This post is by Sam Machkovech.
“Tell me you love Dead Space!” the drunk guy in the button-down shirt slurred. This semi-muscular, bald stranger then put his arm around my shoulder, his head slooping after hours of enjoying the free booze at Electronic Arts’ private PAX party.
Turns out he was a developer for EA’s Dead Space Extraction, a new horror video game for the Wii on show at the party, and he’d gotten tight enough to look for any excuse to give out promo goodies for his game. I didn’t answer his question, but no matter; we talked long enough for the guy to shove an action figure into my chest. “Its fucking eyes glow red, man!” Thanks.
This, the third private PAX party I hopped to on Friday, was like the others thrown by gaming companies Sony and Hudson: freebies, various levels of polish, and various styles of slider sandwich. And booze. Oh, the booze.
Still, the drinks didn’t elicit glowing reviews of the games on hand. Sony’s MAG–short for “Massive Online Game”—was a competent shooting game whose selling point was battles among up to 256 players at once. Sounds immense, but the game limits your fights to small groups, so the huge-number gimmick doesn’t visibly pay off. Hudson had nothing playable on site. And EA’s Dead Space Extraction game, while slick and fun, didn’t play really well amongst the pounding thump of LCD Soundsystem at the Capitol Hill bar.
Worse, the drinks didn’t create the kind of atmosphere I attend PAX for. At these private parties, people kept to themselves (or their friends) enjoying the freebies and clearing out when they hit their fill. I was anxious to get back to the Washington State Convention Center, where the show was going until 3 a.m. (hours past the private parties).
When I returned to PAX, I played and played and played. Best was an eight-player battle game called Saturn Bomberma—-a niche classic released in the mid-90s— thanks to the bunch of talkative strangers I enjoyed it with, some of whom had designed games on the PAX floor this year. We talked gaming, talked smack, talked hometowns, and had fun. This repeated, whether I sat in on board games, brand-new hits, or the nighttime concerts.
On Friday and Saturday nights, the largest PAX room hosts gamer-themed concerts, and last night, Metroid Metal served as the marquee act. They’re one of many recent gaming cover bands who redo old game theme songs with a full-band twist. It’s a golden niche, and MM made the most of it, combining the comfort of nostalgic covers with the opportunity to reimagine gaming’s ’80s tunes big-hair style.
“This one’s from Super Metroid,” the band’s bassist shouted out, looking straight out of a cubicle on Casual Friday—complete with cargo shorts. But the look didn’t deter the crowd; they roared for their classic game, and for how the band mined the sci-fi weirdness of Metroid’s tunes with a real bite. Focusing on the odd time patterns of the old songs, the band punctuated the weird, tonal tunes with three-guitar force that was as much fan service as impressive, metal-worthy gruff.
I left the concert to rest up for the next long day, and walking along my side were two strangers from Wallingford. No slurring, no arms around the shoulder, no booze. Without provocation, we found ourselves talking the whole way to the bus stops about our favorite video games, and it was the best conversation of the night.
|
|
|