posted by Chris on May 19, 2008 6:22 PM in Podcast
This week, Qais, Chris and Ross the Transparent Underground Gnoll meet at the Fortress of Geekitude to discuss the state of video game trade shows, Konami's new Rock Revolution and what a new drum peripheral could mean for crowded living rooms everywhere, making worthwhile games for children, the Great Slipper Collapse of 1985 (includes bonus Fraggle Rock discussion) and then the boys dip into the mailbag. Which isn't a euphemism.
To anyone who was there, or really anyone who heard about it at all, PAX was pretty friggin' rad. There's pretty much no denying it. Even Chris, who once told Robert Khoo that he thought PAX wasn't "for him," had fun there. Nearly everything was top notch and done with class and style. Good panels, great music, classic movies, entertaining guests, fun exhibits, and enjoyable events abounded. But can they hold on to the magic forever? PAX broke the mold for conventions, but will they eventually settle down back into it?
There is huge potential for PAX to become another mindless con whose only purpose is to get your money. And there is the danger of PAX becoming overrun by those who would twist it to their own ends. As much as the PA crew try to deny it, PAX is the new E3. E3 always tried to say that it was an "industry" event for media and business, but that was a sham and we all know it. They made it sound like it was super exclusive in order to tempt the average gamer into "sneaking in" one way or another. In reality, there was pretty much no standard on who was allowed into the show. And they charged an arm and a leg for anyone who wasn't media. If E3 was really just for industry professionals, there would have been no call for extravagant displays, loads of swag, and booth babes. It was there for consumers and anyone who tells you differently is a liar.
posted by Amy on September 2, 2007 2:27 PM in Games
Update: We have a winner! Congratulations to Tanya Spence! Your prize will be in the mail soon. Thanks to everyone who participated!
In honor of the release of Guild Wars: Eye of the North, we are giving away exclusive PAX Guild Wars swag to the first person to correctly answer the following questions:
1. The acronym for Guild Wars: Eye of the North, GW:EN, is also the name of a NPC. Who is she?
2. What is the primary difference between Guild Wars: Eye of the North and Factions or Nightfall?
posted by Chris on August 27, 2007 7:16 PM in Podcast
PAX came and went, and The Weekly Geek was there to give you all the juicy bits of con coverage you can handle. In this wrap-up show, Chris, Grant, Colette and Amy talk about all the fun times had, all the Weekly Geek fans who showed up and said hi (thanks!) and Rock Band. Tons of Rock Band. At the end of this week's podcast you even get a bonus interview with Wil Wheaton! Fancy! Subscribe now!
Update: I realize there are audio issues with the end of the podcast. I am fixing and they should be taken care of by this evening. --Chris
Every year the fine folks making Penny Arcade Expo happen put together a whole host of panels. Some of these panels are informative like the Podcasts and Blogs panel, some are stultifyingly dull and obnoxious like the Frag Dolls panel, and some are so completely off the wall that you don't realize what's happened until you wake up in a hotel bathtub full of ice with one of your kidneys missing. It's this last variety I had the extreme fortune to catch.
At the end of Friday's Penny Arcade Panel, with guests having strode on stage to Hustlin' and barely intelligible questions having been asked, Tycho and Gabe made an announcement concerning a surprise guest Q&A panel. Who would this mystery guest be? Apparently Jack Thompson declined (probably a wise choice) and Wil Wheaton had given the keynote speech so it couldn't be him. What big name could the stars of Penny Arcade have cadged for fans to barrage with questions? That big name dear readers, was Uwe Boll.
posted by Qais on August 27, 2007 1:36 PM in Games
At this year's PAX, the crown jewel of games to try (if you were there to play games instead of slumming around collecting free t-shirts to fashion into a nest of geekery like me) was Rockband. Having been relegated to drift among the rank and file, denied the opportunity to sup from the golden teat that is a media pass, I braced myself for the monstrous line of people waiting to live out, if only briefly, their childhood fantasies of rocking on stage to a crowd of eager listeners. Harmonix failed to disappoint.
Another PAX has come and gone, and this year, in between panels, concerts, and drooling over Rockband and Eternal Sonata I managed to snap a few pictures. Keep your peepers peeled for more in depth coverage soon, in the words of my esteemed colleague Mr. Darigol, "Holy crap, I'm tired."
Hit the jump for pictures from this year's Penny Arcade Expo
Oh man, dudes. PAX is over and it was nuts. I'll have a bigger post later and we'll of course talk about it on the show tomorrow, but I wanted to give you a few quick bullet points on my experiences:
Just over 24 hours now until the doors open at PAX! (Well, over 25 hours for the rest of you)
I'm pretty excited and think I have a decent schedule planned out. It's fairly full right now, but I'm sure I may just bail on some stuff to hang out with people or go to some of the gaming rooms. It's pretty ebb and flow at big cons.
Gotta meet up with Wil sometime in that special Media hour before the doors open to the public and set up a time to use the interview room.
I think it's gonna be a ton of fun. What do you guys have planned to do?
posted by Chris on August 20, 2007 6:12 PM in Podcast
We give Bioshock a little break this week on The Weekly Geek podcast, moving on to bigger and better things. Only kidding, we talk about Bioshock some more. This week, Chris, The Geek (rebranded as Grant Darigol), White Mage (rebranded as Amy Darigol) and Colette (rebranded as Colette) gush over Bioshock, plan for PAX, hate on some Thundercats and contemplate Burning Man. Download it now! Or don't!
posted by Chris on August 6, 2007 6:43 PM in Podcast
This week The Geek and Chris join Flynn DeMarco from GayGamer to discuss the recent DOS attack on his site. Flynn sticks around to talk about other cheerier things, though! Everyone is stealing The Geek's ideas, schools are integrating game theory, assholes are continuing to be assholes and PAX arrangements are made. Makeouts have to wait till after the show, however. Check out the show or subscribe! We'd of course prefer you to subscribe. Do this!
posted by Chris on July 23, 2007 11:32 AM in Games
... but not at E3? Sure you could play Harmonix's Guitar Hero-and-every-other-game-ever-killer behind closed doors at this year's E3, if you set up a meeting or were invited to the super exclusive Rock Band event. But it wasn't on the show floor. This just furthers my frustration with companies at this year's E3. They saved some of the best games for their other non-media events, while we are left in the dust. Gabe from Penny Arcade outlined more PAX events today:
A bunch of other awesome shit
- Sponsored parties from Vivendi, Gametrailers, ArenaNet, and Sega
- Public-playable premiers of dozens of games
- Hundreds of freeplay computers provided by Intel
- All of Wizards of the Coast's "Gencon" RPGA games and content--everything they're introducing there, they're also introducing here
- Rock Band, playable on a stage in Harmonix's 20x30 booth
I had a great time at E3 but it certainly wasn't because of the ESA or the majority of the game companies. I look forward to wading through the crowds of unwashed horrible people to try your game, Harmonix. Thanks.
posted by Chris on February 14, 2007 6:37 AM in Podcast
The Geek and Frodo take a trip this week to the Penny Arcade compound for an exclusive interview with Robert Khoo. Discussed are the rapid expansion of the Penny Arcade Expo, Penny Arcade's future, The Penny Arcade Video Game, Frodo pisses off Khoo and Khoo destroys Frodo's business card, and Web Directions North. Khoo also drops an exclusive, revealing more of the Penny Arcade Expo musical guest lineup (Hint, Freezepop and the OneUps are coming!) Download the show now, or subscribe!
You can check out the full podcast and chat with Robert Khoo when it gets posted a bit later today. Until then begin to salivate for the next 6 1/2 months until PAX comes along.
Yes that's right kiddies, the Penny Arcade Expo 2007 has now opened its gates for pre-registration. If you're planning to go (and you should be), if you sign up for all 3 days before March 31, you'll get 10 bucks off the price. That's 1000 Wii points! I know I'll be there. Heck, I'm even considering shelling out the dough for a regular pass instead of just going as Media so I have a chance to be entered into the Omegathon.
Oh, in case you didn't know, the Penny Arcade Expo is the annual game-o-rama conference put on by the crew over at Penny Arcade. This year, they're moving from the Meydenbauer center in Bellevue, WA to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center right smack dab in the middle of downtown Seattle. As was apparent at PAX 06, the ol' MBC just wasn't big enough any more. Way too many nerds packed into that place made it a bit uncomfortable. So now they've got over 200,000 square feet to work with. And I'm pretty damn sure they're gonna fill every last square inch of it with gaming goodness. They'll need the space, as PA business guru Robert Khoo has predicted at least 30,000 of us spazzes showing up this year. (I took that picture of the dapper Mr. Khoo on that Wikipedia link.)
We have a ton of new content on our stuff page including a bunch of photos on Flickr. We have photos from Video Armageddon, some pictures of us in stupid hats, E3, PAX and more. We also have some desktops you can download, if you feel so inclined!
I just wanted to take this time to "rekuhnize" some friends over at the Penny Arcade Forums who helped make my PAX trip possible. Current disposable income is practically nil at the moment and so now I will "give props" to some cool dudes who helped out with transportation, lodging, and sustenance for the exposition.
In no particular order, thank you to:
Rankenphile, for letting me crash in your room Friday and Saturday nights and for two breakfasts and a dinner.
Romacus, for letting me hitch a ride over the mountains
Monkeybomb, for letting me crash in your room Thursday night and for a dinner with the forum crew at Rock Bottom.
posted by Chris on August 27, 2006 6:55 PM in Podcast
After last week's craziness comes this week's calm. This week, The Geek, Frodo and White Mage welcome guest panelist Fronz from Destructoid.com.The Geek is fresh off of a PAX binge and tells us all about it, from the Minibosses to throwing a dart at Tycho's baby's head. Fun times, man. Fun times. Other things were also discussed! Such as...
posted by Chris on August 20, 2006 6:10 PM in Podcast
This week we welcome guest panelist Eliza Gauger from Kotaku.com. She joins The Geek, White Mage and Frodo in discussing internet flash mobs, hard gay, the Penny Arcade Expo, and Bully. A fun time was had by all. And cursing. Lots of cursing was had by all.
Here are some show notes:
posted by Chris on August 14, 2006 6:44 AM in Podcast
#532: Extreme Gardening
This week The Geek and Frodo welcome special guest Rikki Simons, and proceed to discuss garden trowels, MMORPGs, the strangeness of Second Life, Penny Arcade Expo, Xbox live, Sony blunders and they only make ONE Wii joke. We apologize. Here are some show notes:
Guys, now that E3 is gonna be pretty much exclusive to retailers and large media outlets, it looks like the Penny Arcade Expo is poised to be the next big gamer convention.
PAX 06 is coming up at the end of this month and registration ends this Thursday, August 3, so make sure you get in and register.
posted by Chris on January 22, 2006 5:49 PM in Podcast
This week's podcast features ARGHAGYDUBAUYSDGBUSYABDSADAS...
Sorry. I tripped and fell on the keyboard. This week's podcast features The Geek, Frodo and White Mage discussing site and show changes, the Penny Arcade Expo, the forum-based suicide of a gamer, and February's new video game releases. Use the direct mp3 download here or use the buttons on the sidebar over there to subscribe!
Don't forget to preorder your Weekly Geek T-shirt!
There is huge potential for PAX to become another mindless con whose only purpose is to get your money. And there is the danger of PAX becoming overrun by those who would twist it to their own ends. As much as the PA crew try to deny it, PAX is the new E3. E3 always tried to say that it was an "industry" event for media and business, but that was a sham and we all know it. They made it sound like it was super exclusive in order to tempt the average gamer into "sneaking in" one way or another. In reality, there was pretty much no standard on who was allowed into the show. And they charged an arm and a leg for anyone who wasn't media. If E3 was really just for industry professionals, there would have been no call for extravagant displays, loads of swag, and booth babes. It was there for consumers and anyone who tells you differently is a liar.
Well, the online version of Wired. Wired's PAX photo gallery was posted today, and guess who was in it? This guy. 
Every year the fine folks making Penny Arcade Expo happen put together a whole host of panels. Some of these panels are informative like the Podcasts and Blogs panel, some are stultifyingly dull and obnoxious like the Frag Dolls panel, and some are so completely off the wall that you don't realize what's happened until you wake up in a hotel bathtub full of ice with one of your kidneys missing. It's this last variety I had the extreme fortune to catch.
At this year's PAX, the crown jewel of games to try (if you were there to play games instead of slumming around collecting free t-shirts to fashion into a nest of geekery like me) was Rockband. Having been relegated to drift among the rank and file, denied the opportunity to sup from the golden teat that is a media pass, I braced myself for the monstrous line of people waiting to live out, if only briefly, their childhood fantasies of rocking on stage to a crowd of eager listeners. Harmonix failed to disappoint.
Yes that's right kiddies, the 
