Only on rare occasions.  I prefer physical copies of my games.  It takes something truly exceptional or eye-catching for me to buy it as a download, though I will admit to buying a number of Virtual Console releases simply because the physical versions of those games are either impossible to come by today or because the batteries in the cartridges have gone dead or are close to dying.

I came.  I saw.  I had a blast!
 
(Warning:  Incoming wall of text!)
 
Despite being a Seattle resident, this year was the first time I've been able to actually attend PAX.  After spending the past three days running around playing games on the exhibition floor, going to panels, and in general mingling with more like-minded people than I've probably ever been around in my life, I can say with certainty that it was one of the single best experiences of my life as a gamer.  It's just an incredible experience, and I'd encourage anyone with the means to go to a future PAX to do so without hesitation.
 
Highlights of my three days at PAX:
 
The Games!

• The first thing I did on Friday morning when exhibition hall opened was just dart in a random direction.  With so much to see and do, I couldn't really formulate a plan, so I just went in a straight line until I saw something I wanted to try.  That something I saw was Tatsunoko vs. Capcom at the Capcom booth.  It was my first time with the game in any form, having never played the Japanese import, and it was a lot of fun.  Crazy Capcom vs. action with colorful graphics, insane special moves, and an interesting roster of characters on both the Capcom and Tatsunoko sides.  The game was on display at both the Capcom and Nintendo exhibits, and the stations at both were equipped with Hori arcade sticks for the Wii, which helped make walking up and just playing feel great.
• Speaking of Capcom, I ended up spending way too much money at their store on the show floor.  By the time the three days were over, I had bought, at one point or another, Okami and Resident Evil:  The Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii, statues of Poison and Cammy, and a Darkstalkers character art book.  Given that, I should have learned a lesson (don't go near the Capcom booth, it will drain my wallet), but then I wouldn't have been able to...
• ...Check out the demo for Resident Evil:  The Darkside Chronicles.  The demo for this game was actually tough to get into.  They were showing it in a pair of enclosed booths, and I had to actually sign up for a time in order to get in and try it.  What I saw and played was really interesting.  It's an on-rails shooter, of course, but the camera is always moving in a fashion that sort of resembles a handheld camera, so I had to learn to not only point the Wii Remote at the right spot to get a shot off on a zombie, but to also keep it steady in accordance with the camera's movement.  It added to the frantic, "ZOMG ZOMBIES!!!!1" action of the game, and the demo left me fairly impressed.
• Another game I had the chance to try was Dante's Inferno, and honestly, I'd say that of the high-profile games I tried at the show, Dante's Inferno was the worst.  The game really is nothing more than an attempt to ape games like God of War, but it's just not fun.  There's no originality to the gameplay and it doesn't help that the game resembles the source material in no discernable way other than you play as a guy named Dante, and when you die, a quote from The Divine Comedy is displayed on the screen.  It was severely underwhelming, and I don't believe I saw anyone when I was there that really appeared to feel differently.  Unless something changes, it looks like Dante's Inferno is going to be a pretty horrific misfire on all fronts; gameplay, story, and marketing.
• On the other hand, I watched some people play the demo for the 360 version of Bayonetta at the Sega booth, and that's a game with some promise.  Beyond the fact that the game is very, very unapologetic about its depiction of sexuality, right down to the point that the lock-on cursor is a lipstick mark, the game looks fun to play, and it shows the same pedigree of ridiculous action that defined Devil May Cry without being just a clone.  I just hope that the final game is more Devil May Cry 1 or 3 and less Devil May Cry 2.  Also, the lady that Sega recruited to cosplay Bayonetta at their booth was an incredible likeness, even if she obviously lacked the whole "living hair" thing.
  
• I didn't spend much time with RPGs at the show, but I did have a chance to get my hands on Sands of Destruction.  The game was designed by some of the same crew that was responsible for both Xenogears and Xenosaga, and that lineage carries through in its battle system.  If you've played Xenogears, you should feel pretty much at home here.  I have a friend that's been following this game very closely since it was first announced in Japan under the title World Destruction, and from what little I played, I think she has reason to look forward to it.
• Over at Namco, I was able to find time for both Soul Calibur:  Broken Destiny on the PSP and the PS3 version of Tekken 6.  Broken Destiny looked surprisingly good, given that it was scaled down from much more powerful hardware for its PSP appearance.  There aren't any Star Wars characters in sight, but unfortunately I couldn't get a chance to see Kratos in action because he was locked, at least on the PSP I was playing.  As for Tekken 6, I really wasn't that big of a fan of the series until Tekken 5, and it looks like the game is retaining enough of the Tekken 5 feel that I'm more interested in it now.  The number of playable characters in the roster is completely ridiculous and I have no idea how good the balance is actually going to be, but if they can maintain a good balance, I think Tekken 6 will definitely remain on my radar.

• First and foremost, the Giant Bomb panel was a blast.  I must give props to the guys that participated in the beef bowl challenge.  The "beef bowl" in this case was a normal ramen cup, except instead of hot water, the cups were filled with NOS energy drink.  That is a vile-sounding concoction, but no one died, and the lucky winner received both a StarCraft II beta key courtesy of Bob Colayco and a free copy of The Beatles:  Rock Band courtesy of Alex Navarro.  We also had the chance to see some pretty funny videos, including some behind-the-scenes outtakes from the filming of the Giant Bomb iPhone app commercial, some behind-the-scenes goofiness surrounding Alex and the rest of the Harmonix PR team's trip to QVC, and video of Bob doing his best Karnov impression by spewing fire.  To top it all off, we were giving a screening of an edited down version of the Time Trotters episode that never made it online, and I have to say that video was both funny and educational.  I really did not know how to play Night Trap until the Time Trotters enlightened me.
  
• I went to both Penny Arcade Q&A panels, as well as their Make a Strip panel, which featured more Q&A while we all watched Mike (a.k.a. Gabe) draw Monday's Penny Arcade.  Those guys are honestly funny in person, they enjoy what they do, and more power to them for it.  There was almost no question that they weren't willing to answer, and some of the questions led to some hilarious moments that I just couldn't describe here.  The written word just can't do them justice.
• My other favorite panel on the process of game localization, hosted by Alexander O. Smith and Joseph Reeder.  The two gents previously worked at Square Enix and currently work together as freelancers, but they had a lot of insight into how games are localized, at least from the perspective of localizing Japanese games for English-language audiences.  Most of their examples came from their work on Final Fantasy XII, the last really big project that they both worked on, and some of their statistics were simply eye-opening.  Just as an example, of all of the text in Final Fantasy XII, roughly 7% of it was vocal dialogue that required not only scripting for actors, but also ADR (i.e.:  Recording the dialogue so that the lines as spoken match the lip movement of the characters as closely as possible).  In total, it took nine months for that 7% to be localized from start to finish.  The other 93%, which required no voice work at all, took seven months.  Is it any wonder why most RPGs don't have voice acting for every piece of dialogue in the game?

• My J-Horror Moment:  As I made my way into the exhibition hall for the first time on Friday, I passed by a Japanese girl dressed in a school uniform that was handing out these black cards.  The only text on it was the URL for a website.  I logged onto it after I got home and discovered that it was some sort of odd game, possibly an alternate reality game or other elaborate advertisement, but I'm kinda scared.  I feel like if I play it, the ghost of a Japanese girl is going to come out of my computer monitor and kill me in some horrific fashion.
• My "Whoa, the Giant Bomb guys," Moment:  There was a section in one corner of the exhibition hall where there was a Japanese import/retro game store set up (Pink Gorilla.  Look them up.  They're awesome) along the wall facing a large replica of the '80s era Turtle Van from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  As I stood between these points, I turned around, and whoa, hey, that looks like Ryan.  And there's Jeff and Drew, interviewing some random PAX-goer.  (Oddly enough, my first thought was that the guys all look taller on the internet).  As a way of saying hi, I actually stopped and asked Jeff if he was still feeling the effects of the gin he had to drink the day before, but he was doing well.
• My Autograph Hound Moment:  On Saturday, I stopped by the Pink Gorilla booth again and saw that they had both Shin Megami Tensei:  Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 for sale.  I had been hunting them down for a while and decided to pick them up while I was there.  After the Giant Bomb panel, both Jeff and Vinny were gracious enough to sign the cases for the games in my kind-of-bizarre way of honoring the Persona 4 Endurance Run.  If you're reading this, thanks again, guys.  I definitely plan to start up Digital Devil Saga 1 before my holiday weekend is over.

(My god, I can't believe I'm using my blog to call attention to this, but I guess whatever works.)
 
Okay, so currently, the Gender Change concept is loaded with games that should actually fit under the new Cross-dressing page, though to what extent, I'm not sure.  People more knowledgeable about these games than me (particularly the variety of Japanese H-games attached to the concept) are going to be needed to help sort the mess out and refile games under the appropriate concepts as necessary.  'Cause seriously, there are over 80 games attached to Gender Change, and I'm pretty sure a large swath of them actually have nothing to do with any character physically changing gender at any time.

Crazy how time flies.  I remember the weeks after the site first launched, and the utter insanity that ensued with the flood of wiki submissions and chaos in the forums.  Then the dust settled and things have been pretty much looking up since then.  On the editorial side, the staff has conjured up a lot of great features ranging from movie reviews (Ryan, I fear for your sanity when you make it to Alone in the Dark) to spending April Fools Day making fun of Top 10 lists.  It's also still hard to believe that nearly a third of the past year has seen an episode of the Persona 4 Endurance Run.  I'm going to miss that when it's over.

And hey, thanks to the community, there's now a copy of Princess Debut resting atop a luchadore mask-clad deer head.  Not many websites are able to make that claim.

On the topic of wiki submissions, I've enjoyed adding what I can to the database.  My top ten edited pages in terms of points is pretty diverse, ranging from an unpopular fighter to a stupifyingly delayed and possibly canceled game (take a guess), to an RPG villain that often gets overshadowed by Chrono Trigger's real big bad.  Fun stuff.

And how the heck am I still ranked so high in Giant Bomb trivia?  I haven't played that game much at all in months.

It cushions the blow when you slam the remote against your knee because you were too dumb to watch where you were swinging the damn thing.  Ouch!

Imagine, if you will, that you're working for Nintendo, and by whatever circumstances occurred, you find yourself working on the next Legend of Zelda title for the Wii.  You have been assigned one task and one task only.  Nintendo has felt that it's time that Link spoke, and it's your job to determine not only the sound of his voice, but the manner of his speech and his general personal attitude.

I don't know about you, but my reaction to this would not be one of glee.  As a matter of fact, I'd probably be scared shitless.  Sure, giving Link a voice and dialogue sounds like an easy proposition, but where woudl I even start?  No matter what I do, there's going to be that throng of Zelda fans that would find it nothing short of sacrilige to hear Link speak.  There's no way that I could please them.  On the other hand, there's that throng of Zelda fans that have gotten sick of Link being a silent protagonist and will think the game is an archaic dinosaur if Link continues to simply grunt and shout at the very most.

Okay, so it's true that not everyone can be pleased.  That much is obvious.  Still, how do you define a character's personality when that personality has largely been defined by the player's own imagination for close to twenty-five years?  Is he the archetype of the just hero?  Does he use snarky one-liners?  How does he actually feel about Zelda?  How does he actually feel about being the legendary hero of Hyrule?  What about his relationship with friends or family members?

If this personality test sounds ridiculous to you, keep in mind that these are questions that would necessary.  It's something that needs to be thought out and given a great deal of care.  Otherwise, you get stuff like this:

Seeing as I work a full forty-hour work week, I just don't have the time to camp in front of a computer and watch the E3 press conferences unfold.  I missed out on all of the big ones this year, though I caught news updates when I could during short lulls.  My reactions to most of the news has been largely mixed across the board.  I figured that both Microsoft and Sony would announce their plans to counter the Wii with their own motion control devices.  They both seem have to potential, but they're optional peripherals, unlike the Wii Remote, meaning that they likely won't see as wide an audience.  The Project Natal camera that Microsoft has devised is particularly questionable, given that it appears to be a more advanced Eye Toy.  There's really only so many practical applications that can utilize a camera as a game input device, which leaves me to wonder how Microsoft plans to break free of the Eye Toy's limitations.

Note to Peter Molyneux, Milo creeps me the hell out.  If your goal was to create a mannequin that resides firmly in the Uncanny Valley, congratulations, but I'm really not sure who your new game is targeted at.  Lonely children?  Pedophiles?  Please rethink what you're doing before responding with more of your Molyneuxspeak.

On the other hand, I see more potential in Sony's motion controller, but with the PS3 currently residing in the third-place spot and the controller being an optional accessory, its impact will be questionable.  Also questionable is the pricepoint of the PSP Go.  Sure, $250 isn't the same as $599, but it is significantly overpriced for a handheld.

And as for NIntendo, Super Mario Galaxy 2 sounds like it could be fun, but unfortunately, the 3D Mario platforming titles have never really been my thing.  It is nice to see them rolling out a second main series Mario game on a console for the first time in ages, though.  I appreciate the time and effort that went into creating Super Mario Galaxy, but that doesn't mean that the series should limit itself to one game every four to six years.

No, what really caught my eye (and really, the only thing to catch my eye at this point) was Metroid:  Other M.  While I glossed over other news stories at work with passing interest, the announcement of a brand new Metroid, one with an apparently stronger focus on plot and a return to a third-person perspective, filled me with the excitement of a kid at Christmas.  I had to restrain myself before I started celebrating then and there in the office.  I'm hopeful that Team Ninja's perspective does the game well.  In the past, I wasn't particularly a fan of the studio, but that had more to do with Team Ninja's egotistical, sunglasses-at-night obsessed DD fetishist of a leader in Tomonobu Itagaki.  Of course, he's gone and doing other things now, which gives me more hope for the game than I might have had were he still present at Tecmo.

The Metroid franchise has always been the odd duck of Nintendo's core franchises.  It features a basic but ongoing narrative and a look and feel that isn't as family-oriented as Mario or Zelda.  I always wondered what the series might be like if Nintendo gave Metroid a real chance and pushed harder on delivering a full-narrative, one that went even beyond the attempts made in Metroid Fusion and the Prime series.  Maybe I'll finally get the chance to see that.

Ran into this while I was searching for images on Google.  Judging from the amount of ridiculous denial and hypocrisy on message boards, I'd say it's pretty accurate (aside from the error in the title of the Silent Hill game):

With 3D Realms having shuttered its doors, there's still the possibility that Duke Nukem Forever could be sold to another developer to bring its long and extensive development cycle to an end.  With that in mind, I have to wonder.  If the game never comes out, would people actually miss it?

My relationship with the Xbox 360 came to an end today.  After playing Warriors Orochi 2 only to have the game crash twice this morning, I pulled the disc out and found that the console had done a nice little number on it.

This was the last straw.