Pax Prime 2017 Highlights

27 09 2017

Another year of Pax Prime at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle Washington. The line to get in was quite odd, but a little  improvement. Instead of waiting to get in from the back of the convention, they made people wait in the overpass next door, which confused alot of people. but if you had waited an hour after it opened, you did not have to worry about any line at all to get in.

This year, there were more VR showcases, such a Skyrim VR in the Bethesda booth, a bunch of Playstation VR games (sparc?), and Dell was showing their new VR set.

 

Another theme I noticed was that there were plenty of “Ride the ___ and take a picture” themes at most of the booths. Mostly dinosaurs or dragons.

Speaking of dragons, the Dungeons and Dragons crew aka Wizards of the Coast was a no show this year which disappointed some people.

The swag this year was quite an improvement to over years, more T-Shirts, hats, and mouse-pads were given out to the attendees who checked out the latest games. Also, if you traveled a block away form the event, you can find a Monster Energy truck giving away their new soda, and Nissin was giving away cases of their Cup o’ Noodles. In the area, I was lucky enough to run into the creators of the show and Penny Arcade comic (Tycho and Gabe). They were cool enough to sign my badge.

WP_20170901_13_21_20_ProSigned by the Creators of Penny Arcade (Tycho and Gabe aks Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik)

There were also plenty of Indie games you can buy, this year I got the latest Shovel Knight, and Broken age from the Limited Indie Run booth. Also, I got the Hunted Halloween 86 for the NES (yes, the original), the sequel to the one they made last year, which was quite fun. Other indie games had an impact this year, Nintendo has their Nindies area, after waiting in line for a couple hours, you get to play all the new indie games coming to the Switch in the next year and get to talk to the Develpers who made this. I was able to play to the next Shovel Knight: King of Cards, Floor Kids – a dance off game, Sausage Sports Club – A four player mini games  match, Super Meat Boy Forever – Super Meat Buy Sequel, they announced  No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again, but did not show it off at the area.

 

Overall, this was a fun show, but drains the life out of you if you wait in the lines. Next year, the convention center should have expended a large mount of square footage, I wonder what the layout will be…





#indiegames and #gamedev Now at San Diego Comic-Con 2017

1 08 2017

This year I was lucky enough to be able to attend to this years Comic-Con in San Diego, California. I was able to see the latest in games, movies, TV, and other entertainment.  The expo hall at the convention center in downtown San Diego was well organized, all of the gaming companies where in  one section of the hall (the end). Here you can see the latest games from Xbox, Capcom, Nintendo, Blizzard, and Namco Bandai (see pics below).  Nintendo was showing off their latest game, Super Mario Odyssey. Capcom was showing off Marvel vs Capcom Infinite. Xbox was showing the latest from Shadow of Mordor series. Also Bandai was showing Tekken 7,

 

Also, as a convention first, they introduced a Indie Game Meetup called Game Creator Connection, here you can meet with industry experts to get feedback on your game and get sage advice on anything in the field. The only drawback I had we only had time to only meet one expert. Hopefully next year, they can extend it to more. Also during the meetup, you can meet other industry types, such as freelance artists (such as Erik Arreaga  (pic below)), 3D artists, and other developers.

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Also at the con you get to meet various independent artists in other fields such as movies and comics. This year I was able to meet Lloyd Kaufman, creator of the epicly awesome Toxic Avenger and his new pic Return to Return to Class of Nuke’Em High Vol 2.

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Lloyd Kaufman and Toxie

Comic con is also a great place to be inspired to work on future projects an see what other technologies the entertainment field is coming up with.





Tokyo Game Show 2015

28 09 2015

This year I embarked on my first trip to Tokyo to check out the Tokyo Game Show, the largest gaming convention in Japan. I have been told by other developers that Tokyo Game Show is something I should see and they were right. I am going to give some highlights and what to expect to see if you are an indie developer going to Tokyo Game Show 2015.

When you walk off the plane the first thing you see!

When you walk off the plane the first thing you see!

If you go to Tokyo be sure to pack some nice running/walking shoes, you will be doing alot of walking around to go from train station to train station.

Shinjuku

Shinjuku

To get the the show you will have to take the train from where you are (in my case Shinjuku) to Makuhari Station, it is about an hour ride (if you can find the right route to take). Once you are at the station, take roughly about a 30 min walk from the station too the Makuhari Messe (convention center). Once there you can pick your badge and check out the booths.

The first two days are the Business Days, here you can check out and meet with the people involved with the gaming industry. When I first got into the convention I thought it was very spacious and and very gracious with the walkways, you will understand why in the public days section.

On the convention floor, you can check out various major companies, such as Capcom, BandaiNamco, Playstation, Konami, you can even see major game streaming services such as Youtube and Twitch.

 

Also at the major company booths you get to see the latest games that will be out in the coming months, such as Street fighter V, an Attack on Titan Game, Dragon Quest Builder (a Minecraft-like game with Dragon Quest RPG elements), A new Final Fanasty Online game, and even saw Star Wars Battlefront and Last Guardian which I remember has been in development for years. There were also many different mobile games such as GranBlue Fantasy. You can also see any new updates/features to existing games. For example, you can see at the Konami Booth that they have announced that they will be having new skins available for their latest game in the Metal Gear Solid franchise – The Phantom Pain.

Indie Games

Also in another section of the convention is for the Indie Games, here indie developers can showcase their work and even let people play. There I got to play and meet the developers of Undivided, Slashy Hero, March of Industry, and Astral Breakers. After checking it out I will definitely try to get a booth for next year.

 

Merchandising

Also in the same area as the indie booths, you can find various types of merchandise based on your favorite game. Like Final Fantasy? Check. Like vinyl? Check. Well, you can it there.

Final Fantasy VII Vinyl Records

Final Fantasy VII Vinyl Records

Cosplay

Also at the convention you can find plenty of girls doing cosplay. Many people were lining up to take pictures of your favorite gaming/anime characters.

 

Public Day

The third day of the convention is when they make it public to the people to go in and check out. I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people that arrived to the convention, it was literally wall to wall people walking the convention. If you are part of the gaming industry I would recommend doing anything you need to do at the convention during the business days.

Public Day, Look at the People!

Public Day, Look at the People!

Public Day

Public Day

Akihabara

After the convention, I went to Akihabara. Akihabra is where they have a  shopping district for video games, anime and manga. Here you find the latest games of today and games of yesteryear. My first stop was the classic gaming superstore Super Potato. Here you can find NES (Famicom), SNES (Super Famicom), Genesis (MegaDrive), Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, and other classic games that range from extremely cheap to extremely expensive (and rare). Also on the top floor they have a small arcade where you can play the classics such as Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, and many others. Also throughout Akihabara you can find multi-floor arcades, such as Sega and Taito, where you can play the latest arcade hits for around 100 yen a game (about $1 USD).

Super Potato!

Super Potato!

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Top floor Super Potato

Overall, I would say it was a great experience, got to meet some new developers and even reconnect with some old ones. I will definitely try to submit my next game for the Indie Booth section for next year.