Yeah, ducked out of the Dragon Age thing to line up for a panel, it was fairly detailed Did anyone go to the spore demo after Dragon Age, was it any good?
Aye, the Dragon Age toolset was definitely meant for the kind of audience that loved to play with the Neverwinter Nights modding tools. It looks like a significant leap forward though, and I'm excited to get a chance to play with it.
I didn't stick around for the Spore demo though... it's so close to coming out (or is it already out? I think it might be!) that I figured I'd just pick it up when I get the chance.
Worst in my opinion was the Dragon Age. With them using their floor space to hide their product that seemed to keep crashing as it was hours between demos, I was expecting the presentation to be a more in-depth view of the gameplay, story, etc. When my wife and I saw that it was about the editing tool, we joined the streams headed for the door.
Speaking of having my wife with me, people could be a bit more considerate of the ladies. Having balloons bounce around with falic drawings, and just general disregard for the fact that someone may not want to hear the crass stuff you're spewing isn't ok, be it attendees or panelists.
Not to sound all negative, there were some great panels I got to see. They typically made waiting in the half-hour to hour long lines worth while.
The Guild Friday night was a blast, surprised nobody has mentioned it here. Felicia Day answered any and all questions asked of her, wish I could have seen her sing Still Alive with Jonathan Coulton, I would have gone to the concert to see that.
Wil Wheaton was cool too. I can even say I don't hate Wesley anymore
I went to two, despite having highlighted like...12 on my schedule. Got caught up playing TCGs...
Anyway, my opinions:
Engaging Online Communities
This could have been awesome, but it kinda sucked. The moderator spent way to much time talking about herself, the theatre was hard to hear in, the microphones were somewhat quiet, people in a nearby area were talking very loudly, and only one person out of the 5 people left in the panel seemed to have anything that he wanted to say. He also claimed to like listening to himself speak, which I can relate to :P.
The moderator also started the panel off with about 10 minutes of irrelevant "icebreaker" questions, which were somewhat lame. And since no one seemed to want to talk, didn't appear to do their job.
Creating Virtual Worlds
This was a great panel of two people from Red5. I was worried when people started lining up to ask questions right off the bat that it would be filled with them answering questions and not really providing input into the topic, but the questions were all very well thoughtout (great job everyone who asked questions there!) and the panelists had thought-provoking and informative answers to them. I left there with some ideas that I would use, if I had an MMO of my own, or thought that someone other than my girlfriend would listen to me :P
Worst in my opinion was the Dragon Age. With them using their floor space to hide their product that seemed to keep crashing as it was hours between demos, I was expecting the presentation to be a more in-depth view of the gameplay, story, etc. When my wife and I saw that it was about the editing tool, we joined the streams headed for the door.
Speaking of having my wife with me, people could be a bit more considerate of the ladies. Having balloons bounce around with falic drawings, and just general disregard for the fact that someone may not want to hear the crass stuff you're spewing isn't ok, be it attendees or panelists.
Not to sound all negative, there were some great panels I got to see. They typically made waiting in the half-hour to hour long lines worth while.
I know not many people knew about this, but the crashing wasn't really their fault. The spot they got in the Expo hall apparently didn't have its own power supply, they had to route it from another spot and share it with a few other booths... which apparently caused a lot of unexpected technical difficulties. =(
Wil Wheaton's panel on Sunday was the best in my opinion. Also, Friday's "The Growing Role of Women in the Industry" was VERY good. Annie Carlson just rocked and had really insightful things to say. Core vs. Casual gaming was okay but we didn't really get into very deep questions.
Anything that seemed like it would be boring I avoided.
Very disappointed by "How to get the world to notice your video game blog". The entire panel was from Destructoid and its associates, and half the room was just Destructoid users. Lots of nut-grabbing and boasting, which was annoying. It was a little bit helpful, but overall just a big club meeting for D'toid.
capnjack on
Q: "You are in the garden. You see a rose bush. You have a fishing rod. Exits are North, South and IN."
A: "What do you want from me?!?!?"
I only made it to the second half of the Beyond D&D Panel, but as a result I think I'm going to purchase the Burning Wheel and shove it in my rules-lawyering friend's face.
I also enjoyed the (can't remember the name) Legal Issues in Gaming Panel, since they confirmed for me that a fellow did in fact stab his friend over said friend's stealing of an epic that they bought together and one of them stole from the other. I also learned that in China fellow sued and won when another player stole his gear, and was not only awarded his items back, but $11k in damages of real money.
I missed the Girl Gaming Communities panel, but from the previous posts it looks like I didn't miss much.
The Women in the Industry panel was excellent, and the panelists were very friendly. We spent a decent amount of time after the panel talking with one of them (can't remember her name either.) I was the one who stood up and said men in WOW are fugly....cause it's true. If designers can spend so much time giving every female ava in that game (gnomes and dwarves aside) massive T&A, they can give the male avas asses! I want something to look at other than body-building freaks!
Very disappointed by "How to get the world to notice your video game blog". The entire panel was from Destructoid and its associates, and half the room was just Destructoid users. Lots of nut-grabbing and boasting, which was annoying. It was a little bit helpful, but overall just a big club meeting for D'toid.
Yeah, the guy to the far right, and the guy on the far left were great, but everyone else was pretty bad and uninteresting imo.
I only made it to the second half of the Beyond D&D Panel, but as a result I think I'm going to purchase the Burning Wheel and shove it in my rules-lawyering friend's face.
I also enjoyed the (can't remember the name) Legal Issues in Gaming Panel, since they confirmed for me that a fellow did in fact stab his friend over said friend's stealing of an epic that they bought together and one of them stole from the other. I also learned that in China fellow sued and won when another player stole his gear, and was not only awarded his items back, but $11k in damages of real money.
I missed the Girl Gaming Communities panel, but from the previous posts it looks like I didn't miss much.
The Women in the Industry panel was excellent, and the panelists were very friendly. We spent a decent amount of time after the panel talking with one of them (can't remember her name either.) I was the one who stood up and said men in WOW are fugly....cause it's true. If designers can spend so much time giving every female ava in that game (gnomes and dwarves aside) massive T&A, they can give the male avas asses! I want something to look at other than body-building freaks!
Glad that you liked it. We'll talk more about stuff like that next year, as some of the current litigation resolves.
SWATJester on
Moderator, PAX Prime 08, 09, 10, 10-East, panels on "Legal Issues in Gaming"
Contributing Editor, http://www.gamepolitics.com
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Posts
Aye, the Dragon Age toolset was definitely meant for the kind of audience that loved to play with the Neverwinter Nights modding tools. It looks like a significant leap forward though, and I'm excited to get a chance to play with it.
I didn't stick around for the Spore demo though... it's so close to coming out (or is it already out? I think it might be!) that I figured I'd just pick it up when I get the chance.
Speaking of having my wife with me, people could be a bit more considerate of the ladies. Having balloons bounce around with falic drawings, and just general disregard for the fact that someone may not want to hear the crass stuff you're spewing isn't ok, be it attendees or panelists.
Not to sound all negative, there were some great panels I got to see. They typically made waiting in the half-hour to hour long lines worth while.
Wil Wheaton was cool too. I can even say I don't hate Wesley anymore
Anyway, my opinions:
Engaging Online Communities
This could have been awesome, but it kinda sucked. The moderator spent way to much time talking about herself, the theatre was hard to hear in, the microphones were somewhat quiet, people in a nearby area were talking very loudly, and only one person out of the 5 people left in the panel seemed to have anything that he wanted to say. He also claimed to like listening to himself speak, which I can relate to :P.
The moderator also started the panel off with about 10 minutes of irrelevant "icebreaker" questions, which were somewhat lame. And since no one seemed to want to talk, didn't appear to do their job.
Creating Virtual Worlds
This was a great panel of two people from Red5. I was worried when people started lining up to ask questions right off the bat that it would be filled with them answering questions and not really providing input into the topic, but the questions were all very well thoughtout (great job everyone who asked questions there!) and the panelists had thought-provoking and informative answers to them. I left there with some ideas that I would use, if I had an MMO of my own, or thought that someone other than my girlfriend would listen to me :P
I know not many people knew about this, but the crashing wasn't really their fault. The spot they got in the Expo hall apparently didn't have its own power supply, they had to route it from another spot and share it with a few other booths... which apparently caused a lot of unexpected technical difficulties. =(
Anything that seemed like it would be boring I avoided.
A: "What do you want from me?!?!?"
I also enjoyed the (can't remember the name) Legal Issues in Gaming Panel, since they confirmed for me that a fellow did in fact stab his friend over said friend's stealing of an epic that they bought together and one of them stole from the other. I also learned that in China fellow sued and won when another player stole his gear, and was not only awarded his items back, but $11k in damages of real money.
I missed the Girl Gaming Communities panel, but from the previous posts it looks like I didn't miss much.
The Women in the Industry panel was excellent, and the panelists were very friendly. We spent a decent amount of time after the panel talking with one of them (can't remember her name either.) I was the one who stood up and said men in WOW are fugly....cause it's true. If designers can spend so much time giving every female ava in that game (gnomes and dwarves aside) massive T&A, they can give the male avas asses! I want something to look at other than body-building freaks!
Yeah, the guy to the far right, and the guy on the far left were great, but everyone else was pretty bad and uninteresting imo.
Glad that you liked it. We'll talk more about stuff like that next year, as some of the current litigation resolves.
Contributing Editor, http://www.gamepolitics.com
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]