LanWerX at PAX ’04
August 31, 2004
As I mentioned in my previous articles about the Penny Arcade Expo, one of the main features was the PC gaming room. Click the link to find out all about PAX if you don’t know what it is. The PC gaming room is where all of the PC game tournaments took place, and when a tournament wasn’t going on, attendees could relax and play their favorite games. Read more
PAX Day 2
August 31, 2004
After some sleep, I was ready for the second and last day of the first-ever Penny Arcade Expo. If you haven’t done so already, read about Day 1 PAX. It will also explain what PAX is if you don’t know anything about it. PAX had been open all night for free play in the LAN room and console room. It was really a 39 hour gaming party. Although I was still tired from the yesterday, I didn’t worry too much because I knew that Bawls would be on hand. Bawls is definitely the gamers’ drink. Its main feature is its high caffeine content. Bawls representatives set up a table near the LAN/PC room and everyone could not get enough. They were selling Bawls at a better price then you can generally find in stores, and at some point, they even game some away for free. Read more
PAX Day 1
August 29, 2004
If you consider yourself a gamer and are familiar with the Internet, then the chances are good that you’ve visited Penny Arcade at least once. The creation Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, the comic and accompanying news post have become an incredibly popular stop on the web for anyone interested in gaming. Everyone from young gamers to the actual designers making games checks into Penny Arcade to read a great comic and see whatever else the creative duo has to say. Both Krahulik & Holkins and their fans themselves have been realizing the immense popularity of their website, so what better step to take then to host a convention for the fans? After all, at all of the events that Krahulik and Holkins have attended in the recent past, whether they’re comicons, anime conventions, or even E3, they’ve drawn a huge crowd. Read more
A Bean QuakeCon Diary Part One
August 16, 2004
Ahhh Quakecon. There something special about it. It carries all the trappings of any other big industry gig. Open bar for press, vendors hounding you to sit through their demo. Yet, with all of its corporate facade, it’s still a fan event. That’s what makes Quakecon special. Read more
QuakeCon 2004: A Console Gamer’s Viewpoint
August 14, 2004
Let me first clarify that I am not, per se, a console-specific gamer. I do own a PC, though it’s not about to win any awards and only has integrated graphics (hopefully not for much longer), and the only (recent) game I have installed is Call of Duty. That being said, my personal philosophy on the PC vs. Console debate is that if you pick one and ignore the other, you’re guaranteed to miss out – it’s about software, not hardware, in my opinion. My roommates’ PCs are high-end enough, and between the three of us who live together there are three Xboxes, three GBA’s, a Gamecube, two Playstation2′s, an SNES and a Genesis. Needless to say, I like to play a bit of everything. I just can’t afford to keep up with the great strides PC game developers are making. Read more
QuakeCon 2004 Diary Day 2
August 13, 2004
When I attend conferences about gaming, I am not used to playing games very often. Believe it or not, E3, Sony Gamers Day, and events like that are times when I get to see developers, producers, and PR folks play the games for me, talk about them, or lead my by the hand through their booth. However, in Day Two of the 2004 QuakeCon event, I got all the gaming time I wanted. Read more
QuakeCon 2004 Diary Day 1
August 12, 2004
For nine years, gamers have followed id Software around to several different venues to hear the latest announcements, hear keynote speeches from John Carmack and all the guys at id Software, and to haul their computers into the Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) area. This year, QuakeCon is bigger, badder, and better than before with nearly 6,000 gamers crowded into the brand new Gaylord Texan convention center in Grapevine, Texas. Read more