There's far too much too see in one day though...
PAX Aus kicked off here in Melbourne today to great fanfare. The wonderful Ron Gilbert was the first guest to take the main stage and started the show off with a wonderful story about his game development history not only at Lucasarts but from childhood to where he is now.
Ron had some great anecdotes about his time at Lucasarts and even though it was named after Lucasfilm, the company couldn’t make any Star Wars games. Star Wars is one of Ron’s favourite things in the world and it inspired him to start being a programmer. So without the ability to make Star Wars games, Ron and the team then had freedom to make whatever they wanted.
Gilbert also spoke of working with Steven Spielberg who is one of his idols. He worked with Spielberg on The Dig, a PC adventure game released in 1995. However after the game was complete, Spielberg would phone up Gilbert and the team to ask for help on their other titles. Eventually he would phone so often, the allure of speaking to Spielber wore off and he was passed around the office, ‘Who wants to speak to him now? I spoke to him last time’. Ron as know didn’t stay at Lucasarts forever and afterwards went on to make children’s adventure games. In Ron’s words these weren’t ‘crappy’ or ‘edutainment’ games these were adventure games but made easier to a younger audience.
Ron’s entire keynote touched on so many items, too many to list here but the point he tried to make at the end of the day was that and I quote ‘You have to believe in your idea enough to dance naked on top of it. Doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks’. The Cave, his most recent title wasn’t received too well with critics and didn’t sell spectacular but he says he doesn’t care. He made the game he wanted.
Next up on the main stage were Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins also known as John “Gabe” Gabriel and Tycho Brahe, the two men behind this little thing called Penny Arcade, you might have heard of it. The Q&A went on for over an hour as the the duo answered questions from fans about Penny Arcade comics, the TV show, the books and more. There were many heavy stories from fans as well who thanked the team for being there for them during hard times.
Mike and Jerry are both really down to earth and willing to talk about anything, it makes a change from many panels or Q&A sessions you to go to with celebrities who stick the script. I’m no hardcore fan of Penny Arcade, I enjoy the comics but never have watched their show or been involved with it before. It was nice to get to know these two this way.
The rest of the day for me was spent scoping out the booths in the main expo hall, Nintendo was a our first stop. Did you expect any less? Nintendo (Ubisoft too) are one of the few publishers to have new and unreleased games playable. Like usual, the Nintendo booth was a fun place to hang out and play not only the games on show but also to connect and play with other 3DS owners. If you have a 3DS and don’t bring it to PAX, you’re missing out.
The time today was limited to check much out and tomorrow Nintendo are having their big events with the Pokemon tournament and the Animal Crossing Demonstration and Developer video. We’ll be there covering them and have a report on them tomorrow.
The number one, top highlight of the day though was meeting everyone that stopped to say hello to me. You all had so many nice things to say and it great to meet the people who read and appreciate our site. Very humbling, I hope to see more people tomorrow! Keep an eye out on our Facebook page for something soon….
Who enjoyed their first day of PAX Australia?
STALKER, Clock Tower, Shadows of the Damned, and more.
Wii Music has been replaced