WonderCon 2012: Day 1 recap

Well, I'm back from my 3 day whirlwind adventure from WonderCon and we have a lot to talk about. First of all, this was our first con since 2007 when Anime Expo changed venues from the Anaheim Convention Center to the Long Beach Convention Center, so we were pretty excited to get back into the con scene. Hopefully, we'll get to experience WonderCon once again next year (or some time in the future) when it returns to its rightful home in San Francisco. 

But let's get to the juicy stuff. I'm going to give you a play-by-play of what we did all three days, with the bulk of the events happening on Day 2. Each day will have its own separate post. If you are so inclined, you can also check out my Flickr photostream starting with Day 1 right here. 

I WANT THIS SHIRT!



There will be cheese - thanks shirt.woot.com and bassanimation.com!

 Ohmygosh...isn't this the most awesome shirt design EVAR?! Aperture Science and rat races never looked so adorable! I stumbled upon this by chance at shirt.woot.com and saw that this shirt was in the "reckoning" department, which means I can STILL order it for the low, low price of $15!

Check out the shirt here and be sure to read the copy; I can't make any sense out of it but there's a "solution" in the forum.

Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage - the XBL demo



Scene from Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage; image courtesy of
Amazon

 If it weren't for @JoystiqXbox for blasting the PSA about the forthcoming Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage demo on Xbox Live, I wouldn't have even known that this button-mashing game was going to be released just right before the holidays.

After waiting for the game to download for about 45 minutes (1.31 GB file AND I completely forgot that nothing will DL if you're watching Netflix - my bad) and about 45 minutes worth of gameplay on Legend mode (story mode based on the manga), I've reached the following conclusion:

I royally suck at this game.

At this very moment...

...tsudoku is at home playing Medal of Honor with the rest of the Tactical Gaming team, Miller Squad.

We stood in (a very short) line last night for the midnight release of the game at our local GameStop and he's been playing it since we got home. I believe he came to bed around 2:30 a.m., woke up at 6:30 to feed the cats, and as I was walking out the door, he was sending a party invite to one of his friends, khazadhea.

By the way, he's only been playing non-stop because I threatened to walk out with the game and take it with me to work.



tsudoku at the end of the line & some guy, approximately 12:15 a.m.



Current XBLA Obsession: LIMBO by Playdead Studios

When I said I'd be right back, I didn't mean right away. =)

So here I am and let me start things off by telling you about my current obsession while I wait for the new A World for Keflings, Fable 3 and oh, yes, the KINECT (yes, I went to GameStop and reserved my VERY FIRST GAMING SYSTEM...actually, it's more of an add-on considering our current Xbox is still in working condition). This new obsession has a simple name and a simple premise; it's called LIMBO. The objective: to find out what happened to your sister (and to make it out alive).

...more after the jump

Game Laws, Schmame Laws

Thanks to @fragdolls for posting this on Twitter earlier today:

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled earlier today that a Calif. law restricting minors from renting and/or purchasing violent and/or mature content video games as unconstitutional, as it violates Constitution's right to free speech.

So, HA! To those irresponsible parents out there who believe that violent video games = violent attacks from their own spawn!

Read more about it here.

Honoring the Geneva Convention in CoD

I've never, ever played Call of Duty but have seen tsudoku spend many hours laboring over it and to me, it looks like just another first-person shooter game (I really suck at those). But, it's one of the most popular games out there and it's probably one of his favorites, next to Lost Planet and Halo, of course.

Anyway, while on Twitter @fourzerotwo posted a link to a really interesting article that he came across on BoingBoing.net (fourzerotwo, if you're not already following him, works for Infinity Ward, which made CoD, Modern Warfare, etc., so go figure he'd be the first to bring this article to light). Written by regular joe Hugh Spencer, he talks about how one day his son Evan came up to him and said that he really, really wanted to play CoD - can I Dad, can I? Now Hugh, who's done some research on military history, took a look at the game and thought, yeah that's pretty accurate, but you're still blowing stuff up! What's in it for my kid?

Sooo, he asked Evan to Google "Geneva Convention" and essentially told him after he's done his research and discussed what the Geneva Convention was all about, allowed him to play CoD online with his buddies. The catch: Evan and his friends have to play by the rules of the Geneva Convention; any violations mean dismissal of the game for awhile.

Now THAT is what I call responsible and creative parenting. BRAVO!

Read the article here; oh, and the comments couldn't be more off-topic.

SFIV

Let me tell you, this game is gorgeous!! Hand-drawn characters, fluid animation, same tricks (minus the joystick/d-pad which I need tsudoku to get for me--$80!?! WTF!?), cheesier arcade soundtrack...YES! Street Fighter IV ROCKS! Unless you're playing against tsudoku (Mortal Kombat much, punk?) It's 1992 all over again.

Oh and you know, I just want to say that the only difference between me and that clerk at GameStop is that he's a virgin. (Now that I've bought my game from you and told you that I CAN PLAY Halo Wars -- albeit it was just the demo -- would you like me to tell you what sex is like?)

Speaking of Halo Wars, like I've said, I only got to mess around with the demo and it's actually kinda cool. I've never played a game like that, and my coworker tells me that type of game is called 'real time strategy.' I've got so much to learn! Apparently, if you keep playing games like that (Counter Stike, WoW), you end up ampng your multi-tasking skills. I'm going to keep at it and see if this is the route I'd like to end up going. I mean, it'd be nice to be able to eat a bagel, do my work and command an army of marines to attack the alien enemy all at the same time.

Chuck of Duty?

It's been years it seems since I've watched a weekly series on basic cable (remember Friends?) Indeed, I used to watch a show like Grey's Anatomy, it was called ER. Is that still around? While eating my pizza for one frozen dinner, I happened upon a show called Chuck. Don't know much about it, other than the basic premise of an awkward geek who becomes an awkward CIA agent. It's cute. There's a hot chick in it and everything.

Anyhow, what struck my fancy was the fact that in tonight's episode Chuck's coworker-slash-friend (the one pictured in the green shirt, is his name Morgan? And by the way, Chuck is a not quite higher up at a store called Buy More) unrolled what was basically a game map to (drumroll) Call of Duty. In fact, Call of Duty played a recurring role in the first half-hour of the episode (if it came up again after that I wouldn't know...I had dishes to wash at that point). Morgan had a strategy and everything, including x amount of foot soldiers, x amount of helicopters, etc.

If it sounds like a product placement, looks like a marketing ploy, or smells like a deal between NBC and Activision, it probably is.

Gears of War 2

For you Gear-heads out there, Gears of War 2 made an appearance at a Microsoft press event held in San Francisco over the weekend. While the game's 2006 success and eminent sequel have been highly anticipated, some are thinking that perhaps the game is a wee bit...oh, violent. Some have even gone as far as question whether Microsoft has gone too far??

To give you a quick synopsis, the game takes place approximately six months after the end of the first Gears, and "humanity faces a new and more deadly threat from its Locust enemies." There's a deeper plot and more realistic visuals in the sequel, but what really raised some eyebrows was the gory reverse groin-split scene. What? Apparently, "Gears 2 adds a reverse attack that actually slices an enemy in half -- from the groin upwards." Yikes.

Without a doubt, regular gamers on Xbox 360 Live will appreciate the new effects and enhanced graphics, and Microsoft can already foresee the success of the game. Gears of War 2 is slated to be released in November and will probably be flying off the shelves by the time the holidays hit. Go here to read more about the game and press event.

Video games don't kill people - people kill people

Finally! No need to worry about your kid (or boyfriend) going on a ballistic shooting rampage in a corporation owned by Italian mob bosses. According to this Yahoo! Games article, a couple Harvard Med School brainies have found in a two-year study that kids/pre-teens/teens who have a "casual relationship" with violent video games will unlikely act out because of what they've seen or experienced in their games. The research has even been penned into a book aptly titled, Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do. The authors suggest that parents should take a look at the bigger picture and find out what other factors are buggin' their kids out (e.g., they're being bullied at school, bad grades, or even obsessive gaming habits).

In other words, stop placing the blame on the games--that's bad parenting.

BioShock -- the movie

You've all heard already right? BioShock the video game is now coming to the big screen. According to IGN.com, joystiq.com, Reuters, and even KROQ's morning deejays Kevin and Bean have all announced that Gore Verbinski (acclaimed director to such films as The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, The Ring, The Mexican, and my personal favorite, Mouse Hunt) is set to direct the film based off of "...the hit video game about an underwater utopia gone disastrously wrong." No financial deal has been discussed as of yet, and it looks like due to the success of the game itself, Take-Two, BioShock's and GTA's game label, has announced plans to create a sequel. The Big Daddies and Little Sisters are waiting for you...can't wait to see how that'll play out on the big screen. With Verbinski directing, I highly doubt there'll be actual movie blood shed...think Samara (of The Ring) and Davey Jones coming after you underwater...perhaps the Cracken will make a cameo? Read more here.

Halo 3 Photo Album

A case of Red vs. Blue? In terms of romance, yep! But if you take a look at the right hand corner of the screenshot you'll notice that the score is Blue: 4, Red: 1. Blue was always the better half anyway. (Taken at the Forge on Valhalla, after I dropped a warthog on him moments before).

Control your destiny

I didn't get to mention this earlier, but while we're still on the Halo rant, check out what I got my boyfriend -

Halo 3 Xbox 360 limited edition controller - image courtesy of Amazon.com

Your eyes do not deceive you - it's a limited edition Halo 3 themed controller for the 360. It even comes with a Todd McFarlane figure of Master Chief. He hasn't taken it out of its package yet; he tells me that he's going to wait until he plays the game to break the seal, if you will. The controller comes in two designs, the other being that of one of the monsters from the game. If you're so inclined to grab one of these babies, they're available at your local Target Greatland.

The anguish involved on being a NPGF

As some of you technogeeks may already know, it's September, and you know what that means: Halo 3 is due to make its anticipated release on September 25. For people like me who are bound to a relationship dictated by how long a match is going to last on Lost Planet or Gears of War, that means there's 22 more days until geek mayhem ensues. As an NPGF who's happily committed (2.5 years today as a matter of fact), I've professed my love and even went so far as to offer to stand in line for the midnight release of Halo 3 at our local GameStop. If that isn't love, then I don't know what is!