MER Episode 16 – The One Where We Visit PAX East!
Holy crap PAX East was a blast! Between playing new games, sitting in on some great panels, and listening to the best in nerd music, we had our weekend cut out for us. The conference was a resounding success, and we’ve chosen to highlight some of the best games and panels we saw. But don’t fret! There’s also a solid amount of The Old Republic news to get caught up on, including discovery of the game testing portal, the addition of the Biographies tab, and a word from Damion Schubert on group XP versus solo XP. All that and more! Give it a listen and let us know what you think in the comments.
Music for this show was provided by General Fuzz. Check out more of his work at generalfuzz.net
Transition music for this show was provided by Metroid Metal. You can hear more of them at metroidmetal.com
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News from the Galactic Republic
Genocide and Jedi: Why the Sith may be right in The Old Republic (via Ars Technica)
Game Testing Portal Discovered (via Darth Hater)
-Found by forum members Ianril and Zechio
-Confirmed shortly thereafter by Sean Dahlberg
Damion Schubert on Balancing Group & Solo XP (via Darth Hater)
Friday Update for March 26th (via SWTOR.com)
-Added new Biographies tab to the Holonet
-Short story “Smuggler’s Vanguard” by Threat of Peace writer Robert Chestney at StarWars.com
April Fools!
-Sarlacc Enforcer Class
-Hilarious class interview with Daniel Erickson and Damion Schubert (via GameSpot)
PAX East Panels
Journalists vs. Developers: The Ultimate Grudge Match
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]
The Death of Print
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]
The Future of PC Gaming (Yes, there is one!)
Panelists Include: Joe Kreiner [Terminal Reality], Jeff Kalles [Penny Arcade], John Abercrombie [Lead Programmer, Irrational Games], Mitchell Shuster [Co-owner, LanSlide Gaming PCs]
NVIDIA Unveils the Next Generation of PC Gaming
Panelists Include: Drew Henry [General Manager, GeForce – NVIDIA]
PAX East Games
Red Dead Redemption
Developer: Rockstar Games
Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
Release: May 18, 2010
Breach
Developer: Atomic Games
Platform: XBLA, PSN, PC
Release: Early Summer 2010
Some guy attempted to steal the source code…
Update: Turned himself in…
Shank
Developer: Klei Entertainment (published by EA)
Platform: XBLA, PSN
Release: TBA
Mafia II
Developer: 2K Games (Czech)
Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Release: August 24, 2010
Comments
Great episode guys! Sorry I couldn’t make it on to talk PAX with you!
I agreed with everything you guys brought up about the games we got a chance to play except for Mafia II. Maybe you guys didn’t get a chance to play it or the person at your booth didn’t bring it up, but if laws existed in the real world or if it would get you in trouble in the real world, it gets you in trouble in the game and the health system and everything was considerably more punishing. Cars felt realistic. The world felt realistic.
I would say that Red Dead Redemption looks like GTA thrown into the wild west (which is great and was my most anticipated game of the show for sure) but Mafia II keeps the same semi-modern city landscape but changes the mentality of the player and a considerable amount of mechanics in the way of realism.
If anyone is interesting to see what I thought of Red Dead Redemption at PAX, here it is:
http://www.newgamenetwork.com/article/199/red-dead-redemption-handson/
[...] Mos Eisley Radio keep churning out their special brand of podcast, with Episode 16 hitting the [...]
Female hutt in episode 1 during the pod race lol.
Very nice opportunity to get to get to PAX East!
Was listening to Darth Hater’s recent podcast. Heard you guys are from Indiana. I’m currently attending grad school at Purdue!
Hey Artoo,
So you are currently up in West Lafayette? That is sweet. Brooks actually used to go to Purdue before switching to IU a few years back. Both of us occasionally go up there still to visit friends.
Yup, I’m in West Lafayette. Got one more year of grad school to go.