Okay. "Dead" might be a little strong, but there's no denying video game reviews ain't exactly as prominent as they used to be. Times have changed. Maybe things were simpler when a game was good or not based on a purple, sleepy guy or a red psycho. I don't know. I'm not really here to preach about the importance of review scores. I'm just a stats guy. I like charts and graphs with pretty colors. Is that so bad? Well, here at Giant Bomb, we've hit somewhat of a milestone with the 666th review on the site. From Poker Smash to Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, that's over seven years of games reviewed not just by the staff, but by users as well. That's right. This data dump isn't just about the staff reviews. There's over 11,500 user reviews for the 666 games that have been reviewed on by the staff, and I didn't forget those!
Still one of my favorite user created things on the site. Thanks to @frenden.
Just so we're all on the same page, I rounded off the user review scores for statistical purposes. For example, Alex gave Kirby's Epic Yarn a 5. Eighteen users reviewed with an average of 4.28, which means it gets a 4 and therefore the community disagrees with Alex. You're all terrible monsters. Did you even look at that game? Anyway, you'll see why this is important later. Let's get this show on the road.
Alex
Alex's first GB review was Backbreaker on June 11, 2010. Some may say Alex has a reputation for reviewing terrible games. The fact that nearly 20% of the games he's reviewed have zero user reviews may back up this claim. Some say he even enjoys reviewing these terrible games. Who can say? He has issued the most 1-star reviews on the site, but he's also doled out twelve 5-star reviews in his time here, although it has been a while (South Park: The Stick of Truth).
Austin
Austin's the newest reviewer on the site of course, so there's not much to talk about here. But, hey. Users agree with him 100% of the time, so there's that.
Brad
Brad's first GB review was Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which he gave a solid 5 on June 20, 2008. Of the regular reviewers on the site, he has the highest percentage of 5-stars at 22.1%. Brad is also tied with Jeff for the most Nintendo DS and PS3N reviews on the site; a stat that will likely live forever.
Dan
Since joining Giant Bomb, Dan has become somewhat of the site's Nintendo reviewer. He's already reviewed more Wii U games than anyone. That's probably appropriate for a man whose role model is Waluigi. It's also somewhat suspect that Dan's pie chart is a peace sign. Weird, huh?
Dave
Back in the day, Hardcore Dave reviewed some games occasionally. In his nine reviews, he took on some pretty big blockbusters such as Battlefield 3 and Dragon Age: Origins. It's a small sampling, but the community agrees with Dave 66.7% of the time, which is the third highest of anyone.
Drew
Drew hasn't reviewed a game since May 2011. If they ever make another DiRT game, maybe we'll hear from him again. Because users reviewed DiRT 2 a 4.38 and DiRT 3 a 4.22, that means users agree with Drew 0% of the time.
During his reign as Kingtern, Kessler actually reviewed a few games. He even reviewed one game twice (Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine). You may notice that the community disagreed with Kessler 71.4% of the time, but every time it was because they liked the game more than him.
Patrick
Patrick reviewed twenty-four games (5th most) during his tenure here at Giant Bomb. He championed Dishonored when no one else gave it much attention. Patrick also brought attention to games like Tokyo Jungle and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair when no one else likely would have.
Rorie
Matt took a break from handling the hundreds of your support emails to play and review Dragon Age: Inquisition last year. He gave it a 4 while the community rated it a 3.46, which means we just barely didn't agree with him.
Ryan
From Bully: Scholarship Edition to Assassin's Creed III, Ryan reviewed over 100 games on Giant Bomb. He reviewed more Wii and Kinect games than anyone too. Of the four reviewers with over 100 games under their belt, the community agreed with Ryan the most (61.7%).
Vinny
Vinny hasn't reviewed a game since 2009, but with a new Ratchet & Clank game coming next year, could we see a return? Who can say? He's only reviewed nine games, but the community agrees with him 88.9% of the time, which is the most of anyone. Everybody loves Vinny.
Here's a breakdown of ratings given by the staff as a whole.And here's a breakdown of total reviews by each person.The total here reads 924, but that's because some reviews encompass more than one platform. For example, Mortal Kombat X's review includes PS4, XONE, and PC. So, that counts as three for the purpose of this chart.
Yearly
2009 was pretty crazy. But this also shows how reviews have become less important in recent years.You may immediately notice how this illustrates the decline in importance of reviews, but the first thing I notice is that there's been no 1-star reviews in a long time.
Platform
There's PlayStation 2 reviews on this site? Yep. Three of 'em.
Community
Of the 666 games reviewed by the staff, this is a representation of how the community reviewed those games (on average). The gray section represents games that have not been reviewed by any community members.Here we have a breakdown of how much the community reviews agree with each staff members reviews. If the average of the user reviews round up or down to match the staff review, that's an "Agree." If the rounded off average is higher or lower, that's a "Disagree." The "None" column just means no user reviews have been written yet.2008 was kind of a big deal.Here's some random facts pulled from the data. Who's the crazy person that gave Tenorman's Revenge a 5?
P.S. - Yes, there's actually 667 now with Super Mario Maker, but I had to delay posting this due to PAX and PAX-related stuff.
Over four years ago now, I started writing guides to help people get the most they possible could out of their PAX adventure. PAX Prime 2015 will be my fourteenth one, but I’ve also seen ten E3s and two Dragon*Cons. So, the idea here is to use that experience to help PAX rookies and veterans alike. Thanks to input from others over the years, I think we’ve got this guide thing down to a science. As such, this version of the guide won’t be a whole lot different from last year aside from some minor updates. But, if you’ve got any suggestions, please post them below.
Seattle
The Washington State Convention Center is a little old and a little small, but it is in a perfect location. Anything you could possibly want to see or do in Seattle is within walking distance (or maybe a short monorail ride). From the moment you get off your plane at SeaTac, you can walk to the Lightrail, pay a few bucks and ride all the way into downtown. At that point, you’re close to all the major hotels, the Pike Place Market, dozens of great places to eat, an arcade, a 5-minute monorail to the Seattle Center (Space Needle and music/sci-fi museums), and, of course, the convention center.
Giant Bomb @ PAX
Your best bet to meet the Giant Bomb crew is the meet-up on Thursday night, but if you missed out on signing up for that or you're not getting into town until Friday (rookie mistake), then these panels are going to be the next best chance. For the GB panel (and any "popular" panel) you're going to need to line up very early if want a good seat. Enforcers will not allow you to line up until the line for the previous panel goes inside, so...do what you need to do to get in actual line as soon as that happens.
For example, the panel that is in the room before Giant Bomb is "Foreplay: Romance in Games." It starts at 6:30 PM, which means their line will go inside somewhere around 6:15 PM. That's when you can "officially" line up for Giant Bomb. And, no, you cannot go to the Foreplay panel and stay in the room. The Enforcers clear the room after each panel. Good luck!
The Giant Bomb PAX Prime 2013 panel was certainly one to remember. Especially those of you who have scars from those Infinity boxes.
The Enforcers
Enforcers are a legion of volunteers that make PAX run efficiently. It would be a hot mess without them. In the old days, they would don the black. But, now that there are multiple versions of PAX, Prime Enforcers are coated in blue. If you need help with anything, just look for one of them. They’re never too far away. And if they ask you nicely to do something (like move out of an aisle/walkway), please do so.
There's no Queue Room anymore (more on that later), so this is gonna happen.
#PAX
Even if you don’t normally use Twitter, you should sign up just to follow these accounts while you’re at PAX. It’s the best and easiest way to get up-to-the-minute updates on what’s going on.
@pax_tourney - News on the dozens of tournaments going on upstairs.
@paxparties - An unofficial feed for the unofficial parties going on all weekend.
Just because the expo hall closes at 6pm doesn't mean PAX stops.
The Packing List
Here's what you need to bring with you especially if you're coming in from out of town.
Money
Most places (including vendors in the expo hall) will take credit/debit cards, but it’s probably a good idea to carry a little cash just in case. And if you need to hit an ATM, do it early in the day as they sometimes run out of money later on.
Backpack
Whatever your style of choice is, bring one. Don’t rely on getting a free bag at the show. They’re often cumbersome and there’s no guarantee you’ll find one anyway. Trust me…carrying a bunch of random stuff you pick up throughout the day is going to suck without a backpack. If it has weight reduction effects, all the better.
Phone & Charger
Duh. You need your phone. But don’t be a dumb and forget your charger and/or wall plug. Pro Tip: Turn your brightness down as far as you can tolerate. Keeping up with your friends at night through texts and/or Twitter is gonna be tough if your phone dies by 2 PM.
Battery Pack
Strongly consider buying an external USB battery pack. It’s been a life saver for me the last couple years. Worth every penny. Plus, if you get an adapter, it'll keep your 3DS and/or Vita truckin' too.
3DS/Vita
You will undoubtedly find some downtime (like waiting in line), and you will never be in a better place for local, handheld multiplayer. And then there’s StreetPassing. Oh…the StreetPassing. I see that green light flashing in my sleep. But you gotta get them puzzle pieces! And the fish! Oh...the fish!
Hand Sanitizer
There will be dispensers scattered around the buildings, but do yourself a favor and toss a little bottle in your bag and use it every time you play something.
Poster Tube
If you can fit it in your luggage, this is a veteran move. You might get a cool poster at PAX. You might even get it signed by Todd Howard. Make sure you have a way to get it home without crushing it.
Trash Bag
Yep. A trash bag. Just throw it in your luggage. Using it for dirty clothes will keep your stank-ass, sweaty socks off of the cool stuff you bring back on the way home.
Bring your handheld of choice. You never know who you'll get to play with.
The Daily List
Here's a few things that you should do every day. Every. Day.
Shower/Deodorant
For the love of Bristlebane, please! It’s not difficult. You're probably paying an arm and a leg for that hotel room you got, so use those amenities.
Eat/Drink
Walking around for eighteen hours a day for four days requires fuel. It may sound crazy now, but you might actually forget to eat and stay hydrated. There’s a ton of awesome places to grab food in downtown Seattle. Try to eat two actual meals a day and carry some snacks for in-between. Alternatively, you could attempt to live on doughnuts for four days. Just don’t get trapped by that Subway on the 4th floor. You’re better than that.
Sleep
Time is precious at PAX, but you can’t go non-stop for 100+ hours. Try to get at least 5 or 6 hours a night.
Get Out
Don’t spend all of your time in the convention center. Get out of there once in a while, get some air, grab some real food, see some of the city, etc.
Be Yourself
There’s a special vibe that envelops PAX. If you’ve ever felt weird or strange about the nerdy things you love, know that you’ll never be in a place with more people that enjoy the same things that you do than you ever will be. So, be yourself. Talk to random people in lines. You’re going to have a blast. Welcome home.
For a better look at all these food places, click the "a ton of awesome places" link above.
The To-Do List
Now that you've got a checklist of what to bring and some daily advice, here's some tips on how to prepare.
Download Guidebook
Guidebook is the best, easiest way to keep up with all the official PAX info (schedule, maps, announcements, etc.) Plus, @coonce works there now, so you know it’s gotta be awesome.
Gameplan
The schedule is out now, so start making a list right now of the panels you may want to see and any potential games you want to play. Compare your list with your friends and get a rough idea of what you want to see and do. Inevitably, you’re going to have make some tough decisions as multiple things you’re interested in will overlap. Accept the fact now that you can’t see/do everything, but if you go in there with no plan at all, you’re going to be overwhelmed.
http://prime.paxsite.com/schedule
Plan a Backup
Shit happens. Panels get full faster than you thought. Lines get too long to be worth it. The game you wanted to play might actually just be a presentation. Try to have a backup whenever you can. If all else fails, just go spend some more time in…
Indie Megabooth
Arguably the best part of PAX is the slew of indie games available. And, over the last few years, the Indie Megabooth has established itself as a primary feature of PAX. It houses over seventy games from nearly as many developers and you could spend hours there. It’s also great because you can play a bunch of games without waiting too long. If you see an open station, play it! I don’t care what it is.
Escape the Expo
The expo hall is an amazing spectacle. No doubt about it. But, it's also a trap. Get the hell out of there and do some other stuff once in a while. PAX has so much to offer aside from the expo hall and you shouldn’t miss it. Head upstairs to the Classic Console and Console Freeplay rooms. Hunt down the Classic Arcade. Head down the street to the Tabletop arenas. You get the point. Go do stuff.
The Indie Megabooth is always a good time!
The To-Don’t List
A couple little words of warning from a PAX veteran. You'll thank me later.
SWAG
We all love free stuff, but seriously…don’t be that guy. Don’t wait in line for 45 minutes to play a game you don’t care about just to get a shirt. And please don’t loiter around a headphone booth hoping to catch an inflatable hat. You will get free stuff without trying too hard, so don’t let SWAG ruin your PAX.
Lines
Okay, lines are unavoidable. If you want to do much of anything at PAX, you’re gonna wait in some lines. But, this is on the “don’t” list simply to help you make good decisions. Do you really need to wait in line for an hour to play Mario Maker when it will be out the next week? Think about it. Do you really want to wait in line for an hour to watch an Assassin’s Creed trailer that will be online Tuesday morning? Time is precious at PAX. Choose wisely.
How do you think these people feel now? They waited 5+ hours to see Duke Nukem Forever in 2010.
The Optional List
Three PAX traditions that should not be ignored. Your interest will likely depend on who is involved, so take note.
Keynote
The “Storytime” session is typically a great opening ceremony for PAX, especially for first-timers. But the Penny Arcade Q&A no longer immediately follows the keynote, so unless you're a fan of the speaker, it may not be worth it. This year’s speaker is Kim Swift, who most people will know from Portal.
Music
On Saturday and Sunday night, Benaroya Hall will be rocking late into the night. Whether you know anything about the performers or not, the concerts are a great time especially if you don’t have any other late night plans. Saturday’s lineup includes 7bit Hero, Freezepop, and MC Frontalot. Sunday night, you can see The Returners, Bit Brigade, and The Protomen.
Omegathon Finals
The Omegathon is an elimination tournament that takes place throughout the entire weekend between a couple dozen attendees who were randomly selected prior to the show. The final game is always kept a secret until the very end. It’s usually a great closing ceremony, but it totally depends on the game. I’ve seen some great ones like Vs. Excitebike, Ikaruga, Trials Evolution, and (inexplicably) a stuffed animal crane game. But, I’ve also seen some pure train wrecks like Spaceteam and Cornhole. So, I can’t recommend it as much as I used to, but it still has the potential to be awesome.
The 2012 Omegathon Finals.
PAX. PAX Never Changes.
The Queue Room is now a relic of the past (PAX 2009 seen here).
Except when it does. There’s a few notable changes to PAX Prime this year that everyone who’s been before should be aware of.
1. The Queue Room is gone. The expo hall will now expand into what was the morning queue room, but not to add more booths. The idea is to make wider walkways and generally more space throughout the expo hall, which is a great idea. But, where do we line up then? They’re saying Enforcers will direct you where to go if you come in the main entrance of the convention center, which probably means you’ll be led outside of level four, which is where the overflow area was last year anyway. You can also line up at the annex across the street or at any of the theaters if you plan on going to a morning panel.
2. No stopping in aisles to take photos. This is primarily referring to cosplay. They’re encouraging cosplayers to congregate outside the expo hall for photo ops. Typically, the area around the merch booth on level 4 is popular for this anyway.
3. The registration desk is now at the Grand Hyatt, NOT in the convention center. That means if you did not get your badges mailed to you, you will need to pick them up at the Hyatt. You can do this on Thursday if you get into town early, which will be a lot faster than doing it Friday morning for sure.
<>
Well, that's all I've got. If you have any suggestions, comments, suggestions, or complaints, let me hear it. As always, hopefully this will help some people out and maybe I'll see some of you at PAX. Let me know if you spot my Mii in StreetPass too. I'll probably be the idiot who's most recently played game is the Seattle Mariners logo. Anyway, it's gonna be a blast. Have fun. Just remember...
E3 2015 has come and gone. We learned a lot about video games and ourselves over the past week, and before we get back to normal life (and Batman) I wanted to share some data based on all those trailers that went up during the show. This was the fourth year that I was responsible for handling E3 trailers. As always, it was both fun and hectic. Monday is especially crazy and difficult to keep up, but by Wednesday it's more about finding the smaller/indie games that didn't get any time during the press conferences. By the end, I had uploaded 154 trailers to the site, which is easily the most I've ever done. So, what do you think were the most popular ones? You may be surprised...
Top 25 Most Viewed Trailers
These are the twenty-five most watched trailers, obviously. But, this list isn't entirely fair. Half of the games on this list had promos on the front page, which means they were highlighted in one of the four slots below the big header image. Less than twenty trailers got this special treatment this year, but it still skews the stats.
For those that don't know, I've been the one updating the community promos that you see at the bottom of the front page for the last few years. As such, I still feel weird about promoting any of my own stuff. The PAX Guide is different because I truly believe that it helps people, but other stuff...it's weird. But, ever since launching this really dumb web site last week, people have been telling me it needs a promo. "More people need to know about this," they said. So, here we are.
Rather than just lazily linking to the site from the promo, I figured I could give some background on the why and the how. On the flight home from PAX East 2015, I came up with the idea of making an unofficial official home page for PAX Wrestling. Then, I realized...I haven't made websites in over a decade. This discouraged me for about 30 seconds until I realized...that's perfect. A site stuck in the 90's? For a bunch of people playing N64 wrestling games? I had to make this happen.
I spent about two weeks finding out whether or not modern browsers would even support my archaic ideas. Does Chrome support frames? It sure does. Can I still format an entire site using only tables? Sure, why the hell not? Then, how many dumb, 90's Internet things can I cram in there? Guestbooks? Check. Web Ring? Check. Under construction gifs? Check. Animated bloody horizontal rules? CHECK!
To add some legitimacy to this ridiculous endeavor, I spent a while time stamping both Rumbles so I could generate some stats and fun facts. If you've seen my blogs here over the last several years, you know I love numbers. The most time-intensive part of course was making all the Superstar pages, but it was a lot of fun. I'd be lying if I didn't question the whole thing while writing some of those. It's difficult to know if you've dialed into right level of stupid. Luckily, most people seem to like it so far. I mean, there's a ticker at the bottom that tells me 13,000 people have seen it. Web counters can't lie, you know. So, if you don't follow Twitter much and haven't seen it yet, please go check out PAXAMANIA.com (or PAXW.co) and let me know what ya think.
If you've got any suggestions, comments, questions, or complaints... lemme hear about it.
It's been four years now that I've been writing guides for anyone and everyone who wants to get the most out of their Penny Arcade Expo experience. Last year, for PAX Prime 2014, I changed it up a bit, so I'm gonna stick with that format for East this year too (with a few tweaks). If you’ve seen one of my guides in the past, you likely know that I’ve been through ten E3s, two Dragon*Cons, and what is about to be my thirteenth PAX. As I've said before, even with all this personal experience at video game conventions and trade shows, it’s thanks to help from a lot of y’all that I think we’ve got this guide thing down to a science. Even so, if you have something to add or if you have any questions about anything, please post them below.
Boston
I know...it looks confusing if you're not from Boston.
I've been to Boston many times even before PAX started coming there, and it's easily one of my favorite cities. If you've been to Prime, but not East, it's gonna be like bizarro world to you. At Prime, the airport is far away and the convention center is in the middle of everything downtown. In Boston, Logan International is a few minutes from the convention center, but it's about a mile walk from there into the heart of Boston where most of the fun stuff is.
If you're landing at the airport, you should almost definitely hop on the Silver Line. It's FREE going into the city from Logan and, if you were lucky enough to get a hotel near the convention center, it'll take you right past most of them. If you weren't so lucky, the Silver Line will drop you at South Station, which is a hub that will get you to basically anywhere else in the city. If you're going to be in town all week(end), throw $10 or $20 on MBTA "Charlie Card" since each ride you take is going to cost about $2.
Check for hotel on Google maps, locate the closest "T" station (it'll be real easy), and work backwards to South Station. Even if you're not a city kid, it's quite simple. If you need help, there's plenty of Boston natives hanging around on the site, so ask away.
The Boston Convention & Exhibition Center is massive, but it's also kind of in no man's land.
Giant Bomb @ PAX
You might spot a Giant Bomb staff member randomly on the show floor (just don't bother them if they're shooting something), but your best bet is one of these panels. There's at least one panel every day of the show that features at least one member of the staff, so no matter what day you're going to be at PAX, you've got a shot at seeing some or all of the Giant Bomb crew in person. Make sure you line up early (especially for the GB panel)!
The Giant Bomb panel at PAX Prime 2013. One of the best photos I've ever taken at PAX.
The Enforcers
Enforcers are a legion of volunteers that make PAX run efficiently. It would be a hot mess without them. In the old days, they would don the black. But, now that there are multiple versions of PAX, East Enforcers are coated in red. If you need help with anything, just look for one of them. They’re never too far away. And if they ask you nicely to do something (like move out of an aisle/walkway), please do so.
They don't always wear armor like this guy to the right. Just most of the time.
#PAX
Even if you don’t normally use Twitter, you should sign up just to follow these accounts while you’re at PAX. It’s the best and easiest way to get up-to-the-minute updates on what’s going on.
@pax_tourney - News on the dozens of tournaments going on upstairs.
@paxparties - An unofficial feed for the unofficial parties going on all weekend.
Welcome home.
The Packing List
Here's what you need to bring with you especially if you're coming in from out of town.
Money
Most places (including vendors in the expo hall) will take credit/debit cards, but it’s probably a good idea to carry a little cash just in case. And if you need to hit an ATM, do it early in the day as they sometimes run out of money later on.
Backpack
Whatever your style of choice is, bring one. Don’t rely on getting a free bag at the show. They’re often cumbersome and there’s no guarantee you’ll find one anyway. Trust me…carrying a bunch of random stuff you pick up throughout the day is going to suck without a backpack. Make it at least a 10-slotter. If it has weight reduction, all the better.
Phone & Charger
Duh. You need your phone. But don’t be a dumb and forget your charger and/or wall plug. Pro Tip: Turn your brightness down as far as you can tolerate. Keeping up with your friends at night through texts and/or Twitter is gonna be tough if your phone dies by 2 PM.
Battery Pack
Consider buying an external USB battery pack. It’s been a life saver for me the last couple years. Worth every penny. Plus, if you get an adapter, it'll keep your 3DS and/or Vita truckin' too.
3DS/Vita
Choose your weapon of choice…or dual wield! You will undoubtedly find some downtime (like waiting in line), and you will never be in a better place for local, handheld multiplayer. And then there’s StreetPassing. Oh…the StreetPassing. I see that green light flashing in my sleep.
Hand Sanitizer
There will be dispensers scattered around the buildings, but do yourself a favor and toss a little bottle in your bag and use it every time you play something.
Poster Tube
If you can fit it in your luggage, this is a veteran move. You might get a cool poster at PAX. You might even get it signed by Todd Howard. Make sure you have a way to get it home without crushing it.
Trash Bag
Yep. A trash bag. Just throw it in your luggage. Use it later for dirty clothes, which will keep your stank-ass, sweaty socks off of the cool stuff you bring back on the way home.
Bring your handheld console of choice. You never know who you might get to play with.
The Daily List
Here's a few things that you should do every day.
Shower/Deodorant
For the love of Bristlebane, please! It’s not difficult. You're probably paying an arm and a leg for that hotel room you got, so use those amenities.
Eat/Drink
Walking around for eighteen hours a day for three days requires fuel. It may sound crazy, but you might actually forget to eat and stay hydrated. There aren't a ton of options real close to the convention center. There is a food court on the north side of the convention center, but it's super crowded and generally shitty. There's carnival-type food in the back of the expo hall usually too. But, scope out some of the few nearby locations ahead of time and maybe hit those instead. Try to eat two actual meals a day and carry some snacks for in-between. Alternatively, you could attempt to live on Dunkin for three days.
Sleep
Time is precious at PAX, but you can’t go non-stop for 72+ hours. Try to get at least 5 or 6 hours a night.
Get Out
Don’t spend all of your time in the convention center. Get out of there once in a while, get some air, grab some real food, see some of the city, etc.
Be Yourself
There’s a special vibe that envelops PAX. If you’ve ever felt weird or strange about the nerdy things you love, know that you’ll never be in a place with more people that enjoy the same things that you do than you ever will be. So, be yourself. Talk to random people in lines. You’re going to have a blast. Welcome home.
That big red block is the convention center. It's about a mile from there to the Regina Pizzeria in the middle. As you can see, most of the food options are on the other side of the bridge.
The To-Do List
Now that you've got a checklist of what to bring and some daily advice, here's some tips on how to prepare.
Download Guidebook
Guidebook is the best, easiest way to keep up with all the official PAX info (schedule, maps, announcements, etc.) Plus, @coonce works there now, so you know it’s gotta be awesome.
Gameplan
The schedule is out now, so start making a list right now of the panels you may want to see and any potential games you want to play. Compare your list with your friends and get a rough idea of what you want to see and do. Inevitably, you’re going to have make some tough decisions as multiple things you’re interested in will overlap. Accept the fact now that you can’t see/do everything, but if you go in there with no plan at all, you’re going to be overwhelmed.
Plan a Backup
Shit happens. Panels get full faster than you thought. Lines get too long to be worth it. The game you wanted to play might actually just be a presentation. Try to have a backup whenever you can. If all else fails, just go spend some more time in…
The Indie Megabooth
Arguably the best part of PAX is the slew of indie games available. And, over the last couple years, the Indie Megabooth has established itself as a primary feature of PAX. It houses around 100 games from nearly as many developers and you could spend hours there. It’s also great because you can play a bunch of games without waiting too long. If you see an open station, play it! I don’t care what it is.
Escape the Expo
The expo hall is an amazing spectacle. No doubt about it. But, it's also a trap. Get the hell out of there and do some other stuff once in a while. PAX has so much to offer aside from the expo hall and you shouldn’t miss it. Head upstairs to the Classic Console and Console Freeplay rooms. Head to the back to the Tabletop arenas. You get the point. Go do stuff. New stuff.
The Indie Megabooth is always a good time!
The To-Don’t List
A couple little words of warning from a PAX veteran. You'll thank me later.
SWAG
We all love free stuff, but seriously…don’t be that guy. Don’t wait in line for 45 minutes to play a game you don’t care about just to get a shirt. And please don’t loiter around a headphone booth hoping to catch an inflatable hat. You will get free stuff without trying too hard, so don’t let SWAG ruin your PAX.
Lines
Okay, lines are unavoidable. If you want to do much of anything at PAX, you’re gonna wait in some lines. But, this is on the “don’t” list simply to help you make good decisions. Do you really need to wait in line for two hours to play Bloodborne when it will be out two weeks later? Maybe not. Do you really want to wait in line for an hour to watch a Batman: Arkham Knight trailer that will be online Monday morning? Time is precious at PAX. Choose wisely.
It's a jungle out there.
The Optional List
Three PAX traditions that should not be ignored. Your interest will likely depend on who is involved, so take note.
Keynote
The “Storytime” session is typically a great opening ceremony for PAX, especially for first-timers. The Penny Arcade Q&A is once again immediately after this, so if you're a fan of those guys, you should probably go to the keynote to get a good seat. It's one of the few times they don't clear out a theatre before the next event. This year’s speakers are Telltale Games founders Dan Connors and Kevin Bruner.
Music
On Friday and Saturday night, the Main Theatre will be rocking late into the night. Whether you know anything about the performers or not, the concerts are a great time especially if you don’t have any other late night plans. Friday’s lineup includes Super Guitar Bros, Triforce Quartet, and the legendary Paul & Storm. Saturday night, you can see Freezepop, Bit Brigade, and nerdcore icon MC Frontalot.
Omegathon Finals
The Omegathon is an elimination tournament that takes place throughout the entire weekend between a couple dozen attendees who were randomly selected prior to the show. The final game is always kept a secret until the very end. It’s usually a great closing ceremony, but it totally depends on the game. I’ve seen some great ones like Vs. Excitebike, Ikaruga, Trials Evolution, and (inexplicably) a stuffed animal crane game. But, I’ve also seen some pure train wrecks like Spaceteam and Cornhole. So, I can’t recommend it as much as I used to, but it still has the potential to be awesome.
At the 2012 Omegathon Finals, the greatest Crokinole match ever played took place.
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Well, that's all I've got. If you have any suggestions, comments, suggestions, or complaints, let me hear it. As always, hopefully this will help some people out and maybe I'll see some of you at PAX. Let me know if you spot my Mii in StreetPass too. I'll probably be the idiot who's most recently played game is Baseball for Game Boy. Anyway, it's gonna be a blast. Have fun. And...watch out for glass bottles.
PAX East VI. Where flash game designers become legends and legends become icons. It's the showcase of the immortals. Tonight is the night...where it all begins again.
2014 was certainly a year. I don't know what else can be said about the ups and downs at this point, but before we wave goodbye and/or give the finger to 2014, I've compiled some data based on the staff reviews once again. If you've been around for a few years, you know I used to do this kind of thing with achievement data and site traffic as well, but unfortunately those features are long gone. Will they return one day? We can only hope. So, despite the decline of the importance of reviews, I went ahead and put this together for the fourth year in a row. I already have the spreadsheet built, so I might as well use it for something, right?
Once again, I've paired this data with some of the best community artwork from throughout the year (plus one old one). The total number of reviews is less than before, but we did have the debut of two new reviewers on the site. But, first, credit where credit is due.
The reigning, defending, undisputed world heavyweight champion once again reviewed more games than anyone for the third year in a row. Despite having a reputation for reviewing terrible games, Alex did not dish out a single 1-star review this year. Alex's two 5-stars were early releases this year (Jazzpunk and South Park).
Brad
Brad took a page out of Jeff Cannata's book this year; he loves loving things. His two 5-star reviews were The Last of Us: Left Behind and Shadow of Mordor.
Jeff
Jeff seemingly liked a lot of games, but it was the first year that he didn't dole out a single 5-star review. Being the advocate for Dr. Tracksuit may have taken a toll on him this year.
Patrick
Patrick reviewed more games this year than ever before. It's not the first time that he was unable to find a worthy 5-star game, but honestly it's been a pretty rough year. It had to hurt a lot to give Yoshi's New Island a 3.
Rorie
Matt Rorie made his review debut this year with Dragon Age: Inquisition. I'm using this image from a couple years ago because I didn't have a chance to before. It's too good not to utilize it.
Dan
Despite just joining the Giant Bomb crew midway through this year, he quickly became the de facto Nintendo review man. His first-ever 5-star review was Bayonetta 2.
Staff
Drew can see into your soul. Even with half a face.
Stars
This is the first year in Giant Bomb history that we did not have a single 1-star review. That's pretty hard to believe considering all the broken-ass games we had this year, but it's true. It's damn true. Aside from that, the percentages worked out quite similar to previous years.
Platform (Pie)
We went from 11 different platforms last year to 7 this year. Out with the old, in with the new.
Platform (Bar)
This chart is for the crazy people who yell at me for the way I do pie charts. By the way, if you're doing the math, the total here adds up to more than how many reviews were done. That's because some reviews cover multiple platforms.
Monthly
Will we ever break out of the Christmas, Second Christmas (March), Summer Drought cycle? I dunno. But, if we ever do, 2014 certainly was not the start.
Publisher
The stark contrast between the hot mess of Ubisoft this year and the stellar lineup from Nintendo is pretty interesting. Both of those companies only had 3 reviewed games last year.
Here's a blast from the past. If you were around a few years ago (exactly three years ago to be clear), you may remember a secret collection of cards that were released through the Whiskey Media online store. It was a magical time. A time of big live live shows that were live, big red phones, and baby shaking. How one would obtain one of these cards was hotly debated at the time. Those who did qualify for a card received them in a direct email from one Dave Snider with the user's name emblazoned across the bottom. The real kicker was that it was entirely up to the user to share them with the rest of the community, so some of them were never seen.
Until now...
Now that it's been a few years, Dave sent me a zip file of all of them. So, here they are in all their glory including the likes of Ryan, Norm, Vinny, Ethan, and the Big Red Phone.
And, yes. Luchadeer's last name is Williams. That's canon.
As of this writing, SOE Live 2014 is ongoing. While primarily watching streams for EverQuest Next info, I've found myself watching several of the panels for the original EverQuest. That combined with Dan's recent virginal forays into WoW have caused my nostalgia for EQ to flare up again (more so than usual). I've spent a considerable amount of time on the wiki here trying to document the game, but I feel like it'd be cool if there was a place to talk about it, share memories, and maybe find out some of us played on the same server way back when. I don't expect this post to be super popular, but we'll see.
A while back I wrote some blogs about specific memories. I should start doing that again.
Feel free to share any stories of your grand and/or nefarious adventures in Norrath below. And if you post your character(s) name, server, guild name, and when you played, I'll add it to the list. Who knows? Maybe we played together.
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