Insult Swordfighting at PAX East

Thousands of eager readers have written and tweeted to ask if Insult Swordfighting will have a presence at PAX East. I am happy to reply that the answer is yes, insomuch as I will be present at PAX East physically, if not mentally.*

That's not all! I was honored to be invited to participate in a panel hosted by freelancer extraordinaire Dennis Scimeca, along with some other impressive guests. It's called "Stuff Your Criticism, I Want a Review!" You can read the full description on the PAX East site, or in the following pasted paragraph.

Is there a difference between a game review and game criticism? Do you expect reviewers to talk about why a game is important in the annals of development or do you just want to know whether it’s worth your $60 or not? Should game reviewers even CARE if you’re going to purchase a title? As the video game media matures along with video games themselves, the purpose of a review isn’t as clear as it once was. Come hear what a panel of experienced reviewers and games media pundits have to say about these questions, and then let them know what *you* want out of your game reviews.

The panel will be held on Friday at 3 PM in the Wyvern Theatre. Don't be a loser and go to the Dragon Age panel that BioWare is hosting at the same time.

As for the rest of the weekend, I have a few plans, but not many, and will probably be roaming the show floors for most of the time. This is a good time to assure you of two things: yes, I would like to meet you, and no, I will not introduce myself unprompted, because I am an emotionally stunted manchild. Last year I averted my gaze and walked away upon recognizing Justin McElroy, of all people, perhaps assuming that niceness on the internet and niceness in real life are inversely related. Regrets? I've had a few.

At any rate, hope to see you there, and hope that you do not sucker punch me if you pick up this week's Phoenix and read my review of Journey. To PAX!

*i.e., drunk.

3D or not 3D

No question, 3D was the story of the show at PAX this year. The expo floor was jampacked with 3D displays for games of all types, and one of the longest non-Portal 2 lines was for demonstrations of the Nintendo 3DS. There is a sense of inevitability about 3D. No matter what reservations you may have about the technology -- the glasses, the eyestrain, the dimness -- they do not matter. 3D is coming.

One of the first things I saw on the show floor was an enormous display running a demo of Crysis 2. I wore the glasses for about 30 seconds and had to take them off. It's inaccurate to call the sensation I was feeling a headache. It was as though the signal from my eyes to my brain was doing barrel rolls. There was undeniably something impressive about looking into the game screen, but the physical discomfort was hard to take. Maybe prolonged exposure to the display would alleviate the symptoms. It's hard to imagine taking the time to break through the wall.

After I stood in line for about half an hour to play Resident Evil on the 3DS, I came away thinking that Nintendo has, once again, figured out something that its competitors still don't understand. The 3DS, at least in the couple of minutes I played it, does not hurt your eyes. The display doesn't flicker. The depth of field also isn't overwhelming -- no more of a graphical accoutrement than bloom lighting. And this is, I think, a good thing. It is easy to pick up a 3DS and play it, something that is not true about any other 3D technology that I've seen.

Oddly, my favorite use of the technology was during a viewing of the new Mortal Kombat -- a 2D game (which looks sweet even on a traditional display). Because the fighters moved along a line, they were in focus even when I was without glasses. Only the background was blurry. With glasses on, the fighters looked no different -- maybe a little heftier -- but the arenas were given a sense of depth, and when extra-powerful attacks broke the plane of the screen toward me, it felt earned instead of gimmicky.

Recently I've been playing Killzone 3. My review is coming this week, but I found myself wondering, the whole time, what might have been added to the experience if I'd been playing in 3D. Like its predecessor, it's a decent shooter that suffers from a lack of imagination. I can't imagine that playing in 3D would have changed what I didn't like about it. It still would have been full of long, bland shooting arenas. The mech sequences still would have been loud and disorienting, probably moreso. Yet, based on my other experiences with 3D, I think that the new perspective would have dominated my entire experience. I wouldn't have even thought about the fundamental game, but the technology. Unlike with the 3Ds, it would have been the main course and not a seasoning. And I'm not sure what good that would have been.

Is this the future? Sacrificing innovation in gameplay for an expensive technological upgrade? Or is that just the story of video games, same as it ever was?

Friday afternoon tidbits

Between PAX last weekend, and filing two game reviews this week, I could use a break. Fortunately, it's a holiday weekend, and at the very least I will be able to pause and eat some ham. That's how I roll on Easter.

-A few months ago I was invited to contribute to an exciting project, and now it's been officially announced: the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die is available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Featuring capsule reviews of, you guessed it, 1,001 video games, the book covers it all, from Pong to Dragon Age, and every platform you can think of. I think it's going to be a really special product, and I had a blast working on it. It comes out on October 12. (By the way, that's an Amazon Affiliate link, and if you order through there you'll kick a buck or two my way. Yes, I will continue to post the link!)

-Some good stuff about women and games this week. The Border House ran a couple of satirical pieces for April Fool's Day that invert common posts on traditional game sites. The first is called "How to Get Your Boyfriend to Play Games with You," which lampoons the depressing number of similar articles aimed at (straight) men. The second, "A Matter of Resources," posits an alternate universe in which developers simply can't prioritize including male avatars in their games.

Also, the Phoenix's Maddy Myers considers the addition of a significant female character in Gears of War 3: "...now that there's finally a chance to include a female character in this hyper-masculine world, ... the developers have decided that the reason she's there is because there's something 'wrong' with her that makes her an 'ineffective' woman (at least according to the rules of this universe)." Honestly, I do give them points for trying, but Maddy's right -- maybe it would help to get more women involved in development?

-Several game sites have picked up on the story of the kid who tried to steal the Breach source code from PAX, but I've seen it covered best at Joystiq. Between part 1, part 2, and part 3, there are several surprising developments, and guffaw-inducing quotes. Quotes like:

• "He said several times he 'knew people' and 'could give us bigger and more important people' and he could 'name names.'"
• During the Q&A section of the panel, the alleged thief asked if he could have his Gamertag unbanned. Toulouse asked him what he'd done, and he said that he'd played Forza 3 before release, which Toulouse told him he shouldn't have done. Toulouse was clear to point out during the panel that buying games early, from a retailer that breaks street date, and playing them online doesn't get Xbox Live players banned, but illegal pre-release play does. The suspect later admitted to Joystiq he illegally downloaded Forza 3 early.
• An arrest warrant has been issued for 20-year-old Justin D. May, the alleged thief of the Breach code at PAX East, after he failed to show up in a Boston court today... May's current whereabouts are unknown, but we do have his Gamertag, which shows that wherever he is at the moment, he's playing Modern Warfare 2.
• "At the end of the day here, we aren't exactly dealing with John Dillinger, you know?"

Fantastic.

-Finally, a couple of PAX recaps. Julian Murdoch relays a funny and kind of touching tale of mistaken identity. Eric Swain captures the whirlwind of handshakes and introductions (with bonus photo of me!). Simon Ferrari had an interesting encounter at the Breach booth, which did not involve attempted theft. Sparky Clarkson focused on the indie games on the expo floor, as did Daniel Bullard-Bates at Press Pause to Reflect. And if you'd like the full story of the guy who yelled "These are my people!" at the first PA panel, read his recollection at Punching Snakes.

PAX: People

Above: Onlookers gather as an unidentified fan chats with a famed internet author (left).

During the Q&A sessions between audience members and the tandem of Gabe and Tycho, you never knew what might happen. Most people couldn't help gushing a little, either about the comic or about the convention or about Wil Wheaton. Lots of people made jokes. Some asked for life advice. Some simply wanted to express their happiness. "These are my people!" bellowed a questioner at one panel.

But for me -- and, I suspect, for many others -- the high point came during the last PA panel, on the closing day of PAX. A girl stood at the microphone and confessed that she wasn't sure she'd be able to say what she had planned to say without crying. She told a story about being in the hospital as a teenager, spending most of her waking hours in agonizing pain, and not knowing if she'd survive her illness. The best part of her day, she said, was when the nurse wheeled in a cart with a TV, an N64, and a broken PlayStation. Gaming provided the only real relief during the endless surgeries, not just for her but for her constantly worried parents. It was a chance to get her mind off things, and to play like a normal kid.

Listening to this story, I was blinking back tears, and I wasn't the only one. When she finished, Gabe climbed down from the stage to give her a big hug. I've since heard that a scene like this happens at nearly every PAX, but that didn't make this one any less genuine or moving.

This spirit suffused PAX. At another point during the panel, Tycho attempted to give a prize, some fancy-pants Intel processor, to an attendee. After the fan took it, he gestured for the microphone and said he'd like to donate the processor to Child's Play. Somewhat abashed, Tycho took it back.

Any tribal gathering probably sends people away with positive vibes. I wouldn't be surprised if Tea Partiers get home from a protest, set down their "OBAMA BIN LYIN'" signs, and say to their spouses, "Y'know, that was just a nice group of people out there today. I feel so good right now." What the hell, I'm going to say it anyway: attending PAX made me feel great about gamers. My god, they were polite. I've never heard so many people in a crowd say "excuse me." Are these the same people who cuss me out on Xbox Live?

It all comes from the top. I ran into Tycho on the expo floor, walking along a row of booths with a smile on his face, and I had to say hello. That was all I intended to say. He wound up pulling me to the side to talk about Heavy Rain, and some of the things I'd written about it. Several other people started massing around us, and I began to feel guilty for monopolizing his time. But it was the most normal thing in the world -- just two guys talking games.

Blogging sometimes seems to take the form of a conversation, and some of my favorite things to write are responses to other posts. Even so, at the end of the day writing is a solitary pursuit. Writing, and playing, are things I do with my head down and the world closed off. This works most of the time. Writing may be its own kind of dialogue, but it's no substitute for the real thing.

When PAX East has faded a bit, I imagine the memories that remain won't be of the playable version of Splinter Cell Conviction on the expo floor, or listening to the Video Game Orchestra smoke a rendition of the Final Fantasy VII battle theme. I think it'll be the human moments. Getting beers with several incredibly smart writers. Using Twitter to figure out who else is standing in line with you. Making eye contact with someone and thinking, "Aren't you...?" and seeing the nod that says, "I am."

I can't wait for the next time.

PAX: Play

Above: The console freeplay room at PAX.

During the "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Game Journalism" panel, Sean Beanland asked via Twitter: "Has working in games journalism adversely impacted your love of games? Are you sometimes tired of games?"

For me, the answer to both questions is a qualified yes. It's not that I love games any less after several years of reviewing them. It's that losing control of what I want to play, and when I want to play it, has changed something fundamental in my approach to games as recreation. When I'm not playing a game for work, I'm less likely to be playing games at all.

That's why one of things I found most refreshing about PAX was how squarely it emphasized just playing games. The panels were great. Meeting people was awesome. Encountering two guys whose work I deeply admire, and telling one of them so, was something that was long overdue. At heart, though, PAX was a celebration of playing games, and much of the convention space was dedicated to that.

You had the PC freeplay lounge, where some buddies and I made yet another ill-fated attempt at Left 4 Dead 2. I am not totally convinced that I have ever gotten past the part in the "Swamp Fever" campaign where you lower the bridge from one hut to the next, and the PAX playthrough was no exception. It's been so long since I played a first-person shooter on the computer that doing so felt unfamiliar. (And probably felt even more unfamiliar to the next poor bastard who played L4D2 on my machine, since I'd inverted the Y-axis and remapped jump to mouse2. Old habits.)

It also felt great. LAN parties were a big part of the gaming experience for me in high school and even through college, but I couldn't tell you the last time I attended one, much less one with dozens and dozens of players. I had thought that the current console generation had erased the PC's hardware advantage, but the graphics were noticeably better than on the Xbox. Some people were even playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in 3D. I walked out of that room thinking seriously about buying a new gaming computer. I've been missing so much!*

Much space was dedicated to console freeplay, too, of all kinds. One room had all the current-gen consoles, and a huge library of titles you could check out for 45 minutes at a time. A side room was dedicated to party games like Rock Band, DJ Hero, Puzzle Fighter, and lots more. Across the hall from there was a room dedicated to -- I kid you not -- 5-vs-5 matches of Steel Battalion. I was afraid even to peek into that room.

Walking around the classic console freeplay area felt the most like coming home. Here you had a group of guys huddled around a Dreamcast to play Power Stone, there a four-player Perfect Dark deathmatch on the N64. People played Atari 2600, Colecovision, Vectrex. I was gobsmacked to see a group of three people attempting a cooperative playthrough of Contra for the NES. I lingered in their vicinity, hoping they'd get frustrated so I could swoop in and shepherd them the rest of the way. Sadly, it didn't happen -- which is crazy, because playing that game with another person is the definition of masochism.

Here I am writing about all this now, so maybe I'm undercutting my own point, but what I loved about all of this was that I wasn't playing these games to write about them. So many of these titles occupy an exalted space in my memory, and when I watched those people play Contra I wasn't thinking about the game's roots in Reagan-era machismo, or the laughable continuity error between the end of stage 7 and the beginning of stage 8. I was remembering the first time I beat it, and was so excited that I ran to the phone so I could tell my best friend.

I can barely recall a time that I wasn't writing about games on some level. I've been doing it professionally for almost six years, but I started writing reviews for my personal website in the mid-90s. Hell, my second-grade writing project was a prose adaptation of The Legend of Zelda. Even so, there's no doubt that deadlines and paychecks have changed how I play games. PAX reminded me why I play them.

*Now that the glow has faded, I will continue to chug along on this dinosaur Dell.

PAX: Panels

Above: I didn't photograph any of the panels, so here, have a picture of a Modern Warfare cosplayer on a Vectrex.

PAX is a feel-good event, there's no doubt about it, and I'll have more to say about the good vibes in later posts. Tucked among the warm fuzzies were some thought-provoking panels, which covered a wide range of topics and featured real talk from sharp minds. I caught as many as I could, although not as many as I would have liked, and came away impressed. I've often thought that the way to get people to take video games seriously is to take them seriously ourselves. While all of the panels left room for levity, they also consisted of earnest dialogue between people who have progressed past the point of asking whether the conversation is worth having.

I hit up as many journalism panels as I could, starting with "Journalists vs. Developers: The Ultimate Grudge Match." The panel nearly lived up to its billing, with Harmonix's John Drake deploying one M-rated word after another as he excoriated the worst excesses of game reviewers. I had to wonder what he was so mad about. It's hard to think of a developer that consistently gets better reviews than Harmonix does. (Valve, maybe.) I also appreciated Chris Kohler's candor about the limitations of game reviewers, which can be hard for any of us to admit.

The next day started with a huge line for "Kotaku vs. Croal: In Search of the Best Games Ever." Stephen Totilo and N'Gai Croal presented a game they'd created, called "Canon Fodder," which passed a list of the top 10 games of all time through the hands of one game developer after another, until they'd molded it into perfect shape. You can read about their ongoing efforts at Kotaku.

During the panel, Chris Dahlen tweeted that the audience participation made it the perfect panel, and I'd agree with the sentiment. Beloved games were removed from the list to jeers from the crowd, and new ones were added to hearty applause.

(I wish only that I'd had the guts to make the case against The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time in the top spot. I have such a vendetta against that game.)

The last journalism panel I caught was on Sunday, when I attended "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Game Journalism..." with Kyle Orland, Susan Arendt, Lev Grossman, Gus Mastrapa, and Chris Grant. This was one for the aspiring writers at the convention, as Kyle kicked off by asking how many in the crowd wanted to write about games, how many currently did, and how many were getting paid to do so. The number of hands shrank each time.

I asked a question about whether we serve our readers by reporting press releases as news, and I think I saw actual steam shoot from Chris Grant's ears. He gave a reasonable response, which might have been better than I deserved, although I'd still maintain that I have trouble finding the original content that sites like Joystiq and Kotaku do well (like this!) amid the grinding gears of the hype machine.

Sadly, I was thwarted in my attempts to catch the "Death of Print" panel, featuring Chris Dahlen, Russ Pitts, Julian Murdoch, Jeff Green, and John Davison. It was held immediately after another panel I attended in the same room, at the end of which they cleared us all out for the massive line that had formed outside. I imagine it will be made available online somewhere. I had planned to go to others, as well, but exhaustion and poor time management took their toll.

Finally, there were the Penny Arcade panels, which I had expected would be so packed that I wasn't planning to try to go. But the main stage at Hynes has a balcony that nobody seemed to know or care about, and it turned out to be easy to stroll in and find a seat, sometimes a decent one, without much trouble. I attended all three, and they took basically the same form: Gabe and Tycho onstage, taking questions. Their rapport translates well to the live setting, which is surprising from two guys who take anti-anxiety medication. In their position, I'm sure I'd have been breathing into a paper bag instead of talking trash about Duke Nukem deathmatches.

The middle panel was the "Create a Strip," during which Tycho did most of the talking, and Gabe spent most of his time drawing Monday's strip, with his desktop displayed on two massive monitors. It was impressive. During the Winter Olympics, I found myself explaining to people that while I wasn't enamored of events like curling or cross-country skiing per se, I'm always fascinated to watch the best people in the world excel at something. Watching Gabe draw and color Monday's strip felt like that. His pen moved with grace and ease, even as the perfectionist in him would veto one attempt after another at drawing, say, a character's left eye. He even found the time to sneak in some dick jokes, which you could even argue is the lifeblood of Penny Arcade.

The PA panels were also the scenes of some of the convention's most enduring moments, but that's a subject for another post.

PAX: Preamble

Above: Sadly, the best picture I took all weekend.

No matter how many billions of dollars I see the industry earning, no matter how many people I see on the train playing iPhone Peggle, no matter how many times I try to tell people that games are firmly in the mainstream, there's still a part of me that doubts the worth of playing games. Some small part of me is still fighting it. Some voice tells me I'm wasting my time.

Oh, I can tell you stories. Like the time in sixth or seventh grade -- you know, the age when it starts to go wrong for so many formerly happy kids -- when I found myself talking to an old friend from the neighborhood on the bus ride home. We'd spent a lot of time together when we were younger, but not so much lately. He asked how my weekend had been, and I told him that I had rented RoboCop vs. Terminator for the Genesis. He seemed interested. He asked questions. I told him all about it. As I recall, it was a pretty sweet game.

A few kids got off the bus and some seats opened up, so we moved around to sit with some other kids our age from the street. I shit you not, this is the first thing this kid said to them: "Remember how nice it was outside this weekend? Well, Mitch spent all weekend inside playing video games."

They laughed.

Or the time in seventh grade when I asked my parents why they'd decided not to get me any video games for Christmas, even though my list had been full of them. I wasn't mad, just curious. "We think maybe you've played enough video games," my mother said, gingerly, "and it's time for you to move on to other things."*

You get the point. Enough times during my formative years, things happened to make me question whether my hobby was normal or acceptable. It sounds laughable now. We're talking about video games! What could be more normal than that? But it's ingrained, and that little voice speaks up every so often, asking me what the hell I'm doing with these children's toys.

That's why I was a little bit wary of attending PAX. Because that voice was saying to me, "You play games, but you're not a 'gamer.' You're not like these other guys." The denial was deep.

I walked into the convention feeling jaded, and I walked out feeling energized. People were sending out enough positive vibes to power all the electronics in the building. I was swept away by the energy of the crowds, and inspired by one-on-one interactions with several writers I admire. There was laughter and there were tears. And there was, above all, an unabashed love of games, shared by so many, expressed without constraints.

Over the next couple of days I'll write a little more about the PAX East experience. I don't doubt that, before long, that little voice will start speaking up again, possibly after I've ragequit an Xbox Live game against 13-year-olds. But if I were to say nothing else about PAX, I'd say this: Now I have an even better reason to tell that voice to shut the hell up.

*This story has a happy postscript: three years later, all I got for Christmas was video game stuff. I asked why the change of heart. My mom sighed and said, "Well, you like what you like."

PAX schedule

No links this week, as I prepare to head over to PAX. Since I've never been to one of these things before, I don't know what to expect, and it's entirely possible that I'll run screaming from the building within minutes. So we'll play it by ear. That said, I'm planning to try to hit some or all of the following panels, so stop and say hi if you're there too. You can't miss me -- I'm the white guy with the ironic t-shirt.

(All descriptions lifted shamelessly from the official PAX site.)

Journalists vs. Developers: The Ultimate Grudge Match
Manticore Theatre
Friday, 2:00pm

Game developers can't stand those damned journalists, the way they pick apart your three years of hard work with a review they wrote in an afternoon. And journalists don't understand why game developers won't listen to all of their great ideas! What happens when we force some of the industry's most opinionated writers and developers to hash out their issues in front of an audience? Will they finally see eye-to-eye, or kill each other in public? Watch as writers Chris Kohler (Wired.com) and Patrick Klepek (G4) square off against game creators John Drake (Harmonix) and another guest from the industry.

Panelists Include: Chris Kohler [Editor, Games, Wired.com], John Drake [Publicist, Harmonix Music Systems], Patrick Klepek [News Editor, G4], Jeff Green [Editor-in-Chief, EA]

Kotaku and Croal: In Search Of The Best Games Ever
Manticore Theatre
Saturday, 11:30am

What are the 10 best video games ever made? Former journalism peers and eternal game-arguing rivals N'Gai Croal (Hit Detection) and Stephen Totilo (Kotaku), have figured out how to figure it out: Make a game out of it. They've created a game that will determine the 10 best games of all time -- and roped in a host of gaming luminaries to play. Witness the birth of Kotaku and Croal's "Canon Fodder" as Stephen and N'Gai's brand-new and possibly completely foolhardy game is launched. Early tests have been successful, with zero bugs reported. This is their (well, Stephen's) quest to somehow get Yoshi's Island higher on the list than Super Mario World. Let's hope their gaming industry guests don't let them down.

Panelists Include: Stephen Totilo [Deputy Editor, Kotaku], N'Gai Croal [Founder and Principal, Hit Detection]

The Death of Print
Manticore Theatre
Saturday, 1:00pm

It´s no longer a secret: Print is a dying medium. The past few years have been brutal for print media in the game space, but the plummeting sales and editorial team layoffs came to a head in 2009. It´s no surprise many of the key players at those institutions have moved on to web-based ventures, but has the industry as a whole ultimately lost something or gained something? In this 60-minute panel, Russ Pitts, Editor-in-Chief of The Escapist speaks to several journalists who were deeply involved with the events of the past year about the run-up to the decline of print, and the effects on game journalism – and games. Panelists: John Davison, Editor of the new Gamepro Jeff Green, formerly of Games for Windows Magazine, Julian Murdoch, Freelance Writer.

Panelists Include: Russ Pitts [Editor-in-Chief, The Escapist], Julian Murdoch [journalist, freelance], Jeff Green [EA], Chris Dahlen [Managing Editor , Kill Screen], John Davison [Editor-in-Chief, Gamepro]

An Awkward Hour with Rock Band Designers
Manticore Theatre
Sunday, 10:00am

Have you ever wished to be locked in a room with the design team behind the Rock Band games and ask them anything? Well, now's your chance! Armed solely with a laptop filled with behind the scenes movies and embarrassing pictures, the team of designers behind the Rock Band games will answer your questions and reveal some of the reasons for why they made things in various ways.

Panelists Include: Dan Teasdale [Lead Designer, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc], Sylvain Dubrofsky [Senior Designer, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc], Brian Chan [Senior Designer, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc], Casey Malone [Designer, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc]

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Game Journalism...
Manticore Theatre
Sunday, 2:30pm

... but were too afraid to ask... and we didn't really want to tell you anyway... because some of it is kind of embarrassing... but we will... tell you... at this panel... because we're just that awesome. Featuring experienced game journalism professionals (including Crispy Gamer's Kyle Orland, freelancer Gus Mastrapa, The Escapist's Susan Arendt, Joystiq's Chris Grant and Time's Lev Grossman) answering any and all questions you have about the art and craft of getting paid to write about games (it's a tough life). Review scores. Swag. Junkets. Bias. The death of magazines. The rise of blogs. It's all fair game. Of course, you're not limited to those topics. THE ONLY LIMIT IS YOUR IMAGINATION!

Panelists Include: Kyle Orland [Staff Writer, Crispy Gamer], Gus Mastrapa [Freelance, Various], Chris Grant [Editor-in-Chief, Joystiq], Susan Arendt [Senior Editor, The Escapist], Stephen Totilo [Deputy Editor, Kotaku], Lev Grossman [Writer, Time]

Sequelitis Snake Oil: Quack Medicine for the Video Game Industry
Manticore Theatre
Sunday, 4:00pm

Why do passionate gamers treat the word "sequel" as a pejorative while often bestowing their highest praise upon those very same sequels? This panel will seek to diagnose the video game industry's purported "sequelitis" and – by way of discussion from thoughtful panelists, including Irrational Games' Ken Levine; Harmonix's Dan Teasdale; Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann; and moderator Chris Grant, from Joystiq – debunk the quack medicine that's identified video game sequels to be symptomatic of the industry's creative bankruptcy.

Panelists Include: Christopher Grant [Editor-in-Chief, Joystiq], Ken Levine [Creative Director, Irrational Games], Chris Avellone [Creative Director, Obsidian Entertainment], Dan Teasdale [Senior Designer, Harmonix], Jeff Gerstmann [Co-founder, Giant Bomb]

The PAX visitor's guide to Boston: Stuff you don't want to miss

Whether you're here just for PAX, or you're spending a little extra time in our fair city, there are lots of cool things to see and do that you might not know about. I would really encourage you to take some time to explore the city, because it has so much to offer. Here are just a couple of my favorite things about Boston that you might want to do if you have the time.

Check out the views

Boston has a pretty bitchin' skyline if you can see it from the right angles (not necessarily from "right angles"). My two favorite spots are halfway across the Mass Ave bridge at night, and on the Red Line from Kendall to Charles/MGH. Look out the right side of the train, and you'll see the skyline seem to spring up from the river.

Visit the First Church of Christ, Scientist

You've got to see this sweet church that is just steps from Hynes Convention Center, bordering both Huntington and Mass Ave. It's incredible -- it looks like something you'd see in ancient Babylon, and there's a stunning reflecting pool outside of it. This would be a great place to go to get away from the hubbub of the show, and maybe you could even consider examining some of the Christian Science pamphlets I have here. No? Okay.

Visit the first church of baseball

Fenway Park, one of the last remaining shrines of baseball in the country, is just one T stop away from Hynes Convention Center (which means, of course, that you should walk there). It's pretty neat just to circle the place and get a sense of it, but there are also guided tours available that will give you an up-close look at icons like the famous Green Monster, the Ted Williams seat, and the stairs in section 10 where I saw a guy with a Dropkick Murphys shirt punch a hot dog vendor.

(That didn't actually happen, but you believed it for a second, right?)

Stroll the neighborhoods

There's a lot of diversity within the small urban space of Boston. Walking around Beacon Hill, with its centuries-old rowhouses, always makes me think I've been transported to Europe. Back Bay has lots of grand brownstones -- one nice route to take is along the Commonwealth Avenue mall, but I prefer the narrower and quieter Marlborough Street, one block over.

Then there's the densely settled North End, which has changed over the years but retains its Italian flavor, and the South End, which is an up-and-coming neighborhood that has restaurants and boutiques sprouting all over.

Across the river, Harvard Square is a bustling and energetic neighborhood with good shopping and cafés, Central Square has famed music venues, and Davis Square welcomes all hipsters.

Finally, you can go to Allston-Brighton if you want to see how long a dead rat can decompose on the sidewalk without anybody doing anything about it.

Enjoy green space

The Public Garden and the Boston Common together account for about 74 acres of green space in the heart of the city. The Garden is a little more famous than the Common, thanks to its prominent role in Make Way for Ducklings, and the Swan Boats that patrol the lagoon in warmer months. But you're also not really allowed to play frisbee or anything there, like you can in the Common.

Walking and biking paths run along the Boston side of the Charles River, which on a sunny day can be a gorgeous place to be. Head eastward to see the Hatch Shell and the Esplanade, the center of the annual Fourth of July celebration.

The city has vastly improved the waterfront area near the North End in recent years, and now there's plenty of outdoor space to walk and sit, and take in the views. It's a bit of a hike from where PAX will be, but a great way to spend a few spare hours.

Support alternative journalism

Pick up a Phoenix! They're in red newspaper boxes all over the city, and they're absolutely free. You get top-tier arts criticism, an unrepentant left-leaning editorial page, and magazine-style features, plus a huge section of adult personal ads you will be ashamed to be seen with. Seriously, it's a great paper and you should grab one, even though I don't have anything in it this week.

Visit a world-famous institution of higher learning

Nestled at the intersection of Boylston and Tremont Streets is Emerson College, the alma mater of such gaming luminaries as Veronica Belmont, Russ Frushtick, Bill Gardner, Abbie Heppe, and some dope named Mitch Krpata. That college owes me so much money it's ridiculous.

Oh, you can also check out the campuses of some dumb schools like Harvard and MIT, if you want to be lame. They are kind of interesting, what with their "architecture" and "campus commons" and all.

Things I beg you not to do

Please don't take your picture outside of Cheers, attempt to speak with a Boston accent, or wear any New York Yankees paraphernalia. On the flipside, if you buy Dunkin' Donuts coffee instead of Starbucks, jaywalk mercilessly, and sing along to the chorus of "Sweet Caroline" whenever you hear it, you will find that you are among friends.

Welcome to Boston!

The PAX visitor's guide to Boston: Food and drink

If there's one thing I know about gamers, it's that they like to eat. If there are two things I know about gamers, it's that they like to eat, and they don't like to spend a lot of money. Fortunately, there are plenty of good deals in and around the city, many within range of the Penny Arcade Expo.

Pizza

My pick for Boston's best slice is a local chain called the Upper Crust. Their pies have a thin, crispy crust, upscale toppings, and a fantastic sauce. It's so good that I used to eat it out of the trash can after the store closed and they threw away their leftovers from the night. No, I am not joking. The nearest location to the Hynes Convention Center is right around the corner on Newbury Street.

You may be tempted to try the world-famous Pizzeria Regina in the North End. The pizza is phenomenal, it's true, but in my opinion it's not worth having to wait in a line outside for an hour so that some middle-aged waitress can sass me for trying to finish my drink after I'm done eating. (My wife would like me to tell you that she thinks Pizzeria Regina is worth waiting in line and being sassed.)

If you find yourself in Harvard Square, Oggi Gourmet makes a great slice, which is different every time. The chefs constantly experiment with the crust, sauce, and toppings. You never know what you'll get, but you know it'll be good.

Tasty beverages

Lately it seems like the number of bars and restaurants serving quality beers in Boston has skyrocketed. Just around the corner from Hynes is Bukowski's, a dive bar that serves cheap food and hundreds of different beers. The volume is ear-splitting and it's cash-only, so it's probably not a huge change from the PAX show floor.

A little further away in Kenmore Square is the Lower Depths, a cool little café with a solid selection of micro-brews, and affordable, delicious pub food. Like Bukowski's, Lower Depths is cash-only, but they got these big chewy pretzels that ashbzzzzzz FIVE DOLLARS? get outta here

If you feel like heading further afield, take the C train out to Washington Square in Brookline and check out the Publick House, whose meticulous approach to the beer menu is downright curatorial. The food is fantastic, too, mostly pub food and hearty, beer-infused entrees. Try the mac and cheese.

Meal deals

Almost directly across the street from Hynes Convention Center is a place called the Pour House, which will give you more bang for your buck than almost anywhere else in the neighborhood. They run specials daily, and even if you and some friends just go in on some appetizers like nachos and wings, you'll be leaving food behind. And despite what some people may say, I personally have never seen any live animals running around in there.

One of the best-kept secrets in the area is Audubon Circle, located on Beacon Street near Park Drive. Unlike the Pour House, they don't run specials or serve massive platters of greasy food. Instead, it's just a low-key place that serves quality food at a surprisingly affordable price ($9-$11 for some damn good sandwiches).

Across Mass Ave on Newbury Street is the Other Side Café, which serves mostly sandwiches in the $9-$10 range, with options you might not expect at that price, like brie cheese or prosciutto with pesto. There's also a good beer selection, including lower-end brews for three bucks.

Fast Food

Forget McDonald's and Burger King -- there are some great fast food choices right nearby PAX. Spike's Junkyard Dogs is located just a little ways down Boylston Street, and is home to tasty hot dogs served on chewy, French-style rolls. The meat is higher quality than you're probably used to for a hot dog, and the vegetarian version gets rave reviews, too.

B. Good is a local burger-and-fries place that's slightly healthier than the norm, and just as tasty. There are two locations right near Hynes -- one on Dartmouth Street, and one on Newbury Street.

Uburger in Kenmore Square is another burger joint that's better than average, serving sandwiches that are made-to-order, and hot fries right out of the oil.

Since El Pelón burned down, it's been hard to find a decent, authentic burrito in the city. (They've since opened a new location at Boston College, but, uh, don't go to Boston College.) If you want a decent, inauthentic burrito, try Boloco, around the corner from Hynes on Mass Ave. I'm a buffalo chicken man, myself.

Late night

Boston is a sleepy city with precious few choices for late-night dining. You still have a couple of 24-hour options, though they're a bit of a hike late at night. Bova's in the North End sells pizza, calzones, and other baked goods all night.

The famed South Street Diner is more than a greasy spoon -- it's a Boston institution. It's the only remaining sit-down restaurant that's open all night, and a rite of passage for all local college students.

This is but a sampling of the dining options available to you during your short stay. Nothing inflames passions like the discussion of restaurants, so I'd love to hear more recommendations in comments.

The PAX visitor's guide to Boston: Getting around

Above: The MBTA map. There will be a quiz.

Penny Arcade Expo East kicks off this Friday in my hometown of Boston. Many of you are traveling to the show from other cities, and even countries. You have the guts to do what I never could: leave the house. Well played.

To welcome you to our humble city, I thought I'd offer a few tips for how to make the most of your stay here. First: how to get around.

Most people get around Boston by subway with the help of the friendly folks at the MBTA, who run a clean, efficient, and reliable subway service that never strands you in a tunnel for 15 minutes or more with no explanation. The T, as the locals call it, may not be one of the world's greatest transit systems, but it is certainly one of the oldest, and also one of the cheapest.

You probably received a Charlie Card with your PAX badge. You can add value to the Charlie Card at subway kiosks with cash or a credit card. This may be worth it because fares with a Charlie Card are a little cheaper than paying with cash: $1.70 per ride as opposed to $2.00.

Boston is small enough that the T will get you almost anywhere you need to go, and usually in a reasonable amount of time, unless that time happens to be after 12:35 AM, because that's when the T stops running. Service resumes around 5:30 AM, if you can wait that long. Otherwise, if you're looking to stay out until last call (no later than 2:00 AM anywhere in the city, and sometimes earlier), you'll have to get a cab, or hoof it.

If you're staying at almost any of the hotels linked from the PAX site, then I'd recommend you not take the T at all. Nearly all of them are located in Back Bay, well within walking distance of the show venue. In fact, you can walk almost anywhere in Boston without too much trouble. From Back Bay it's easy to get to parks, Beacon Hill, Faneuil Hall, the North End, the South End, Kenmore, Fenway, and probably even more neighborhoods that I'm forgetting.

Even if you're not an ambulation enthusiast, if you're going five stops or less on the Green Line anywhere between Government Center and Kenmore, you're still better off walking. It's faster, cheaper, and less irritating. You may stroll through gorgeous old neighborhoods and wide-open park space, and, if you're lucky, you'll see the guy who rides around on a three-wheeled bike making siren noises with his mouth. If you are a bit further out -- say, across the river, or out in Brookline -- then taking the T probably is your best bet.

You have two choices for T service at the airport, the Blue Line and the Silver Line. The Blue Line connects with the Green Line at Government Center, and is the better choice for traveling to Back Bay, Brookline, and Allston-Brighton. The Silver Line connects with the Red Line at South Station, and is a better choice for traveling to Cambridge or Somerville.

I hope this helps some newcomers navigate the mean streets of Boston. Whether you're walking or taking the T, it's pretty easy and pleasant to get around this city. (But not if you're driving. Driving in Boston is a freaking nightmare.) If you have any specific questions, ask away and I'll try to answer. And if any other natives have some helpful tips, please leave them in comments, as well.

Oh, one more thing. For god's sake, don't just take one step onto the train and then stop right on the stairs. I'm begging you.

Friday afternoon tidbits

We had a big rainstorm here yesterday. When I walked into my local Gamestop, soaking wet, I said, "Ironically, I'm looking for Heavy Rain." The employee did not laugh. Foiled again!

-The PAX schedule has been announced! Lots of interesting stuff on there. Having not been to this kind of thing before, I'm not sure how early I need to show up at the panels I want to see, though I'm suspecting they won't be the most popular ones. I'm instinctively passing over things I know will be heavily attended, like the PA panels and the keynote, but I don't want to miss the journalism panels. I'm already building a stockpile of spitballs to throw at Croal and Totilo.

-Sparky Clarkson has one of the most cogent takes I've seen about why No More Heroes 2 is diminished by not having an overworld. Speaking of the first game's rendering of Santa Destroy, he says "the city serves the purpose of the game. It creates a sea of banality for Travis (and the player) to escape from into the vibrant world of the assassin rankings. The city helps to characterize Travis as a loser. And the city says something interesting about other open-world games." That's dead-on. And without that counterpoint, the sequel doesn't seem nearly as savagely satirical.

-I gave up on Modern Warfare 2 long ago, for many reasons, but I still appreciated L.B. Jeffries' rigid analysis of MW2's multiplayer map style. His key insight: in this game, the map is a weapon. That certainly explains my uncanny ability to get shot by opponents I couldn't see.

-I'm only a few hours into Heavy Rain at this point, and I have to say I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Despite its healthy Metacritic score, I've been surprised both at the volume and the ferocity of the criticisms I've read of the game on message boards, blogs, and Twitter. One of the more balanced criticisms comes, naturally, from the Brainy Gamer, who says that he finds Heavy Rain to be at cross-purposes.

I think there's room to like or dislike the game, and plenty of complaints to make about it, but frankly I think a lot of the complaints I've read -- not at the above link -- are misguided. I'll say more about that next week.

Friday afternoon tidbits

Busy weekend ahead, highlighted by a (hopefully) long Borderlands session. The jump in fun factor between single-player and co-op is enormous with this game. Single player has its rewards, but they're tough to appreciate amid some problems. In multiplayer, the joy rains down from the heavens, and there is no shelter. Excellent game. And not the kind of thing I'd have expected to like so much.

To the links!

-Clink Hocking's Click Nothing Tour hits the road this Sunday. He'll be in my neck of the woods on Wednesday at MIT. Sadly, it's at 4 in the afternoon, which makes it difficult if not impossible for me to attend. I will try.

-Brandon Sheffield intervewed Suda 51 for Gamasutra. Suda is a fascinating guy whose games are always singular creations, and he has some interesting things to say here. Still, I don't know if it's the language barrier or what, but he's also a little curt. You get exchanges like this.

Honestly, I think that that's kind of what art is about, when you just create something and other people put their own meaning into it. I can see that as a critique of voyeurism, while to you, it's just something you made.

GS: Art? Mmm...

Thanks for showing up, Suda.

-Via Game|Life, tickets are now available for PAX East! It'll be held in Boston from March 26-28, 2010. I've never been to an expo like this before, but I suppose there's no way I can duck one taking place in my backyard. I'm still hoping there's some way I can get in for free, maybe by sneaking in through the vents.

-Two interesting takes on the evolution of difficulty in games. Michael Abbott compares the Wii remake of A Boy and His Blob to the original, while C.T. Hutt revisits Earthworm Jim and finds it more challenging than he remembers. User experience is a big reason why games are easier nowadays, but I think there's an even more prosaic explanation.

In the past, games were so short that they had to be incredibly difficult in order to be worth playing. Once you know how to beat a game like Contra, you can blow through it in about 20 minutes. If you could do that on your first or second playthrough, it wouldn't seem like much of a game at all. Even though we often complain about the length of 8-10 hour games today, most of them are significantly longer than comparable titles of 20 years ago. Even a game like Super Metroid, whose gameworld seemed massive at the time, today takes about 4 hours to beat. That's nothing.

(One more example: It took me 12 years to beat Super Mario Bros. We got the Nintendo when I was 6, and I finally beat it when I was 18. Shortly thereafter, I played through the first three Super Mario Bros. games in about an hour.)

-Not related to video games, but I need to thank Kyle Orland for linking the "Eye On Springfield" tumblog in his Twitter feed. This site has improved my life in ways I cannot possibly quantify.

All right, screw this "reading" thing. Pandora awaits!