Notice he says "our goal is to make it so that everyone who wants to go to a PAX can go to a PAX" and not just "PAX". It can't be their goal to accommodate every single interested person at every PAX, it just isn't feasible. However, I do believe that it is their intention that there will always be an opportunity for a person to attend PAX for the first time and for people to not be continually shut out of a desired PAX badge. I have no idea how they will go about this latter issue.
So prior to someone mentioning it (I think Rym?) I was unaware there is a 5-badge max on purchases. That seems like a good way of preventing large-scale scalping, so I am down with it.
No, this has almost zero effect, and it utter bullshit. Robert has run the number in the past - The scalpers only were never maxing out (the previous max was 8) on badge-sales per address, they just had a LOT of addresses. You'd be surprised how easy it is to get someone to forward you mail.
For those who have been going to both Prime and East and have been staying at the Sheraton (Seattle) & Westin (Boston), you guys should sign up to be a Starwood Preferred Guest.
It's free and you basically earn points for your stays. I think it's point per dollar, I can't recall. I got it on a whim because the person at the front desk offered it. So I have around 4000 points. Eventually I can use those points or purchase more points to be able to get my hotel stay for free. Since the Sheraton is already sold out, I can't use my points towards this stay, but next time I can.
I also have options to use cash and points to where I use my points and pay like $45/night. That's freaking awesome. I really didn't look into it until now, but I'm definitely going to take advantage of it since it's free.
Red Lion? If so, we will definitely go towards you to eat at that pub. Since Jeremy and I aren't Enforcing, we should be available for most of Thursday to go do awesome Pre-PAX things as I've mentioned before to you.
Red Lion sold out at the same time. We're in the Hilton or something. I guess people are starting to listen to us on GeekNights... Time to stop giving good advice ("Stay at the Sheraton or the Red Lion, buy badges right away, dinner at Von's, etc...).
We're eating at that pub anyway. Elephant Castle is best castle!
Yes, this forum gives me a bigger jump when booking for PAX(es?) than anything else online. I got both leaks from here and have a 1/2 success rate in booking.
And I acquired that information because I follow the actual PAX forum pretty much constantly. Forums have always been a thing for me though, and I've migrated around every couple years.
Forum drifters. They come and go as they please eating their baked beans, telling ghost stories, and then one day they're gone. Hitched on the 7:30 train to the next forum where they they do the same thing until it's time to pack up and head out.
I'm going to PAX for Friday through Sunday, then going to the last day of Bumbershoot on Monday (this is also the day with all the bands I want to see). It will be a good weekend.
Aw man, I just found out that I am going to PAX totally free of charge. I'll be at a booth (can't remember exact location) promoting the Lake Washington Institute of Technology's game design program and showing off student artwork. We'll show those elitist Digipen students exactly what all that extra tuition they pay gets them.
Kris and Scott pre-show on Thursday night... I'm thinking of buying a table. It's at the same time as the TWDT... tough call. Would any other FRC people want to attend this?
That's pretty damn smart of them, as people who aren't technically employed by the PA corporation. Might as well line their pockets a bit since they are in such demand when PAX is in town.
This isn't breaking news but hadn't seen it mentioned elsewhere until this morning: Wizards of the Coast has pretty much scrapped its tradition of running big Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour finals. These have typically been really big events in the past, but now they are piggybacking off of the big conventions. The country-based team tournament will be at Gen Con, and the individual pro tour finals will be at PAX Prime.
This does not particularly interest me but it something of interest happening:
Tickets for The International are going on sale this coming Tuesday at 9am PDT for $50 (You buy it in the DOTA 2 ingame store via steam and activate it.)
There is also an additional batch of tickets each day at the same time up until the 16th.
Also it looks like anyone with a PAX Prime Badge can get in. (First come. First Serve.)
I'm going to say I kinda hope not. I like a little gaming competition. I kinda hate the current incarnation of the professional gaming atmosphere. If the two can mix successfully, great. I'm just... reluctant.
I agree that professional gaming pretty much sucks right now (outside of Starcraft) but I'm constantly wondering what Penny Arcade could get their hands into next. Perhaps injecting some PAX-vibes into the competitive scene would make it more appealing, and people would actually care about it.
Professional gaming has for the most part always sucked. It's presented in such a way that almost no one outside of the game's "hardcore competitive" circle would ever care. It relies on a niche advertising demographic for sponsorship from a small pool of sources.
Worse, the games themselves are extremely non-cinematic, nor are they obviously sports-like in the ways they can actually be watched. Hockey without commentary is just as enjoyable on television to a hockey fan, and 99% as enjoyable to a non-. Pro-CS or Pro-Starcraft without commentary is incomprehensible gibberish to the vast majority of people, even to relatively "hardcore" gamers.
It's also not like PAX needs to sell more tickets. If it needs to expand into "e-sports", there's going to be some trade-offs. And the only thing I wouldn't particularly mind sacrificing is some expo-hall floorspace... which is not going to happen because that pays the bills.
Well I don't think you have much to worry about. This is all theoretical chit-chat aside from the two above-mentioned companies, and WotC already has their own tournament spaces every year, and DotA is renting out the Benaroya.
The problem isn't necessarily the games being played but the ignorance of the populace. S. Korea puts pro Starcraft on television and gets a huge audience. Because the basic mechanics of the game have disseminated through the population such that they can appreciate what is happening on the screen without it being spoon-fed to them. But since video games get no respect in the US the game mechanics are entirely mysterious to Joe Schmoe, and as a result it is nothing more than pretty lights and sounds with no context.
Now the problem is finding a game that has appeal to Americans that is as widespread as Starcraft has for Korea.
Comments
It's free and you basically earn points for your stays. I think it's point per dollar, I can't recall. I got it on a whim because the person at the front desk offered it. So I have around 4000 points. Eventually I can use those points or purchase more points to be able to get my hotel stay for free. Since the Sheraton is already sold out, I can't use my points towards this stay, but next time I can.
I also have options to use cash and points to where I use my points and pay like $45/night. That's freaking awesome. I really didn't look into it until now, but I'm definitely going to take advantage of it since it's free.
Just an fyi.
We're staying a block away. ;^)
We're eating at that pub anyway. Elephant Castle is best castle!
Kris and Scott pre-show on Thursday night... I'm thinking of buying a table. It's at the same time as the TWDT... tough call. Would any other FRC people want to attend this?
Worse, the games themselves are extremely non-cinematic, nor are they obviously sports-like in the ways they can actually be watched. Hockey without commentary is just as enjoyable on television to a hockey fan, and 99% as enjoyable to a non-. Pro-CS or Pro-Starcraft without commentary is incomprehensible gibberish to the vast majority of people, even to relatively "hardcore" gamers.
Now the problem is finding a game that has appeal to Americans that is as widespread as Starcraft has for Korea.