penny-arcade posts

Anyone who thought that the revamped and larger E3 would affect the interest in this September's Penny Arcade Expo can go ahead and put that out of their minds. The annual fan-oriented games fest just updated their site with their list of exhibitors and it remains a Who's Who of the game industry.

Exhibitors like EA, Blizzard, Valve, Ubisoft, Stardock, Bethesda Softworks and many others are already set to appear at the September 4-6 game event in Seattle, WA. According to the PAX web site their exhibitor space is " . . . almost sold out already." Last year over 58,000 people attended PAX and this year they are already saying tickets for 2009's show will be limited. If you haven't pre-registered yet, now would be a good time to do so before they sell out.

The guys at Penny Arcade hardly need any introduction, but because I'm a completist, I'll just run the basics down here. The Penny Arcade webcomic launched in 1998 on the now-defunct loonygames.com website. Since then, the brand has become a wildly successful website, spawning its own charity (Child's Play), gaming expo (Penny Arcade Expo, or PAX), and video game series (On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness).

Perhaps the best example of how to succeed on the Internet, Gabe and Tycho (as their real-life counterparts Michael Krahulik and Jerry Holkins) have accomplished the amazing feat of growing from tiny personal project into respected, influential gamer mainstay. Yet no matter how big they seem, they manage to keep their indie credentials, somehow representing the Everyman (or Everygamer) with no conflict. This begs the question: How long can they keep it up?

While E3 is getting back to its larger trade show roots for its 2009 show its projection of 40,000 attendees still makes it the second largest game gathering in the US. Number is, of course, the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle who had over 58,000 people attend in 2008.

Last year PAX organizers announced plans to launch a second expo in Boston starting in March of 2010. We are just under a year away from the event's launch but PAX East's web site has now gone live and is taking people's money for those of you who want to get in on the ground floor. The event, which will be held on March 26-28 at the Hynes Convention Center, will charge $50 for a three-day ticket or $30 for a one-day ticket before the show. People who wait until the show begins will get hit with a $5 extra charge at the door.

The Independent Games Festival isn't the only place where indie game developers can strut their stuff nowadays. The annual Penny Arcade Expo has been running the PAX 10 competition for a little while now and today they announced they are taking applications for the 2009 edition.

Developers can submit their entries before May 9 where they will be judged by a panel of game developers and the Penny Arcade team. 10 games will be chosen and will be put on display at PAX in Seattle on September 4-6. This is for pure stand alone indie games only that are self funded. No mods or games that have a publisher are allowed. Last year the PAX 10 included some well know indie games like Audiosurf, Project Aftermath and The Maw, the latter of which has just been officially released for the PC today.

It seems just like yesterday that Jack Thompson was trying to get the FBI to go after the Penny Arcade team. The gaming-oriented web comic strip has surpassed it's origins, launching a highly successful game convention, running a big children's charity and even stopping to help develop an episodic game series.

This week their efforts got a big and official "thumbs up" from the state legislature in their home state of Washington. A state senate resolution, 8640, "officially recognize the accomplishments of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik in becoming widely accepted leaders in the computer and video game industries" It certainly beats a poke in the eye. You can also check out the team's latest comic strip that's (sort of) related (and by that we mean barely related but still funny).

It's February but people are already thinking about heading out to enjoy the Labor Day 2009 weekend. Well, at least the Penny Arcade team is anyway. Today the official Penny Arcade Expo web site launched their pre-registration for their annual fan-oriented PC-video game convention. This year's event will be held on Sept. 4-6 and once again the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle will host the festivities.

Last year's PAX brought in a whopping 58,600 people and even though the show was considered a success there were a few complaints of overcrowding and long lines. That may be the reason why the show's web site is advising people to pre-register ASAP as "the number of badges available will be limited." There's no word yet on how limited they plan to make the event. The show is currently taking $50 for three-day tickets and $30 for a one day ticket.

The annual Child's Play charity fund drive is officially over for 2008 and the gaming oriented organization has announced that it raised $1,434,377 in its latest drive, setting a new record for the charity despite the current economic downturn.

While the annual toy portion drive is over, Child's Play continues to raise money for its participating children's hospitals. Today Sony Online announced that it will offer up special in-game items for both Everquest and Everquest II. The publisher will donate $10 to the Child's Play charity every time someone purchase a special Child's Play branded in game item with Sony's Station Cash. The promotion begins Jan. 20 and lasts for a month.

Independent Minds aims to take various aspects of indie gaming and present them to you each week. From game round-ups to design elements to interviews with prominent members of the scene, it's an exploration of what makes indie gaming great as well as what makes someone an indie.

Well, maybe not handicapped, but certainly accessible! Accessibility is an incredibly important aspect of gaming that nobody really pays attention to. Accessibility is really simple: how easy is it for a new player to come in and pick up your game. Most notably, you must pick up and hold your new player's attention, even if they don't completely understand the game right from the very start. In a way, this tied into both ambition and the principles of good design, but it goes a little farther beyond that into knowing your players. It's a guessing game, really.

The explanation or setting up of important information in a story is called exposition, and for some writers, it's a charged concept. There are few scenarios indeed where there is no need for exposition -- you will always be dropped into the middle of a situation that requires at least a cursory sentence or two explaining the location, the time, and the characters. Weaker writers tend to lean too heavily on this, over-explaining in gratuitous detail what's going on, when they should just let the scene speak for itself. If the writer does his job, there is no need for explanatory dialogue, which is tedious and unrealistic. The situation will be apparent.

The task becomes more difficult when used in a video game, which is an inherently interactive, frequently non-linear medium. The player is typically brought up-to-date via that time-honored staple, the cutscene. But is this the best mechanism to use for the job? It may be fun to get the filmic experience through a particularly cinematic cutscene, but if you want to sit passively and see people talk, shouldn't you watch an actual movie instead? We can do just about anything with video games -- isn't it time we tried something new?

The Penny Arcade run charity Child's Play continues to increase its amount it has raise during the holidays to support its many children's hospitals. Last week the charity's official web site announced it has now raised $1,172,346 in cash and gift donations this year.

The charity is still collecting money and gifts even this late into the holiday period and they have just announced their Child's Play CD, an album of geek-flavors songs where all the proceeds will go towards the charity. Among the highlights is a recording of the Portal song "Still Alive" by Jonathan Coulton which features The Guild creator Felicia Day on vocals.