I love living relatively close to Boston, especially since it made it so easy for me to get to the first PAX East last year. I was hoping to go this year, but money and RL doused those plans. Instead, I’ll be in Las Vegas this weekend visiting family. I hope everyone has a blast at PAX East 2011!
I woke up this morning knowing it would be the perfect day for a geocache. It was a crisp mid-60s and still relatively early in the morning, so I knew there wouldn’t be as many bug attacks. I decided to hit up two different areas of East Greenbush to snag some geocaches…an old railroad line and the local cemetery. I think I found two out of the three caches I was looking for, but I’ll get to that in a bit. Let’s start from the beginning, when I left my house at around 7:15ish and headed to the old railroad path for my first cache of the day.
The path I was to follow was directly off a side road, so I pulled my car over onto the grass, got out, and headed down the trail. What I quickly realized was that this is the same trail that runs right adjacent to our apartment complex, so I could have technically just followed that all the way down, though it would have been one heck of a walk! Eventually my GPS told me to head off the path and into the woods, where the cache would be. After some brief searching through the bramble and brush, I eyed my prize, which wasn’t too well hidden (so long as you happened to be walking in the woods, off the path.)
So I previously went over my first impressions of the system itself, and what it offers. Now I’m going to spend some time talking about the great games I have gotten to play, and there are some great ones indeed!
Castle Crashers:
This is one of the games that had me drooling for a 360, especially since first getting to actually play it at PAX. It’s still in the works for a PS3 release, but it took so dang long so this was one of the first games I snagged. Castle Crashers is a beautiful, colorful, BLOODY beat em’ up, straight out of the old school days. Up to four players (locally or online, which is awesome) can team up with a character of their choice and lay the smackdown on dozens of minions and giant bosses. The leveling system is great, where if you die on a level you maintain all the gold, weapons, creatures, and XP you earned, and it all adds in to the awesome replay value of the game. This is the game I was waiting for, and now that I have it, I see that it’s everything I thought it would be and more. If you have a 360 and don’t have this game, then you’re a fool!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: 1989 Classic Arcade
This game is straight out of the old school arcade we all know and love. The graphics and gameplay are all down right as they were…no lame “revival” like Turtles in Time Re-Shelled was. There is really little to say about the awesomeness of this game: old school arcade beat em’ up! The only thing they did was make it so that you have unlimited continues, so no worries about losing your last quarter by being turned into a little turtle by Shredder!!!
Mass Effect:
After playing the crud out of Dragon Age: Origins through four different play-throughs, I was extremely jealous of Biowares sci-fi RPG Mass Effect. I didn’t think it was a game to own, so I rented this one from Gamefly so I could play through it and then send it back for Mass Effect 2. I am about an hour or two into the game, and so far it is a great combination of RPG goodness in a sci-fi environment. It has everything that Dragon Age had: several backgrounds and classes to choose from, a ton of weapons and equipment to keep checking on, and special abilities for you and your party to make short work of your enemies. I can’t say too much more since I’m still in the beginnings of the game, but I’m impressed by what I’ve seen so far.
Crackdown 2:
Crackdown 2 is an interesting third-person shooter that takes place in a city overrun by zombie-ish creatures (referred to simply as “freaks”.) Your mission is to help clear them out of the city by running or driving around and fulfilling various missions. I have not personally played online yet, but when you do your friends can come and join in your world to help you on your missions. I haven’t put much time into the game yet, so I don’t have too much to say about it yet, but when I do a full review will be forth-coming.
Left 4 Dead:
This is hands-down one of the definitive games for the 360. Left 4 Dead is a FPS that sticks you smack dab in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. You and three allies (either actual players or AI) must race through the level and try to survive to the end, where rescue awaits. The typical weapons of pistols, rifles, shotguns, and machine guns are what stands between you and hordes of various zombies, all of which move extremely quickly (no shambling here.) I played through two levels (each level contains five stages) with some people online last night and had a true blast. This is a game that I can’t see ever getting old, and was definitely something I was missing on the PS3.
I wanted to do something really fun and huge this year for Independence Day. I thought it would be cool to go to one of the old colonial cities for the weekend, and since we had already been to Philadelphia last year, I decided that we should go to Boston. While I was just there in March for PAX, we didn’t really do too much outside the convention, so I was looking forward to seeing more of the city. Once I told Shell, she was excited, and we made our plans to go. Our three day trip to Boston was a lot of fun, and definitely a perfect place in which to celebrate Independence Day.
Saturday:
We left early Saturday morning to head out to Boston, and our hotel. We had decided to get a hotel on the outskirts of Boston so it would be cheaper for the room as well as parking. We hit a little traffic going there, and were pleasantly surprised with the hotel. We stayed at the Doubletree Bayside hotel, and it was great. It was in an awesome location (four minute walk to the subway station), the room was very pleasant, and they give you a delicious chocolate chip cookie when you check in! It was definitely one of the best hotels I ever stayed in (not counting the Rockafella Suite, of course) and I highly recommend it if you’re staying in Boston and want to save a lot of cash for room and car parking. Read More
With my birthday coming up in a couple of days, the gifts are starting to roll in. One I received today was especially nifty, from my friend Steve. It is a hardcover comic collection of the Simpsons/Futurama Crossover Crisis. We had seen it in Boston when we were at PAX, and it looked pretty awesome. Now I have it here, and I can’t wait to get into it and read the craziness. I have read several Simpsons and Futurama comics, and they all tend to be done very well, so I am looking forward to this. I’ll probably write up another blog when I’m done with it.
As I mentioned earlier, my camera was so full of foolishness that I did not take many pictures. However, Steve downloaded all his and sent them my way, so I am now able to show some pictures of myself enjoying my weekend in Boston.
At the Sams Brewery
Trying out a “rumble vest” (it was like a vibration controller, but it was attached to your chest and back) Read More
So as I have saying over the weekend and today, I was able to finally check out the 360 at PAX, and I liked what I played.
First off, remember that I am not a 360 hater. I don’t necessarily believe that the PS3 > 360, or that I hate the 360 simply because I have a PS3 instead. When I was ready to jump into the current-gen consoles, I was tossed up between the PS3 and 360. My friend and I had lengthy conversations about the pros and cons of each, and for awhile it looked like I would get a 360, for the lower price and the far-superior online service. However, one of the biggest problems was that I had never touched a 360 before. None of my friends ever had an Xbox or a 360, so I never knew how it was. Also, I was skeptical of the 360′s life due to all the RROD reports, and I didn’t want to think about the chance that I would have to worry about getting my console fixed. So when Wal-Mart happened to have a $100 deal on the PS3, I was quickly sold, and that laid it to rest. Read More
There was quite a lot to do at PAX East, and since I got a lot of the specifics out of the way in other posts, I will be able to give a general overview of the weekend here.
We first stepped into the Hynes Convention Center around 3:30ish on Friday afternoon and started checking things out. The first floor of the convention center was dedicated to basic stuff such as checking in, the PAX merchandise stand, and other stuff. There were a lot of internet notarities selling their wares, as well as a lot of table top game providers. There were two rooms set aside on the first floor for free-play table top, meaning you and your friends could go in there, pick out a board game (and there were a lot to choose from), and kick back and play. After checking out the first floor, we made our way upstairs to the second floor, where the main exhibition room was. Read More
When I walked into the exhibition room at PAX and turned the corner the very first thing I saw was Castle Crashers. Then I looked more closely and saw that the people playing it were using PS3 controllers!!! There was quite a wait to play so I didn’t get a chance to do so Friday, but on Saturday I swung by just as three girls were starting up, and I quickly grabbed the fourth controller to see how it went. It was everything I thought it would be!
I have been long anticipating the arrival of Castle Crashers. It looked like such a fun game, and when I heard it was being ported to the PSN, I was super excited. However, news has been scarce, and I feared the worst. But seeing it at PAX lifted my spirits. From what I played, it was flawlessly awesome and now I’m even more excited to get my hands on it at home.
When I was done I swung by one of the developers from Behemoth and asked him for a release date. He said “sometime this year.” I asked him if he could at least tell me what quarter, and he could only say “sometime this year.” He did mention that one of the delays has been the volleyball mini game, which apparently still has some kinks in it which were actually being worked on by another staffer right there at the booth.
Thus I will continue patiently waiting for Castle Crashers to crash its way onto PSN…
So with three days spent at PAX, I came home with quite a bit of swag. Most of it is cheesy stickers, temporary tattoos, and pens, but I got some nice bags and shirts and keychains/ lanyards out of it as well. Take a peek at my spoils:
Obviously one of the major draws of PAX is the games. I got the opportunity to play quite a few. Of all the games I played, only a small handful were unreleased…many of them are games that are already available that I have never had the opportunity to play. So heres the games, in no particular order:
I do love my Sam Adams Boston Lager, so when we were getting ready to head up to Boston for PAX East, I thought it only fitting that we find some time to take in the Sam’s Brewery. So on Friday, after checking into the hotel, we hopped on the subway and made our way to the Sam’s Brewery for a tour and a tasting.
We walked into the building, and made it just in time to catch the tour going in. The tour was technically free, but they suggested a $2 donation which went to local charities. However, they were not aggressive about it, and in fact we almost missed the keg which was set aside to receive the donations. So even though I did it, if you were a real cheapskate you could go to the Sam’s Brewery and keep all your money to yourself and no one would know or care. I was amazed to find that the tour actually took place on the production floor, amongst the vats of beer. The first part of the tour takes place off to the side, where the tour guide explains about the ingredients in Sam Adams beer, and passes around samples of hops and barley for you to smell. After that, we go back onto the production floor, and the guide explains the process of making different varieties of Sams. On that particular day, they were brewing Cherry Wheat, so you could see the guys in the back covered in cherry stains as they went about their work. It was really cool to be standing around watching the process go down in front of you.
I got in from a weekend of gaming and other nerdly delights last night, and now I’m ready to let you know how it went. Overall, PAX East was great. I had never been to a gaming convention before, so to me it was awesome, and I had a blast. I have so many things to talk about, and they are not all going to fit into one post, so I’m trying to figure out how to break it down. So through the course of the day I will be putting out several posts about how things were up in Boston and I’ll try and do a good job organizing everything I want to say into several different, relevant posts.
I didn’t get a call for a job today, so I was able to devote my morning/afternoon to slowly making sure that I am completely packed for our trip. Steve comes up here tonight, and we are leaving bright and early tomorrow morning, so I’m thinking we will be hitting up Boston around lunch time. Here’s some of the “cool” things I packed:
I got my PAX three day pass and other info in the mail early last week, and now there are only a few days to go before Steve and I descend onto Boston along with fellow gamers and nerds to partake in PAX East. I’m looking forward to it for sure, as it will be fun to spend a weekend totally engulfed by games. The only thing I am not looking forward to will be the massive crowds…
I will be posting more as the convention draws near, and will be sure to post about my adventures when I return on Sunday/Monday.
Steve and I bought our tickets and reserved a hotel room for PAX East this March, which is taking place in Boston. For three days we will be enjoying the convention of gaming goodness. Its being held at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston from March 26-28. We will be there the entire time. Our hotel is only three blocks from the Convention Center, so its not too shabby. Im looking forward to going to my first video game convention!
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