the same base game. The controllers would probably be the biggest difference. I don't care either way as I would expect classic console tournaments to be more of a casual thing. It's not like we're playing for some huge prize.
PAX East Unboxing Parody
So to your actual question. The version most likely to be played is Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 for Xbox 360. No clue what makes that game any different from the others, but I will say I grabbed it last week and it is fan-frickin-tastic.
PAX East Unboxing Parody
Everything below is the truth as I know it. If you find any factual error or important omission, please inform me. Some thoughts/events/conversations have been intentionally omitted to protect the innocent.
I was one of the Omeganauts at PAX East 2010. The following was my experience.
I was extremely excited to find my name up on the screen after the keynote. I was one of the lucky few called to be an Omeganaut. I briefly “lost my shiz” and proceeded to exit house right. After waiting for most of the Omeganauts to assemble, we left the Main Theatre where we were then told what was going to happen. Five people didn’t show up, so they had to pull from a reserve list of 10 people – apparently, this was the most reserves they had to use in any Omegathon (?).
The Rules:
We were going to be randomly teamed up with one other person, and we would stay in those teams for the entirety of the Omegathon. Both partners had to be present at least 15 minutes before the start of the event (Round 3, and I’m assuming Round 4, were exceptions) or else that team would be automatically eliminated. No substitutions, even if you didn’t want to play in the Omegathon. Yes, there was somebody asking if they could be subbed out from the onset. All decisions made by Omegathon judges were final and not subject to argument/rebuttal. Omeganauts, even if we lost in the first round, could use their badges to (theoretically) jump to the front of any line (panels, etc.) with a +1. We were also told that since PAX East was new, a lot (most?) of the Enforcers had not worked at a previous PAX before and may not know that the Omeganaut badge gave such a privilege… they tried spreading the word out to as many people possible, but we shouldn’t be completely surprised if we met resistance.
After the explanation of the rules to everyone, we were handed out Omeganaut badges that had our team number on it. I was on Team 6. We had to write our names on the badges so that if they happened to get lost/misplaced, they could be returned to us. We were then told where/when Round 1 was going to be held, and that it was supposed to be two grand prix matches of Mario Kart: Double Dash. But they didn’t have the network adapters yet, so we might be doing 16 one-on-one races. After the explanation, we were free to do whatever until then. I briefly talked with my partner, Francisco, and we entered the Main Theatre. I was walking down one of the aisles to sit down for whatever was left of the Q&A, when I turned around to say something to Francisco and he wasn’t there. At that point I thought, “We really should have exchanged phone numbers.” I prayed that he would be on time for Round 1.
Round 1:
I got to the Manticore Theatre for Round 1 about fifteen minutes early. They were setting up Mario Kart, and it looked like we wouldn’t be doing grand prix matches. Francisco showed up sometime soon, and all was right with the world. It seemed everyone was pretty excited about the match, but nervous that they might be eliminated in the first round. We were pretty impressed that the room got completely filled up. I wasn’t expecting that for Mario Kart.
Francisco and I had a plan. First, we would move our chairs so that they were side-to-side and not front-and-back (which may obscure the vision of the person sitting in the back). I would be the driver and chose Yoshi and Yoshi’s kart, while he would chose Diddy Kong in the back seat. Since I hadn’t played Double Dash in years (at least four, if not more), I forgot most of the shortcuts one could take, and Francisco had played less than me, so our plan was just to focus on collecting ? blocks, tight turns, and playing it safe. After briefly introducing ourselves via gamer tags that were never used for the rest of the competition, we began the race. Our strategy seemed to work pretty well. Things that led to our success were me getting the speed boost from the starting line, and Francisco shoving the other kart and getting a lot of special items. We beat Team 5 in a fun race around Wario Stadium. By the way, worst Random Stage selector? For the team that did abominably bad in Double Dash – kart wasn’t moving, switched players by accident, got lapped twice – our hearts really went out to you guys. I decided that if we got to Round 3, I would unofficially dedicate our performance to you guys.
Francisco and I exchanged phone numbers and we decided to get together sometime after the concerts to play some Geometry Wars 2 (GW2) for Round 2. He had played it only a few times and I had never played it before. Sometime before the concerts, I found out that there was GW set up in the LFG Free Console room. At first, I was only able to get onto a console with the GW’s demo. Then I met another Omeganaut (Ryan, I think?) and his buddy (I forget his name, sorry) trying to do the same thing I was, and we found a console with GW2’s demo. Apparently, there was another console with the complete version of GW2, but there were people on it and I wasn’t able to get to it before I left.
Right before they opened the doors to the main theater for the concerts, my friends and I briefly talked to Jerry Holkins about PAX and the Omegathon, which was pretty cool. Thank you, Jerry, for taking the time to talk to us. It felt like you wanted to stay and talk some more, but other forces were pulling you away - the chains of a logistical nightmare.
I left PAX after Anamanaguchi’s awesome performance, called up Francisco, and was able to walk to his buddies’ place a few blocks away. I think it was about 1am by the time I got there. His friends showed us how to play and practice the different team-based multiplayer modes for 1.5 hours. We got a pretty solid handle on how to play the different modes and were confident that we would win Round 2. They would be at Round 2 cheering us on. We were also speculating at what the Round 3 game would be. We were thinking it would be DJ Hero with the second player playing the guitar since Jerry has posted his fondness for DJ Hero… and we were thinking Rock Band/Guitar Hero had been played at so many other Omegathons before. Then again, we were also speculating that Green Day Rock Band would make a showing as Round 3. Anyway, Francisco’s friends had a copy of DJ Hero, which I tried for 30 minutes and got a basic understanding for it (but not very proficient). If we were going to play DJ Hero with a guitar, I was going to play the guitar. I left at about 3am, Francisco starting to pass out, and told him I’d call him in the morning to make sure he was up. I finally got in bed at 3:30am. I slept for about five out-like-a-light hours.
Round 2:
I met Francisco and his friends at the Free Console room right on time. I was expecting Round 2 to have a huge projected screen with hundreds of people, like in Round 1. But, disappointingly, it was only a few dozen people surrounding a nice flat TV monitor. I guess it was too early in the morning, and/or GW2 wasn’t high on people’s spectator-sport list. It seems the rules were changed slightly from the program, as we were only going to play the King mode for every round, instead of a random multiplayer mode each round. First team to 50 points would win. Winning team of a round got 10 points while the losing team would get 5 points. Two teams competed before Francisco and I went up. I forget what Team # we were facing off against, but it was the one composed of two ladies. We were playing as the Red Team, which threw us off slightly, as we were practicing as the Blue Team the night before. We won the first round, lost the second round, but then had our shiz together the rest of the time. Since we won the third and fourth rounds, we were guaranteed to win Round 2. We were given the option to play the fifth round anyway, and I specifically wanted to do that – after all, the girls may have been able to beat us, giving them better cred. Also, I wanted more time playing GW2, which is pretty fun. The girls agreed to play the final round. Francisco’s friends were yelling “Suicide, suicide!” And I was like, “No, no, let’s play this for real, I’d like to win it.” And we won it. We were going to Round 3 to play in front of thousands (?) of people! The girls seemed pretty upset by our victory, as I hardly got a handshake at all, and at least one of them looked misty-eyed and shaken-up (couldn’t tell about the other girl). It was a good game girls, I hope there are no hard feelings.
Since we won before the PA: The Series panel started, I told Francisco I’d give him a call later, and I went to see the panel. After the panel, I spent a lot of time in the LFG Free Console Room playing the guitar in Rock Band, on Medium (~2 cumulative hours, max). I never had much time with Rock Band before, so Medium was the best I could do with ~90-99% accuracy/song.
Round 3:
The remaining four teams of Omeganauts met in front of the Main Theatre at 7pm. We were told once we went inside, we could not come back out… not even for the bathroom. I immediately went to the bathroom. After we were all good, we entered the theatre and promptly met Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins and were told that we’d be playing Rock Band. So much for our DJ Hero theory. They then split us into two groups of four. Mike and Jerry had to choose which team they wanted to sponsor. Mike went first and chose the team that he felt would be the underdogs, the team that Francisco and I were on – I forget the names of the other two guys (my bad). We walked down a ways from Jerry and the other team and talked strategerously (sic).
The logistics of the Rock Band challenge were: 1) Each team would be allowed to play one practice song, which would not be the actual song played for the challenge, and we were not told what the practice song would be until we were playing it. 2) Everybody would play at Medium level. 3) Each team would stay in the Green Room (room leading to the back stage – behind the black curtain) until it was there turn to play. This way, we wouldn’t know what song was being played or how well the other team was doing. 4) If we failed the practice song, we couldn’t redo it. 5) If we didn’t want to play an instrument that we were playing during the practice round, we could switch for the actual challenge. 6) You could play two instruments at the same time (e.g., guitar and microphone) or have multiple people playing the same instrument if you wanted. 7) We had to come up with a team name.
Obviously, the most crucial aspect of this challenge was to figure out who was playing what. I said that I could play guitar/bass on Medium, and that I might be able to do the drums, but my drums experience was mostly for Guitar Hero, not Rock Band. I only played a couple times on drums for Rock Band, and there was definitely a difference in the feel of it between Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Also, I think the difficulty levels don’t exactly match up between the two games. I could be wrong, but I don’t know. Francisco said he really didn’t play Rock Band, and that he wasn’t that good at guitar/bass, but he used to be a drummer in middle school. One of the guys on the other team said that music games weren’t really his thing, so he never really played them before (let’s call him Voice), and his partner said that he could play any position in expert (let’s call him Wildcard). So we decided that I would play the bass, Francisco would play the drums, Wildcard would play the guitar, and Voice would sing into the microphone. Mike said band names usually referenced Penny Arcade material, and we decided to call ourselves The Claptraps after the band in the Automata strip (even though we were aware that a previous Omegathon band used the same name).
Both teams then went into the Green Room, and the other team was called up first to practice. After they came back in, we went to the stage, grabbed our controllers, and began to rock on “Dani California” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (I think). I was doing fine on the base, although I was playing with a guitar model I wasn’t used to so the frets felt different. Wildcard was doing fine, and Voice seemed to be doing alright, too. Francisco, failed out – I think we saved him once… but then we failed out the song. I was just shaking my head and made a thumbs-down sign. I briefly looked at Kiko, who was taking photos at the edge of the stage, and I believe he sort of smiled and nodded his head, agreeing with me. We were disheartened by our failed performance as we walked back into the Green Room. We started to discuss if we should change instruments. Francisco said that the reason he failed was that he wasn’t hitting the notes at the right moment, even though he was getting the rhythm down. Voice said he was pretty comfortable with the microphone as long as he knew what song we were going to play. We decided to keep the same instruments and we told Francisco that if he was lagging behind notes, just to miss a measure and then get back in. Mike and Wildcard were giving us pointers about how to get Star Power (I’m still not even sure if it’s actually called that in Rock Band) and when to unleash it. Essentially, my job was to unleash Star Power whenever Wildcard told me to do so.
Somebody (Mike or an Enforcer) said they were going to decide which band was going to perform first. I was pretty sure that we were going to go first since we failed out our song, and the other team probably did not. After all, as an entertainment piece, you would want the better band to go last. I was right, we were going to play first.
We were made to wait at the door of the Green Room before going on stage. And once we were called to go on stage, we had to MOVE IT MOVE IT MOVE IT! Francisco went up on stage first, followed by me, Wildcard, and Voice. I patted Francisco’s shoulder, said something cool, and picked up the bass controller. Then I went to the monitor on stage right and sat in front of it with my left leg extended and my right foot underneath it (my knee was/is injured and I couldn’t bend it all the way or stand for too long. Also, I could see the monitor better). And then we played “The Gambler”. It seemed to be a much easier song than “Dani California” (at least for the bass). I hit almost every note, so I was really happy with my performance. More importantly, we finished the entire song, and I don’t think anybody failed out. We came off the stage feeling pumped and excited that we didn’t fail and we had a solid run. Everyone felt pretty confident. We entered the Green Room and waited while the other team performed.
When it was about time for us to be brought out, we were told that we might hear that the other team had to restart the song because there was a mix-up between the guitar and bass player, that they had played about 10-15 seconds before failing the song. We were all like, “Ok?” They made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal that they restarted. We were promptly brought on stage where it was announced that we had lost to the other team by almost twice as many points. It stung, but at least we got that far and it was fun to play in front of everybody and not totally suck. Apparently the other team just had more concurrent Star Power than us, thus having a better point multiplier.
The members of The Claptraps parted ways after thanking Mike and Jerry, and I met my friends outside the back stage area. I got their take on what happened. They said it was “bullsh**” that we lost because the other team had an advantageous edge over us by playing through the first 30 seconds or so of the song on their first time. I told them that we were told it was more like 10 seconds. My friends did not agree and said it was definitely more like 30 seconds *shrug*. (After looking at one YouTube video, it does seem they played more than 20 seconds before failing out). They argued that the first play through gave the singer and drummer a view at what to expect at the beginning of the song and allowed them to get their shiz together. They then said that even after being given a second chance, the singer failed out once and was saved. So my friends were thinking that the team would have failed out the first time anyway, but were able to figure things out after being given that second chance (foreshadowing?!). Well, it was too late to do anything about it, but I can’t help think that what would have made things fairer would have been both bands playing a second unknown song and seeing who won at that one, or best two out of three.
Round 4:
I wanted to know what was going down for the final round and see what the closing ceremony was like. Everybody who’s reading this probably saw what happened, either in person or on YouTube, so I’ll spare the details of the competition. But man, I felt what happened to the team on the left (let’s call them Team 1) was what happened to The Claptraps the night before. Team 1 should have won. In my mind, they are the winners. The pure disappointment and pissed-off anger on one of the players from Team 1 said it all. My friends turned to me and said, “See, this was the same bullsh** that happened to you guys last night.” Despite stating that they wanted a clean run, they should have had a best two out of three contest at that point. They make the rules, and they can break and remake them (like they did with Rounds 1 and 2). And I don’t think anybody would have resisted a best two out of three challenge. Anyway, it felt like a sour point at the end of PAX. Maybe Team 1 will be called back to play in the Omegathon next year. I wish I could be called back to play in the Omegathon next year
Privileges of the Omeganuat badge:
I didn’t really get much use out of the Omeganaut badge to cut lines. I definitely knew I could use it for panels, but I wasn’t completely sure about other lines (like at the Expo Hall or at Console Freeplay). My first attempt was at Console Freeplay where there were a lot of people waiting, and when I asked an Enforcer, he asked somebody else, and she essentially said that Omeganauts were no more special than anybody else. I didn’t fight it and went on my way. My second attempt was to get into the CollegeHumor panel, which was already closed and was ending in five minutes. The Enforcer there was a bit resistant at first, but I made a point that there was only five minutes left and I wasn’t going to stay for the next panel. She let me get in, and I left when it was over. The third attempt was at the Skate booth in the Expo Hall. The girl didn’t seem to know what an Omeganaut was, nor whether I could be let in front of the line (my medical badge didn’t help, either). She told me I could find an Enforcer with a gold arm band and ask him/her about it because, “they would definitely know.” I found an Enforcer with a gold band on and asked her if I was able to cut Expo Hall lines with my Omeganaut badge and she said, “Absolutely not.” I didn’t fight it and went on my way.
My fourth attempt was at the Gabe and Tycho signing in the Queue Room, where the line was closed but relatively small by that point. I was with one of my friends, counting on him to be my +1, and the Enforcer said that he didn’t think we would be able to get in line. We asked him to make sure and find somebody who knew. He asked somebody who didn’t know, so we went to another Enforcer directing people for the Closing Ceremony. He didn’t know, so he brought us to some Enforcers by the signing table, and they were like, “Oh, yeah, definitely.” And we were able to get our stuff signed by Mike and Jerry. Thank you, Mike and Jerry! I think after that, we went upstairs and noticed Wil Wheaton was signing stuff outside the Main Theatre. The line was considerably shortened by that point and the Enforcer at the end of it said that the line was closed and we wouldn’t be able to get in line. I told him I didn’t even care about waiting at the end of the line, I just wanted to meet him – I’m an Omeganaut, after all. He was dubious and we urged him to ask somebody about it. Since he himself couldn’t leave the line, he asked us to ask another Enforcer to go ask another Enforcer. After the WoW-based task was completed, we got a “Yeah, definitely let them in, they’re Omeganauts, they can get into anything they want.” And we were able to briefly meet Wil Wheaton. Nice meeting you, Wil.
Expectations for how the Omegathon was going to run:
Before I was an Omeganaut, before PAX East had even started, I had a few expectations of how general proceedings were going to be. First, I thought that the Omegathon was going to be a big deal in general. I imagined people talking about it, a lot of people going to the different rounds, and people recognizing Omeganauts and giving them high-fives. Personally, I don’t think the Omegathon was a big deal at PAX East. It didn’t feel like it was a big deal, except to those that were in it. I never heard anybody talking about it except for other Omeganauts, friends of Omeganauts, and the people/Enforcers behind the Omegathon workings. To illustrate my point, I was talking with the folks from The Protomen on Sunday and they noticed I had an Omeganaut badge, and they asked me (in a genial manner, mind you), “What the f*** is an Omeganaut?” So I explained to them all about the Omegathon. It sounded like a cool idea to them.
I expected Omeganaut pictures would be taken and posted in a hallway, at least after the first round, like they did for the 2009 Omegathon. And if they didn’t do that, at the very least have a few giant signs about the Omegathon. Obviously, neither happened. The closest thing to these ideas was the team brackets that they said they were going to try and put up before each round. That didn’t happen until the third round. And I wonder how many people were actually interested in seeing Rounds 3 and 4 versus being there because of the concerts or the closing ceremony.
I expected longer play time per round. I didn’t time them, but Round 1 was probably the longest because sixteen races were played. Playing Round 2 seemed a bit longer and more satisfying than Round 3 since teams were playing at least five rounds, if not more. And if Round 4 had a clean run from beginning to end, it probably would have been the shortest round. I didn’t like the shorter play time, neither as an Omeganaut, nor as a spectator - with each successive round, the remaining Omeganauts should be having more play time. It also makes for a greater time for the audience.
I expected that Round 3 was going to be four teams competing, not two teams. Putting together teams seemed to deemphasize the point of having two-person teams to begin with. On the other hand, if team-combining was a must, it probably would have been more interesting and more fun (and more fair?) to play six rounds of Rock Band with team swaps (i.e., team combinations of Team 1 & 2, Team 3 & 4, Team 1 & 3, Team 2 & 4, Team 1 & 4, and Team 2 & 3) and see which combination did the best.
Suggestions for future Omegathons (apart from the ones already stated above):
With the understanding that PAX East is in its infancy and that there are a lot of things that will be changed in the following years, I suggest some ideas for future Omegathons. In no particular order:
- Make sure that all Enforcers and Expo Hall dealers understand the privileges Omeganauts are afforded. And make sure Omeganauts understand those privileges, too.
- Single/double elimination tournaments are cool, but you could also do a leader board style of tournament, where every Omeganaut will receive a certain number of points per round for their performance that round (e.g., first person gets 10 points, second person gets 8 points, etc.). Then you can have the top people after several rounds compete in the final round. Gives players a chance to claw their way to the top if they did poorly the first couple of rounds. Also gives everybody more playing time as a competing Omeganaut instead of being one for 5 minutes in the first round. And it would be cool to have a giant billboard in one of the halls as a leader board that passersby can look at (it can be updated after every round with velcro/magnet pictures to show the order the players are in).
- Make Omeganaut-specific medals/trophies. Each successive round would require a bigger and cooler medal. Medals could be different colors. Champions could get small trophies. Engravings optional.
- Make the final round more epic, or at least longer. Many people waited hours for the final ceremony and they got ~ 15 minutes of shenanigans. I think the final round should last at least 30 minutes or more if there’s not much of a closing ceremony.
- Have a Fun Round: after the final round is played and winner(s) determined, there can be a game(s) where all the Omeganauts have the option to play against each other for fun… I envision it as a nice, non-competitive capper that has the potential for many laughs, ending PAX on a good note.
- An Omeganaut-only section/room? Maybe something like a VIP room where Omeganauts can leave their stuff, grab some complimentary snacks, and maybe have a console to play against each other for fun. This could also be the same room the music artists use… just an idea.
- The opportunity for Omeganauts to play some games with Jerry and Mike. They’re usually very busy, so it’s understandable if this doesn’t happen.
Voice and Wildcard (and anybody else mentioned in the post), if you’re reading this, let me know what your names are and I’ll edit the post.
I encourage other PAX East Omeganauts to post about their experiences. Take care.
- Andrew
Later on, after Wil's Rockin' Keynote(tm), Gabe and Tycho came out and explained how the Omeganaut announcement was going to go. As Tycho was talking, explaining the graphic that was going to display the names of the Omeganauts and how they were supposed to, appropriately and proportionately "lose their shit," a list of names showed up on the big screens. When I noticed my name on the list, I honestly thought to myself, "Oh great, they used my name on the sample list. I really thought that since the list popped up so early, as Tycho was talking, that it was some sort of example of what the "real" list was going to look like. It took me a few moments, but I eventually realized that this was, in fact, the real list.
I then lost my shit.
I somehow managed to wheel towards Travis and the other Omeganauts, on the other side of the theatre, while simultaneously throwing horns up with both hands. This, I must tell you, is more difficult than it sounds, and involves momentum and other boring physics. It also involved my wife frantically trying to carry the extra bags of cookies that we had with us (for the Cookie Brigade), as well as our own bags, and follow me towards the door where we were supposed to gather. (Ah, the glamorus life of the Omeganaut's wife.)
Once through the door, the gathered Omeganauts stood with Travis checking our ID to make sure we were really us. It was at this time that they figured out that they needed to call five of the alternates, which was, as previously stated, a pretty darned high number. Andrew (@GeekBoston), who would end up being my partner, was one of them. Khoo was back there as well, at this point, and I'm pretty sure Kiko was taking pictures.
Once it was confirmed that we were who we said we were, and that we were, in fact, on the list, we were randomly split into teams of two. As previously mentioned, I was paired with Andrew(@GeekBoston), which was kind of amusing, as he and I had actually spoke via Twitter before PAXE about Boston and what to expect.
Travis briefed us on the rules, explained how both partners needed to show up for each round, etc. He also explained, at this point, the benefits of the Omeganaut badge, which got a nice round of applause. (This being my first PAX, I was not aware of the Omega-perks.) He listed the games for the first couple rounds (which I believe most of us knew) and told us to meet at the Manticore theatre for the first round immediately after the Q&A.
I met Andrew up at the Manticore theatre and we both admitted to never having played Double Dash before. This turned out to be fairly common, apparently, as there were several Omeganauts sitting in our row on smartphones or netbooks looking up instructions and tips. We were in the second heat, and I'm pleased to say that despite losing, we held our own fairly well. We had some trouble with the controls, but for our first time with Double Dash, we did well. (Our motto for the rest of PAXE became "At least we went forward.") We laughed about it and enjoyed watching the rest of the races. Really, while it would have been awesome to go further, it was a lot of fun just being a part of the Omegathon.
I used the awesome, combined power of my medical badge + my Omeganaut badge to jump to the front of the lines for Wil Wheaton, then Scott and Kris for autographs on the back of my chair. I was able to give Wil one of the "His name was Aeofel" wristbands that I made for him, prompting him to begin his autograph with "Aeofel Lives!!" (I later gave him the handful of them that I had left over, and he was thrilled.) I also used it later on to jump to the front of the line for the Mike & Jerry signing, but these were the only times. Anything else, and I would have felt like I was violating Wheaton's Law. Looking back, I wish I would have used it to jump to the front of the line at the second Q&A, or something like that...but I can't really complain.
Overall, my experience was incredible, despite not moving past the first round. When I was going through chemo, I promised myself, every day, that I was going to get better and make it to PAX. Not only did I do that, I got to see a bitchin' keynote by Wil Wheaton, got a wheelchair full of autographs, became an Omeganaut and helped raise over $3100 for Child's Play with the Cookie Brigade. As far as first PAX experiences go...it couldn't be a lot better.
Organizer of the Post-PAX Party. You should come!
Satellite Theater for life!