Video games struggle with transposition. There have been some great games made out of films, but the statement seldom holds the other way round. There are some novelizations based around the more successful sagas, but these rarely reach out to an audience beyond the original fans. Other than that, few books are written which communicate with the gaming world.
I typically go to a lot of panels at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East, but this year relatively few of the offerings interested me (and some of the interesting ones were on simultaneously). So, I spent a lot of time on the show floor. The only major publisher I really visited was Ubisoft, where I learned that Might & Magic X will be coming this year and has a huge, wasteful UI. I spent most of the rest of my time in the Indie Megabooth and environs, both because this is a more efficient use of time and you're more likely to actually see the games and talk to somebody interesting there.
King of Chinatown follows professional Street Fighter IV player Justin Wong as he competes both worldwide and in his local Chinatown arcade. In about an hour, the film features Justin and his then-manager Isaiah Triforce Johnson (his actual legal name) attempting to make Justin the best Street Fighter IV player in the world. At the same time, they try elevating Triforce's fighting guild "Empire Arcadia" to the next level.
Agents is a game by Recursive Frog (Patino) created for last month's Ludum Dare online game jam. The game is very simple on the surface, in that it's an audio-only adventure where players control two nefarious field agents solely via "voice calls" on their mobile phone. The task is to get them in to a guarded complex, then out, while helping them work together to stay alive.
This weekend was the 7th annual Retro Gaming Expo, taking place in Portland, Oregon. Since it was just a three-hour drive away, and I had never attended the Retro Gaming Expo before, I made the trip accompanied by my wife and youngest son. Game family…Gooooooooooo!
My first event of the day was one of my most anticipated—Dishonored, from Bethesda. When I sat down with the game, I asked Seth Shain, one of the developers, to show me all the highlights and details that I might miss walking into the game cold. He was happy to oblige, and I hit him with every question I could think of.
My second day at Seattle's biggest gaming convention began with an upcoming XBLA/PSN title called Harold. I spoke with pleasantly French game designer Loris Malek, who talked me through the inception and creation of the game. His energy was infectious, and it was a real joy to see someone so excited about their project.
Once again taking place in the Washington State Trade & Convention Center located in downtown Seattle, there was more to see and do than one humble writer could possibly cover. However, I did my very best, and here is what I saw…
Last year's Seattle Indie Expo proved that the Pacific Northwest is a hotbed of up-and-coming games development talent, and if anyone needed further proof, then this year's SIX drove the point home.
Second Skin is a 2008 documentary by Juan Carlos Piñeiro Escoriaza about MMO players' "second skin"—their avatars and virtual life. While looking at those into titles like World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Second Life, and others, MMO players' lives seem like an easy target for humor, Second Skin manages to avoid that.
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